Follow Follow Rangers. Season 2023/24

[Romeo]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2225181-alex-mcleish-was-bugged-to-sign-a-young-lionel-messi-due-to-football-manager

That only proves what you said is correct.

For a "newish poster" you seem very touchy and defensive. This will undoubtedly get you staunch points but it's best you chill out.

[Drew Brees]

Nobody from Rangers has ever claimed that Messi was a former target.

Former Rangers boss Alex McLeish has been speaking to the Daily Record, and as you might suspect, the Scotsman used the opportunity to have a little name drop concerning the Blaugrana skipper.

McLeish claims that the Spain international very nearly had the honour of replacing Barry Ferguson, who had just moved to Blackburn.

At that time, Rangers assistant Jan Wouters was acquainted with Frank Rijkaard, the former Barcelona manager, so he made an audacious bid to take the youth player on loan to Ibrox.


When Barca realised he was in demand, they immediately put him in the senior team, and the rest is history.


“Rangers were downsizing and I needed players of quality, who could take the ball in midfield," McLeish explained.

"Jan Wouters phoned Henk ten Cate, who was Rijkaard’s assistant at Barcelona. Jan asked if there was anybody we could get and was told about a young kid called Iniesta.

"He was only 18 at the time. We asked if we could bring him to Scotland and were told that they would try and make some hay at Barcelona and get him over to us.

"They said Iniesta needed to get some action."


What a story that would have been. As the Record are keen to point out, it worked wonders with Mikel Arteta, who left Barca to spend some of his formative years in Glasgow.


Rangers have had a tough few years, but it hasn't been for want of trying. Just to put the icing on the cake, McLeish added:

"We asked about bringing Messi to Rangers on loan [in 2004] and were told flatly: ‘No chance. Absolutely, no chance’.”

[G51]

1 minute ago, Romeo said:

That only proves what you said is correct.

 

yes

[Romeo]

yes

About football manger.

Everything else, not so much.

[G51]

1 minute ago, Drew Brees said:

 

 

Former Rangers boss Alex McLeish has been speaking to the Daily Record, and as you might suspect, the Scotsman used the opportunity to have a little name drop concerning the Blaugrana skipper.

McLeish claims that the Spain international very nearly had the honour of replacing Barry Ferguson, who had just moved to Blackburn.

At that time, Rangers assistant Jan Wouters was acquainted with Frank Rijkaard, the former Barcelona manager, so he made an audacious bid to take the youth player on loan to Ibrox.


When Barca realised he was in demand, they immediately put him in the senior team, and the rest is history.


“Rangers were downsizing and I needed players of quality, who could take the ball in midfield," McLeish explained.

"Jan Wouters phoned Henk ten Cate, who was Rijkaard’s assistant at Barcelona. Jan asked if there was anybody we could get and was told about a young kid called Iniesta.

"He was only 18 at the time. We asked if we could bring him to Scotland and were told that they would try and make some hay at Barcelona and get him over to us.

"They said Iniesta needed to get some action."


What a story that would have been. As the Record are keen to point out, it worked wonders with Mikel Arteta, who left Barca to spend some of his formative years in Glasgow.


Rangers have had a tough few years, but it hasn't been for want of trying. Just to put the icing on the cake, McLeish added:

"We asked about bringing Messi to Rangers on loan [in 2004] and were told flatly: ‘No chance. Absolutely, no chance’.”

So what that actually says is that we tried to get Iniesta and we were told that might happen, and we also asked about Messi and we were told it definitely wouldn't.

Not really a "target" is it.

[G51]

Just now, Romeo said:

About football manger.

 

thank you

[Richey Edwards]

7 minutes ago, Drew Brees said:

"They said Iniesta needed to get some action."

 

 

Don't we all?

[Drew Brees]

So what that actually says is that we tried to get Iniesta and we were told that might happen, and we also asked about Messi and we were told it definitely wouldn't.
Not really a "target" is it.

I believe if you ask about signing a player then, yes, that makes him a signing target.

[AJF]

Some of the replies here are gold fallen for it hook, line and sinker 

 

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Rangers pathetically trying to sign Messi on loan is a good laugh tbf.

The banter years really started around 2004.

[thepundit]

Rangers apparently in discussions with Dundee Utd to sign Shankland.

[Bohemian]

I thought sevco wouldn't do business with Dundee United...

[Szamo's_Ammo]

16 minutes ago, thepundit said:

Rangers apparently in discussions with Dundee Utd to sign Shankland.

[G51]

Doubt there’s anything in Shankland to Rangers. Doesn’t fit the profile and isn’t in a position of need.

[Romeo]

Would Shankland get a start ahead of Messi?

 

 

[steelmen]

The actual story was that McLeish's loon bought a copy of Champ Manager (I think it was still CM at that point) and said to his dad that Messi was class in it and he should buy him for Rangers. Years later McLeish told the story in a documentary and how he just went "aye okay" to his boy, no taking him seriously.
Nobody from Rangers has ever claimed that Messi was a former target.

This is also the manager who knocked back signing a young Ole Gunnar Solskjær in favour of signing John Hendry from spurs (played with Klinsman don’t you know).

McLeish wouldn’t know a good signing if one bit him in the ass. Everywhere he went he did ok with the team that was left for him but as soon as he had to get his own, it all fell apart

[weirdcal]

This is also the manager who knocked back signing a young Ole Gunnar Solskjær in favour of signing John Hendry from spurs (played with Klinsman don’t you know).

McLeish wouldn’t know a good signing if one bit him in the ass. Everywhere he went he did ok with the team that was left for him but as soon as he had to get his own, it all fell apart

Sounds like yogi

[8MileBU]

12 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

There's a sensational amount of folk on Twitter, mostly Celtic fans with Irish flags in their username, who are absolutely seething about it for some reason.

If you can be arsed to double check, I’ll bet you find a significant number of them are Ivory Coast flags.

[The_Kincardine]

4 hours ago, steelmen said:

McLeish wouldn’t know a good signing if one bit him in the ass. 

 

Glasgow Rangers thread, mate.  Can some mod punt this shite to a baseball thread?

[GNU_Linux]

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/18680860.rangers-still-hopeful-introducing-b-team-scotlands-lower-leagues/

CRAIG MULHOLLAND has revealed that Rangers are still hopeful of a league reconstruction format being implemented that would allow for an Ibrox B team to be introduced into the lower leagues.

The head of the youth academy at the Light Blues has spent the summer brainstorming with sporting director Ross Wilson to try and devise a solution to allow reserve sides into the Scottish football pyramid.

Mulholland believes the addition of B teams from the bottom tier would not only benefit Rangers, but the Scottish game as a whole.

And with the likes of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain all following this format, the 50-year-old is convinced it is about time Scotland followed suit.

Speaking to Rangers TV he explained: “It was quite widely reported that Rangers produced a paper, which was at the time when league reconstruction was topical.

“One of the big things in it for us, we were quite open about that, was a B team. We think that is fundamental to our players from academy to first team.

“It was reported wrongly that it had been voted on and dismissed, that was never the case it never went forward for a vote.

“Stewart Robertson, Ross Wilson, myself and Andrew Dixon have been working our way around all 42 clubs on Zoom calls explaining the concept behind the paper.

“That has been a great exercise, it has been a long exercise, but it has been a great exercise because we built relationships with Rangers and all these other clubs.

“It has allowed us to ascertain some ideas or thoughts that we might not have had that we can build into the paper with a view of taking it forward to season 2021/22.”

Mulholland drew upon Croatia as a recent and prime example of a B team setup resulting in major successes for the national team.

He continued: “The B team concept is fundamental to what we are trying to do here, but we also think fundamental to the development of the national game in Scotland.

“So if we take Croatia as an example, which is a very similar country to Scotland in terms of population base, they had 67 per cent of their players who reached the World Cup final had come through B teams in their country.

“Only from Hajduk Split, Dinamo Zagreb and Osijek, so not loads of B teams but it was a critical part for the bigger clubs to get players from their academies to the first teams.

“If you look at the top twelve leagues in Europe, eight of the top twelve leagues are now operating with B teams.

“We are not looking at a concept that has not worked elsewhere, that we are trying to recreate. It is something that we know is successful.”

On how the addition of reserve teams to Scotland’s leagues could benefit smaller clubs in the country, Mulholland added: “Most importantly it is not just to have a B team in the paper, there is a menu of options.

“We live in a country where we have clubs with different revenue bases, different objectives and I think probably what we have tried in the past is a one size fits all for all clubs and that will never work.

“What we are saying to clubs is be a bit entrepreneurial with the way we develop talent and actually choose from a menu.

“So there are things like strategic partnerships, greater loans, there will be B teams, there are a whole range of things and then what clubs can then do is say ‘what best fits our model but ultimately then benefits young Scottish players’.

“For Rangers it has been a big piece of work for us and something we are passionately behind and we will continue to push because in order to get the success of the work we have done over the last five years, we need to make sure we get the transition bit right to the first team.”