Rangers fans will give him a chance but club continues to shop in the bargain bin | OneFootball

Rangers signing EFL fodder

There has been a bit of talk recently about Rangers’ new acquisition, that being a set piece specialist in the form of Scott Fry. Fry can boast of making his-now-former side Lincoln City the number one in League One for set piece goals. On paper that sounds like a fairly shrewd acquisition for Rangers and especially appears to be driven by Danny Roll. The problem is that the appointment, while on paper promising, really does seem to be further of the market that Rangers are shopping in these days.

League One standards and Rangers expectations

At the end of the day, getting a League One specialist is not really any different to getting a League One player. Has anyone seen any success from Thelo Aasgaard or Emmanuel Fernandez? No is the answer. Ten million were spent on these two, both from the same level, including Luton who were highly at the top of League One. Getting a specialist who will enhance Rangers’ set piece contribution does not even seem that necessary when we consider that Celtic are bottom of the league for set piece goals.

Current performance and the necessity of a specialist

Rangers already have five of them this season, Celtic have only one. Hearts are top of the table in that sense. Was a set piece specialist that important? Danny Rohl’s comments on Scott Fry are not greatly different to the sort of thing that Kevin Thelwell would say. The message is data driven with forensically examined numbers. That is the model that Rangers use these days whether we like it or not. It just does not work.

A long history of data models failing at Rangers

It is abundantly clear that it does not work. It has not worked for years, ever since back in the day when Creag Robertson was the data analyst. We at Ibrox Noise promoted the idea when Robertson was made the chief of that department. It seemed on paper to be useful. The results do not reap the rewards that one would hope, because football is not played on paper or on laptops. Every modern coach appears to use data. If it works in their case then it is vindicated. But it is not working in Rangers’ case.

Concerns about Fry’s level and Rangers ongoing direction

Scott Fry is also coming again, as we mentioned before, from a much lower level. It might be promising when he is top of the league for set pieces in League One. The demands of League One’s Lincoln City are different from the demands of Rangers. We are not cynical, we are sceptical. If this is driven by Thelwell more than it appears to be then it is almost certainly another fail. It all seems to be on the same model. We do know that Rohl is a yes man.

A wider pattern of lower league recruitment

The fact is that Scott Fry is yet another lower league EFL acquisition. One reader made an argument: Do we really think Rangers are better than League One these days? The answer is that we are not, because that is the level we are shopping in. For us to get to where we need to be, Rangers should invest in lower Premier League content if not better. It is not the cheapest or easiest to get, but Rangers need better than this.

Leadership contradictions and lack of inspiration

Ironically, Thelwell himself came from Everton, a Premier League team, so that argument is a bit hypocritical. Ditto Patrick Stewart who is also despised. He came from Manchester United among other things. But this doesn’t negate the bargain bin Rangers mostly shop in. Fry seems to be a long line of many new employees at Rangers who are coming from a lower level in England. Rangers signing EFL fodder. It is not inspiring. Not a lot about Rangers is these days.