Life in Glasgow may have been strange enough for Ridvan Yilmaz to adjust to – then came Wednesday night and a real Ibrox eye-opener.
The Turkish full-back performed well on a rare start against Dundee and probably felt pleased to reach a major cup semi-final. Then came the boos as the crowd vented at the team’s display in a 1-0 win. My feeling is there’s greater emphasis on performance these days in comparison to the result than when I played. Clubs talk about recruiting managers based on their style of play rather than a history of winning results and success. But, purely on watching Rangers this season, the reaction is an accumulation of things – and isn’t surprising.
There’s not the same edge and energy as last season. Heavy Champions League defeats have dented confidence. These are not bad players. It’s about finding a way to get the best out of them in tough times. That falls on the manager and coaches to pick them up when they’re not feeling good about themselves and get them back to the level they’ve been capable of in the recent past. However, the starting line-up, without Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo, is probably weaker than last season. And that brings us back to Yilmaz, who is stuck in the middle of a debate about his recruitment from Besiktas for £5million.
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He’s only 21 and, moving to Scotland, there was always going to be a settling-in period. You only need to ask Borna Barisic, who’s keeping him out the team, about that.
The Croatian freely admits taking a year to fully adjust to being a Rangers player. I still know people in Turkey from my six months at Bursaspor. I heard positive stuff about Yilmaz – a good player who quickly built up a great reputation.
He’s a full international and that’s impressive so early in your career. Look, there’s actually nothing wrong with having succession plans and bringing in a talented, long-term replacement for the likes of Borna.
Many clubs are criticised for NOT acting like that. But the issue at Rangers is when you shell out £5m after just losing the league, you do it on a player – or even two – who are sure to make the starting XI better. I don’t think it has been improved properly in the last three transfer windows, going back to Steven Gerrard’s last pre-season. That’s not good.
The jury remains out on many signings. There’s surely no way Yilmaz was signed as a development player. But the reality is, for whatever reason, he hasn’t been deemed ready to play. By all accounts he’s improving and he looked good against Dundee.
You could pitch him in the same mould as a Greg Taylor in terms of size and physicality –and Greg is doing fine. But Greg’s been playing in Scotland all his days so there’s a huge difference.
It’s all unfamiliar to Yilmaz, he carries a price tag, one he had no control over. He’s not getting the games coming at him thick and fast, as he’d have liked. The pressure, scrutiny and questions around him, because of the fee, is unfair. Yet that’s the nature of Glasgow. Rangers lost the title, there needed to be a response, the team improved – and the biggest spend is on Yilmaz who has barely kicked a ball.
He looks quick, a good ball carrier whose distribution is pretty good when driving forward inside or outside. His head’s always up and technically he looks a good passer. I moved to Wolves on my own at 21. That’s completely different to moving countries, cultures – even continents, depending on where you’ve come from in Turkey!
When I went to Bursa aged 31, I found the football fine and the language a challenge. Only five or six players spoke decent or broken English. My family found it tough. I was away working long hours. My football life would be training sessions and preparing for games so, in terms of culture shocks, I never felt them.
But I was 10 years older than Ridvan is now after making the opposite journey at 21. He has come to a foreign league to play with players he doesn’t know, coaches he doesn’t know and a different style to Turkey. There’s a different culture to adapt to and it can feel a lonely place even with family around.
Hopefully, for him, he takes positives from the other night and goes on to prove well worth the investment.
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