Post by casper on Mar 13, 2014 15:50:45 GMT 1
Rangers: Former skipper David Weir says Rangers deserve more credit
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26559517
This may be controversial, but I agree with this entirely. Lets consider the facts...
- To win the 3rd and 2nd Divisions in successive seasons as a new team is an impressive achievement. Even the famed Gretna took 4 seasons to make it to Division 1.
- Rangers achieved their 3rd and 2nd league promotions while only having 9 full internationally capped players in their squad.
- Rangers achieved these promotions while managing to record losses of only tens of millions of pounds.
Now being a Livingston fan, I'll naturally draw some comparisons between the achievements of both sides...
- As we know, Livingston recently secured back to back promotions from the 3rd and 2nd Divisions, but unlike Rangers they had not been liquidated and remained the same club having merely gone through administration - clearly a huge advantage.
- While Livingston retained several key players from their Division 1 squad - e.g. Jason Talbot, Roddy McKenzie, Robbie Winters - Rangers had to persevere with the likes of Lee Wallace, Lee McCulloch and Neil Alexander.
- For their tilt at the Division 3 title, Livingston were able to attract seasoned veterans of lower league Scottish Football such as Jim Hamilton and Steve Tosh. Unfortunately for Rangers, they could only attract players with a combined total of 580 SPL appearances, 108 SPL goals, 1 League Cup Winners Medal, 1 Scottish Cup Winners Medal and 11 international caps - David Templeton, Ian Black, Dean Shiels, Francisco Sandaza and Kevin Kyle.
While there are probably many more comparisons that can be drawn, it's quite clear how much more impressive Rangers success has been. As a result, it seems to me that that the dozens of media reports, extensive national coverage and the congratulations that Livingston showered upon themselves when they achieved back to back promotions now look to be unmerited and frankly, I'm a bit embarrassed.
Here endeth the lesson.
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26559517
This may be controversial, but I agree with this entirely. Lets consider the facts...
- To win the 3rd and 2nd Divisions in successive seasons as a new team is an impressive achievement. Even the famed Gretna took 4 seasons to make it to Division 1.
- Rangers achieved their 3rd and 2nd league promotions while only having 9 full internationally capped players in their squad.
- Rangers achieved these promotions while managing to record losses of only tens of millions of pounds.
Now being a Livingston fan, I'll naturally draw some comparisons between the achievements of both sides...
- As we know, Livingston recently secured back to back promotions from the 3rd and 2nd Divisions, but unlike Rangers they had not been liquidated and remained the same club having merely gone through administration - clearly a huge advantage.
- While Livingston retained several key players from their Division 1 squad - e.g. Jason Talbot, Roddy McKenzie, Robbie Winters - Rangers had to persevere with the likes of Lee Wallace, Lee McCulloch and Neil Alexander.
- For their tilt at the Division 3 title, Livingston were able to attract seasoned veterans of lower league Scottish Football such as Jim Hamilton and Steve Tosh. Unfortunately for Rangers, they could only attract players with a combined total of 580 SPL appearances, 108 SPL goals, 1 League Cup Winners Medal, 1 Scottish Cup Winners Medal and 11 international caps - David Templeton, Ian Black, Dean Shiels, Francisco Sandaza and Kevin Kyle.
While there are probably many more comparisons that can be drawn, it's quite clear how much more impressive Rangers success has been. As a result, it seems to me that that the dozens of media reports, extensive national coverage and the congratulations that Livingston showered upon themselves when they achieved back to back promotions now look to be unmerited and frankly, I'm a bit embarrassed.
Here endeth the lesson.
