Ally McCoist, Rangers playing legend and a goalscoring hero to Bears across the globe will become the 13th man to manage Rangers. Ally fully understands the pressure of being involved with Rangers and what is expected.
Sometimes, though, trophies are not always enough. As a Rangers supporter we expect a certain pizzazz when watching our team.
Walter Smith in his second spell as Rangers manager has been a success in terms of trophies and this of course has brought great joy to us all. However there has been a distinct lack of entertainment along the way.
Often Smith has opted for a very cautious, conservative and often extremely negative approach. While some supporters might accept a 4-5-1 formation when facing opposition who are vastly superior to us, we won’t accept it in the SPL or when up against sides of similar ability. Many fans have pleaded with Smith to be more positive in the teams’ attitude and formation, to attack sides. Smith thought has become almost stubborn to the point where he will stick with the same strategy and formation with the hope that it will eventually work.
While Smith’s negative style has come in for criticism, so has his rather parochial outlook on the transfer market. Smith tended to look mainly at the Scottish national side, SPL, Premiership reserves and the Championship for new recruits. While there is the odd gem to be found on British shores, the market is simply overpriced and it’s difficult to get value for money.
McCoist will need to have a far greater liberal mentality when it comes to scouting new players. There are talented footballers in Europe who are affordable but it’s down to the manager delegating the correct scouts who are willing to put the work in to unearth these talents. With our current financial predicament, the emphasis on sourcing skilled players on a limited budget will be important.
However Ally’s greatest challenge will be changing the mentality from Smith’s negative, dinosaur tactics into making Rangers an attractive, entertaining and attacking force. Everyone will be hoping that McCoist will modernise our approach and tactics, bringing us further success.
Hopefully McCoist will learn from Smith’s mistakes. A slow and laborious build up at Ibrox does us no favours at all. The ball needs to be moved at pace and needs to be played in an incisive manner to break down the opposition who look to pack their defence and midfield. This means we need creative and imaginative players who have the technical ability to move the ball at pace. We currently don’t have enough of these players and this is an aspect Super Ally must identify and rectify.
Supporters don’t want to go watch a team who will be happy to nick a single goal victory at Ibrox, they will simply chose to spend their money elsewhere and stay away. Supporters will want to come watch a team who will attack the opposition from first minute to last, who will look to score goals and do things in style.
The value of entertainment can’t be underestimated and Mr. McCoist would be foolish to neglect this.