“Blame the players” as Rangers fans fume at collapse | OneFootball

We’re seeing a lot of arguments about how the players have let Philippe Clement down at Rangers, that the same old players do the same thing every season and they’re to blame for the current malaise.

So let’s have a look at the team that failed at Parkhead:

Butland: great. No dice.Tavernier: check.Souttar: great, and only just really broken into the team. No dice.Davies: mediocre player, but barely part of the team under Clement. No dice.Barisic: check.Lundstram: check.Dio: Clement’s own player. No dice.Silva: Clement’s own player. No dice.Lawrence: Been injured 90% of his Rangers career. No dice.Sterling: No dice.Dessers: Joined last summer. No dice.

So of Clement’s starting XI, only 3 of those players were the ‘same tired old rubbish’ that has ‘let the team down’ repeatedly .

Nope, that argument isn’t working, is it?

We want it to, don’t we? Easy solution is blame the players for crapping out, for screwing up.

But, wait – no credit to them when they were top of the table? All the credit goes to Clement?

So, you blame the players when it goes badly, but praise Clement when it goes well?

Seems unfair and imbalanced.

The reality?

The reality is the squad at large isn’t good enough in the first place, and like any other team, it enjoyed new manager bounce under Clement, just like it did for Gio and just like it did for Beale.

Ibrox Noise has been clear for many years that our squad was well below ‘code’, that it was nowhere near Rangers level.

This is not to blame the players, this is to blame recruitment and indeed quite a few fans for endorsing and loving mediocrity like James Tavernier and Connor Goldson (Goldson’s star has only finally faded with supporters now), for accepting quite a few of the players who were evidently not good enough.

There are a few assets in there – Butland, Ridvan, an in-form Cantwell, Cortes we believe in, and Sterling in midfield. Maybe at a pinch a few others.

But they’re the minority – the players can’t be blamed for not being very good, and the manager can’t be blamed for the recruitment that went before him.

But he does hold responsibility for Silva and Dio, neither of whom have particularly shone and he is as much part of the recent collapse as he is of the original renaissance.

The real underlying issue is a huge squad clearout is needed – no one would argue that, and a massive, quality, high-octane recruitment drive is required to bring in real quality that we can all believe in.

We don’t exactly trust this manager, absolutely true – but we are willing to let him have this summer window and a recruitment spree – but if he thinks mince like Silva is good enough for this club, then we’re in trouble if he keeps on signing that level this summer.

Hopefully we have a Rangers-quality XI come the end of the summer, because if the likes of Tav and Goldson are still lining up next season, there’s not a lot more we can say.