After the game the new chairman Craig Hastie gives me a personal message informing me of his plans to pump 2 million pounds into the club and improve our training facilities he also stated that it had always been his intention to replace me as manager and that my job is under review.
After the St Mirren game we were on an international break with our next game not for another 13 days vs Dundee United at Ibrox I was hoping the new board would at least give me that match and hopefully the following match away to Dinamo to prove I was the man for the job.
The International break came and went I was still in charge hopefully I could get some positive results and make it more difficult for Hastie to sack me.
My side for the Dundee Utd game was gk McGregor dr Santon lb Insua cbs Diakite Mosquerra rm Iriome lm Beasley cms Bolozoni Mendes att Boyd Miller I feel this side should beat United at home 9 times out of 10.
The first half is very scrappy both sides had chances to score Bolozoni picks up a knock so I bring on Davis and change to a slightly more attacking mentality.
69 mins Lafferty who is on for Boyd is brought down in the box penalty Beasley steps up and blasts it over the bar still 0-0
Despite that penalty miss we keep the pressure up and in the 88th minute a Fleck corner (on for Mendes) is met by Mosquerra 1-0 we hold on to the goal and come away with a victory although Iriome is injured in injury time. Ironic?
The next match is away to Dinamo in the champions league a vital game if we are to stay in Europe past Christmas.
Another scrappy first half means we go in at half time 0-0 I tell the players that I am unhappy with their performance and I expect improvement in the 2nd half.
The boys get the message a great performance is capped off with goals from Lafferty on 52 mins and Boyd on 84 a great away win and if we can do the same in the return match we will be guaranteed a place in the UEFA Cup.
Still no word about the future of my job so far next game away to Hamilton continues our great recent performances although I must say they are bottom of the league without a win all season a Boyd goal from the edge of the area on 22 mins and a Shea screamer from 25 yards after 26 gives us a comfortable 0-2 lead at halftime.They get one back from Videira on 53 mins but just 8 minuites later Davis nets a 3rd to round off an impressive performance.
Inbetween this match and our League cup quarter final at home to Motherwell Craig Hastie announces that due to the support I have received he will allow me to continue as manager and lifts the transfer embargo that automatically comes in when there is takeover talks at a club.
I still had 1.4 million left over from my summer transfers and felt I really needed at least 1-2 new strikers I am not impressed with Miller or Velicka Lafferty and Boyd are ok and Darchville is a decent sub. I would also like to try and get Mosquerra Assulin and Insua in on a permanent basis and 1 more centre half.
After a few enquires about various strikers I am drawn to Federico Laurita who belongs to Udinese but is on loan at Livorno one of my main scouts recommended him as a decent player who could become a good player probably my number 1 in that position he has a lot of pros only 18 years old he is part of the Argentina u20s team and in 10 appearances for Livorno 8 starts and 2 off the bench he has scored 5 goals I can get him for 1.2 million pounds but he cannot move until his loan finishes which means he cant play for us until next season.
The other player I like is Keirrison of Coritiba he is also young only 20 and scored 14 goals for his team during the season he has good stats which im sure will improve as he gets older he is already a better player than Laurita and will become a very good player given time he could also join up with my team in January only 2 months away and would be available to play in Europe if I am still in it however his club want 2 million for him which I simply cant afford at the moment.
Rangers 2-0 Motherwell after another lacklustre 1st half display goals from Lafferty on 48 and Fleck on 61 books our passage to the semis
The other 3 teams to get to the semi final are Hearts Kilmarnock and Celtic the draw pairs Kilmarnock vs Hearts and Rangers vs Celtic the ties will not be played for almost 3 months
Rangers 1-0 Inverness not much to say about this game Kris Boyd scored after 7 mins we played pretty well but we were not exactly at our best.
Next match is the return match vs Dinamo at Ibrox win this and we are guaranteed 3rd in the group
Rangers 2-0 Dinamo Kris Boyd does the business with a double on 30 and 52 mins we played them off the park in this match and im am pretty happy with the way things are going for the team I tie up the transfer of Laurita for 1.2 mil he will join up with us on the 1st of July 2009
I am currently sitting joint second in the group after Schalke beat Chelsea twice 2-1 and 0-1 now if I can beat Chelsea in my next match at home I would only need a point at already qualified Schalke to progress is the dream still alive ?
Kilmarnock 0-1 Rangers we keep up our current good form with another good performance Santon hits the winner on 41 mins
After the match my chairman announces that due to the profit the club has made he is making an extra 6 million available to buy new players I instantly but in bids for Mosquerra Assulin and Keirrison and start looking for a new centre half
Motherwell 1-1 Rangers This was a good game with Kerr giving them the lead after 11 minutes and Boyd pulling us level after 28 we were now 3rd in the table still well behind Celtic but slowly making our way up
After checking out a few players I had a shortlist of 3 for my new central defender first Mark Beevers of Sheffield Wedensday he is only 19 and seems to have good attributes to develop as a player I have also read many people mention him on fm scout as the next John Terry he is only valued a 400k so hopefully I could tie him up for about 1 million
The next centre half I like is Ryan Shawcross from Stoke he is another young defender only 21 similar to Beevers I think he could develop into a top center half he would be a bit more expensive valued at 1.5 million would possibly have to pay over 2.5 million to get him.
The 3rd player im looking at is 23 year old Hedwiges Maduro who plays for Valencia or rather doesn’t play for them which is why he would be interested in a move to Rangers he is a versatile player who could play either cb dm or cm he seems to me to be more of a ball player than a hard tackling centre half but I like defenders who can play a bit and his versatility is a big plus he has also been capped 13 times for Holland and in my game is there current first choice dmc I could probably land him for about 1.5 million
Time for another update I will try and fire through a lot of results in this one as I am 4 months behind the actual game sorry about the lack of detail for the games.
After the Motherwell game I have a couple of 0-0 draws in the spl at home to St Mirren and Aberdeen I really hope to freshen the side up in January
After these games is the champions league match vs Chelsea I decide to play a weakend side as wins in the spl are my new priority I play a 4-1-4-1 of gk Mcgregor dr Opare dl Insua cbs Diakite Bougherra dmc Dailly rm Aaron lm Lafferty cms Bolozoni Beasley cf Boyd
4 mins and Drogba is sent off for a rash challenge regret not fielding a stronger side now as I feel we are lacking in quality and Chelsea just sit back and soak up everything we throw at them in the end I have to settle for another 0-0 and admit the dream of 2nd round is over
We follow up the Chelsea game with an excellent 0-1 win at Hearts followed by a 2-0 win at home to Hamilton we lose our last meaningless champions league game at Schalke 1-0 the final group table looks like
Schalke played 6 won 5 drawn 1 lost 0 for 10 against 4 points 16
Chelsea played 6 won 3 drawn 1 lost 2 for 13 against 4 points 10
Rangers played 6 won 2 drawn 1 lost 3 for 5 against 6 points 7
Dinamo played 6 won 0 drawn 1 lost 5 for 3 against 17 points 1
I now await the Uefa cup draw
Our fine domestic form continues with a away win vs Dundee utd 1-2 and home win 2-0 vs Hibs a home draw 2-2 vs Celtic and away win 1-2 vs Inverness before a 2-0 defeat at Celtic park in the 4th round of the cup
The Uefa cup draw pairs us with CSKA Moscow a great Russian side who won this competition in 2005
In the Uefa cup draw the next round is drawn as well so the winners of Rangers vs Cska Moscow will play the winners of Galatasaray vs Bayern I probably could not have asked for a more difficult draw
Alan Mcgregor had become frustrated with life in Glasgow and handed in a transfer request which I accepted the next day Manchester City bid 5 million for him and I was on the look out for a new keeper
The 2 keepers I bid for were Sergio Asenjo of Valladolid this guy will probably be the best keeper in the game by the time he is 21 my scout said he was interested in a move but I could not bring his club down from there 7.25 million value of the player
The other keeper is Vincent Enyeama of Juventus he moved there in the summer but has not played 1 second for them so he is keen to move Juve only want 220k for the player I have my new goalie.
Just to run through a few more of my results
Falkirk home 1-0 Boyd
Aberdeen away 1-1 Lafferty
Celtic semi final league cup 1-0 Darchville
This result coincides with the transfer window closing again im sorry im not going into great detail in this blog but im so far behind so I am just going to round up my ins and outs in January.
In
Josh Lambo 625k
Franco Zuculini 525k
Aquivaldo Mosquerra 1.6m
Keirrison 2m
Hedwiges Maduro 1.5m
Gary Wilson 100k
Vincent Enyeama 220k
Mark Beevers 1.2m
Luca Trembolada 1.3m
Marquinhos 2m
Rafael Van der Vaart loan until end of season
Out
Chris Burke 100k
Allan McGregor 5m
Andrius Velicka 14k loan option to buy for 975k
Steven Davis loan 425k option to buy for 4.1m
Madjid Bougherra 2m
Most pleased with Marquinhos who had become unsettled at his club because they refused to sell him so got him at a cut price 2m
Trembolada is another promising youngster who I believe will do great things
Van der Vaart I am really going to try and make this permanent although he is valued at 10m so might be outside my budget unless they will haggle
I believe my side is really beginning to take shape I think they are a far better side than the one I inherited just 6 months ago.
Dundee Utd home 4-0 Hammil og Van der Vaart Darchville Marquinhos
Celtic away 0-3 Marquinhos Van der Vaart Darchville
Cska Moscow away 2-1 Bolozoni
Kilmarnock home 0-0
Cska Moscow home 1-0 Mendes
Will now face Fc Bayern in last 16
Hamilton away 0-3 Shea Marquinhos Boyd
Inverness home 4-0 Boyd Proctor og Aaron Beasley
Ok now you are up to date I apologise this is so brief and no detail but I was falling so far behind it was becoming difficult to write
My next fixtures are away to Bayern Hearts in the final of the League cup then home to Bayern so a big 8 days of football for my side I hope that we can deliver.
Discussion: Rangers updates 2 and 3
5 comments have been posted so far.
other than that its good!