Here We Go Again - Genuine Hope Or More Dreams To Be Shattered?

Last updated : 11 May 2007 By Little Boy Blue
Twelve months later, PLG has come and gone, our title challenge was a write-off by Hallowe'en, once more the contents of the trophy room have required no re-arrangement to accommodate any new addition and the season draws to a close with each and every one of us glad to see the back of it.
 
Yet the mood amongst Bears is upbeat again.  Just like it was a year ago, we can see better days ahead, the gap between ourselves and our over-rated rivals does not reflect the true situation and already we are making bullish noises about how different it will be when the serious business restarts in August.
 
Are we kidding ourselves or do we have genuine reasons to be cheerful about our prospects for the 2007-08 season?
 
Well, Walter Smith's 13-game unbeaten run in the league is our best since Big Eck's men went 17 games without defeat midway down the road to Helicopter Sunday so the basic stats are encouraging enough.  That these included home and away victories over 'all-conquering' Septic underlines the great improvement brought about by the new management team.  While it took a lot of grit to dig in and hold out at the Piggery, it was the quality of the football, the combination of powerhouse play, neat pass and move link-ups and two excellent goals which had us roaring ourselves hoarse last weekend.  Nobody could failed to be inspired by it all.
 
Of course, the Other Lot tell us it 'didnae really matter', it would have been a very different story if they had anything to play for.  Our argument that there is no such thing as a meaningless Old Firm match is valid, yet we too suffered defeats in similar circumstances during the nine-in-a-row years.  In consecutive years from 1991 to 1995, they emerged with four wins and a draw from the final league meeting, the Great Unwashed bragged about having turned the corner, only to be left trailing in Rangers' slipstream just a few months later.
 
We must not make the same mistake.  I have enough belief in Walter Smith to know he won't let anyone get carried away - Coisty was spot-on with his sobering comments earlier this week - but I worry about the man at the head of the house seeking to sidestep the need to make serious resources available to the manager.  Talk of fans refusing to renew season tickets has suddenly evaporated in the wake of last weekend's public humiliation of those who call themselves Champions and it does not take too vivid an imagination to conjure up a picture of Murray and Bain indulging in some mutual back-slapping, mocking the fans who have allowed themselves to get swept away again, shelling out their hard-earned in the hope of better days ahead.
 
Again my trust in Walter Smith and his power to persuade Mr Chairman that the squad is in need of a substantial injection of new blood keeps me optimistic.  Broadfoot, Gow, Brown, Naismith and Darcheville will be excellent additions to the player pool and, while Walter might be hindered by other clubs' reluctance to take PLG's flops off his hands, we have seen more than enough since the turn of the year to approach the new season with confidence.  There is a lot of work to be done but we are certainly moving in the right direction again.
 
Of course, it would be wrong to lose all sense of perspective after last weekend by bragging about Trebles and a European challenge again.  That is not the way it is.  We have started to strengthen our squad and will continue to do so, if only modestly, over the close-season but Ra Sellick are in a much stronger position, both in terms of trophies won and financial resources.  However, we can console ourselves with the knowledge that none of the genuine star quality players touted by the Press Gang - Roy Maakay, Atletico Madrid's Fernando Torres? Get real! - will see a switch to the SPL as a good career move.  The over-the-hill mob (Gravesen, Vennegoor) might fancy it but they've hardly set the heather on fire this season, have they?
 
Jean Claude Darcheville is the sort of player who could do a good job here.  At 31, he has been around for a while without actually winning a great deal so, for all the quality he has to offer, there will be a hunger to his game, a great desire to succeed in the twilight of his career.  The same scenario served Dado Prso and Rangers well so, if the new man is even half as good as the big pony-tail, it will prove to be a winning formula.  Walter Smith's wealth of contacts throughout the game will enable him to tap into a number of useful sources which could yield rich rewards for our club.
 
The Hack Pack have written about him getting ten million to spend but I'll believe it when I see it.  He'll have to duck and dive among the Bosmans this summer, and for a few more to come, but a man with his knowledge of the game will surely be able to unearth a gem or two.  Some of the names which appear on the teamsheet next season may not even be on the radar yet but I am convinced there are positive winds of change whistling through Ibrox and our optimism, so misplaced a year ago, is not without justification.
 
When PLG joined our club, our expectations were totally unrealistic.  Yes, he was a coach with a great reputation but hadn't he just inherited what was widely recognised as the worst Rangers team in history?  We thought we could go from third-raters in the SPL to a genuine power in Europe in one giant leap.  I was as guilty as anyone of buying into it all - we all wanted to believe! -  but the pain when reality bit will not be forgotten in a hurry.  Rangers fans are not renowned for their patience but recent events have taught us the folly of expecting too much too soon.
 
Nobody needed to tell Walter Smith about what he was inheriting.  PLG had walked into the mess of Big Eck's final year in charge and his efforts to turn things around quickly only churned up more debris.  This season was already consigned to the dustbin when Walter, Super Ally and Kenny McDowall took over so, as we see the team eat into FC Semtex's lead and reflect on some silly points lost earlier in the season, we must applaud in recognition of the good job done by the new management team.
 
Walter was hired to steady the ship and this he has done admirably.  The next step is to get his men ready for the demands of the new season and the improvement in players like Hutton, Papac, Boyd and Novo will see to it that, with the arrival of some new faces, there wil be no lack of competition for first team places, which can only bode well for the future.  So just as I did a year ago, on Sunday I'll leave Ibrox for the last time this season with a spring in my step and a smile on my face.  I don't think I'm kidding myself, I know there will be frustrations and disappointments ahead, but we've got the right people in the dug-out and they've already laid the foundations to take Rangers forward. 
 
We have something to build on.  That was not the case a year ago.
 
 LITTLE BOY BLUE