Rangers update 1

Ok this is my 1st ever blog im halfway through my 1st season with Glasgow Rangers may not be the best read but hey ho its been such an eventful season so here goes.

My first priority was to raise my transfer budget of 1 mil after looking throu my squads the only players i was desperate to keep were Barry Ferguson cm and real life captain of the club and John Fleck 17 year old lm good enough for my 1st team bags of potential could become a superstar.

So i decided to make everyone else avalible and release all u 19s not good enough managed to get money for 18 players biggest ones were Novo and Papac to Birmingham 2 mil each Hemdani 1 mil to Sunderland Whittaker 2.5 mil to Fulham McColloch 1.8 mil to Sheff utd and Thompson 3.5 mil to Bolton released 17 youngsters i know this seems a bit drastic but i wanted to trim the wage bill and only keep players i felt had a possible future at the club.

Ok i have money to spend and a fair bit left to spend on wages but i have to improve 1st 2nd and u19 teams bring in Vuckic 45k Harner and Sielva on frees to help my u19s dont think any of these players will be greats but hopefull will be good enough to become squad players in 2-3 years time

As for the reserves i buy Chrisantus 600k Rapnik 575k Shea 450k Opare 200k Kakuta 350k Diakite loan and Assulin loan hope to sign him permanetly i view these players as backup playing when required and hopefully developing into 1st team players.

1st team squad i buy Insua and Mosquera on loan Iriome 250k Santon 1.7 mil and Bolzoni 2.1 mil i also tie up Lambo 625k for the reserves and Zuculini 525k 1st team player to come in at January and Orazsakhedov free transfer for the following January.

Im pretty pleased with my wheelings and dealings dissapointed not to get a new striker but il just have to make do with the attackers i have left relly chuffed to get Santon and Bolzoni whom i consider to be a bit of a coup for the club 1st team players with the potential to be world class.

I always like to bring in youngsters and train them into top players so manage to get all my training to be 6 stars or higher also bring in 3 new scouts to help me find thoese wonderkids before other teams.

I decide my main tactics will be a 4 4 2 with short passes quite a slow tempo and putting a medium amount of pressure on teams i tinker with the free kicks and corners aswell. i will chop and change tactics when i play certain games but 4 4 2 will be my most used my ideal 1st team bearing in mind Ferguson is out injured for 4 months will be gk McGregor rb Santon lb Insua cbs Mosquera Bougherra rm Iriome lm Fleck cms Mendes Bolzoni sts Lafferty Boyd subs Gk Alexander df Diakite cf Darchville cm Davis as well as players like Beasley Edu Aaron Miller Shea Kakuta Opare Rapnik and Assulin i am hopeful these players can become the best spl team and a decent european side.

Friendly matches are not really a very important part of the season i use them to get my players fit and play a good side at home to make a bit of lolly so im not to upset about the home defeat to Stuggart or the away defeats to Scunthorpe and Linfield or the home win v pucol my main concern is to qualify for the champs league Rangers have to get past 2 teams to get to the cash rich group stages the 1st side i must beat are Modrica Maxima defeat would put Rangers out of europe all toghther which happend in real life this year as Rangers were knocked out at this stage to Kaunus of Lithuania.

We win the first game away to Maxima 0-3 allowing me to play the reserves in the 2nd leg which is won 1-0 now we face a sterner test B Jerusalem are a decent side but i believe we have enough to see them off and get to the next stage with the big boys.

My main rivals in the league this season will be Celtic who have won the spl the last 3 seasons they are a good side and will be hard to dislodge as champions. despite the poor reputation of the Scottish game there are other decent sides in the division outside the old firm this is reflected in fm both Edinburgh clubs Hibs and Hearts will be tough as will Dundee Utd and Aberdeen it promises to be an exciting season.

The spl starts 3 days after the 2nd Maxima game we kick off away to Falkirk i was hopeful of a opening day win so i put out my strongest team despite the Euro game being 4 days away. A dissapointing 0-0 is not the start i was looking for and now some of my 1st pick players are not 100% fit for the Jerusalem game at Ibrox.

1-1 Boyds 45th min strike salvages a draw after there 26th minuite opener the second half was crap we now have it all to do.
After the match it is announced that my chairman Sir David Murray is planning to sell the club to a consortium lead but Craig Hastie 1 of Hasties plans is to boot me out and appoint Dutch legend Ruud Gulit as manager cheeky beggar.

Our next game vs Hearts at home is a sad tale after taking an 8th min lead thanks to a Mosquera header we pound there goal for the next 80 if this was a boxing match the ref would have stopped it however true to form Mole pops up in 90+2 mins to make the score 1-1 teacups were thrown. We then lose 2-1 away to Aberdeen im under pressure after 3 games the Jerusalem game could become a pivitol match.

I decide to change tactics to 4-1-4-1 long ball and kick anything that moves are the instructions my team is gk McGregor rb Santon lb Insua cbs Mosquera Bougherra dcm Bolozoni rm Iriome lm Beasley cms Davis Mendes st Darchville decent side im hopeful.

7 mins my right back Santon scores from the edge of the area 21 mins my coffee is on the celing as Darchville beats his man for pace and slots it past the keeper bring on Barca they get one back on 27 mins but another Darchville goal on 51 mins kills them off im so proud this could be my teams turning point we were down but not out im looking forward to mixing it with the big boys in the champs league and wondering who we will get in the group stages draw it wasnt kind.

Schalke are one of the top clubs in German football and are the very strong 2nd seeded team in my champions league group stage Dinamo are the 4th seeds and i see a straight fight between us and them for 3rd place and a place in the uefa cup although i have not gave up on sneaking into 2nd the top seeds are Chelsea who have wonderful players Deco Lampard Drogba Terry Cech Anelka they were runners up in this competion last season and will be one of the favorites to win it the crucial games for Rangers will be the 3 home games and Dinamo away i think we have enough to finish at least 3rd and hopefully can pull of some big results and get into the last 16 only done 3 times by Scottish clubs since the new format was introduced once by Rangers 3 years ago and Celtic have made the last 16 2 years running.

I will have to put all thoughts of European games to the side for now after 3 games and an available 9 points we have 2 and our next game is away to Celtic 9 points out of 9 and our biggest rivals if they win we will be 10 points behind them after only 4 games unthinkable so i decide to stay with my 4-1-4-1 system as our football in the last match was a joy to watch and we got a great win.

My starting 11 was gk Mcgregor dr Santon lb Insua cbs Mosquerra Bougherra dmc Edu rm Aaron lm Fleck cms Davis Bolozoni att Miller

We took the lead on 3 mins thanks to a Davis goal when Celtic failed to clear a corner our football the rest of the match was slick passing one touch stuff i was amazed we had struggled badly in our matches previous to Jerusalem now we were playing like world beaters a rocket from Bolozoni on 45 mins compounded Celtics misery we looked in complete control. I told the players not to get complacent.
68 mins it was 1-2 Hesselink with the goal 82 mins corner for Celtic Mosquerra og 88 mins Paul Hartley scored from 20 yards we had blown it big time 0-2 at half time final score 3-2 we sat on 2 points after 4 games whilst Celtic had 12.

Rangers 5-0 Kilmarnock my players lifted themselves after the disappointment at Celtic i take the blame in the Celtic match as I should have played a wee bit more defensively and hit them on the counter attack 2nd half.
Goals from Lafferty Iriome Mendes and a Darchville double sealed a great performance this time around.

After the match the rumors of a potential takeover bid were heating up the new owners had already stated that if they took over the club I would be out on my ear and Ruud Gulit would be the new Rangers manager.

Chelsea 3-0 Rangers Chelsea really showed their class with goals from Deco and Essien in the first half and a screamer from Deco in the 2nd i am not to disappointed as our main games are at home v the big 2 and the double header vs Dinamo

Rangers 1-0 Motherwell a scrappy game with Madjid Bougherra scoring the winner both Darchville and Davis were injured in this game and would be out for 1 and 2 months respectably

Rangers 4-0 Inverness this was the League cup 3rd round and so i gave my reserve players a chance an Edu double and goals from Velicka and Beasley gave us a handsome win.

Hibernian 2-0 Rangers our worst performance of the season two quick goals and we were beat to be honest it could have been a lot more Bougherra was injured in this match injuries were starting to pile up and i do not have the cover to deal with them.

Rangers 1-2 Schalke A major disappointment Rafinha gave Schalke the lead after 20 mins both sides were playing well and I felt we still could win the match my team were creating chances but could not put them away In the 2nd half we came out all guns blazing Beasley grabbed the goal after 51 mins and I thought the win was there for the taking Mosquerra was sent off on 77 mins for a rash challenge so I changed tactics from 4-1-4-1 to 4-4-1 played the long ball and prayed we could hold out Engelaar 90 mins game over.

So far results in Champions cup group H were Chelsea 3-0 Rangers Schalke 2-0 Dinamo Rangers 1-2 Schalke Dinamo1-4 Chelsea next round of matches are Schalke vs Chelsea and Dinamo vs Rangers my main aim now was to play for 3rd and take part in the UEFA cup after Christmas Rangers reached the final of this tournament in real life last season being beaten by former gaffer Dick Advocaats Zenit in the final while I don’t think my Rangers are quite at that level yet the tournament has some prestige and has some very good teams in it this season which would hopefully give my fans some big nights of knockout European football to look forward to. If I was to finish 3rd I feel I had to take a positive result from Dinamo and then beat them at Ibrox in the return game.

I had a lot of catching up to do in the spl as well I was 13 points adrift of Celtic 10 behind Hearts and 7 behind Hibs with Aberdeen and Inverness also above me the time of giving my players time to gel was over.

2 days after the Schalke match as I prepare for my trip to Love street to play St Mirren it is announced that the consortium led by Craig Hastie has taken over from Sir David Murray as owners of Rangers what did this mean for my future as manager . . . . .