After less than a month Keith Jackson has lost faith in Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Imaginative Signing Policy.
Following three windows with barely a transfer fee spent on new players the Record reporter could barely contain his excitement as Antonio Colak and Tom Lawrence were signed with the promise of further investment including the Welsh Usain Bolt.
Three matches into the new season Jackson is having second thoughts, a worrying defeat in Belgium can be overturned tomorrow night but after an unconvincing display against Kilmarnock the top reporter at the Record isn’t yet convinced by the signings that had him drooling on July 11:
The imaginative, cut price captures of Antonio Colak and Tom Lawrence have lit a fire under the Dutchman’s summer and now it seems likely that van Bronckhorst and director of football Ross Wilson are only just getting started.
If French playmaker Angelo Fulgini and Welsh wing man Rabbi Matondo also arrive at Auchenhowie over the course of the next few days then the Dutchman – and his head of hiring and firing – will have significantly strengthened the club’s attacking armoury ahead of the new campaign.
The new signings were given their chance against Union SG last week with the agreed line being that it is a minor triumph that the first leg deficit is only two goals.
Before implementing the Imaginative Signing Policy veterans Steve Davis, Scott Arfield and Allan McGregor were handed new contracts with that trio missing from the starting line up away to Union.
Pointing towards their return to action tomorrow night, Jackson writes:
Van Bronckhorst has carried out a major recruitment drive since sanctioning their departures and he’s been around the block often enough to know that new arrivals often require time to bed in.
But he might have reasonably expected that at least one of his seven signings might have caught fire from the start. That not one of them has sparked so far will be causing the manager concern. Yes, Malik Tillman looks every inch like a Bayern Munich player. For 15 minutes at a time.
But a spluttering playmaker that produces in fits and starts is not going to get the job done on Tuesday night. Rabbi Matondo went missing in action in the first leg so can the Welshman be trusted to turn up when it matters more than ever with £40m about to go on the line?
Van Bronckhorst too got it horribly wrong last week when he adopted an overly cautious approach in the middle of the pitch and then panicked into redeploying John Lundstram as a central defender the moment Union had his Plan A sussed.
So, with all of the above in mind, perhaps now would be the perfect time for the Rangers manager to rely upon his most tried and tested performers and have faith in them to see off a side of limited ability and even less European experience. The return of Steven Davis to the Rangers line-up on Saturday ought to be a sign of things to come on Tuesday.
Tellingly Jackson made no mention of Ben Davies, the former Liverpool star who never actually played for Liverpool but who cost £4m to sign.
After coming off the bench to create the penalty that gave Union a 2-0 first leg lead Davies wasn’t trusted to feature at any time against Kilmarnock with on-loan utility man James Sands partnering Connor Goldson in central defence.
You’d almost think ‘Rangers’ were in a bit of a mess. And against a team of limited ability too!
Sounds very much to me that Jackson is printing a begging note to point out the many The Rangers deficiencies! It’s like he is pleading his case. It’s as if he’s telling everyone, he knows what he’s talking about! Oh stop it! I know! When scoop reporters like Jackson are attempting to influence their pet projects tactical insufficiencies on the eve of a hugely important match, disappointment inevitably follows.
Jackass is a clown who writes guff in a comic off a paper