Having replaced Michael Beale as Rangers gaffer back in mid-October of last season, Gers fans saw plenty of improvements and with a little bit more luck the season could well have turned out even better for Phillipe Clement. Optimism was certainly high as we went into the 2024/25 campaign given our 50 year old boss would now have a full pre season under his belt, as well as a summer transfer window to wheel and deal in.
With Nils Koppen handling our transfer business, the Rangers board certainly backed the Belgian and we largely saw a complete overhaul of the first team squad, with a strong pivot to younger, highly rated players, who we could fully develop and then cash in on in a few years time for the overall benefit of the club.
It was an approach welcomed by plenty at Ibrox given our habit of just seeing older players leaving as free agents after they sat their contracts out, but there were valid concerns as to the balance of our new captures and whether we had gone a little bit too far, a little bit too quickly. For those fans who like playing online casino games and use sites like Lyllo Casino, with how youthful we went, overplaying our hand at the table may have been an appropriate phrase as we have arguable been a little too over confident.
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Sadly for us, those concerns have turned out to have held some merit, as heading into the October international break, with seven games played we had only won five, and picked up one draw and we are five points off top spot. From two games played in Europe, we have picked up one win as well.
It is far from a complete disaster and it was always going to take the fresh faces a little while to settle into life at a new club and many in a new country, but fans really need to see our three wins on the spin continue now so we can take full advantage of other sides slipping up so we can claw that points gap back.
January could also be a big month for us as it is already being reported that Clement has noticed the imbalance in the squad, and that he is very keen indeed to add a solid defensive midfield option to his first team choices for the second half of the season. With our summer spending though, and with the New Year market generally being inflated, our overall financial situation could make such an addition tricky.
With the gaffer preferring two defensive midfield options to protect the back line, Nicolas Raskin and Mohamed Diomande have taken on that role so far, but Clement feels they themselves need additional competition to bring the best out of them, as there is little denying that Diomande has so far been the more impressive and reliable of the two.
Many fans will believe that a more experienced head would be suitable here, and could well help bring the above duo on as well, and if we did go for an older head, we could well find ourselves a more financially suitable option as well. It could well ease the pressure that is growing on Clement as well.
We will have to see what happens when the window opens, but everyone at the club will be keenly aware that we cannot afford any more slip ups until we are at least back on level terms on a points front.
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