Rangers v Clyde - The Battle of Legends FRAN ---------------BY GERSNET Written by Super Cooper Monday will bring together two Rangers greats in a battle I will touch on later, as they go head to head at Ibrox for a place in the next round of the newly named Challenge Cup, the Petrofac Training Cup. The sides previous meeting was during Rangers rise to the top which started in the bottom tier of Scottish Football in the then Scottish Division 3 back in April 2013 with Rangers running out comfortable 2-0 winners at Ibrox. Stark contrast to the clubs first ever competitive meeting when Clyde ran out 5-1 winners way back in the 1891/92 season. Interestingly, the last cup match between the sides was at first a tight affair. In season 2005/06 the League Cup match ended 2-2 after 90 mins, with Rangers running out eventual winners 5 goals to 2 after extra time. In fact, to find the last time Clyde actually beat Rangers one has to go way back to season 1969/70 when Clyde beat us 1-0 in the old First Division at Shawfield. So back to that battle, Super Ally versus Oh Barry Barry. McCoist is a managerial veteran compared to Ferguson with over 10 years in coaching and management compared to Barrys few months, having taken over at Blackpool temporarily after Paul Ince was sacked back in January. It wasn’t the best start to his managerial career results wise but he did manage to keep them in the league saving them by 2 clear points. Ferguson then stepped aside to assess his options joining the Blackpool exodus and when Jim Duffy was appointed Morton manager in the summer Barry had a window of opportunity, the Clyde job. Despite going into coaching now, Barry has yet to hang up his boots, instead taking up the player/manager role at Broadwood, a challenge he is thoroughly looking forward to. This is what chairman Mr Alexander had to say about Barry taking over at Clyde: He won us over with his vision for developing our squad and commitment to building on our existing youth policy, as he establishes himself as a manager in the Scottish game Alexander added We undertook a thorough recruitment process and we were fortunate to have many quality candidates keen to be involved with Clyde. Sounds good, eh. Exactly what many of us Rangers fans have been asking for from our managers for almost a decade! Anyway, the other side of the battle brings us to our very own Super Ally, Alistair Murdoch McCoist MBE, a man who knew nothing but success in his playing days at the club and who has continued that winning tradition at the club since taking over as manager. After a shaky start and shortly before a frustrating administration event which affected the club as a whole, in only 3 years as Rangers manager McCoist has added 2 league title victories to his impressive personal trophy haul whilst carrying a very impressive 72% win ratio as Rangers manager. Whilst his record in cup competitions has been the subject of debate, he did guide his team to the final of this very tournament just last year. A feat he will be hoping to repeat at the expense of his wee pal Barry. As for the line up for this match, I would expect Ally to rest a few of our big hitters, keeping them fit and fresh for league duty. I hope to see Simonsen given a run out in goal with some fringe players all given game time too. This is a line up I would like to see for the match, lining up in a 4-2-2-2 formation. No holding midfielders, no negative positions or long ball merchants, just ball players from back to front: Simonsen Peralta Halkett Gasparotto Smith Murdoch MacLeod McKay Templeton Gallagher Boyd I am desperate to see Lewis in the middle stamping his authority. Andy Murdoch is a very tidy wee player too and has a huge future ahead of him. Templeton and McKay with freedom to express playing in behind a strike force of Gallagher and Boyd. I believe that is positive, bold, ambitious and extremely refreshing. I would certainly pay to see that team! My score prediction would have to be 4-0 Rangers and Kris Boyd to score his first hat-trick since coming home.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:37:05 +0000
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