Sky Sports pundit Kris Boyd has questioned the role of Rangers Director of Football Mark Allen, launching a scathing written attack via his regular Scottish Sun column.
Rangers supporters are currently looking for answers on where things are going wrong at Ibrox after being dumped out of the Scottish Cup on Tuesday night.
Steven Gerrard has come under immense criticism for his team selection and tactics, with many taking a serious look at his record so far this season.
However, Kris Boyd believes the problem could lie with recruitment and has criticised the job Mark Allen is doing.
Writing in The Scottish Sun, the former Gers striker said:
Steven Gerrard will be the first to admit that he’s made mistakes, but he isn’t the man to blame. I’d be more inclined to look at the job being done by the club’s Head of Recruitment.
Mark Allen is quick enough to jump around changing rooms when the team wins, but what has he actually contributed? He paints himself as the mastermind in everything that’s good when Rangers are winning, but he doesn’t fool me.
For a start, why are there four left-wingers at the club in Glenn Middleton, Ryan Kent, Jamie Murphy and Eros Grezda? Jordan Jones is another one on the way with Jake Hastie expected to follow.
That just doesn’t make any sense to me.
It’s the same with seven central midfielders — Steven Davis, Ryan Jack, Scott Arfield, Ross McCrorie, Graham Dorrans, Andy Halliday and Glen Kamara. Yet there’s only Daniel Candeias who can play wide right.
That’s a total imbalance and stops Gerrard from being able to make changes when things aren’t going well.
Does Boyd have a point about imbalance in the squad?
It’s true that Candeias has been turned to far too much this season, almost by necessity, but those central midfielders have all been necessary over the last 12 months, with McCrorie transitioning from defence and Halliday being more of a left-back these days.
Most fans would agree that recruitment has generally improved since the arrival of Mark Allen, with some excellent loan signings arriving.
It’s also too soon to write off players like Eros Grezda and Borna Barisic completely. Both have shown glimpses of having the right stuff, they just need to find their feet in the Rangers squad.
Boyd is probably right to ask questions about going on but such a hostile attack is not helpful nor constructive.