da jogodeouro： The window is shut, the speculation has fallen silent, the squads of football teams across the country are locked in and for supporters it’s time to reflect on where their club excelled and where they failed on the business side over the last few months.
da betobet： This summer was an especially important one for Rangers Football Club. After last season’s disastrous return to the Scottish top-flight which resulted in the exit of Mark Warburton, incoming manager Pedro Caixinha had a lot of work to do to stamp his authority on a failed squad.
The Light Blues were one of the busiest teams in Britain both in terms of incoming and outgoing transfers with no less than 21 deals in total transforming the look of the first team squad.
So, what did they do right and what went wrong?
Here are TWO positives and TWO negatives from a frantic few months of transfer business…
Positive: Shipping out last season’s failed stars
It became clear towards the end of the season that it wasn’t just the former manager Mark Warburton underpeforming at Rangers but also the fact that the squad was not good enough to compete for honours in the Scottish Premiership or domestic cup competitions.
Players who had shone in the Championship like Martyn Waghorn and Andy Halliday were struggling with the step up to top-flight football and something had to give this summer. Even failed 2016 signings like Joe Garner were shown the door, Pedro Caixinha ruthless in his assessment of the squad he had inherited.
In the early part of this season some of these outgoing signings have started positively at their new clubs but that is irrelevant to Rangers. They were never going to get the job done at Ibrox where there’s more pressure to win football matches and pick up positive results.
It was a big positive for Rangers fans to see their squad so streamlined and failed performers leave. It sets the bar of performance for this season with players now knowing if they don’t shape up they’ll be shipped out.
Negative: The departure of Barrie McKay on the cheap
One outgoing transfer that Rangers and their supporters could come to regret is the departure of Barrie McKay to Nottingham Forest for a reported £500,000. Yes, he only had a year left on his contract but he was a player that fans always had high hopes for even if he never quite showed the consistency to become irreplaceable.
He’s started the season fantastically at Nottingham Forest, showing the talent that was on display at the Light Blues last season.
Rangers have seen some other homegrown star leave the club and go on to have fine careers in England and while most supporters will wish him well, it would disappointing if he becomes the player he’s threatened to become elsewhere.
Could the club have done more to tie him down to a new deal? We might never know, but it’s the one bit of outgoing business that might not sit right with supporters.
Positive: The arrival of quality from back to front
Pedro Caixinha made a massive 11 signings for Rangers this season, almost all of them expected to compete immediately for first-team places. From back to front quality arrived including the trophy-laden Bruno Alves, experienced midfielder Graham Dorrans and hotshot striker Alfredo Morelos.
All three of those players look like excellent acquisitions and should go a long way to closing the gap on the likes of Aberdeen and Celtic over the next 12 months.
The jury is still out on other signings like Carlos Pena and Eduardo Herrera but they have to be given time and if they can repeat the form they’ve shown in their homeland then they should have enough to become hits in the Scottish Premiership.
The hierarchy at Ibrox has supported Pedro Caixinha with a decent budget and that’s all that fans could have asked for. The rest is up to the manager and his new signings.
Negative: Failing to get the Jamie Walker deal done
In what became something of a summer long transfer saga, Jamie Walker did not end up joining Rangers by the end of the transfer window, even though the clubs were reported to have re-opened discussions on transfer deadline day.
In the long-term that could be to the Ibrox side’s benefit with The Scottish Sun reporting on Friday that he will join the club on a pre-contract in January.
However, he would have added real quality to their left hand side this season and it’s a disappointment for supporters that they won’t see him in action for the club in a vitally important season.
With no real natural width now on the left hand side there’s an imbalance in the team and whether Pedro Caixinha can fix that remains to be seen going forward.