21 Jul 2021 09:58:32
What a difference 3 years makes!
When Gerrard arrived in 2018 ( Let's Go! ) he inherited the following players under the previous incumbents.
In order of appearances:-
Tav (46), Candeias, Morelos, Windass, Foderingham, Holt, John, Alves, Herrera, Ross McCrorie, Miller, Jack, Dorrans, Bates, Murphy, Cardoso, Cummings, Martin, Halliday, Goss, Wilson, Docherty, Pena, Kranjcar, Alnwick, Hodson, Wallace, Hardie, Nemane, Rossiter, Barjonas, Dalcio, Dodoo, O'Halloran and Waghorn.
Many left on loan, contracts had run down or were sold and Gerrard started the 2108 season with the following personal, bolstered by loanees and shrewd buys as he tried to improve the quality of the squad. It was never going to be a quick fix.
Tav ( 57 ) , Goldson, McGregor, Candeias, Morelos, Jack, Arfield, Kent, Halliday, Worrall, Ross McCrorie, Flanagan, Katic, Coulibaly, Lafferty, Middleton, Ejaria, Barisic, Defoe, Davis, Grezda, Kamara, McAuley, Foderingham, Murphy, Windass, Rossiter, Sadiq, Wallace, Dorrans, Firth, Polster, Kelly, Mebude, Atakayi and Houston.
Onto the 55 winning team and we can see that the backbone from that first season has remained ( Tav, Goldson, McGregor and Morelos) but quality was added in between.
Goldson (56), Kent, Kamara, Barisic, Davis, Tav, Hagi, Arfield, Morelos, Aribo, McGregor, Itten, Roofe, Helander, Balogun, Jack, Zungu, Defoe, Bassey, McLaughlin, Patterson, Wright, Barker, Stewart, Simpson, Jones, King, Edmundson, Middleton and Dickson.
But better never stops. We are continually making improvements on and off the park.
The new Edmiston House will be a wonderful addition to a Football Club of Rangers stature - new store, club museum and events space.
We've added Sakala, Lundstram, Ofoborh to go with our 2 Xmas signings Wright and Simpson.
We've Jack to hopefully have recovered from his ongoing injury problems. We've Katic who hopefully can get a loan move before returning to Rangers a better player.
We might even add others and could possibly lose some favourites.
We've had the breakthrough of one of our youngsters, Patterson who has been a revelation.
We've had a glimpse of young Kelly in pre-season. Fingers crossed he can be the next youngster to make the step up.
We can all see the transformation in the playing squad under Gerrard as he strived to make us a force domestically and get some pride back on the European stage.
Not every signing has been a success. Not every signing have been to all our individual liking.
But I'm eternally grateful to each and everyone of them who has had the honour / privilege of pulling on the Famous jersey and helped put us back where we belong - fighting for titles domestically, improving every year in Europe and a couple of ties ( fingers crossed ) from appearing in the CL Group Stages.
And being greedy, I wouldn't mind some additional silverware in the form of domestic cups where we have failed miserably.
I for one can't wait for the new season to start in earnest and the opportunity for this squad to challenge for 56 and the automatic entry and riches of the CL group stages.
Let's all enjoy our 150th Anniversary celebrations this season.
In Gerrard We Trust.

1.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 10:30:30
I like your resume. Very good MrPH.

2.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 10:54:25
Yes potato brilliant post . Your stats? Well I just do not know where you get them from but keep them coming .
I think you would do well on mastermind if you could remember all your research . Your subject of choice?
The Mighty Glasgow Rangers of course the comeback years.

3.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 10:59:48
Good breakdown of info MPH, I know some of us can be over critical, but we have came a long way in a relatively very short time.
Let's hope we get into the champs League nextv2 seasons to allow us to kick on further.
Onward and Upward.

4.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 11:24:06
Superb Summary MPH, we are in such a stronger place than 3 years ago. Roll on the new season.

5.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 11:27:28
Brilliant post MPH. As you say, better never stops, but each player since SG took over the reins has played their part in delivering 55 and hopefully further successes.

6.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 11:33:19
Another great post Mr tottie keep them coming. 👏🏻.

7.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 11:36:47
Great post MPH and very interesting. Why don't you publish a book with all that knowledge?!

8.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 11:44:40
Superb mph, don't know how you do it. 👍.

9.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 11:50:46
Takes me all morning to write that post Doiger!

10.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 11:59:30
Top quality bro.

11.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 12:12:46
Great post MPH 🇦🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⚽️👍.

12.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 12:21:52
Excellent read, mph, but please allow me to go off on a slight tangent here. Surely I can't be the only one here who doesn't give a hoot about domestic cup wins? They have had their day and should be left to the smaller clubs like Celtic and Aberdeen to battle for. Domestic trebles are meaningless nowadays except for a day or two of gloating; the money is in consistently winning the league and playing with the big boys in Europe. The only positive I can see for the two cups is that we use them to blood youngsters, to give squad players a run out and to give injured players on the way to recovery a game.

13.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 13:36:47
The league is always the priority for me TavsonLoyal. 👍
Followed by a good European run for the finances that brings.
And although we aren't entitled to win Cups - we passed up 2 glorious chances last season.
And the foundations of a club like Rangers is to try and win every competition we enter.
Whether that's right, wrong or wishful thinking is up for debate.

14.) 21 Jul 2021
21 Jul 2021 13:45:30
Totally agree tavsonoloyal, the arsene wenger approach 👌💙.