After having an unrealistic ambition of benchmarking every signing for Rangers and Hearts last summer, I decided to conduct a modified realistic version for the January window.
Are R2ngers complying within the latest UEFA financial fair play guidelines following their expenditure during the last 2 transfer windows, which seems excessive ?
To my knowledge there is no way to know given the lack of transparency. Even Celtic do not provide transparent reporting on the relevant metrics and we are publicly traded.
In addition, my understanding is that non-compliance accrues penalties that, at least initially, that would not be that material vs the potential upside of direct CL qualification if they win the league and Olympiacos do not win the Greek league.
Think they had a very good january window, in contrast to ours. If they deploy the 4222 they used against hearts I think their chances of winning the league increase to a pretty significant degree. Our upcoming trips to ibrox are a concern if we play more direct, that midfield will eat ours alive in terms of winning second balls.
Very interesting James. Rangers are getting stronger.
What’s your overall take on Rohl ? Interested to hear how you think he is shaping up so far and whether you think he is likely to be a good hire for Rangers ?
Has struck me so far as competent with flashes of promise he could be a plus head coach over time. As Alan has said, he may be a bit of a tinkerer, which can introduce some volatility when he inevitably gets things wrong...as he seemed to at Motherwell.
Tried to express some of that uncertainty in the piece by qualifying the analysis as pending his commitment to the new game model.
Do you think there is negative bias in that you might tend to look for negatives in Celtic signings and positives (from their perspective) in The Rangers signings?
Everyone has biases and while I try to remain objective, it is impossible to eliminate them fully. My analysis of their summer window was mixed, at best, and nowhere near as positive as the four signings in January...and in fairness my relatively negative overall analysis of Celtic windows the last 3 seasons have largely been validated as pretty accurate.
I am open to constructive criticism when accompanied by specifics, so happy to revisit examples where you think I was overly positive on Rangers' signings and negative on ours in the past. Confident if you were to survey the larger body of work you'll see examples like Kyogo, Maeda, Hatate, O'Riley, Oh, Nygren, Inamura, and Araujo where I was positive (very in some cases) independent of fan sentiment.
A general theme across analysis is the relative suitability for roles, which has often been a focus of criticism regardless of team or player. Beale signing Lammers to play as a #10 an example - decent player used moronically. Ditto Idah and Bernabei
I suppose - in HBD lingo - Im going with the eye test rather than statistical specifics.
I suppose I am desperate to not believe that ( the basket case they are or have been) they have better recruitment structure than us (even if ours is poor)....that's my bias.
They have been building out their human resources since the takeover. Jaymes Monte was an excellent hire and his job title, Data Insights Lead, speaks to their prioritization. His job is to make sure they embrace being smarter with decision making across football operations.
When I interviewed Ted Knutsen (Statsbomb co-founder) in July, he said the 49ers people were not world beaters but fast learners. They seem to be following that arc so far.
Are R2ngers complying within the latest UEFA financial fair play guidelines following their expenditure during the last 2 transfer windows, which seems excessive ?
To my knowledge there is no way to know given the lack of transparency. Even Celtic do not provide transparent reporting on the relevant metrics and we are publicly traded.
In addition, my understanding is that non-compliance accrues penalties that, at least initially, that would not be that material vs the potential upside of direct CL qualification if they win the league and Olympiacos do not win the Greek league.
Think they had a very good january window, in contrast to ours. If they deploy the 4222 they used against hearts I think their chances of winning the league increase to a pretty significant degree. Our upcoming trips to ibrox are a concern if we play more direct, that midfield will eat ours alive in terms of winning second balls.
Thanks James.
I think we might need him to make quite a few mistakes.
Very interesting James. Rangers are getting stronger.
What’s your overall take on Rohl ? Interested to hear how you think he is shaping up so far and whether you think he is likely to be a good hire for Rangers ?
Thanks.
Has struck me so far as competent with flashes of promise he could be a plus head coach over time. As Alan has said, he may be a bit of a tinkerer, which can introduce some volatility when he inevitably gets things wrong...as he seemed to at Motherwell.
Tried to express some of that uncertainty in the piece by qualifying the analysis as pending his commitment to the new game model.
Do you think there is negative bias in that you might tend to look for negatives in Celtic signings and positives (from their perspective) in The Rangers signings?
Everyone has biases and while I try to remain objective, it is impossible to eliminate them fully. My analysis of their summer window was mixed, at best, and nowhere near as positive as the four signings in January...and in fairness my relatively negative overall analysis of Celtic windows the last 3 seasons have largely been validated as pretty accurate.
I am open to constructive criticism when accompanied by specifics, so happy to revisit examples where you think I was overly positive on Rangers' signings and negative on ours in the past. Confident if you were to survey the larger body of work you'll see examples like Kyogo, Maeda, Hatate, O'Riley, Oh, Nygren, Inamura, and Araujo where I was positive (very in some cases) independent of fan sentiment.
A general theme across analysis is the relative suitability for roles, which has often been a focus of criticism regardless of team or player. Beale signing Lammers to play as a #10 an example - decent player used moronically. Ditto Idah and Bernabei
Hi James, fair points and good reply.
I suppose - in HBD lingo - Im going with the eye test rather than statistical specifics.
I suppose I am desperate to not believe that ( the basket case they are or have been) they have better recruitment structure than us (even if ours is poor)....that's my bias.
They have been building out their human resources since the takeover. Jaymes Monte was an excellent hire and his job title, Data Insights Lead, speaks to their prioritization. His job is to make sure they embrace being smarter with decision making across football operations.
When I interviewed Ted Knutsen (Statsbomb co-founder) in July, he said the 49ers people were not world beaters but fast learners. They seem to be following that arc so far.