Whoever the next manager of Rangers is, one thing is abundantly clear. There have to be wholesale changes to the squad both in January and in the summer.
Between players retiring and coming up to the end of their contracts, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that there will need to be new additions to the squad in the next two transfer windows.
The next Rangers manager has a core of decent senior players and we have a talented group of youngsters too but, we need to add quality who can regularly be relied upon to be available and make key contributions week in, and week out.
Writing in response to an article about Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s year in charge, The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell reckons that transition is very much the keyword over the next six months:
“Don’t think there is any doubt that the squad needs sizeable changes in the summer. As far as I’m told it wasn’t a case of the players throwing in the towel or not trying for the manager. A lot of things combined to end up in this situation. Really does need a fresh core to the squad though.”
There will, naturally, be changes to the squad but the players coming in have to have to right mentality from the outset. They shouldn’t need time to settle or time to adjust. There simply isn’t the time for that.
For a while it was thought that losing players like Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos for nothing would be criminal, however, it could also be the best thing to happen to a side that has regularly been found wanting on the domestic scene.