Rangers Banter Archive January 19 2017

19 Jan 2017 19:48:23
I'm sick of seeing everyone slating Andy Halliday on here. It was McKay getting ut earlier in the season and there's no argument he had a loss of form. He was dropped/ rested and we now seeing the real Mckay again. McKay played A LOT of games last year and we hardly got a decent break because of the cup. Halliday hasn't had the same rest because we don't have anyone else to play there. And when we had Barton, Halliday still played regularly but further forward. His performance in the old firm semi last year was outstanding (remember all the brown in his back pocket jokes? ) . He had plenty other excellent showings last season. I also don't think he has been any worse than Holt. That's up for debate. He hasn't lost that ability maybe he just needs dropped/ rested as well? That's the main point of this ridiculously long post. Excuse the essay bears.

19 Jan 2017 20:05:31
Watch out mate you might get pulled up for being encouraging and supporting the team. I like him too mate for all the possession we have its really that 20/ 30 goal a season striker we are missing the rest of the team would get a lift from that especially when we have 70% possession the midfield are doing their job we just need to be finishing our chances and Kenny Miller definitely should not be slagged off the guy is immense but he has always been the workhorse that played along side the 30 goal a season man. i think if we got Coulibaly he would score for fun in a team that has so much possession.

19 Jan 2017 20:19:26
I do agree but I think Garner needs time as well. Had a decent record at his old clubs. Just needs a couple of goals to get his confidence up I reckon. I wouldn't write Waggy off yet either. Our defence is awful though. I'd try Senderos. Guy hasn't had a chance and can't be worse than Kiernan.

19 Jan 2017 20:42:16
Halliday and holt have both been average at best this season but neither of them are bad players. With the 2 loans i'd expect a lot more rotation and the best will show it. Coulibaly looks a good young player but pretty similar to dodoo and i think he'd be more a squad player than main striker. Amazed senderos hasn't been given a shot. or been released

19 Jan 2017 22:53:17
Jmaster

Halliday has been poor this season especially in the old firm games. Both he and Holt can't cut it and need to be replaced.

20 Jan 2017 07:09:53
We won't have a striker who can regularly bang in 20/ 30 goals a season with this system. We could get Messi and he would struggle!

As for Halliday, he should NEVER be played at DM, so I have sympathy for him. However, he is played at DM and his performances there have been dire!

20 Jan 2017 07:41:40
They don't need replaced they just need someone behind them to defend both have always been attacking players

20 Jan 2017 07:45:39
Halliday and Holt are championship quality at best. It's not being negative. It's a fact. Next game watch Halliday be more interested in getting rid of ball than doing something with it. He frequently out of position. I do believe he's only been playing because the first choice midfielders are injured.

And the point about Halliday having brown in back pocket etc. I do believe that was all banter because we won. Let's not forget Rangers rode their luck a bit in last season Scottish Cup semi. Yes we did play well for long spells but had luck on our side.

Holt shows decent movement but for me is also lightweight and has no power in his shots. We'll see how much of a difference the two loan signings make.

20 Jan 2017 08:14:04
How people are picking on Halliday and Holt is madness the full team has been rubbish the only player with pass marks is fod. We have scored less than 30 goals this season, it is pathetic the defence is not the problem it's the forwards.

20 Jan 2017 09:29:01
Cee

How can you say the defence isn't the problem when we have conceded a goal a game in the league? We have problems all over the pitch and Warburton hasn't addressed any of it

21 Jan 2017 20:39:13
Our defence is nowhere near as bad as people make out, especially kiernan nearly every goal we conceded is due to tav. Our problem is scoring goals.

21 Jan 2017 10:53:48
We've conceeded nearly as much as we have scored, so yes the defence is obviously a problem. The problem is warbs formation and tactics. Oh, and halliday is dreadful.

19 Jan 2017 13:36:49
Aberdeen interested in May, if available we should be in for this lad, better than what we have in my opinion.

Great article in the DR today regarding Warbs and King who is not supporting who. All the points raised by a lot of us on here. In particular the MOH rumour that won't go away.

Why would we loan this boy out to Hearts?

Our scouting network and recruitment is a total mess!

19 Jan 2017 14:38:36
If it was from any other journalist or paper it would be an okay article, as it stands it is just another of a long line of rubbish stirring articles that is trying to unsettle our support. Why even read it Boycott it and they will get the message.

19 Jan 2017 19:01:31
There is nothing in the article that stirs rubbish. The opinion given is sound and equals that of many Rangers fans. I agree with you regarding the paper, it's crap, but what paper isn't?

20 Jan 2017 11:39:55
I am not a fan of the Daily record, in fact I detest it almost as much as the Glasgow Herald, however I have to say that the Article was no different than the debates that we are seeing here. Some think that Warburton is good, others think that he is not, others blame King and others think that the sun shines out of his backside, and of course there is a full spectrum of views in between the two.

There are even those that don't rate either and some rate both!

Perhaps the writer is a keen reader of this forum!

19 Jan 2017 11:17:49
Brought in: 20 1st team/ Squad players (excluding loans) for around about 5million GBP (probably not accurate but I have high-balled this figure)

For speculation purposes only:
20 x players on 10k a week (again not accurate but let's use it as an average) would cost the club just under 10million per annum.

Average season ticket costs between 295-315 for adults. let's say that around 28,000season ticket holder fit into that bracket (again not accurate but bear with me here) . 8.4million (300 x 28k)

We have no european football/ no merchandise income and no player sales since Macleod in 2015.

If we were to sell all of these acquired players for an average of 500K, we would make a 50% profit on purchase value.

Youth squad - We stripped away 20+ 20/ 21yr olds in the past 2 years who were signed on professional contract. let's say they earned 250GBP a week (260,000GBP per annum) and replaced them with 16/ 17/ 18year olds who are now playing at a higher level vs much older kids in the U20's league. (Gilmour/ Burt/ McCrories/ jack Thompson/ Rudden and Barjonas are all now U19/ 21 Scotland youths (2/ 3 years above their age grade)

Ok I have gone on a bit here. My entire point is that people are criticizing the management/ the recruitment and the chairman for his signing policy/ recruitment and youth in the team/ not investing in the squad etc. But there is no immediate fix. The strategy when you look at it will become effective if not next season, but the one after. Patience is not easy when you have to watch Dross on the pitch, but you have to work through the short team pain for the long term gain.

19 Jan 2017 11:48:18
Well I guess that is why the Three Bears and the two Far East guys have given Rangers the soft loans that they put into the club. It would have been nice if King, after all his shouting and his promises of funding for Warburton had followed through with his own investment to improve the players purchased. (There was not much we could do about the dross that was left after the McCoist era) .

That is also why we need to ensure we get into Europe and we will need to use stealth to increase Revenue on Merchandise on the assumption that we cannot either exit or improve on the Sports Direct deal.

If I am correct in my assumptions our deal with Puma comes to an end this year as does our sponsorship with 32 Red. Therefor we should be able to make some money by negotiating better deals with a more quality strip manufacturer and an alternative to 32 Red.

That just leaves the selling of the strips and if I am correct Sports Direct have a souls Agreement for the UK that we have given notice on. I am assuming that they do not have an Agreement for the sale of our Merchandise Worldwide and that being the case why don't we market our Goods with the new manufacturer and the new sponsor through the US, Canada, Europe, (including the Republic of Ireland), and the Channel Islands including sales over the Internet.

I am sure that a number of Companies could secure good deals for postage and packaging, especially if this was all done through a an Irish Subsidiary, for example of a US Company! Is this doable?

19 Jan 2017 12:23:18
I think your maths is a bit off. The average wage won't be £10,000 and our youth team will not be earning an average of £2,500 a week.

19 Jan 2017 13:06:13
Teddyofthesouth

Your indulging in fantasy football with your figures there. It's interesting you make the point about no player sales since McLeod. Does that not tell you that there is something far wrong that no one seems to want any of our players.

19 Jan 2017 13:53:33
Maybe the fact this is our first season back in the spl we have struggled to get good players.

19 Jan 2017 14:21:47
Cee

Did you not think Barton and Kranjcar were good players when we signed them?

19 Jan 2017 15:46:05
Hey spok- I said 250gbp for youth players mate. But not going to argue about my maths being off! (That is why I said average across the team and deliberately high balled what is probably an averahe of between 5-8k a week) not trying to be accurate but was just giving a description of the business model which some of you clearly misses just to focus on the numbers. My point is Warbs is trying to build a brand and moneytize Rangers again and for that he should be given plaudits. TOMUSA - great post mate

19 Jan 2017 16:29:25
thought we have c42000 season tickets sold

19 Jan 2017 17:00:09
Hey FD it's an average of 300 for adults (no idea how man kids/ families make up the total value of season tickets so I again, low balled it) but it was merely for indication of the kind of income we get with just 28k season tickets. I hope tha makes sense

19 Jan 2017 18:41:53
Good post Teddy

20 Jan 2017 08:15:29
Barton was just off a good season but at 33 he wasn't going to be a star man, kranjcar had barely played in 2 years.

19 Jan 2017 22:24:51
TOMUSA, our 32Red shirt sponsorship deal runs out at the end of the season, our puma kit manufacturers deal has 1 more year to go after this season (it was a 5 year deal we signed with puma) .

19 Jan 2017 23:13:57
Don't forget sponsor money, to money and the merchandise that does sell and probably sells well. It's all good saying don't buy it, but if Ashley still wants to sell it then there is obviously a reason why

20 Jan 2017 11:52:03
I would suggest that Warburton had to take a risk on all the players that he brought in because we just didn't have the financial resources to do any thing else! Initially he had to pretty much bring in an entire team and that was just to win the Championship given the dross that had been accumulated over the previous seasons. It was also clear that there was a significant lack of potential in the youth side that had been savagely destroyed over a number of years.

Having won the Championship and progressed to the SPL he was also well aware that a number of the players that he had brought in for the Championship would simply not be good enough for the Top League so he had to go back into the market, again with no real Investment.

With no European Football he was not going to find it easy to pick up a Dembele on the cheap and many of us were excited when he secured the services of Rossiter. We were encouraged that he had signed Crooks and Windass on pre-contract agreements and we saw Dodoo as someone with potential. Krancjar was also seen as an older head that had ability and although Barton was always going to be a risk we could see the logic provided the guy could do the job that he had done the previous season in England.

For a myriad of reasons it didn't work out as planned, the prime reason being injuries and as a result he was left with players that by his own admission were not players that he deemed good enough for the SPL.

While the jury might be out I personally don't believe that he can be fairly judged against Celtic unless he is given genuine investment for players. That has been talked about a lot by King but has never been forthcoming. let's see what the period from now until the start of next season brings in terms of Investment and players signed on pre-contract Agreements.

19 Jan 2017 08:17:52
I seen a post from TOM USA saying if there was money to spend then it should be on defensive midfield. I couldn't agree more.

It pains me to say but Andy Halliday isn't producing the goods in this area. He is reckless in posession, miles off the tempo against weak opposition and unable to consistently complete passes in what is arguably the most important area of the team. He needs too much time on the ball and is unaware of what is happening around him on a regular basis.

This area might have been covered if we had got Toumani Diagouraga last January, and long term injury to Jordan Rossiter means it is likely the position will not be adequately filled for another 6 months. Are any other Bears concerned that this hasn't been highlighted as a problem area?

19 Jan 2017 09:51:30
Hi Keepbelieving, I have watched Halliday in a number of games and not just this season, and the guy just isn't a holding midfield player / defensive midfield players. For me, this is one of the most important positions in the team since the incumbent needs to provide cover for his defence while at the same time being able to set up attacks and basically control the game.

I agree with everything you have said and I just don't believe that he has the guile to play in that position, indeed I don't believe that he is good enough at this level.

I have no doubt that Rossiter would have done a job in the role, but he clearly has a serious injury problem that will take time to resolve and we can only hope that it can sorted so we have his fit and ready for next season. But in the absence of an honest update from Rangers the support is left in the dark.

We have 12 days before the Transfer window closes and I can only hope that we bring in a player for this position, at the very least, on loan, for the remainder of the season. I dare say that the hope was that Barton would do a job and on paper he was certainly capable of this. All the more strange therefor that his spat just happens to be with the player that he was vying with for that position!

Warburton is certainly losing credibility in my eyes with his clear failure to drop Halliday who should not be in the team!

19 Jan 2017 10:51:31
Couldn't agree more TOMUSA, the engine room is where games are won and lost its no coincidence that Leicester are way off the pace this season without kante in that role and chelsea are so much better! How many times do you hear people talking about players that don't get the credit they deserve when talking about holding midfielders and its very true the average football fan doesn't realise the importance of a solid midfielder doing the dirty work! To many people heap praise on the fancy dans and the goal scorers but the real gems are the sitting players that control the game and dictate play and that is what we really lack!

19 Jan 2017 13:55:16
Can't disagree more. Our problem isn't conceding goals, it's scoring them. We need a forward, a good one better than what we have. You will always concede goals no matter who you have in defence or playing defensive midfield. Their will be a point in ever single game where the lesser team has a chance. We must get a goalscorer and quickly.