Ross Wilson

Really?

Pound for pound, I’d say the Gerrard signings before Wilson compared to after Wilson have given us so much better value for money.
The squad has basically changed completely (bar Tavernier, Morelos and Jack) since Gerrard has been here and before he arrived Arfield, Murphy and McGregor were signed up.

However, There was a lot of poor signings from England, guys that Gerrard knows, guys that we know are supporters, loan signings and players that simply played well against us that didn't work out before Wilson came in like Grezda, Lafferty, Coulibaly, McAuley, Flanagan, Worrall, Sadiq, Ejaria, Hastie, Jones, Edmundson and King. Maybe even Ojo, Barker and Stewart fit in that conversation.

Wilson has had a couple of poor transfers in the three windows: Kamberi & Zungu mostly, but possibly Itten given he's out on loan.

However, looking at his success stories; Hagi, Balogun, McLaughlin, Bassey, Roofe and it being far too early to decide on the January and Summer signings yet. I think the hit rate is a bit better under Wilson.
 
Because every transfer window we are told it’s quantity over quantity. In the real world it’s not quite as simple as that. It depends how any transfer window will go. I didn’t think tonight went too bad. We weren’t great, we Weren’t shite, these things happen, sometimes we wikl
get a result, sometimes we won’t.

Quantity over quantity? The thing was we really just needed a couple of quality additions to the first team. Probably for the first time in about a decade we didn't need a clear out and start again job - we just needed something approaching a decent quality midfielder and somebody who could move the ball forward quicker in the middle of the park.

We didn't get either of them.
 
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£14 million needed to keep the club going. Pumped off Malmö of all teams. £30 million income denied

A share issue and shirt sails doesn't come close to covering that. A bit of fiscal responsibility is needed at some stage ffs.

Lundstram and Sakala won't have been cheap either.

What exactly are people expecting of the board?

I'd suggest looking more at Gerrard and co. more so than Wilson and the board.
 
The biggest concern is failure to generate interest in our biggest assets. Yes, Covid played a part, but players were still bought and sold but we got a shitty bid from Everton for Patterson and nothing else. We can't be the club we want to be without big sales or CL football, and that's why we've ended up with a stale team and a few squad fillers at best otherwise.
 
We won the league because we improved the squad. It meant the drop-off in quality between the first XI and subs was reduced significantly.

We’ve added to the squad depth again with Lundstram arguably seen as a starter.

Without a sale (or two) we can’t afford to pay for a starter.
 
We've made a few strange transfer decisions. Itten hasnt been a good signing - there might be a player in there but it doesnt look like he'll realise that potential in a blue jersey and we'll be lucky to get much back for him. Simpson is also a questionable signing, Bacuna seems like a bit of a panic buy and overall we haven't stuck to the oft repeated policy of buying low, selling high and having a self-financing club. Lundstram may yet come good but its at a high price in terms of wages and signing fee. Sakala doesnt seem to be of the quality needed to provide genuine competition up front and looks every part the 3rd choice player he currently is. It's arguable that our best recent signing has been Scott Wright.

Part of that is undoubtedly down to Covid. Teams havent had the money to make big purchases and I suspect that the only reason we still have Morelos and another couple of our bigger players is because the market over the past 2 summers has been depressed at our level. Thats had the knock on effect of putting pressure on the club's majority shareholders to provide funding that they perhaps otherwise wouldn't have and resulted in our squad becoming stale. Part of that has also been influenced by the first 2 seasons under Gerrard where Rangers collapsed after Christmas. I think that we were always likely to resist bids whilst chasing last season's title and the prospect of stopping their 10. Regardless of what happens this season, I'd expect big changes in the squad next summer.

I think Wilson deserves criticism for some of the deals he's done. I also think that he's working in unusual circumstances right now and that the squad wouldn't look like it does today if things had been normal. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is for fans to decide. I dont believe that we'd have Morelos and we might not have another couple of our bigger players. I'm also not convinced that Davis would still be playing as we really should be looking for his replacement. One thing is for sure - next summer is going to be a time of huge change in the Rangers squad and Wilson will need to have a very good summer transfer window or some difficult questions should be asked as to his future with the club.
 
We’re at a market level where little is guaranteed and all buys are a gamble.

We’ve had more successes than failures and have been able to improve a number of players through coaching.
 
We've made a few strange transfer decisions. Itten hasnt been a good signing - there might be a player in there but it doesnt look like he'll realise that potential in a blue jersey and we'll be lucky to get much back for him. Simpson is also a questionable signing, Bacuna seems like a bit of a panic buy and overall we haven't stuck to the oft repeated policy of buying low, selling high and having a self-financing club. Lundstram may yet come good but its at a high price in terms of wages and signing fee. Sakala doesnt seem to be of the quality needed to provide genuine competition up front and looks every part the 3rd choice player he currently is. It's arguable that our best recent signing has been Scott Wright.

Part of that is undoubtedly down to Covid. Teams havent had the money to make big purchases and I suspect that the only reason we still have Morelos and another couple of our bigger players is because the market over the past 2 summers has been depressed at our level. Thats had the knock on effect of putting pressure on the club's majority shareholders to provide funding that they perhaps otherwise wouldn't have and resulted in our squad becoming stale. Part of that has also been influenced by the first 2 seasons under Gerrard where Rangers collapsed after Christmas. I think that we were always likely to resist bids whilst chasing last season's title and the prospect of stopping their 10. Regardless of what happens this season, I'd expect big changes in the squad next summer.

I think Wilson deserves criticism for some of the deals he's done. I also think that he's working in unusual circumstances right now and that the squad wouldn't look like it does today if things had been normal. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is for fans to decide. I dont believe that we'd have Morelos and we might not have another couple of our bigger players. I'm also not convinced that Davis would still be playing as we really should be looking for his replacement. One thing is for sure - next summer is going to be a time of huge change in the Rangers squad and Wilson will need to have a very good summer transfer window or some difficult questions should be asked as to his future with the club.
I stopped at Bacuna seems to be a bit of a panic buy , really ,a guy none of us have EVER seen playing for Rangers . :D
 
I stopped at Bacuna seems to be a bit of a panic buy , really ,a guy none of us have EVER seen playing for Rangers . :D

Do you think that Huddersfield were willing to let a good player go for no transfer fee? They were keen to get him out the door and off their wage bill. They were happy to accept a deal based entirely on future clauses because nobody was paying money for him.

He might turn out to be a great signing, but Huddersfield aren't letting great players go for nothing. I doubt that many fans could tell you anything about him before he signed.
 
The squad isn't that great tbh and needs refreshing. It's still more than good enough to the win league which is the main priority. And for what its worth I would of taken a punt on Ali McCann no doubt he would of been on a lot lower wages than Lundstrom and possibly Bacuna.
 
Do you think that Huddersfield were willing to let a good player go for no transfer fee? They were keen to get him out the door and off their wage bill. They were happy to accept a deal based entirely on future clauses because nobody was paying money for him.

He might turn out to be a great signing, but Huddersfield aren't letting great players go for nothing. I doubt that many fans could tell you anything about him before he signed.
Right cool mate , I will take tax advice from you , and football advice on Gerrard McAllister , Beale , Wilson , HE HASNT EVEN PLAYED YET :D
 
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Do you think that Huddersfield were willing to let a good player go for no transfer fee? They were keen to get him out the door and off their wage bill. They were happy to accept a deal based entirely on future clauses because nobody was paying money for him.

He might turn out to be a great signing, but Huddersfield aren't letting great players go for nothing. I doubt that many fans could tell you anything about him before he signed.
My mate is a Huddersfield ST holder and told me if we manage to get a tune out of Bacuna he's a great player. Unfortunately that happens very rarely and when he's off the boil he's worse than a man down
 
Everyone else is getting it in the neck, so why not?…

But, seriously, would you say our recruitment was better before or after Wilson arrived?

It feels like we’ve been treading water for a few windows now, and we seem to have regressed this season, despite keeping our squad intact.

The promise was quality over quantity, but there is very little evidence of this so far.
I think recruitment has been better under Wilson
 
Recruitment hasn’t been good, but I’d imagine making a mess of CL qualification and no major player sale means there’s little to work with cash wise.

But yeah Lundstram certainly doesn’t improve us, and Fashion seems to have simply taken Itten’s place as the striker who comes on for the last 10 minutes but won’t be trusted to start. I’m looking forward to seeing Bacuna though.
 
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My mate is a Huddersfield ST holder and told me if we manage to get a tune out of Bacuna he's a great player. Unfortunately that happens very rarely and when he's off the boil he's worse than a man down
Aww ffs that's aw we need another inconsistent passsanger
 
Right cool mate , I will take tax advice from you , and football advice on Gerrard McAllister , Beale , Wilson , HE HASNT EVEN PLAYED YET :D

Championship teams don't let good players leave for no transfer fee. Bacuna might be a great signing but there is certainly cause for concern. He didnt set the world alight with Huddersfield and we were able to sign him for no money up front. They wanted him out the door.
 
Championship teams don't let good players leave for no transfer fee. Bacuna might be a great signing but there is certainly cause for concern. He didnt set the world alight with Huddersfield and we were able to sign him for no money up front. They wanted him out the door.
Mate c,mon the Bacuna might be a great signing ???? , ;) Covering the bases:D ,I’m a spark , you are a tax man , we know %^*& all.
 
Cuffed off Lyon and we are questioning Ross Wilson lol , we shop in the low end of the market these days, that’s where we are unfortunately… 9 years ago we were nearly shutting the gates ffs We have a great young manager and a fantastic back room team at the moment, that won’t last forever …. Yeah , we get beat sometimes..
 
I think this summer hasn’t worked out as planned, so far.

Lundstram and Sakala haven’t settled as quickly as required.

Going out the CL was a massive blow.

I don’t think we recruited well enough or early enough to help that CL issue.
We’re eleven games into the season, about 20% of the way through based on last seasons number of games. That’s a reasonable time frame to make an assessment of where we are compared to last season. Of course the proof of the pudding will be in May but for now, my assessment of us this season is a bit damning. I can’t name a single players form from this season, based on what I’ve seen, who has improved on or even matching last seasons performances. The new recruits haven’t improved us at this stage either.

We look sloppier, slower and our rock solid defence from last season doesn’t look so solid anymore. Our shutout percentage is down 15%. We are also down on the goal scoring side, eighteen in eleven games and half of them came in two games. Something isn’t right as many have pointed out on this forum. Hopefully we can turn it around.

Yes, we are top of the league despite it and have made the group stage of the EL so the damage has been limited to the CL at this point. Hopefully we see some pick up in form from lots of players and our luck turns on injuries / Covid which hasn’t helped either.
 
I’ll play along as Devil’s Advocate.

I mean, you don’t need to be the brain of Britain to spot that Roofe and Hagi are excellent footballers. Itten was a misfire, while Bacuna - not writing him off before you all pile in - seems a bit old boys network given the Huddersfield connection.

Let’s see what he can do with the reinvestment from a big sale.
Brain of Britain yet I bet you'd never seen either play honestly shut up
 
I’ll play along as Devil’s Advocate.

I mean, you don’t need to be the brain of Britain to spot that Roofe and Hagi are excellent footballers. Itten was a misfire, while Bacuna - not writing him off before you all pile in - seems a bit old boys network given the Huddersfield connection.

Let’s see what he can do with the reinvestment from a big sale.
Brain of Britain yet I bet you'd never seen either play honestly shut up
 
I think this summer hasn’t worked out as planned, so far.

Lundstram and Sakala haven’t settled as quickly as required.

Going out the CL was a massive blow.

I don’t think we recruited well enough or early enough to help that CL issue.
Could that be down to that we didn’t get the big sale that would’ve funded some bigger purchases?
Could it be that simple?
 
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Summer has been a disaster. I’ve no idea what the %^*& Ross Wilson is doing. Sakala looks like he’s won a competition and lundstrum looks like a Sheffield united player playing against Lyon.

it’s actually had a detrimental affect on the squad.
I’m typing this slowly so that those in dreamworld can let it sink in.
We didn’t get the financial input that would have funded the buying of players to compete with Lyon.
The target for this season is to win the league where CL money might help us do that.
Most of us, most of the realists, believed getting to the CL groups was a big ask.
As for your expert critique of Sakala and Lundstram, perhaps waiting till the league settles down a bit would be in order.
 
We still haven’t addressed our midfield to any great degree

Hoping for the reincarnation of the lesser spotted Ryan Jack is just folly imo
That’s the area that’s giving us serious problems now. We can’t control games for long periods of time and I think it’s fair to say the Lyon midfield had a field day last night
 
While the first 11 may not necessarily have improved, the squad had massively improved. You need a good squad to win things over the course of the season when injuries and suspensions kick in. We've got a few good players for each position. We didn't have that for the seasons before last and it showed.

We've been beaten by a better team in Lyon, the games against them were always going to be difficult. Wins in the others see us through.
 
I’ll play along as Devil’s Advocate.

I mean, you don’t need to be the brain of Britain to spot that Roofe and Hagi are excellent footballers. Itten was a misfire, while Bacuna - not writing him off before you all pile in - seems a bit old boys network given the Huddersfield connection.

Let’s see what he can do with the reinvestment from a big sale.
Let’s see if he can manage a big sale. I’m not convinced with the guy to be honest.
 
The defeat to Slavia exposed our weakness and where we need to improve.

We need a midfielder like their #7 who scored the free kick and dominated the game. The problem is there are not many like him available, the ones that are available ain't cheap and unlikely willing to play in Scotland.

We needed the CL to attract and pay for the type of player we need to improve.

Can't be too harsh on Wilson for this but he needs to try and scout a hidden gem from somewhere.
 
We continually bulk up our squad with bench warmers. We need to be buying players that are going to be pushing Alfie, Kent etc for a starting position. You want to be waiting for that line up not knowing who’s starting.
Are we financing those types of signings via our magic money tree? Wilson can only work with what he’s got tbf
 
It all comes back to finance though. Wilson operates with the budget he's given.
This 100%.

Plus, in case anyone has forgotten, we are in the midst of a global pandemic, that has no doubt curtailed revenue streams.

AND, more importantly, we are being financed through some very well heeled Rangers fans.

CL elimination would have offered some respite but that shop has sailed.
 
Everyone else is getting it in the neck, so why not?…

But, seriously, would you say our recruitment was better before or after Wilson arrived?

It feels like we’ve been treading water for a few windows now, and we seem to have regressed this season, despite keeping our squad intact.

The promise was quality over quantity, but there is very little evidence of this so far.
Problem may be being able to fund a better quality player who would go into the first team - what position and what budget would be required for the improvement?
 
Summer has been a disaster. I’ve no idea what the %^*& Ross Wilson is doing. Sakala looks like he’s won a competition and lundstrum looks like a Sheffield united player playing against Lyon.

it’s actually had a detrimental affect on the squad.
Thought lundstrum was decent last night
 
Covid has not helped. Clubs lost a lot of money and we are no different.
Losing to Malmo was criminal.
Our midfield has been a huge problem this season we are getting over run in this area of the park.
 
We need a plan for renewing the midfield next season as we have Kamara running down his contract and an over reliance on Davis. Arfield is getting on, McGregor might retire. We are heading toward a summer rebuild.

Personally I think we probably did try for Veerman but it disappeared with the champions league money. We need to win this league because that money will fund our squad rebuild.
 
It’s still early days but with the money committed to Lundstram, Sakala and Bacuna in terms of wages, I’m sure we could’ve picked got a player to improve the starting eleven for the season starting.

It’s been glaringly obvious for 2 seasons now that we lack a midfielder of the technical ability to thread a pass through to the forwards that they can use productively on a consistent basis. We get the odd ball through and lots of combative play in there.
 
He was built up as some recruitment genius previously so I get where the op is coming from but it's clear we are skint.

The fans have thrown cash at the club in ticket sales and tat.

We were promised an exciting window by the manager but it was anything but.

We really needed to improve the first team whilst ahead but didn't which is slightly worrying and annoying and our squad is looking slightly thin with Helander and potentially Kent out.

We can hope for a bit of form from somewhere
 
We have a free run at the Champions League if we win the league this season ya tadger.

Clearly not worth it this season was it.
CL this season would have made the CL next season an almost guarantee. If the money was there it should have spent weeks ago.

Doesn't exactly take a genius to work that out although I understand you will struggle to grasp that.
 
Everyone else is getting it in the neck, so why not?…

But, seriously, would you say our recruitment was better before or after Wilson arrived?

It feels like we’ve been treading water for a few windows now, and we seem to have regressed this season, despite keeping our squad intact.

The promise was quality over quantity, but there is very little evidence of this so far.

The simply truth is we DO NOT have money.

As a club we run at an unhealthly loss of around £15m a season - it is only the generosity of our directors/investors who, outwith the normal income that the club generates, help keep the lights on and have enabled the club to grow to its current position.

It is therefore not surprising that the majority of our signings are Bosmans which IMHO can be very hit or miss. This summers signings have for me been underwhelming, we most definitely have not strengthened our starting 11 one bit but I repeat, finances aren't there unless we sell big.
 
The biggest failure of Wilson this summer was failing to attract any sort of decent offers for 1 or 2 of our players.

This alongside not making the CL meant we haven't been able to fund any kind of squad update.

Gerrard is now relying on going again with the same bodies pretty much. I just don't think it's realistic for these guys to reach the last dance levels of last year.

Lundstram looks an expensive misfire so far.
Kamara not signed contract.
Goldson not signed contract.
No player trading model sale to reinvest in the squad.
Moving on Itten with no plan B.
Not replacing Jack and leaning too much on Davis.
Preseason looked poorly planned and executed. Two games in two days, playing teams who were all on game 1 or 2 of preseason set us up with a real lack of competition before Malmo.

All on Wilson's watch, all contributing or contributed already to us regressing.

I don't blame the board, very much accepting that we can't spend what isn’t there.

I don't think Gerrard should be absolved of blame for us regressing. But that's probably another thread.

Good teams don't stand still.
 
Everyone else is getting it in the neck, so why not?…

But, seriously, would you say our recruitment was better before or after Wilson arrived?

It feels like we’ve been treading water for a few windows now, and we seem to have regressed this season, despite keeping our squad intact.

The promise was quality over quantity, but there is very little evidence of this so far.
Will give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you posted this when pished and emotional.
 
We've brought in a few players cheap or free we hope we can make a buck on.

Sadly thats our model now. There is a standard and this is the standard.

Unless we start getting a few good sales or CL money regular to move up the levels this is where we are.
 
It’s hard to improve a starting 11 that went undefeated all season, I think the 11/15 players that achieved that deserved a chance to replicate that form.
id guess if we had a spare £10/15m we would have spent it on a couple of players, we don’t, so without selling a star player from last season I don’t see how you buy the type of player that is of a level above.
Even then you could sell a Kamara and buy 2/3 £5m players that might not work out.
I think I’d rather let this team go until January and give them a chance to get back to the standard we know they can get to.
 
At the start of the window Gerrard talked about an exciting summer and adding quality, think it is clear we didn’t get some main targets.

Blaming Wilson is harsh, for all we know he had the right players lined up and ultimately it is Gerrard that is pulling the trigger on the signings

Maybe we have overvalued our own players because we have not implemented the next phase of the strategy which is selling for a profit and reinvesting. For that reason the team has gone stale and we have been limited to free transfers and project players when we actually need players that increase the quality of the starting line up.
 
It all comes back to finance though. Wilson operates with the budget he's given.

This is a key point, whilst we as a support have piled in an incredible amount of money the board have also. Covid would have left a massive hole in the accounts, which where showing big losses pre-Covid.

Win the league this season, in a year with full crowds throughout, champions league next season and hopefully a transfer budget for next summer which would allow us all to fairly judge things.
 
I would say he’s been a success in terms of bringing a certain quality of player in. Compared to Mark Allen, his signings have been of a better calibre.

He’s not been able to be tested on using a big sale income but other than that he’s been a success.

The signings he’s been involved in have helped brought a title home. What’s not to like?
 
At the start of the window Gerrard talked about an exciting summer and adding quality, think it is clear we didn’t get some main targets.

Blaming Wilson is harsh, for all we know he had the right players lined up and ultimately it is Gerrard that is pulling the trigger on the signings

Maybe we have overvalued our own players because we have not implemented the next phase of the strategy which is selling for a profit and reinvesting. For that reason the team has gone stale and we have been limited to free transfers and project players when we actually need players that increase the quality of the starting line up.
Maybe a lot of truth in this and Malmö really Damaged our ambitions. Lundstrum this far has looked miles out of place, he’s immobile slow and lacks any finesse. Sakala is just totally raw. The later I’m hoping develops into a novo type cult hero.
 
Hagi & Roofe are excellent signings. Ludstrum doesn’t seem to have what we need or are looking for. I know Sakala hasn’t played much but from what I’ve seen I’m not convinced. He may need a run in the team to know one way or the other but my worry with him is he could be another Sebo.

The squad has been improved but first team regulars maybe not so
 
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