Gerrard inherited the toughest job in the history of Rangers FC

Whit about the other mob - surely it's fitting that the bravest man gets the toughest job??
 
In 1902, the entire squad of players were put up for sale, in the aftermath of the first Ibrox Disaster.

William Wilton had to contend with and then steady the ship, finally laying the platform for Bill Struth to take us onto the next level. But that was a long time in the making.

As for Ally McCoist's overall achievements in the managerial grand scheme of things? I hope someday we will finally know get to know the full extent of and realise and then appreciate just what he did do behind the scenes in those dark days.

However, purely on the football picth, despite having to cobble sides together, they should still have been able to beat the teams as were coming back up the tables. As for a wee karaoke after that game against Raith?

The transformation from the shambles of Progres' to the Kent goal last night is nothing short of a miracle. And of course what surely is about to happen domestically.

Scot Symon had to take over from THE Man, and also had by our own standards, deteriorated badly. Partick Thistle ended the season above us for the only time in their history.

John Greig and Ally McCoist started off their managerial careers from a position of strength. Even though we had won the ECWC the previous May, Jock Wallace less so.

Steven Gerrad's achievements thus far, and I realise we have won nothing yet, stands up there with the best of them.
 
Ubik said:
McCoist maybe had it hardest of all off the field but on the field its the easiest job any Rangers manager has had or probably ever will have and he made a pigs ear of it.
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Regardless of board issues, Ally had the opportunity to blood youth, but chose Kevin Kyle, Sandaza et al and that is shameful. He was also in the lower leagues playing against pizza delivery men, whilst Stevie G had to transform a whole team that has delivered in Europe from the off, he has stopped their 10, last 16 in europa 2 years running so there is only one winner with regards to who has done the best job in the hardest conditions and it isn't McCoist.
 
mr magoo loyal said:
Regardless of board issues, Ally had the opportunity to blood youth, but chose Kevin Kyle, Sandaza et al and that is shameful. He was also in the lower leagues playing against pizza delivery men, whilst Stevie G had to transform a whole team that has delivered in Europe from the off, he has stopped their 10, last 16 in europa 2 years running so there is only one winner with regards to who has done the best job in the hardest conditions and it isn't McCoist.
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It's also largely a myth.
 
Souness had a tall order but had solidity behind the scenes. Super Ally had a shitshow on and off the field. Walter second time had huge expectations.
SG has had a bit of all three to deal with and given he was and is a rookie with the football world watching on given his name, what he has done is outstanding. He strikes me as being a bit more intelligent than Souness so I hope he waits until he is ready before leaving as Souness was too inexperienced to be successful at Liverpool.
 
The Dude said:
This player development thing is a massive myth. We were expected to win every game 5 or 6 nil and anything else was viewed as failure. Players were given chances to impress and many simply weren't good enough over the course. Guys like Telfer, Gallagher, Naismith, Little, Perry, Mitchell, Hutton, were given games and weren't up to it.

As managers they may well be at different ends of the spectrum but we're talking about the job they inherited, not their performance thereafter.

McCoist took over at a time when we were scrambling about for frees and dross on loan, on the brink of financial meltdown, had a bank placeman on the board and having all the off-field stuff going on.

Gerrard took over at a point when we were on the way back up, things were improving off the pitch, we weren't reliant on bringing in the fourth and fifth choice players we wanted and financially we were in a stronger position to go out and spend on the likes of Katic, Goldson, Barisic etc
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There are two parts to developing players, as you know.

Firstly, do we have the raw materials / potential talent ? And secondly, do you have the passion & ability to develop them ?

Throwing these guys in isnt trying to develop them as far as I’m concerned.

And even with some of those horrific buys / players secured, did any of them leave Rangers a better player than when he started ? Only Lewis Macleod & to a lesser extent McKay progressed & I have no confidence that it was because Ally’s management developed them.

Contrast that with not only our younger players such as Patterson, Aribo, Kamara, Morelos development, but look at the improvement in such as Tav & Goldson.

Sorry, but I loved Ally as a player including when others were telling him to %^*& off, but I wouldn’t let him manage the club again for free, which we know would never happen with him anyway.
 
Grigo Yossarian said:
Probably true, but look how that worked out.

Buying over the hill experienced pros to take on part time teams.

Gerrard & McCoist’s performances in the circumstances they were confronted with are night & day mate.
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Yes. I really wanted Ally to build a team of young players with the odd experienced head to guide them, and a shape and system. Sadly Ally could only see the need to win and so put his trust in to (in his eyes.) good pro’s who would win by any means. That is probably my biggest sadness to Ally’s reign, and there were a few. That being said, we should remember that he had very short notice of IF, never mind who and when we were playing. So I can forgive him, but it was a big chance missed in some respects.
 
TQ3 said:
Yes. I really wanted Ally to build a team of young players with the odd experienced head to guide them, and a shape and system. Sadly Ally could only see the need to win and so put his trust in to (in his eyes.) good pro’s who would win by any means. That is probably my biggest sadness to Ally’s reign, and there were a few. That being said, we should remember that he had very short notice of IF, never mind who and when we were playing. So I can forgive him, but it was a big chance missed in some respects.
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Im exactly where you are TQ3.

To see the club develop its own talented youngsters & learn from our previous errors was something that would have been very exciting.

In many ways, we have done that this year, with so many of our squad 24 or younger.
 
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Gerrard has been backed by the board from day one, financially and throughout the failures, McCoist was dealing with crooks who were pocketing whatever they could get their hands on, there is no comparison.
 
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wayoutwest said:
Gerrard has been backed by the board from day one, financially and throughout the failures, McCoist was dealing with crooks who were pocketing whatever they could get their hands on, there is no comparison.
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Gerrard earned that financial support with his europe performances to be fair. without europe i don't think he'd have got backed the way he has either.

Fair enough mccoist never got a chance in europe, but you can only beat what's infront of you and gerrard done that.

anyways, he probably didn't inherit the worst job but he's certainly inherited the worst team that's went on to be succesful under him, which I would argue is an even bigger feat.
 
mr magoo loyal said:
Regardless of board issues, Ally had the opportunity to blood youth, but chose Kevin Kyle, Sandaza et al and that is shameful. He was also in the lower leagues playing against pizza delivery men, whilst Stevie G had to transform a whole team that has delivered in Europe from the off, he has stopped their 10, last 16 in europa 2 years running so there is only one winner with regards to who has done the best job in the hardest conditions and it isn't McCoist.
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This is always mentioned but at the time we had a lack of youth that were good enough, plenty were given their chances but couldn’t take them.

Whilst I agree Sandaza and Kyle were terrible signings, on paper we were getting a Scotland international and a decent premiership striker to play against part time sides.

What other youngsters would you have blooded in?
 
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BlueSeaOfIbrox said:
Gerrard earned that financial support with his europe performances to be fair. without europe i don't think he'd have got backed the way he has either.

Fair enough mccoist never got a chance in europe, but you can only beat what's infront of you and gerrard done that.

anyways, he probably didn't inherit the worst job but he's certainly inherited the worst team that's went on to be succesful under him, which I would argue is an even bigger feat.
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You're right about Gerrard's european windfall but it's more than just about the money, he's been fantastic but has benefitted from a togetherness at the club and good infrastructure, Ally had none of that. Their managerial records are night and day but I imagine McCoist's days were fraught with a lot more worries than Gerrard, 'who should I play up front with Morelos and Kent?' or 'how many staff will be let go this week?'.
 
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