This site has written loads of times about the lack of imagination at Ibrox, and their propensity for copying Celtic. But seriously; can they really be so desperate as to hire Kevin Muscat on the back of the success Ange Postecoglou had at Celtic?
The idea looks better on paper than it is in practice. Because on paper you can sort of understand it. It’s when you subject it to scrutiny that it dies a grim death, the sort of grim death it would be certain to suffer upon exposure to the world outside of their fantasies.
Muscat has won things as a manager. His club record is almost on a par with that of Ange himself. But that’s because Ange preceded him at the two clubs where he’s had that success. He did nothing original. He took over clubs that Ange had built, knew better than to tweak the tactics too much and was perfectly content to surf in the big man’s slipstream.
He has just once tried to run a club without Ange being there before him; he took over at Sint-Truiden in Belgium. He lasted a matter of months, with two wins in fifteen games. Left to his own devices he didn’t just flop. He was an absolute disaster. No club would touch him until Yokohama realised, when Ange left for Celtic, that he was a perfect fit; someone who would come in and do things exactly the same way that our former manager did.
This is such a lazy idea, such a weak idea, and it basically only has one thing to sell it, and that’s the apparent similarity of the two men’s records. They reckon that what one man can do the other can do, and it’s so unimaginative and another example of them seeing something work at Celtic without really understanding why it worked.
Because that similarity is only a surface thing. Ange was also the boss of the Australian youth and senior national teams and won things with both of them too. He was a much more accomplished coach than simply winning leagues. In addition to the international successes, he actually won titles with two separate teams in Australia; this guy is the real thing.
What we know now is that Ange was headed for Europe before long anyway; AEK Athens would certainly have given him the job and he’d been looked at by several clubs in England, and the City Group rated him highly and so did everyone in it. Where is the real interest in Muscat? He has nothing like the profile Ange did, and there’s a reason for that.
They just don’t get it. They don’t really get anything we do. Their arrogance is such that they look at us and assume that simply copying us will work, because, after all, we can’t simply be better at this than they are, working with better information than they are, and possessed of vastly greater resources, right? No, we’re simply lucky and if they only latch onto it, they can accomplish big things of their own. That is a joke. That club is a joke.
I am not in the least bit surprised that this mad idea is being taken seriously, or that it has such wide-ranging support on the forums over there. The media is lapping it up. The Record “jury” gave their verdict on who should get the job yesterday; three of them actually said McInnes. One said Martindale and then said that “the snobs might laugh.” Hey, everyone will laugh, not just the snobs. The rest of them took Muscat. They really are sold on it.
Reports today suggest that he’s turned down a contract extension in Japan. He’s up for it, and I for one hope that he gets it. His connection with their club, and his reputation as a thug, are just what the doctor ordered. Mr Staunch comes with a good CV.
But he’s not walking in Ange’s footsteps anymore but in his shadow instead, and he’s going up against an even better manager. He will not be well resourced, and the Ibrox fans have no patience for the long haul. Rather than take over a football machine which is winning, he would inherit a disaster. He would be lucky to last as long as The Mooch did.
That club is unbelievable.
I don’t think they have many options to be honest. The Graham Potter and Frank Lampard links were never going to come to fruition. And, as you have already pointed out, the options in Scotland (Martindale, McInnes et al) are laughably bad.
If I were one of that lot (and I thank the baby Jesus every day that I am not) I wouldn’t be too disappointed at Muscat taking the job. There is potential to tap the Asian market which would, coincidentally, have commercial implications for Celtic. Bring it on.
The big problem for Muscat will be dealing with that shower of shite he’ll inherit till January.
I wish him well. We welcome the chase. Lolz
Your more forgiving than me Roonsa as I certainly don’t wish him or any other Sevco manager well !
That said GVB seemed a gentleman and I wish him well in his future career as long as he’s not up against Celtic…
It was sarcasm mate. Hence the Struth quote followed by Lolz 🙂
Copying Celtic is not a bad thing to do, in fact it is a compliment to us.
For all the reasons you mentioned though James, it does seem very unlikely that it will succeed in this case. Muscat does not have Ange’s character or leadership qualities to accomplish a very uphill task at Ibrox with the blunt tools he will have at hand. I do hope though, like you, that they employ the guy as he will be yet another guaranteed failure. If they do that, then they will be ignoring people with better credentials until the next time.
Rinse and repeat forever. 🙂
I think Muscat has the potential to grow into a very good manager. I also think going to the orcs will torpedo his career and leave him unemployable. For his sake I hope his agent stops him going, because by all accounts he’s an alright guy and could do better in the long run.
I don’t really care who they do get though, as that squad is hopeless and their finances are diabolical. Weirdly enough I think a Martindale or a McInnes would be a good short term bump for them, potentially sort out the defence. But they’re both sub 12 month choices.
Robbie Neilson is my left field bet. Free, a hun, has (an unwarranted) reputation for success and good football, gets teams to kick f**k out of celtic players… The fans would gobble it up. Until he, like everyone else, got sacked by season 2 for winning nothing.
He and Ange are close make no mistake here so I would hope he would be talking to him.
I understand his thinking if he is doing this , do well and it’s a step into EPL ECT. Let’s hope Ange talks him out of this because really? Off the field Kevin is a real decent guy and can coach James.
Muscat stats are very, very ordenary round 60%,,about rite for that mob,
I’m broadly of the same opinion James,but Ange himself rates the job Muscat has done.But has he the nous to work with basket case FC to turn a terrible squad littered with rubbish into a decent outfit.Perhaps it’ll be a staunch/horror dream team.Muscat and Nosferatu Rae
Wouldn’t surprise me whatsoever for the scum to be exploring the option, with desperation over the finical shit they find themselves in now.
When you look at what we paid for kyogo, Hatate and Maeda and all the scum got in return for similar money, was yet another dildo?
Says it all about how the scum invest money upon players.
Can’t be much, if any funds available after the moleman wreaking them financially with a 15M spend upon such a huge pile of shite.
Main problem with such a plan, is the Asian people in general are a very responsible race of people, as we witness on a weekly basis with the players we have bought into our club.
So would any potential Asian players leave themselves open to joining such a racist culture that exists within that scummy shit hole?
A plan that could make sense financially for the scum, the reality is one of not actually been put into practice remains more likely imo.
Even if that horrible thug was to be given the job with the scum.
Desperate times for the scum still awaits the shower of shite no matter what
“His reputation as a thug is just what the doctor ordered”
It’s just what The SFA doctor ordered for sure – maim Celtic and her best players and our Cheats with whistles and our Cheats with monitors will dish out a token yellow card on 89’ minutes – Job done M’Lords Maxwell and Allen…
It’s certainly NOT what The Celtic doctor ordered – maimed high skilled talents on the treatment slab for months on end – but Sevco and it’s Klan of Huns must be soothed and pleased and given what they demand – OR ELSE !
Ange when he came to Celtic had a rebuilding job to do BUT he had money. The new recruits across town will be on contracts they wont get elsewhere and will be in no rush to move. Any selling options will likely be at a negative to rangers.
Any new manager is going to have to work with what is there. Any manager who can negotiate a good sal and water tight compo deal with rangers would be daft not to go. Win or fail and you are quids in over a short period.
I personally think it will more likely be McInnes who takes the poison chalice.
Disnae really matter who they bring in, because ( accordin tae another source of course), one DR journo today is suggestin, all the next manager has tae do, is play lammers in his rightful position and it could ‘turn things around’. So there it was right there all the time, the ANSWER and Beale never saw it ! How LUCKY have we been eh ? Ah mean, how utterly deluded can ye get ? Paper gets worse by the day.
I heard from a reliable source inside ipox (it`s full of “reliable sources”) that they are considering wearing the green and white hoops and getting their supporters to fly the Irish Tricolour. According to my “reliable source”, they say it seems to work well for Celtic. John Kennedy has also been mentioned as a replacement for Michael.
You are writing as if what we did with Ange was a masterstroke James, when it was the luckiest fluke of all time. A desperation move after the Eddie Howe fiasco.
I don’t think it would be a great move for Muscat, because the peepul have totally deranged expectations of what is possible.
Anybody who goes there now can expect less than 12 months but I suppose it comes with a tidy pay-off and maybe getting a trophy on the CV.
Derek McInnes, step forward.
Apart from Muscat, there are other good options out there, but they are probably too dumb to spot them and I’m not going to tell them.
We welcome the chase, hehe.
Muscat would have been an excellent target for us, given his unique track record of taking over successful Postecoglou teams and continuing their success. On paper, arguably the best manager we could have gone for in terms of ensuring a smooth transition (which I’m not sure we’ve had given stylistic changes, but the manager we did recruit has handled that well, as he was likely to).
I’m not sure he makes any sense at all as a target for Rangers. They play entirely differently.
Top to bottom can’t be sorted by tweaking the middle. In three weeks the pretend Rangers* will, of course, be world-beaters in the waiting. In six weeks the fog will lift and they’ll all be wallowing in the same old…
Your right, he is not following Ange and picking up a well oiled machine, he is following the Mooch and picking up a bunch of ? , I don’t really know how to describe them. The Mooch said he looked everyone of them in the eyes and asked what they would do for him and his club , he should have looked at their feet and made sure they had their boots on the right way.