FRAN -----------------WRITTEN BY Ibrox Noise General rants about all things Rangers. MONDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2014 Mid-Season Report from Ibrox - Both on and off the Pitch As all Rangers fans know, with the Club these days there are two distinct entities of note; the political/boardroom/company side of the institute, and the sporting/football side. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, all we Bears focused on was the latter, but following administration in 2012 the political wrangling and tugs-of-war have sadly dominated the front and back pages more than we would want. As such, it seems pertinent to give a ‘mid-season report ™’ on both what has been happening off the pitch as well as on. Let us try to get the gory stuff out the way and make the ‘off-pitch’ part as pain-free as possible. In short, Rangers’ boardroom politics have been a centrifugal force of sheer flux, with change after change in various director seats and the emergence of one Mike Ashley as the biggest player in the Ibrox ‘game’. Pretender to the throne Dave King’s 11th hour bail-out package of £16M was rejected by Rangers’ hierarchy, who instead opted for Ashley’s £2M loan offer in exchange for critical power at the Club – the privilege to appoint his own people over CEO Wallace and FD Nash (who have since quit). This has left Ashley as the most powerful man at the Club, given he already owns the naming rights for Ibrox and controls the retail division. There is of course a great deal more but there are only 24 hours in a day and I lack the will to drown you all in a sea of gruesome politics and powerplays. Like most supporters I do not trust Ashley, in the way I do not trust a single soul running the Club, but I am willing to give him a chance, like I have every other owner/CEO/major shareholder. Sometimes we get burnt, sometimes we do not. It is, sadly, an inevitable risk when a new regime or controller comes into town. Moving onto what should really matter though, on the pitch recently things have been going rather well actually. The month of October was frankly outstanding; 13 goals scored, only one conceded, 6 matches won, no points dropped, and all that success included a victory over a current SPL side (St Johnstone). We also saw the wonderful news that the Club’s shining star Lewis Macleod was voted the SPFL young player of the month plus earned himself a call-up to Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad for the upcoming home-nations’ clashes with Ireland and England. The national boss is ‘impressed’ with Macleod and is on record as saying he likes to get the younger and most promising players on-board to give them a feel for the national team. Today we learned Hearts’ starlet Callum Paterson also earned himself a call-up, so it is pretty clear that there is progress for the national team in a good way, and maybe one day all Rangers fans will feel we can fully invest in the side again. As said though, October saw a truly wonderful run where there was a distinct hint of gears clicking into place a tad, but only the ludicrous bureaucracy of the SPFL saw Hearts’ Robbie Neilson win manager of the month for that four weeks when he managed three wins and a draw. As critical as I have been of McCoist for a long, long time, he clearly, on results, merited that award. The fine form continued into November with another three wins in a row, no goals conceded, and one of those wins getting the Ibrox giants into the fourth round of the Scottish Cup. 576 minutes (6 clean sheets in a row plus the 36 minutes of the Raith Rovers match) since a goal was conceded is an outstanding record – many could try to dismiss that run as being in a ‘rubbish league’ but it is a ‘rubbish league’ with, Rangers excluded, 5 former SPL teams, and furthermore one of those wins was against a current one. So, in terms of action on the pitch, we really can have no complaints right now. Things are going well, but the upcoming clash with Hearts on the 22nd (along with the visit of Alloa on Saturday) may just define the season. What is for sure, both Rangers and their Gorgie counterparts are going well right now, so it is a heck of a time to face each other. Last but not least I would like to take a personal opportunity to thank all my thousands of readers over the past three years. This blog started on 11th November 2011 and I have to say it has been a great platform to both express my own views and those of guest writers, while also seeing the views of the general readership, who certainly are not exclusive to Rangers’ fanbase by any means! Here’s to another three+ years WATP.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 17:18:32 +0000
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