Worth remembering: Souness’s first season

omegaman

omegaman

Well-Known Member
By the end of November we’d lost 5 times in the league, twice at home, and were languishing in 5th place some 8 or 9 points adrift of Celtic when it was still only 2 for a win.

Had FF been around then, it would have been bedlam.

The point being - teams can take time to hit their stride.

We’re still heading in the right direction.
 
omegaman said:
By the end of November we’d lost 5 times in the league, twice at home, and were languishing in 5th place some 8 or 9 points adrift of Celtic when it was still only 2 for a win.

Had FF been around then, it would have been bedlam.

The point being - teams can take time to hit their stride.

We’re still heading in the right direction.
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Far too sensible mate,the bedwetters need to spout their nonsense somewhere
 
omegaman said:
By the end of November we’d lost 5 times in the league, twice at home, and were languishing in 5th place some 8 or 9 points adrift of Celtic when it was still only 2 for a win.

Had FF been around then, it would have been bedlam.

The point being - teams can take time to hit their stride.

We’re still heading in the right direction.
Click to expand...


this fucking grow a set people
 
Far far to honest a post on here, I am as pissed off as anyone on here, two games lost in eighteen, as the OP says it will take time to gel a team together from zero, the management team need more time to get up to scratch and I for one will give them all the time they need, the other side of the coin is where we have been, last season and before, or have we all forgot that?
 
omegaman said:
By the end of November we’d lost 5 times in the league, twice at home, and were languishing in 5th place some 8 or 9 points adrift of Celtic when it was still only 2 for a win.

Had FF been around then, it would have been bedlam.

The point being - teams can take time to hit their stride.

We’re still heading in the right direction.
Click to expand...

I said something similar earlier regarding the start of Advocaat’s first season.
 
omegaman said:
By the end of November we’d lost 5 times in the league, twice at home, and were languishing in 5th place some 8 or 9 points adrift of Celtic when it was still only 2 for a win.

Had FF been around then, it would have been bedlam.

The point being - teams can take time to hit their stride.

We’re still heading in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Bang on mate. I think the challenge on here is that in order for you to really remember the Souness time and the couple of season leading up to that, you’d need to be mid to late 40’s. I have to check myself sometimes as I’m sometimes in full flow with a poster and I then remember that if he’s say 15 to 20, we will never be in the same place on some topics. Can you imagine how FF would have treated McCoist in his first season...
 
We really didn’t get going in the league till December.we lost to Hibs,Dundee Utd,Motherwell,Aberdeen and Dundee in first couple of months of the season,iirc we were nine points behind (it was two points for a win)late November,early December.
 
People are way too reactive to the slightest setback these days. Our support is terrible for taking the view that everything is either perfect or we should rip it all up and start again.

Our home form is very good; out away form is patchy at best and our manager seems determined to change the team every time there is an away match.
The players in this squad are still forming as a group now - they will improve over time.

To be in the group stages of Europe and a cup semi final is massive progress; this club has taken enormous strides forward over the last 5 months.
 
the bridge said:
Bang on mate. I think the challenge on here is that in order for you to really remember the Souness time and the couple of season leading up to that, you’d need to be mid to late 40’s. I have to check myself sometimes as I’m sometimes in full flow with a poster and I then remember that if he’s say 15 to 20, we will never be in the same place on some topics. Can you imagine how FF would have treated McCoist in his first season...
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Never mind poor ally’s first season imagine this place if it had been around after the game at Ibrox in 85 where the support were telling him to “get tae %^*&” when we lost to Dundee.
 
SDF said:
Advocaat's first 8 away games in the league

Lost 1-2 at Hearts
Won 3-1 at Kilmarnock
Drew 0-0 at Dundee United
Drew 1-1 at Aberdeen
Won 2-0 at Dunfermline
Lost 0-1 at Motherwell
Won 7-0 at St Johnstone
Lost 1-5 at Celtic

That's actually quite sobering when you read it.
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Funnily enough just listened to the last episode of the advocaat years on heart and hand and they made the point that his first season wasn’t the free flowing football we all think it was.
 
Southsideblueblood said:
Comparing Souness to Gerrard is a complete waste of time. Souness had the budget and was signing England's finest. It's a completely playing field.
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I agree with that to some extent - we don’t have the money (or freedom of movement) to simply go out and add bigger and better players - but the point I was trying to make was that even with millions at his disposal, Souness’s side took until December before it really began to click into gear.

Let’s see how we’re looking at a similar point in the season before we start losing our shit.

I think he’s done enough so far to buy himself that sort of time (although a defeat at the weekend would certainly have fingers hovering over the panic button).
 
Yesterday was disappointing no doubt about it, but let’s see where we are after scum game at Ibrox , I’m sure we will be in a good place SG did say there will be bumps in the road and after all he’s only been in the job since June and the amount of personnel change we are in a better place.
 
Livi was a hard result to swallow, but half of this squad had never kicked a ball in Scottish fitba until 6 weeks ago!! We're a good team and they are learning.. A win against Rapid Vienna and a win against Hearts and we're back on track and stronger for it!!
 
Souness wasn't working with loanee youngsters from other clubs,and I think this is where we are going wrong.If we are bringing in loans they need to be battle hardened pros not young kids.The fact is we are involved in cup finals every single week and it takes a very special youngster not to struggle in that environment.
 
Some probably were not born in the souness era, let alone their 9 in the 60s and 70s.

I have been here for both and some just need to keep the heid, get to grips that we can be beaten and have the backbone to take the defeats.

Yes, there will be slagging off and laughing about our results, but if we can dish it out then we can afford to take what's coming back at us.


Fuuk, we give enough to hivs, fiddlers , Arabs, sheep so we will get it back that's for certain. We won't miss the mark when they get reimed that's for sure.
 
1989 was the last time we failed to win any of our first four away League fixtures. As per this season we lost two and drew two. We won the League that season.
 
Ruben Sosa said:
I'm sure we signed Spurs best player and captain (possibly) in December that season.

Announce Harry Kane.
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Roberts was being jettisoned to anyone who would take him by Spurs and Pleat by December 1986 though... he was far to gobby for his own good and ironically had been displaced by Richard Gough.

Wind forward 18 months...
 
Worthy_Candidate said:
Roberts was better than Hoddle, Waddle, Ardiles?

Jeez, he wasn't even the best defender at Spurs in 1986. Gough and Mabbutt were in that squad.
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To be honest I had the 84 UEFA cup final in my head where Roberts was immense.

Hoddle and Ardiles were done in 86 but I take your point on the others.
 
RabSpackman said:
Roberts was being jettisoned to anyone who would take him by Spurs and Pleat by December 1986 though... he was far to gobby for his own good and ironically had been displaced by Richard Gough.

Wind forward 18 months...
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Richard gough has little time for Roberts when he was at Ibrox with him.he thought roberts was a bully in the way he spoke to the youth players who were cleaning the boots or the dressing room.
 
dublinbluenose said:
Richard gough has little time for Roberts when he was at Ibrox with him.he thought roberts was a bully in the way he spoke to the youth players who were cleaning the boots or the dressing room.
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And just for the added head twist... Gough brought Roberts and Waddell up to the Skol Cup Final in 1986 and kindled the interest from Roberts when the move to Ibrox came up!!
 
It’s a bit pointless comparing Souness’ situation with Gerrard’s, since Souness inherited a much more talented (but massively under-performing) squad (McCoist, Cooper, Durrant, Munro, McPherson & Fleck were all regulars that season) and made far fewer signings than Gerrard. IMHO, Gerrard has a much tougher task than Souness.

But I take the OP’s point that we need a bit of perspective here. Yesterday was an abysmal result and performance and is all too typical of what we have had to endure for the last 2 years in the top division. What’s different now is that we have a management team in place who are capable of learning from it and preventing a repetition. We should also have more players who will be genuinely hurting and desperate to make amends, unlike the charlatans from last year. We’ll know much more this time next week.

BTW, after 7 league games Souness’ record was W5 L2, so would have given us 15 points under the current rules. That’s 4 pts more than we currently have which would perhaps show how much bigger a task Gerrard has than the MB.
 
we were 4th with a game in hand that if won would have taken us second, 7 points behind the filth who we'd already beaten twice

what you say is correct about teams taking time but the comparison here is bogus

we'd signed absolute quality and everyone knew it would come together

this time it may come together
 
thetoptier said:
we were 4th with a game in hand that if won would have taken us second, 7 points behind the filth who we'd already beaten twice

what you say is correct about teams taking time but the comparison here is bogus

we'd signed absolute quality and everyone knew it would come together

this time it may come together
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Yeah and of the squad members already in place we had McCoist, Durrant and Cooper.
 
Rudolph Hucker said:
It’s a bit pointless comparing Souness’ situation with Gerrard’s, since Souness inherited a much more talented (but massively under-performing) squad (McCoist, Cooper, Durrant, Munro, McPherson & Fleck were all regulars that season) and made far fewer signings than Gerrard. IMHO, Gerrard has a much tougher task than Souness.

But I take the OP’s point that we need a bit of perspective here. Yesterday was an abysmal result and performance and is all too typical of what we have had to endure for the last 2 years in the top division. What’s different now is that we have a management team in place who are capable of learning from it and preventing a repetition. We should also have more players who will be genuinely hurting and desperate to make amends, unlike the charlatans from last year. We’ll know much more this time next week.

BTW, after 7 league games Souness’ record was W5 L2, so would have given us 15 points under the current rules. That’s 4 pts more than we currently have which would perhaps show how much bigger a task Gerrard has than the MB.
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And had it not been for 2 injury time goals, Gerrard's record would have been identical.
 
Rev George Walker said:
Yeah and of the squad members already in place we had McCoist, Durrant and Cooper.
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Woods
Butcher
Roberts
Souness himself
Durrant
Cooper
Mccoist

its like who's who of legends

the other aspect being down played in the OP is the scottish league was full of quality and i don't mean the scum

Dundee u reached the Uefa cup final that season

and Aberdeen were still managed by fergie
 
We have improved massively on the previous season but Gerrard needs to stick to a set team in the league. Make rotations in Europa at this stage the league is too important to mess about but he is still learning his trade and will make mistakes and he will be given time to get it right.
Let's Go!
Big week of games C'Mon Rangers!
 
dublinbluenose said:
Funnily enough just listened to the last episode of the advocaat years on heart and hand and they made the point that his first season wasn’t the free flowing football we all think it was.
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Yeah was going to say the same. Some think we were winning every match but the results show the opposite.

We have to give the manager and the team time to settle properly. We will have ups and downs and we won't be happy after certain results. The flip side of that is that I didn't think we would qualify for the Europa League.
 
thetoptier said:
Woods
Butcher
Roberts
Souness himself
Durrant
Cooper
Mccoist

its like who's who of legends

the other aspect being down played in the OP is the scottish league was full of quality and i don't mean the scum

Dundee u reached the Uefa cup final that season

and Aberdeen were still managed by fergie
Click to expand...

I’m not drawing any other comparison other than to say that that side, built with an unprecedented budget and the Magnificent Bastard himself anchoring the midfield, took time to find its feet.

There were a lot of positives, but a good few clangers in those early months.

Perhaps that’s all we’re seeing again now.

Beat Rapid and beat Hearts, both entirely possible, and it’ll be roses again.
 
omegaman said:
I’m not drawing any other comparison other than to say that that side, built with an unprecedented budget and the Magnificent Bastard himself anchoring the midfield, took time to find its feet.

There were a lot of positives, but a good few clangers in those early months.

Perhaps that’s all we’re seeing again now.

Beat Rapid and beat Hearts, both entirely possible, and it’ll be roses again.
Click to expand...

i don't rate hearts, it wouldn't prove anything beating them at home
 
RFCest1872 said:
We have improved massively on the previous season but Gerrard needs to stick to a set team in the league. Make rotations in Europa at this stage the league is too important to mess about but he is still learning his trade and will make mistakes and he will be given time to get it right.
Let's Go!
Big week of games C'Mon Rangers!
Click to expand...
I wonder whether Gerrard shares this perspective.

From his POV, a Europa League trophy would look an awful lot better on his CV than a Scottish Premier League title.

It might be no accident that he has the team performing better in Europe than domestically.
 
There are some parallels with 86.

We dropped a lot of daft points between August and November 86. See home v Dundee United, Away to Dundee, home to Motherwell.

This season it’s away to Motherwell, away to Livingston so far.

We had some big wins between August and November 86. Home to Celtic, skol cup final, 2-0 win over Aberdeen, winning in Portugal v Boavista.

This season it’s Osijek away, Maribor, Ufa away, Villarreal away. It’s been 8 years since we had a Rangers team that is capable of these results.

We were able to take care of games that should be routine and weren’t between 1980-1985. 4-0 v Clydebank, beating Hamilton and beating Falkirk 5-1.

This season it’s 4-0 v Dundee, 2-0 v St Mirren and 5-1 v St Johnstone. None of this has been a given since 2012.
 
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