Can one man really fix Rangers? | OneFootball

Can one man fix Rangers?

With Ibrox fans currently as despondent as we can remember here on the Noise, there’s no doubting that the state of affairs in Govan is as miserable as any we can recall, and from the board, to the manager, to the players, everyone is getting it with both barrels.

We are of course engaged on Ibrox Noise with sources inside the club, and the vibe we get is genuinely hopelessness, that the staff and general atmosphere is as grim as any in the past, and a positive workplace it is not.

This is from Joe and Jane Punter, not necessarily the more ‘elite’ players and football staff, and if the vibe from them is as low as we’re being told, we can’t see the ‘bourgeoisie’ being a lot happier.

So can one man fix Rangers?

Can a new manager turn this around alone?

We hark back so many times to Walter in 2007, taking on Paul Le Guen’s mess and making Rangers, overnight, and with 3 freebies and one £2M signing that January, the best team in Scotland.

There was also Alex McLeish, who took Dick Advocaat’s dishevelled regime and managed a treble and Helicopter Sunday on a shoestring budget.

There is a lot to be said for the pure results on the pitch improving – if fans see players fighting and winning, if they see a system that makes sense, and they see players and a team they can relate to, it can overturn a failing system.

Walter did that, Eck did it – these were great past managers, and we’ve seen many times at Ibrox when a new manager fixes and refreshes a stale era. And bingo, we’ve got good morale in the fans again, and trophies once more. And everything just seems better.

And for a brief moment it even looked like Philippe Clement had done it – winning a trophy so early on and getting to the top of the Premiership – but it unravelled hard in March and never regained its momentum.

All Rangers need is to win – yes, playing well is nice, but only a bonus. McLeish’s teams didn’t play that great, Walter’s sure didn’t, but both guys just won. Walter a bit more than Eck, but that’s what it takes.

And Clement doesn’t have that. His regime has faltered horribly and is unlikely to regain any footing.

Yes, the accounts off the pitch are grim, yes, no one likes the board (rightly or wrongly) and yes the players are not exactly amazing.

But even a modest squad can be managed by a boss who knows what he’s doing and turns them into winners.

Rangers have had average squads in the past, but great managers who could get the most from them.

As we said before, Walter made a three-time SPL champion out of Kirk Broadfoot for goodness’ sake.

So to answer the question, yes, one man can fix Rangers – one man can get the team playing and make fans happy again. It’s happened before, and it can happen again.

It’s up to the powers-that-be to find him, if Clement cannot do it.