Barry Ferguson urges Rangers to imitate ‘pro-active’ Celtic in January
With the January transfer window on the horizon, Barry Ferguson insists Rangers should take a leaf out of Celtic’s book.
Rangers have a seven-point gap they’ll need to close on Celtic if they are to keep applying pressure in the title race this season, and to do that they’ll likely need new signings in January.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has been forced to field players out of position this season after a flurry of injuries to his squad. Should he survive until January, he’ll be busy looking for reinforcements.
But ex-Rangers player Ferguson wants to see his former side adopt Celtic’s transfer strategy over the winter.
“It sounds like it. He’s [Postecoglou] pro-active. That is one thing about him. He’s ahead of the game and knows what he wants,” Ferguson told The Go Football Radio Show, as quoted by Glasgow Live.
“I actually read something yesterday that he is looking at the summer as well. That is what you have to do. You’ve got to be ahead as you’ve maybe not got the money the English clubs have got so you’ve got to get in early and try and sell the club.
“That is something Rangers need to take note of. They need to try and bring in players in January. Whether that is possible or not if the right ones become available.”
Change of approach needed
Ferguson is right on one thing – Rangers need to change the way they approach transfer windows. After a hugely successful season that saw Gers reach the Europa League final, Van Bronckhorst was hardly backed by the board and was only allowed to invest roughly half of Calvin Bassey’s £23million sale [Sky Sports] in new players.
It’s hardly a strategy striving for success – especially as the scouting of players in recent seasons has been sub-par. Rangers can hardly lock horns with many European teams when it comes to finances, and even Celtic eclipse them in terms of spending money – so the board need to change the way they bring in players.
Imitating Celtic’s strategy probably isn’t the answer though. Ange Postecoglou has a huge say on their transfer business, and Rangers can hardly afford to back Van Bronckhorst in the same way considering he could well find himself out of a job in a few weeks’ time.
Instead of relying on a manager to identify new targets, Rangers should make sure that the board and directors are doing as much off-pitch work for the manager as possible. Ross Wilson is currently responsible for that task but he’s underperformed in his role.
If Rangers and Wilson get the foundations right off the pitch, then whoever sits on the Ibrox managerial hot seat will have a much easier time focusing on performances and results.
In other Rangers news, BT Sport pundit raves about ‘almost-perfect’ Malik Tillman in Rangers v Hearts