After a summer of reconstruction on the park and off it at Rangers football club, there seems to be a feeling of the board and manager not singing off the same hymn sheet today. In a season where the club and fans have to be aligned on our goals and targets, it seems that our last two defeats to PSV Eindhoven and Celtic have created some cracks in what was seen as a fruitful summer of change at the club.
Is Rangers Football Club turning into a circus?
There have been developments at Ibrox today as Chris Jack from the Rangers Review did an article this morning where he released net spend figures that were different of what Rangers manager Michael Beale had previously played down at a recent press conference. What message does this send to the clubs support after appearing to back the manager after Sunday’s defeat. Albeit communication from the club has been upgraded over the summer where they have worked hard to keep in touch with the fanbase on what is going on around Ibrox. Today there is a feeling of uncertainty among the fans again as the club chose to release these figures after Michael Beale had played them down, put an awkward silence on the managers future into the mix and that makes one very unhappy support this afternoon. However the board choosing to release this information today is in poor timing, when they haven’t come out and gave a statement on the first issue at hand (managers future) they appear to be quietly preparing changes in the background, instead of just coming out with a statement midweek either confirming or denying the rumours, they have just made a bigger problem for themselves in creating even more speculation. A degree of honesty is needed from the club and they need to come out and tell us what is going on.
The board made positive changes off the park in the summer with a change of board members and giving James Bisgrove a change of title to chief executive officer, he came out in the summer and attended events such as fans forums and gave promises that the club would be more engaging with fans which created a sense of optimism around the support. It has underwent a change of youth development where we seen former Head Of Youth Craig Mullholland depart the club, and vibrant coach Zeb Jacobs took on the role of developing the academy.
Former director of football Ross Wilson and managing director Stewart Robertson departed the club in which was also a move welcomed by fans, everything appeared to be on the right track until last week where the club is now undergoing the obligatory post mortem after an old firm defeat.
Should Michael Beale Depart?
Under fire manager Michael Beale’s management has come under question from all of us as fans. Last Sunday has made us realise that there doesn’t appear to be a brand of football, a set tactical shape or a starting eleven that can give us even a small degree of optimism going forward. The tactical SHAPES that Rangers used in the first half bewildered me and early in the second half he had Kemar Roofe at the tip of a diamond marking Celtic Captain Callum Mcgregor. The continued reliance on full back James Tavernier and Borna Barasic lump balls into the box as our main attacking threat is dated and has to change during this international break if the manager is to save his job. The majority of Rangers fans feel it is time for change within the management setup as it doesn’t appear to be producing any degree of optimism 9 games into the new season. We seen last season how long it took before the club wielded the axe on former manager Giovanni Van Bronkhorst and if we don’t see improvement after the international break we need a change at management level before the league is over for halloween.
As usual the club has come across as a shambles in this latest saga and it needs rectified as the support grow increasingly frustrated at what appears to be a amateur move behind the managers back. There is obviously a different agenda from the board after what was a summer that created optimism, fixing a bond between the club and fans that had already been fraught, is now on the verge of total collapse. Someone needs to come out and tell us what is happening, and soon.