After the brutal tenure which was Paul Le Guens short six month reign at Ibrox they had to call back a legend to steady the ship at Ibrox. There were rumours of fighting between the homegrown Scottish players and the foreign contingent at the club. People were disgruntled with the way Le Guen trained the players focusing on fitness and refusing to let players tackle each other in training. But the club seemed to be saved as Walter Smith sweeped in like Superman to rescue his old club. Now the season is finished and we move into the 2008/09 season Walter is leaving.
“I love Rangers football club that was why I left the Scotland job; but it was never going to be longterm me coming back to the club. I’ve got to a age were I want to sit with my feet up and watch the games from the stands not on the touchline” Walter stated to the gathered press today as he sat alongside longtime friend and chairman Sir David Murray. Walter brought in a string of impressive signings and stability in the backroom with bringing the likes of Ally McCoist to the Rangers back staff with him, but he also brought someone else with him his future successor. Mark Morrison was unveiled as the new Rangers manager today to a mixture of confusion and outrage – Morrison officially signed a one year contract today to lead the club he has supported since a child.
“I managed to convince Mark to leave the backroom at Chelsea and come with me to Ibrox” Walter said today “I knew I was not going to be around for much longer. Mark is a young talented tactician and manager. Rangers need a new young manager with a different view, football is ever changing and I might just be too old for the task now”
For those of you with no idea to whom this man is (and that would be most of you out there) Mark Morrison was a promising player at the Rangers academy but persistent knee troubles forced him to shelf dreams of being a footballer. Morrison went to university before sitting his coaching badges alongside Jose Mourinho – the couple became firm friends. Morrison went on to manage lower league sides, but Rangers scooped him up to head there youth academy. The academy under Morrison churned out the likes of Chris Burke, Steven Smith, Alan Hutton, Charlie Adam and many more. Before long Jose has stolen him back to be his assistant at Chelsea. But now Morrison has come back to Rangers.
“There was a lot of unsettling things going on at Chelsea, so this came at such a brilliant time when things seemed doomed. I was born in Glasgow and supported Rangers since I could understand what football is. I’ve only signed a year contract so I can prove myself to the fans – but if I don’t do the job I will leave before then. I am a huge fan and would never want to put the club into harm” Morrison said today, as he invited questions the obvious one was what changes was he making “I am happy with the squad but there is still some players who I don’t see being at Rangers for much longer. As for players coming in I have no idea but I will be working hard on bringing players in with the budget I am given”
The press meeting was quickly ended as questions were thrown at the new manager as he was flying out with his team to begin pre-season as he left he quickly said “We will be challenging for the title this year, but we want to build a strong enough team to compete at a high standard in Europe”
29/6/2007
