Rangers need a saviour soon or 10 In A Row is going to come and go in the blink of an eye
FOR Rangers fans whose view looking out of their dark place is nothing other than the speck of a celebratory Celtic Ten-InA-Row juggernaut disappearing further into the distance, some light can be shone at the end of this tunnel by a former Parkhead captain.
Rangers may have an identikit for the red, white and blue caped hero set to swoop and spare them the ultimate misery. According to Dave King’s statement, they need him right here, right now to usher in immediate success. Ask one fan and it must be a Rangers man. Quiz the next and it’s got to be Frank de Boer and his contacts. Others will insist on a hardened British boss.
But the story of how Rangers had Ten In A Row snatched from their rather complacent grasp in 1997/98 wasn’t a cunning plan concocted with two or three years to spare. And, when it was unmasked, there was barely a football follower in Scotland outside of the Celtic boardroom who thought they’d nailed it.
Saviours come in all shapes and sizes. Few were more curious and looked less inspiring than Wim Jansen on that day. Yet that’s all it took. One underwhelming, widely derided appointment made one month before the start of a season in which Rangers were expected to blaze towards another title.
Yet as long as Rangers didn’t use up their Jansen-style wild card with the woeful pick of Pedro Caixinha 15 months ago, Alan Stubbs explains why his old foes have time on their side to grind the gloating to a halt. ‘Remember when Wim was appointed, it was “Wim Who?” — and that was the general consensus of everybody, probably the players included,’ noted Stubbs. We didn’t know an awful lot about him.
‘And sometimes you can get wrapped up in “It’s got to be a name” or “It’s got to be this type”. But it’s got to be right. So Rangers are looking for Mr Right. Not Mr Foreigner or Mr British. You’ve got to be open-minded.
‘And, more importantly, who is available? Otherwise you’re going to go and spend compensation bringing someone in then spend on transforming the squad again.
‘Maybe with a British coach, if they bought a few more British players then it would probably give them a more of a steeliness which is lacking in the team right now.’
Trusting this Ibrox board to unearth Mr Right is, however, a frightening prospect for those whose season-ticket money was last summer squandered on Carlos Pena, Eduardo Herrera, Fabio Cardoso, Dalcio and Co.
Boyhood Rangers fan Derek McInnes said no to them when their Caixinha experiment completely fell apart. Yet Stubbs believes there will be no shortage of good calibre bosses undeterred by the chaos associated with the club, giving Rangers an impressive shortlist from which to select.
‘Think of the draw of the club, the size of the club, what it could be,’ said Stubbs. ‘Look at the bigger picture at Rangers and how exciting could it be if you are the man to stop Ten In A Row.
‘How exciting is it that you are able to be the one? The one who turns it around. Because it will get turned around. Same as me at Hibs. Everyone laughed when I said someone is going to do it, why not me? I’m fortunate enough that I did (win the Scottish Cup). It will turn around. It’s when. Can Rangers go any lower? That’s the thing you have to ask yourself as well.’
As Graeme Murty’s men imploded at Hampden in a frenzy of in-fighting, the failings of a team lacking leaders and the error of appointing the Under-20 coach to the task of challenging Celtic for trophies was brutally exposed.
From what Stubbs and his team-mates, including Henrik Larsson, Paul Lambert and Craig Burley, endured on the way to halting the Rangers champions charge, it seems that the Ibrox structure is a long way short of having a mentality durable for the challenge that lies ahead.
‘I think the one thing they’ve got to be prepared for if they are serious about stopping Celtic winning a title is to face a season where, mentally, it is going to challenge them as much as they’ve been challenged,’ explained Stubbs.
‘I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy the season. It was very uncomfortable. It was up. It was down. The pressure on the players will keep them up at night. When we won it, it wasn’t euphoria, it was relief.
‘Because that was the pressure we had to play under. The players who come to Ibrox have got to deal with pressure. I’d always want to be in a position where we are trying to win ten in that season.
‘To be the team that will go down in history as the team that didn’t stop Ten In A Row? That will live with you for the rest of your life.
‘What helped us was, first of all, Wim brought a calmness. But very quickly he earned respect as well. He didn’t strike you as a hugely imposing, respectful figure. He had a very quiet demeanour about him. He just went away and worked efficiently. He got us organised.
‘When he spoke in that really calm way, you listened. The players just seemed to respond to it. He got on well with the players. Not too close. Murdo (MacLeod) was good for him in that way.
‘He got the best out of us. On paper, we weren’t better than Rangers. Nowhere near it. But what we had was a team spirit, a desire, a determination.
Rangers have got to find that ingredient to do it. Otherwise, Ten In A Row is going to come and go in the blink of an eye.’