The official word seems to be in from Rangers fans if fans forums are be believed. Paul Le Guen is rubbish and David Murray is a dick.

Well, no-one?s saying there isn?t room for criticism. We have made our worst start to a league campaign for 23 years after all.

But calm down folks, calm down. I have been as quick to complain as anyone, but after the knee jerk reaction to disappointment, it?s time for some considered reflection.

Very few Rangers supporters were in favour of the manager?s decision to drop Allan McGregor last week and even fewer can see the merits in keeping our only regular goal threat Kris Boyd on the bench.

But we were clamouring almost to a man for Le Guen to replace Alex McLeish around this time last season and we?ve made a poor show of supporting him now he?s here.

Paul Le Guen is the manager of RFC. We asked for him, we got him and now we have to trust him and back his decisions as he tries to find a future path for the team.

He is quite right to resist the press and fan pressure to allow them and not him to pick the side and the team?s tactics.

Some of the names I?ve heard as possible replacements are simply laughable and the fact that some so-called fans are even talking about replacing a man 10 games into a league programme indicates how unreasonable our expectation levels are. Ok, the very core of the Rangers ethos is to always strive to be the best, but some fans, including myself, want to remember that you can?t just magic magnificence out of thin air.

Most fans have reserved their harshest criticism for the chairman David Murray. Many are asking themselves why the man who bankrolled 9-in-a-row has pulled the financial plug in the face of slipping standards. Most speculate that Murray has failed to invest because he plans to use revenue to reduce the clubs debts in preparation of the sale of the club.

But I wonder if we?re not all letting our emotions cloud our judgement on this one.

Certainly David Murray is not above a few digs. A flamboyant character, he enjoys the limelight and hasn?t always been able to deliver on promises made to the fans.

A lot of people defend him because he put ?his? money into the club. That?s not strictly true. He borrowed a lot of money and put it into the team, speculating on TV revenue and European success. But the failure of the SPL to launch their proposed TV channel caused TV money to virtually dry up and successive managers failed to take us further than the first round of the Champions League.

Of course, a glorious run of domestic success was delivered so the verdict on Murray?s period of heavy invest should realistically be that we gambled, achieved some objectives but ultimately fell short on our long term goal, which was sustainable income from TV and regular Champions League participation.

We tried to join the elite and fell short.

On seeing that this gamble had essentially failed, we then found ourselves challenged domestically by Martin O?Neil?s Celtic.

The chairman sanctioned the ?12m purchase of Tore Andre Flo, probably Murray?s most critical error of judgement in his 20 years at the club. When that move didn?t work Rangers started to look like a rich mans folly, but it was an honest mistake, a gamble that didn?t pay off.

Then the banks came knocking. Rangers were ?70m in the hole. So the club did what it had to, asset stripping the first team and scaling down investment across the board.

Murray put ?50m in to reduce the pressure from outwith the club and has been clawing it back ever since.

He?s also been steering the club towards perhaps it?s most important goal, self sufficiency.

Rangers are now virtually debt free and turning a profit.

In achieving this Murray has reduced the possibility that Rangers will become like Hearts or Chelsea, a rich man?s plaything.

If our current financial model is sustained, we will have enough money to make modest transfer investment which will hopefully be augmented by results from one of the strongest youth set ups in the country.

Most fans just want a return to the glory days, but have their heads in the sand when it comes to the sums.

Some say if we don?t spend, we won?t be able to compete in Europe and we won?t even qualify to play in the Champions League. There?s some merit in that, but that?s why we brought in a manager with a strong record in Europe, a reputation for working on a budget and a track record of spotting young talent.

You?ve got to speculate to accumulate comes the cry. But we?ve tried that. It didn?t work and almost broke us.

Do we really want to be ?70m in debt again? Do we want to exist as a club on the whim of a bank or even worse a Romanov type character?

We have to accept that there are limited funds available and thank David Murray for guarding against us being taken over by some nutcase who wants to pick the team.

Rangers are an institution which defies the short term view. We are one of the oldest clubs in the world and have been through adversity before. Our troubles have always been outstripped by our capacity to achieve and they will be again.

However long this period of hurt lasts it will be followed by glory. We all know this, we are Rangers.

Paul Le Guen and David Murray are doing their level best for Rangers in trying circumstances.

I?ll hold my hands up; I?ve let my disappointment with results get the better of me and have been too quick to apportion blame when I haven?t agreed with decisions made.

But it?s easy for supporters isn?t it? All we have to do is take a slagging from our Celtic supporting mates and colleagues. Murray and Le Guen have an actual club to run.

So, unless you have a brilliant idea about how we can sign Ronaldinho and still stay in business, I?d say back the manager, back the chairman, be a supporter.

Anyway, onto Livorno tonight. Here?s hoping the lads can pull one out of the bag for us.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2006 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Rangers. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.