FRAN --------------WRITTEN BY IBROX NOISE SATURDAY, 27 DECEMBER 2014 Embarrassing at Easter Road I dont think Im the only one sick of the sight of him. Following my previous entry about the youths being potentially given a second chance at Ibrox by caretaker manager Kenny McDowall and his management team, there were signs, on the pitch at least, of genuine progress. His assistant Gordon Durie’s comments showed signs of a wish to rebuild the team by recalling the loaned players like Barrie McKay and Kyle McAusland, showing an emphasis on cultivating the squad and coaxing them into better shape and personnel. However, in the immediate term, before any of this was possible, there lay a trip this afternoon lunchtime to third-placed Hibernian, trailing Rangers by only seven points, and the pressure of a debut in the dugout for the new interim boss and his cohorts. A pressing issue I highlighted was that of Lee McCulloch, whereby the lad is clearly well past his best and, beyond my obvious criticisms of his never being a defender in the first place was the valid observation that his appointment as a coach meant he now has the power of veto to not select himself. Consequently today’s team sheet was highly anticipated. What changes would McDowall make to the XI? How would he stamp his own personality and authority on the starting team? Would McCulloch finally be on the sidelines coaching? At around 12PM the answers finally revealed themselves, and it made for staggeringly depressing reading. Not only did McDowall pick the same XI as v Livvie, but, yes, you guessed it, McCulloch remained in defence. His appointment to player coach only appears to have made him more invulnerable to being dropped, and his refusal to back down and let others have a chance categorically shows his own self interests appear a higher priority to him than those of his Club. No one denies he is a true blue, but like his pal McCoist, his own selfish drives have simply taken over. In a devil’s advocate defence of McDowall, the options on the bench were pretty slim pickings. Only Faure would really have improved the backline, by replacing McCulloch, and the options for midfield and attack were threadbare at best. However, the immediate lack of a plan on K-Mac’s part was apparent inside two minutes, as aimless passing and directionless wandering punctuated a truly feeble Rangers, and inside 15 minutes the visitors were 0-2 down. As Ian Black got more frustrated, and booked, McDowall did do something McCoist never would have at such an early stage (33 minutes) – he substituted him off. It was the right decision, and brave, but to only have the ghastly Kyle Hutton as replacement summed up this Rangers team. Indeed, one player summed up Rangers’ present malaise – Scott Allan. Publicly begging Rangers to sign him last summer, Ally McCoist elected instead to extend Hutton’s deal and sign Kenny Miller. As much as McCoist was the right figurehead to lead Rangers through the dark days of administration, he was truly the worst manager to take the team forward and Allan’s domination of the match in Edinburgh, including two assists, epitomised how far back McCoist’s disastrous regime has put our Club. Instead of having a lively, bright young team full of promise (like Scott Allan), skill (like Scott Allan), and some quality experienced players in concert with them (like Lee Wallace), we instead have the self-centred and amazingly useless Lee McCulloch, the truly hopeless Black and Law in the middle, while Boyd and Miller have failed to deliver up front and the sprightly Nicky Clark has only now started to get into the first XI after waiting 18 months. In short, we could have had Hibs or Hearts’ situation, of rebuilding a good balanced team, starting again in conjunction with our circumstances. Instead we have dreadful management, overpaid mercenaries, and abandoned youth players cast out to small lower-tier clubs (no disrespect intended to those clubs) while the very worst of them got new deals and the privilege of remaining at Ibrox. For Darren Cole to be given a new deal (albeit he was eventually fired) shows how dreadfully far back the McCoist regime took us. I have sympathy for McDowall. He did not want the job, and he is miles out of his depth. He lacks decent options to change the team up with, and somehow McCulloch (who made no attempt to clear or close down for the first Hibs goal) has a hold over Rangers and continues to drag the Club down with him. Rangers fans must pray the loanees get recalled and the team, moving forward, begins to resemble Bell, McAusland, McGregor, Zaliukas, Wallace, Aird, Macleod, Law, McKay, Gallagher, and Clark as soon as possible otherwise the playoffs will start looking anything but likely. The title is gone. Promotion cannot follow that trend.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 18:33:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015