Transfer guru Ross Wilson in the firing line as Ibrox anger demands change

Ibrox fans are in mourning at the moment as they stare at a season falling apart in mid-September.

The Holy Grail of the Champions League group stage has been reached but has only served to put the spotlight on the poverty of the squad while investors are repaid for funding a decade of losses.

For the loyal fans that were scooping up toilet water in Seville four months ago it has left a very bitter taste in the mouth- especially as they observe events across the city.

Critical to the current situation is Ross Wilson, Sporting Director. To the on-message media he is a transfer guru, he can dine off Calvin Bassey for ever and a day while the duds pile up, draining the wage bill with no prospect of a similar contract anywhere else.

According to one Ibrox blogger Wilson helped Southampton to spend £277.48m on 27 players over a four year period with £167.25 brought in from sales, £76.19 of which came from Virgil van Dijk. During that period Southampton slipped from sixth to 16^th in the EPL.

The same blogger lists five of Wilson’s 25 first team signings at Ibrox as successes, and that includes Ianis Hagi and Antonio Colak. A new Director of Football will have an awful lot of deadwood to shift even allowing for Ryan Kent, Alfredo Morelos, Ryan Jack and Filip Helander walking away for free in May.

The Rambling Ger concludes with:

It’s always been speculated the reason Gerrard left due to the fact he couldn’t bring in the players he wanted last season, but I was willing to side with the board/Wilson on that at the time due to the fact Gerrard also didn’t want to sell any of his players to fund transfers. However, it was clear Gio wanted to add some players after PSV, despite what he said when the window shut, and we are seeing that clearly the squad that needed refreshed after 55 is still very much in the position of needing refreshed.

We’ve gone backwards with our goalkeeping, backwards with CB, backwards with CM and backwards with RW, I’d even argue LW with Kent’s current run of form.

With all the money Gio brought in, and even with the FFP regulations, I would have expected a bit more of a layout in the summer to try to compete with our rivals.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case and last weeks Old Firm was the result we deserved.

It’s now clear the players don’t care at the moment, they were outrun in a game where they were dominated in possession by Ajax, and we have a manager who appears to have accepted his lot. His comments following the embarrassment in Amsterdam were very telling.

I’m certainly not giving Gio a free ride in all this, his tactics need a shake up. This horse-shoe passing tactic is particularly baffling when it consistently puts us under pressure, and all credit for making the Europa League Final and winning the Scottish Cup last season is fast running out now. If we don’t see a vast improvement in the next few games, whenever they are, then the pressure may reach critical.

It’s not a fun time to be a Rangers fan just now, but it can’t last forever. Hopefully Wilson is able to change things dramatically in the next window, or the summer signings make a much bigger impact, or the more likely he is moved on.

On all of the evidence Wilson wouldn’t know a footballer from a baby booster seat.

It seems that there is much more than two 4-0 hammerings worrying the fans that have forked out £60 per game for Champions League tickets.