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A few days
ago I wrote about how I would be happy to start a slow building
process for the future, that I felt the decks needed clearing
and the place shaking up again and that I hoped that Gary
Waddock would be given the time needed to do this.
So you can
image the huge slap my forehead received when just a couple of
days later Gianni Paladini immediately put the pressure on him
by announcing that he expects us to finish in the play offs next
season.
"We will be
looking to end next season in the top six”, he said recently.
"I've told Gary it is what I'm expecting, and I have every faith
in him.”
There’s
nothing wrong with setting targets of course and if Gary manages
to turn us into play off contenders over the course of one
summer whilst having to almost totally rebuild a squad then fair
play to him but I think it could just take a little longer to
achieve than that.
He’s made a
good start of clearing the decks, six players will be released
when their contracts expire at the end of June and there were no
real surprises amongst them.
Georges
Santos leaves after two years of giving nothing but his best for
Rangers. He put in a good performance at Reading despite knowing
it was his last game, but at thirty five years old we certainly
don’t want to be relying on him. I hope he gets himself a decent
club to finish his career at and a possible return to Tranmere
Rovers has been mooted for him.
Luke
Townsend and Ryan Johnson are also off having not made the step
up from the reserves. Good luck to the pair of them, they’ve
done nothing wrong and should go on to have decent careers
elsewhere.
Sammy
Youssouf and Marcin Kus have reached the end of their short term
deals and neither will be retained, again no real surprise, both
have been OK in their performances but neither have particularly
stood out.
The biggest
eyebrow raiser is Richard Langley’s departure, idolised by some
and ridiculed by others, the prodigal son’s return just hasn’t
worked out. Despite his obvious talent he never manages to put
it all together when given a chance and you have to ask yourself
how many chances he can be given for what we would have to pay
him.
On top of
this of course we’ve transfer listed Stefan Moore, Tommy
Doherty, Ian Evatt, Ugo Ukah, Steve Lomas and Matthew Hislop.
All were Ian Holloway signings and all have either failed to
find anything like their best form or been riddled with
injuries.
Finally it’s
goodbye to stalwarts Marcus Bignot and Marc Bircham, no one can
knock their contributions over the years and it’ll be sad to say
goodbye to both of them. However both have struggled at times
this season and the club seems to be moving past them now, sad
yes, but that’s football.
Biggy will
get himself a move to a lower league club I’m sure and they’ll
love him for his effort and commitment, whilst if the rumours
over the last few weeks are to be believed Bircham will have a
host of clubs to choose from.
Birch
achieved his dream of playing for the club he loves and will
hopefully look back on his time at Rangers with great fondness,
both he and Bignot played a massive role in getting us to where
we are now and their contributions will surely be long
remembered.
On top of
all this Dean Sturridge will also be officially released at the
end of June but in reality was canned a long time ago and it was
confirmed today that fitness coach Scott Rushton is also to
leave, perhaps paying the price for the terrible run of injuries
and fitness problems we’ve had this season.
Waddo is
keen to put his stamp on the squad as soon as possible, he told
the official website that, “after the summer, I want this to be
a new era, not just a new season and I have to start planning
for that now. I felt that those who I have released don't fit in
with my plans for next season”.
So what is
the plan? Well if we’re going to be challenging for the play
offs then we’ll have to have some pretty special players in
mind. Paladini has mentioned in passing that we’d be making up
to six quality signings, although what that amounts to remains
to be seen.
There are
also plenty of rumours that Danny Shittu and Lee Cook are on the
verge of big moves so maybe this is how we’re going to fund the
shake up. Again it would be sad to see them go but we can’t
realistically turn down decent bids for anyone and besides,
isn’t this what we were always good at? Find a player, develop
them, sell them for a big profit then replace them cheaper and
start again. I don’t see anything wrong with that for a club our
size as long as we get the replacements right. In fact it was
doing the exact opposite of this in the late 90’s that got us
into so much financial trouble in the first place.
Don’t forget
the youth players as well who are set to play a big part next
season. Shabazz Baidoo (assuming he can find time to sign a new
contract in between updating his new official website), Scott
Donnelly and Stefan Bailey have made their marks this season.
Jake Cole has just signed an improved deal until 2008 suggesting
his stock is high right now. Giant Ray Jones has arrived on the
scene of late and Andrew Howell, Patrick Kanyuka and Jonathan
Munday are all waiting in the background.
Certainly if
we can keep the squad smaller but stacked with a mix of quality
and potential then it should make for an interesting combination
next season. If Gary can keep us playing in the way we are but
improve the finishing, add a more ruthless streak to the side
and install a winning mentality then we may do very well indeed.
However as
we all know ifs and buts are meaningless, Waddo’s made good
decisions so far but the bigger ones lay ahead. If we make
strides forward next season then you won’t hear any complaints
from this quarter, even if we do move forward slightly slower
than the Chairman expects.
ron@qprnet.com |
