Kris Boyd doesn’t need to look far to pinpoint where it all went wrong for Rangers last season. With a significant chunk of the squad missing large swathes of the campaign after being sidelined through injury, first Giovanni van Bronckhorst and then Michael Beale faced a similar problem: they didn’t have much in the way of wiggle room when it came to choosing their starting XI.
Both of the managers will have been cursing their luck at various stages last year. Van Bronckhorst must have been wondering what he had done to upset the footballing gods when he was forced to name James Sands, a defensive midfielder, and Leon King, a teenager with limited first-team experience, as his central defensive pairing for a Champions League clash against Ajax. At the other end of the park, later in the season, Beale found himself regularly selecting Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos – two players who looked to have effectively downed tools months previously – simply because they were the only options available to him.
Boyd enjoyed two separate spells at Ibrox as a player and the former Scotland internationalist is acutely aware of what it takes to be a part of a thriving Rangers team. And following a summer of upheaval in Govan, where the squad has been overhauled, the Sky Sports pundit believes that Beale now has what he needs to lift silverware come the end of the season. Quantity, as Boyd explains, has a quality all of its own.
“Rangers have brought these players in over a period of time,” he said. “If you look at Lee Clark at Kilmarnock, he brought in f*****g 12 players in nine hours! A rebuild was needed at Rangers.
“What you then need is the backing of the board and you have to say the directors have provided that. They’ve brought in a number of players, which was required. Last season, they virtually played the whole season without a striker.
“I know [Antonio] Colak came in at the start but once he was injured, he fell away a bit and Alfredo Morelos was nowhere near the required standard. That had a knock-on effect on the team. So that front area needed addressing and I think Michael Beale has done that. But it could be hit or a miss.
“When you look across the city, Celtic’s recruitment has been very good and the players Ange Postecoglou brought in hit the ground running and were able to take Celtic to the next level. Michael Beale will be hoping for the same impact from his signings.
“It’s quite evident they’ve gone for a more a physical route. But having options will help as I don’t think that’s something Rangers have had. Regardless of whether he was fit, Morelos played every game and I don’t think that’s a good place to be as a club when you have only one under-performing striker to rely on.
“Now if you’re not performing, you won’t play and for a big club you need to have players who push you on. I had it myself at Ibrox. Every summer a new striker came in and either I knuckled down and performed or I was out the door. Rangers have decided to clear everyone out, start again and Beale will be hoping they hit the ground running.”
Boyd’s comparison between the new Rangers season under Beale and the start of Postecoglou’s reign at Celtic is an interesting one. Both managers swept the decks in their first pre-season in Glasgow, clearing out the deadwood and stamping their authority on the playing squad in the form of new signings as they looked to wrest the league title back from their city rivals.
Lest we forget, it took Postecoglou’s Celtic a good few weeks to get going before the team fully clicked into gear on the Greek-Australian’s watch. It was a courtesy, though, that Boyd does not think will be afforded to Beale.
Boyd said: “Patience is key. It’s easy to say that but the reality is you don’t get it. And if we’re honest, Ange Postecoglou at the start of his time at Celtic was probably one more defeat away from everybody turning on him. That’s how close it was.
“For whatever reason, though, Rangers allowed his side to get back into that title race two years ago and Celtic kicked on from there. Do I think Rangers can afford to do the same? No, because this Celtic team is a well-oiled machine.
“They will change the way they play slightly. But Brendan Rodgers is a winner and he’ll want to win and win in style. He will demand his players train their best every single day to allow them to put in top performances.
“But in saying all that, I don’t think Rangers need to hit the ground running as such. The fixtures have been kind to them and they’ve got the first Old Firm at home, which I always thought was crucial.
“If they can lay down a marker in that game then there are already a few Celtic fans undecided on Brendan Rodgers’ return and if they can find a way to win that game of football, things could turn. You never know.”
With eight first-team players moving to Ibrox this summer and the same number departing, Beale will surely find himself trimming the fat in the coming weeks before the transfer window closes. Fashion Sakala, Scott Wright and Glen Kamara have all been linked with moves away from Glasgow – some with more credibility than others – but Boyd expects that some players will be easier to shift than others.
“Sakala is an interesting one,” he said. “I’ve been vocal when he was playing as a No.9 that he wasn’t an out-and-out striker. But I’d be reluctant to let him go or sell him.
“I get Rangers have brought in a lot of forwards and might be looking to get money in, but he brings something different. A lot of the time he doesn’t know what he’s going to do, so there’s no way defenders will know. His pace terrorises defenders. He’s one I would consider keeping.
“Looking at the rest… Scott Wright has done well, considering where he came from and the number of games he’s played, there’s no doubt he’s had an impact.
“Glen Kamara, it seems to have been ongoing for months that he’s going to leave the club. He’s not moved on but you imagine it would be a matter of time, especially with reports saying he’s been told to stay away until he finds something else.
“You get the feeling Rangers will have to try and force a few out the door, but it’s easier said than done when players are on bigger contracts. Once you get to that level, you can become pretty comfortable, pretty content, and that might be the case with a lot of them.
“It might be difficult for Rangers to get players out. You’d hope the guys linked with moves want to go play regular football and then everyone’s a winner, but it’s not as easy as a lot of people think.”
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