Glasgow Rangers, is that even their name anymore?, is a veritable mess of epic proportions. Ally McCoist’s recent resignation only adds to the general mad house vibe that the club is under at the moment. Decisions seem to be made on a whim, stadium naming rights are sold for £1, attendances are dropping and the general fan base seems at their wits end.
McCoist’s resignation is just another chapter in the seemingly never ending saga of this once successful clubs collapse. I know some snarky people will reply with “What success? This club has only been in existence for 2 seasons!”, but let’s be real about this. As fun as it is to use that stick to beat the slightly more unedifying part of the Rangers support with, this Newco is still very much the Rangers we all knew and loved/loathed (Pick where applicable)
Such an exaggerated collapse of a once powerful institution is something to behold and a dire warning to other clubs. What irks me about all this though is how Rangers just don’t seem to have learnt their lesson. I mean, I don’t think they’ve learnt a single solitary thing from the events that landed them where they are. This isn’t just random Old Firm Bashing either. When you compare a club like Rangers to a club in a similar position, such as Hearts, the differences are staggering.
Hearts found themselves in financial disarray and with a big point deduction to boot. Knowing they didn’t have money to spend, Hearts instead cultivated their younger players and essentially took the pressure off Gary Locke to do what he needed to do to right the ship, pretty much writing a season off. Hearts eventually finished bottom and were relegated, but had it not been for the points deduction they would have likely stayed up. Not only that, a lot of the young lads from last season are now helping Hearts to be top of The Scottish Championship.
In comparison, Rangers realised they didn’t have money to spend, but just went out and spent it anyway. McCoist was put under immediate pressure to get Ranger’s up the leagues, even to the detriment of the sides future development, and as such he didn’t want to risk it all on the youth team. As a result, he shored up the side with journeymen players on inflated wages and slowly started flushing away what was left of the clubs finances. This directly plunged Ranger’s deep into the darkness once more.
McCoist to this day is adamant that signing experienced pro’s was the way forward as opposed to taking his chances with the youth players. This raises questions about both McCoist himself, the Club and also the youth facilities at Rangers disposal.
In regards to McCoist, it questions his attitude to the development of players and also his management style. McCoist's actions during his time as manager have suggested that he lives very much in the short term. His desire for instant gratification seems to mirror that of the board and the Rangers support. This doesn’t mean that he won’t be capable of any success as a manager in the future, but it does suggest that he will be a manager who doesn’t stay at a club for long. It suggests he’ll be someone who will drop in for a couple of years, possibly win something and then move on for the next challenge. If there was any club where you’d expect him to play the long game, it would be Rangers, but that’s not at all what has happened here.
Of Course, an argument could be made that McCoist had little choice in this instance. Rather than rebuilding the club gradually, perhaps at the expense of immediate promotion in the very first season, it was clear that Rangers felt they had to come straight back up as quickly as possible, and placed pressure on McCoist accordingly. Now, I understand that Rangers is a big club and the idea to supporters and board that they’d spend even one season longer in a lower division than they had to was an intolerable one at best, but surely it made sense for the club to take their time and not rush things?
And what does it say about the standard of Rangers youth academy? This was a situation where it would have been both cost effective and also an opportunity for some positive PR to give some of the younger players a chance. However, the manager was so terrified that they’d fail that he decided to pass on them and sign veterans and journeymen instead, journeymen that likely wouldn’t be up to much if Rangers were to make it back to the top division.
This then raises the question, is the youth academy really this bad or did McCoist simply not have the moral fortitude to give them a chance? Now look, I know that’s easy for me to say and to point out that I'm just musing in a column while McCoist was in a high pressure situation and yada yada yada, but let’s remember who this is. Ally McCoist is a club legend and, as a result, you would think he’d have the clubs best interests at heart right? How on Earth then does spending them into a gaping abyss, while taking a pretty sweet wage himself I might add, help the club? Surely it would be better for the club if he’d gone to board and said “Look, I want to play the kids. Give me at least a years wiggle room”, rather than just throwing money that they didn't have at a problem that didn't require it?
If the board then said no and he decided not to take the job, could anyone really blame him? What was McCoist’s end game? Was he thinking “I’ll just spend the money we don’t have because eventually these people will be bought out”? How is that even close to a viable plan when managing a football club, especially one that you're puported to love?
In the interest of balance though, maybe McCoist did have a point that the lads in the youth squad just weren’t good enough? If that were the case, how could Rangers have allowed such a situation to befall them? I can only imagine the amount of young footballers who would jump at the chance to sign a contract with Rangers, regardless of where they were in the league system. Rangers are a hugely popular club. Is it really feasible that Rangers couldn’t cultivate enough talented youngsters for McCoist to use in his team? Their youth facilities in general seem to be to a decent standard. I just find it hard to believe. If Hearts could do it, in a more difficult league in fact, why couldn’t Rangers?
Was anyone even remotely concerned with the long term ramifications of what the club was doing in those two seasons in League Two and One? Wouldn’t there be merit to the club gradually building itself back up rather than spending themselves back into a hole in a desperate bid to climb the divisions as quickly as possible?
The board failed to be honest with the fan base. I know that it sucks to be the bearer of bad news. I work in complaints and that role naturally entails me to sometimes be the first person to actually tell a customer the truth. There is nothing more galling than speaking to a customer who has been told exactly what they wanted to hear on more than one occasion only to kick off when you actually explain what the situation truly is.
If the board had just come clean with the fans and told them that they had to cut their cloth accordingly and manage expectations, maybe there would have been less pressure on McCoist and the coaching staff to get Rangers up the leagues? Maybe McCoist would have felt more confident giving the lads from the youth squad a chance in that scenario? Maybe Rangers could have spent a season in League Two building up the lads and getting them experience?
Not all of them would have come through obviously, but enough of them could have potentially developed into decent players so that Rangers would have been one step closer to self-efficiency. The board could have then hoarded the money for 2-3 seasons with the real promise that they would spend it when the club reached the Championship, where the expected gulf between the top divisions and the lower half would have required such action.
There was always a risk that the kids wouldn’t be up to it, but then that’s one of the pitfalls of going into administration. Rangers, despite what some may think, do not have a divine right to compete in Scotland’s top division. Part of going into administration is because you have been financially imprudent. To be put into administration, dropped down three leagues and then continue to be financially imprudent is just plain insanity. After all, the definition of insanity is to the do the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.
Some clubs, such as Chelsea and Man United, can afford to live in the short term. Their futures are almost assuredly financially secure, so they can take gambles on big money for players and if it doesn’t work out, they can just buy another. Rangers could not afford to live in the short term. They had the chance to create a long term plan that would enable them to climb the leagues while ensuring that they were also financially stable.
They should have been patient with expectations
They should have been honest with the support and managed their expectations
They should have been firmer with McCoist in regards to finance but also placed less pressure on him in relation to timescales
They should have promoted and played their best youth prospects before they got into the veritable dogfight that is The Championship
Rangers FC was a giant mess two years ago, and it’s just the same today. The club had its chance to learn from its mistakes and come back stronger but it didn’t take that chance. Rangers remain a cautionary tale to all clubs to not spend what they don’t have and to also look more to the long term rather than focus on short term gains.
Peace Out
