Targeting Scottish Players

Kit_Bear

Well-Known Member
I had a thought after reading the Scott Wright links. Do we target enough Scottish players?

Our first team has just the two Scottish starters in Jack and McGregor. Allan won’t be around for too long which leaves us with the one.

I’m interested to see peoples opinions on this.

Should we be looking at incorporating a more Scottish core into the team or are we happy to sign talent regardless of nationality.

Recent years have proven not-so-fruitful with Hastie, Docherty and others not making the grade but personally I still believe it’s important that we keep rolling the dice on this.
 
You need to make a distinction between Scottish players and players signed from Scottish (SPFL) teams.

We have signed great Scottish players from England: McGregor, McLaughlin, Arfield, etc. All these signings have been successful.

We have signed players from Scottish teams: Lafferty, Hastie, Jones, Stewart, and Barker. All these signings have been failures.

I have no problem with signing more Scottish players, but I don’t see how signing players from Scottish teams help us. Kamara is one of the few obvious exceptions.
 
There's a balancing act to be struck. Jack and Kamara are two of the first names on a lot of fans' team sheets. The same can't be said of Jones, Stewart, Hastie etc.

I don't have a problem with us taking low risk punts on guys like those named above and I think Scott Wright would fall into this category.
 
You need to make a distinction between Scottish players and players signed from Scottish (SPFL) teams.

We have signed great Scottish players from England: McGregor, McLaughlin, Arfield, etc. All these signings have been successful.

We have signed players from Scottish teams: Lafferty, Hastie, Jones, Stewart, and Barker. All these signings have been failures.

I have no problem with signing more Scottish players, but I don’t see how signing players from Scottish teams help us. Kamara is one of the few obvious exceptions.
You may have a point mate but Stewart n barker were signed from England

personally I don’t measure the signing by nationhood nor the holding club but in general I would expect more good players in English leagues than here .

I would maybe offer that the offered salary of a player would best reflect there expected skill sets and levels .
 
Part of the reason we have an interest in Scott Wright and rumoured to have an interest in Alan Campbell and the young striker from Scotland U21s. We need to meet homegrown quotas to name a full euro squad
 
We should be looking to recruit the best regardless of the nationality! There aren't to many Scottish players I can think of that we should be after
 
During Walter's second spell, players like Naismith, Whittaker and Thomson were given time to develop before being the main men for us. They had good players around them which raised their level.

It doesn't always work out, but we're pretty much back to that sort of position. No longer do we have to sign a player like Jordan Jones and be utterly reliant on him doing well. We can take the punt and see how it goes.

We should, and will, target more players from this league in the upcoming years. Some will work out, others won't, but that's the same for any market. It's more about the overall than any one particular player or area.
 
Brexit will probably mean a Premium on UK players both here and in England. We’ll need to be extremely crafty in the market and make a few intelligent punts, including on rough diamonds from the SPFL.
 
What players are actually worth a punt in Scotland ? I think there a handful at most but the price would have to me right
Doig - worth a punt if the price was right
Campbell - probably be Abel to get him cheep enough
Ferguson - transfer fee would probably out weigh the risk
Nisbet - missed the boat last year now same boat as Ferguson
 
Part of the reason we have an interest in Scott Wright and rumoured to have an interest in Alan Campbell and the young striker from Scotland U21s. We need to meet homegrown quotas to name a full euro squad
Are you talking about Joseph at Wigan? If so he is born and raised in England and won't count to the quota.

I'm not sure about Campbell, he isn't the quickest and is more of a work rate cm than the technical ability we go for in cm,. In saying that look at Jack now compared to when we signed him. So he could develop into a better more rounded player, like Jack did. He would be a relatively small wage and a wee development fee. There would be little risk in signing him. Even if he fails we'd get more in loan fees and eventual transfer fee. Regardless of the cheap wage/fee, I don't see it happening, we already have a cm out on loan who's better suited to our midfield, young Kelly at Ross County. He has been county's best player for months and has won BBC MOTM 3 games in a row. I can see him being our 4th choice cm next season and shadowing Davis, before eventually replacing him.
 
We couldn’t even fill our europa squad as not enough Scottish players , but it’s finding players who are good enough for the squad is what we need to do , not filling it for the sake of it
 
Don't think we want to pay ANY money for Scottish players - other clubs try and rip the pish for transfer fees so think we will be looking for a few more pre-contract players
 
I take it Ali McCann counts as homegrown despite electing to represent the NI (born and raised in Scotland). He will probably be the next player we go for, can learn from Davis and be his heir in the national squad and our side if he continues to progress as he has so far.
 
Don't think we want to pay ANY money for Scottish players - other clubs try and rip the pish for transfer fees so think we will be looking for a few more pre-contract players
It all depends the player and tbh there aren't many in Scotland atm, worth paying the fee clubs would ask for. Outside of pre contracts every prem club would want a fortune for a bright young Scottish star. In that scenario it's all about deciding if he is worth the risk. Take Turnbull for example. Even after an almost full year injury, Celtic had to pay over 3 million pounds for him. Everyone Tim's included thought they over paid, now 3 million is looking like a bargain.
 
Is national association trained im sure as pointed out with Ali McCann

We should be getting a lot of the best youth we can ..... from all over and then loaning out to bring back into the squad these players then become part of the business model

Could be c wrong though
 
I keep banging on about it but when the balance is tipped too far in one direct - a more Scottish core or a more foreign core - it never works out.
You need guys like Thomson/Whitaker/Naismith/McCulloch/Weir as much as you need Jelavic/Laudrup/Prso/Morelos.
 
You need to make a distinction between Scottish players and players signed from Scottish (SPFL) teams.

We have signed great Scottish players from England: McGregor, McLaughlin, Arfield, etc. All these signings have been successful.

We have signed players from Scottish teams: Lafferty, Hastie, Jones, Stewart, and Barker. All these signings have been failures.

I have no problem with signing more Scottish players, but I don’t see how signing players from Scottish teams help us. Kamara is one of the few obvious exceptions.
Barker came from Man city, Jones and Stewart have had spells in England. It's more about getting the correct player at the right time rather than where we buy them from.
 
What players are actually worth a punt in Scotland ? I think there a handful at most but the price would have to me right
Doig - worth a punt if the price was right
Campbell - probably be Abel to get him cheep enough
Ferguson - transfer fee would probably out weigh the risk
Nisbet - missed the boat last year now same boat as Ferguson
J., it is not Scottish based players that we need but Scottish national by birth/Qualification
 
I think if we can win the league before the split, and people aren’t looking for an invincible season, we’ll see some more of the youth blooded in games to get them up to speed. Need to wring the most value out of the academy as we can.
 
We absolutely need to, for the reasons many have stated above.

The other aspect is that Rangers haves have a bitterness with other clubs, so many peoples opinions are viewed with the "we shouldn't do business with scottish clubs" narrative which leads to people saying that every other player in Scotland is crap, which isnt true, players should improve with us, better facilities, better coaching as well as playing with better players.

Celtics title years have had lots of Scottish players mixed in to their team, the problem we have had is that because of the position we we're in they had full monopoly on signing Scottish players, if they wanted to win something of course they went to Celtic.Tthey we're allowed to bed in players from their academy because there was no competition.

Things have now changed though, they got complacent though and allowed Mcginn to slip through their fingers and now if a player is available you would think we would now be involved.

I'll be honest and say I havn't seen a great deal of Wright, but I would be monitoring Doig for when Borna eventual leaves.
 
The scouting team will deffo be keeping tabs on the likes of Doig, Nesbit, Wright (as well documented), it's all about finding the players that they feel can either come in do a job and improve (Kamara), or, be one for the future (probably what they seen in Hastie).
 
We absolutely need to, for the reasons many have stated above.

The other aspect is that Rangers haves have a bitterness with other clubs, so many peoples opinions are viewed with the "we shouldn't do business with scottish clubs" narrative which leads to people saying that every other player in Scotland is crap, which isnt true, players should improve with us, better facilities, better coaching as well as playing with better players.

Celtics title years have had lots of Scottish players mixed in to their team, the problem we have had is that because of the position we we're in they had full monopoly on signing Scottish players, if they wanted to win something of course they went to Celtic.Tthey we're allowed to bed in players from their academy because there was no competition.

Things have now changed though, they got complacent though and allowed Mcginn to slip through their fingers and now if a player is available you would think we would now be involved.

I'll be honest and say I havn't seen a great deal of Wright, but I would be monitoring Doig for when Borna eventual leaves.
Is Doig a better prospect than Bassey? Prior to a bit of a horror show in Paisley the vast majority on here were very optimistic on Bassey. I still see him as a viable successor should Borna move.
 
Is Doig a better prospect than Bassey? Prior to a bit of a horror show in Paisley the vast majority on here were very optimistic on Bassey. I still see him as a viable successor should Borna move.
I think so, and I don't mean that as a disrespect to Bassey. He is younger, only 18I think , and at this stage especially with him playing regular football his development will be greater than Bassey.

Bassey has huge potential, having both would be ideal.

Doig was in the Edinburgh Evening News after our last game talking about how surreal it was to see Gerrard on the touchline and how both Him Tav came out of his way after the game to say well done to him, so I think he is a player we would defo be keeping an eye on.
 
I had a thought after reading the Scott Wright links. Do we target enough Scottish players?

Our first team has just the two Scottish starters in Jack and McGregor. Allan won’t be around for too long which leaves us with the one.

I’m interested to see peoples opinions on this.

Should we be looking at incorporating a more Scottish core into the team or are we happy to sign talent regardless of nationality.

Recent years have proven not-so-fruitful with Hastie, Docherty and others not making the grade but personally I still believe it’s important that we keep rolling the dice on this.
Only if they’re going to be good enough and we don’t have to play an “it’s Rangers enquiring” premium.
 
I think so, and I don't mean that as a disrespect to Bassey. He is younger, only 18I think , and at this stage especially with him playing regular football his development will be greater than Bassey.

Bassey has huge potential, having both would be ideal.

Doig was in the Edinburgh Evening News after our last game talking about how surreal it was to see Gerrard on the touchline and how both Him Tav came out of his way after the game to say well done to him, so I think he is a player we would defo be keeping an eye on.
I reckon we’ll have knowledge, a dossier if you prefer, of every player in the country who has any potential.
 
Is Doig a better prospect than Bassey? Prior to a bit of a horror show in Paisley the vast majority on here were very optimistic on Bassey. I still see him as a viable successor should Borna move.
I think he is mate.

Doig looks like a star in the making. At 18 he looks an incredible prospect.
 
For those mentioning the Euro squad. We currently have 1 position open in the nation trained category as Jack, Arfield and Stewart take up 3/4. Stewart won’t be here soon so I guess you could say 2. Wright, if signed, could go straight in this year. Anyone else who qualifies will either need to replace Stewart or replace someone else on the main squad of 17.

It’s not the nation grown category we struggle with though, it’s the club grown one. We only have McGregor in there and I can’t see us adding any more to that for a couple of years still.
 
Rangers should always be in the market for the best emerging Scottish talent. There has been plenty of it in recent years.
You reckon?
I’m struggling after about half a dozen.
I use the national squad as a yardstick and seldom, if ever, other than the years we had in the lower divisions, do I think we’d lose to them.
So, other than a couple of players from the EPL that we couldn’t really afford, would I want Scottish internationals.
 
My main concern in signing Scottish players and become a mainstay in the team, is that they will likely become regulars for the Scottish national side.

The amount of games Rangers play in a season particularly if we have a run in Europe is in the region of 55_60 games and if we are the main provider for Scotland's national side these players would be in danger of burn out and thereby have a detrimental effect on performance.
 
R
I keep banging on about it but when the balance is tipped too far in one direct - a more Scottish core or a more foreign core - it never works out.
You need guys like Thomson/Whitaker/Naismith/McCulloch/Weir as much as you need Jelavic/Laudrup/Prso/Morelos.
The balance is tipped in favour of non Scots just now and we are doing no bad. So bang goes your point.
 
I presume after reading through this thread that Hastie's career progression has stalled. I don't even know where he is now?
 
I think he is mate.

Doig looks like a star in the making. At 18 he looks an incredible prospect.
TBH we thought similar about Hastie. Turned out he'd had a purple patch for a few months and nothing more - and Turnbull was the one we should have gone for:eek: (before he extended his contract).

Every transfer is a gamble and I understand that. To me, if we can develop Bassey he could turn into a monster for us. I'm not sure I'd want - at this stage - to risk losing that for the sake of 1 more Scottish player in our European squad.
 
R

The balance is tipped in favour of non Scots just now and we are doing no bad. So bang goes your point.
Maybe I made my point poorly. Kamara signed from Scottish Premiership. Davis/Goldson British based. Arfield played in these leagues before. So we have a core of British players (Tav, Kent as well) supplemented by foreign players. I wasn’t specifically saying we need Scottish players
 
We need to bring players through from the academy to first team but in short term, we may need to sign Scottish players until we get there. Putting academy players out on loan for development will help this happen sooner.
 
My main concern in signing Scottish players and become a mainstay in the team, is that they will likely become regulars for the Scottish national side.

The amount of games Rangers play in a season particularly if we have a run in Europe is in the region of 55_60 games and if we are the main provider for Scotland's national side these players would be in danger of burn out and thereby have a detrimental effect on performance.
So you only want Rangers to have players who are not good enough to represent their country?
Should we just get rid of Jack, Kamara, Davis, Morelos, Helander, Balogun, Aribo, Hagi and all the under 21s too?
 
So you only want Rangers to have players who are not good enough to represent their country?
Should we just get rid of Jack, Kamara, Davis, Morelos, Helander, Balogun, Aribo, Hagi and all the under 21s too?
The thread was about Scottish based players not our foreign internationalists.
I personally don't give a toss about Scotland's national side and it wouldn't bother me if we had no-one representing Scotland.
 
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