FM24 | Project Restoration

1st October 2023 - Michael Beale is sacked as Rangers manager.

Another season. Another failure in the eyes of Govan's faithful. Michael Beale took over from a side that had 0 confidence, steadied the ship and then returned another confidence lacking squad - that was well backed also. 

Thanks to FM, I can now relive the summer of 2023 in “Your Mode” and correct some wrongs. I can live in a world where I can shape the team per my will.

This is Project Restoration.

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Before I kick things off with the beta save, there are a couple of areas that I want to touch upon.

Team Identity

I want to bring a clear identity to the team, with a set formation that will benefit the players at the club, but also deliver results on and off the park. Football is ever developing over the years, and I know that some areas of the tactic will be tweaked. I will discuss more on the team below.

Youth Development

It is clear to Rangers fans that not enough onus is on the youth development we have at the Rangers Training Centre. There are numerous talents in the wings waiting for their chances to shine - Lowry, Rice and Lovelace - and I feel that it is important that they, amongst others, are given the platform to show what they can do.

Transfer Policy

I want to create a policy that will benefit the club in the short and long term. We need a squad that is going to compete now, but will also go on to compete for years to come as we look to reclaim Scotland as our own.

1. Players for Development - 24 and Under
2. Scottish Players
3. Unorthodox Nations

Points 1 and 2 above are pretty self-explanatory, but point 3 is where I want to hone in on a bit more. 

The above map is something that I flung together in anticipation of the Early Access being released, and it made for an intriguing analysis. A lot of the world has no representation in Scotland, particularly Europe.

Czechia. Hungary. Serbia. Bosnia & Herzegovina. Kosovo. Albania.

These are some big countries for talent, and i want to be able to turn these countries in the Rangers goldmine of players over the next couple of seasons. Interestingly, Celtic claim right to 5 of 7 Japanese players in Scotland - I want to be able to call one of the Asian countries our own also.

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I touched upon an identity earlier on, and I believe this is the best way to assert ourselves. High defensive line. Wing-backs pushing on. Two strikers and a creative CAM. I think in the long run this could be successful, but time shall tell. From the get-go there are a couple of areas I need to get numbers in. We need at least another 2 CMs and CBs to give us ample depth and an out-and-out striker would be nice.

In terms of Beale signings, we have managed to keep a hold of Butland, Sima, Lammers and Sterling, with the latter two being less likely to feature.

Fantastic first post mate! Really enjoyed reading that!

Nice to see the kind of save you're going to try and create in terms of identiy and transfer strategy! 

Now, it's time to support the Rangers!

Period ended 2nd September - Transfer Window Closing

The squad was in need of a massive overhaul, and from the previous tactic screen, I set about trimming it with those that would not feature in my plans going forward. 

Recent big players such as Barišić and Lundstram had played their last games for the club, as I wanted to go down a different path and evolve the team.

At the end of the window, we did manage to off load the following:

£27M in for these players, and a 100% retention, meant that there were further funds on top of my initial £10M to reinvest in the squad. I wanted to stick to my policies as much as possible, and for each policy I will show them as; 24 & Under - A, Scottish - B, Unorthodox Nation - C. 

Max Johnston (19) - Free - WBR - Scottish - A&B

Lewis Strapp (23) - Free - WBL - Scottish - A&B

Edu Expósito (27) - £3.3M - CM - Spanish - Failed

Lewis Neilson (20) - £1.4M - DC - Scottish - A&B

Miloš Degenek (29) - £6M - DC - Australian/Serbian - C

Strahinja Eraković (22) - £2.7M - DC - Serbian - C

Tomáš Čvančara (23) - £4.2M - STC - Czechia - C

Nicolás Fernández Mercau (23) - £3.3M - WBL - Argentinian - A

Andi Zeqiri (24) - £4.5M - STC - Swiss/Kosovan/Albanian - A&C

A lot of ins and outs, but I was hoping that I had managed to assemble a team worthy of going toe-to-toe with Celtic consistently.

Edu Expósito does not fall within my transfer policies. However, when he was offered to Rangers for the £3.3M, I felt we couldn't say no to a CM's ability such as his, particularly being weak and lacking in midfield already.

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UEFA Champions League

Our campaign would begin in the League Phase 3rd Qualifiers, where we would come up against FK TSC Bačka Topola of Serbia, who finished runners-up to Crvena Zvezda. It was going to be no easy game, especially when we fell behind early in Serbia, but we did have enough in the legs to run out comfortable winners. With the job done in Serbia, it gave me an opportunity to rotate the squad and ensure player fitness was not damaged.

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One round down, and the final one to go, it was going to be deja-vu when we went up against PSV Eindhoven once again. We had been playing well going into the first leg in Eindhoven, and I felt comfortable that our players would be able to perform on the big stage.

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It wasn't exactly rip the whole thing up and go back to the drawing board, but the realisation that perhaps our brand of football was just too expansive away from home against some of Europe's elite. Before the home leg, I elected to change Todd Cantwell's positional role into an Attacking Midfielder on attack to ensure he was staying higher up the park with the strikers - one thing I had noticed was he was dropping as deep as our two CMs, sometimes into our defensive line.

We had to get this result right.

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Oh boy. Tomáš Čvančara took the first leg result to heart, and delivered when it mattered most. A hat-trick and assist on the night, he was sending us into the Group Stages of the Champions League. A mammoth result, and proof that the building blocks were starting to settle.

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Viaplay Cup

Only the one game to tell you about here, as we drew Arbroath at home in the second round. Our board expectation is to win this competition, but we still won comprehensively with a rotated side ahead of our first leg tie with PSV.

Into the hat for the next round with some of the youth players getting a chance to strut their stuff, it was always a bonus as opportunities are there to be taken.

We host Hibernian in the Quarter Finals of the competition.

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cinch Premiership

Three wins from three is all I could ask for, particularly with the Champions League qualifiers going on at the same time. Trips to Kilmarnock and Dingwall can be potential banana skins, but we did manage to get the job done, even if it was just by the skin of our teeth.

Celtic on the other hand, have been matching our results, but showing their entire team is settled. With 11 goals scored and just the 1 conceded, it is going to be difficult to close the gulf between the sides if this form keeps up; our biggest opportunities will be the 4 league games against them.

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Youth Development

Bringing through the youth is easier said than done, but I am sticking to my guns and basing any involvement on current form and training.

As it stands, the current youth players to be training with the first team, but still getting B team exposure are:

Leon King - 19

Lewis Mayo - 23

Bailey Rice - 16

Alex Lowry - 20

Zak Lovelace - 17

Of all the players, both King and Mayo will find it toughest to get a run in the team given the importance of defence. After signing another 2 defenders for the team, it will give them a challenge to shift the current crop, but also more experience available to them. Mayo has currently made 2 appearances for the senior team this season; 1 UCL & 1 appearance in the league from the bench. King had struggled with an injury at the start of the season but has came back to make 2 UCL appearances and 2 league appearances, one from the bench.

Bailey Rice. I think he is my new favourite Scottish youngster, and it is easy to see why this would be. Despite a low determination, he is consistently performing well in training, posting ratings of 7.5 upwards. Currently going through a retraining programme to become a BWM, Rice is taking it all on board and playing with the B team when he is not featuring in the senior squad. However, he did start in the 4-1 win over Arbroath, and came off the bench in wins against TSC in the UCL and Livingston in the league. Rice even became the youngest goalscorer for the club when he grabbed himself a goal in the 5-2 win over TSC at Ibrox.

Alex Lowry is one of those players that impressed during the pre-season camp. He featured in all 5 games, grabbing himself 3 goals and an assist. After impressing, I felt it would be appropriate to keep him at the club instead of loaning him out, where he can develop under Todd Cantwell & co, and get first team minutes when the opportunity arises. His only appearance so far this season was in the 4-1 victory over Arbroath.

Unfortunately for Zak Lovelace, injury has hampered his progression path into the first-team.

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Coming up - September to November featuring Celtic (H)

Fantastic start to life at Ibrox mate. What a comeback in the PSV game, not sure my heart could've dealt with that!!! Looking forward to following along and watching Brendan the bottlers Celtic get a kick in!

Amazing start at Rangers! That PSV game gave me heart palputations! All square with the club that can't be named, time to take them down?

You're layouts and writing styles put mine to shame! Bravo fellow warrior!

Seen Kev over on the SI boards went the full first season un beaten with Celtic, think he only drew 4 games and won the rest. Not saying Celtic are overpowered in FM24 but that's gonna take some topping 

September to November 2023

A real busy 3 month segment of our season, with games ranging between the Champions League, cinch Premiership and Viaplay Cup. We were coming into the month of September on a great run; winning 7 of our possible 8 games. Can we continue the run?

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Transfer Deadline Day

Whilst I was quite happy with the look of the squad on the 1st September, I still had one final day to arrange any further transfers. With some money lying around, I was only going to make a move for players I felt that would add quality to the team:

Nicolás Fernández Mercau (23) - £3.3M - WBL/CM - Argentine - A

Andi Zeqiri (24) - £4.5M - ST - Swiss/Albanian - A&C

Two new faces, and ones that were not available before the 1st. With their agents pushing them out the door due to internal unrest, I knew that we had to make a move on both players sooner rather than later. Despite having Yilmaz and Strapp at the WBL position, I felt another one couldn't do any harm. Given that Mercau can also cover the middle of the park - where I felt we were very light - I was very happy to get the Argentine in from Elche.

Zeqiri however, was with 3 hours to go when his availability came through. The Swiss international has not been prolific at his previous clubs, but I think given the chance, he could be a success in Glasgow. Brighton were happy to get him off the books, and he is on a reasonable wage for the potential ability.

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Viaplay Cup

We progressed thanks to a realtively straight forward tie against Championship opposition Arbroath, and were rewarded with a tie against a fierce rival in the league; Hibernian.

A potential banana skin for a knockout tie, but with it being at home, I knew that I had every right to back the boys

A Ċvančara hat-trick was the talking point of the match, as the Czechia striker put Hibernian to the sword, and secured passage into the semi-finals. I thought it would be a case of “hot-balls” to draw up a Rangers-Celtic semi-final tie, but we were given the right to play Kilmarnock, as Celtic played St. Mirren.

A day out to the national stadium is always special. Even more special when it gives you the opportunity to book your place in the final. However, Kilmarnock continued to prove to be a sticky opponent, as we had to fight them to the bitter end for that lucrative spot. 

Pegged back twice by the Ayrshire side, but eventually we settled our nerves after Zeqiri made it 3-2, and went on to score a couple more to book our place in the final. As you can see, we played on the Sunday, meaning that we knew our final opponents going into this game:

Can we finally get our hands on a trophy that has been elusive for 13 years?

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UEFA Champions League

Being in a group with PSG and Porto, it was always going to be tough. When you add in an impressive side such as Real Sociedad, it got a whole lot tougher. We had harsh lessons to learn in the first group game of the campaign, as PSG lamped us in the French capital:

A poor showing on the night, but I didn't expect it to be a 9-1 game. I knew at this point that we had to be a bit more reserved away in Europe against these sides, but at Ibrox? I backed us.

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Two huge wins at home meant that we were not out of the running for a chance at qualifying or dropping into the Europa League! All we had to do to make that dream more of a reality was travel to Porto and get a result of sorts to put us in the driving seat.

Which unfortunately didn't happen. We were a bit more reserved with our approach to the game, which led to us being 2-0 down just before half-time. Lammers stepped up with a big goal to give us a chance, and I elected to go a bit more attacking given the swing in confidence. We came out all guns blazing at the start of the second-half, and really looked as though we would go on to equalise, before Tav got a double yellow in 15 minutes and we were down to 10. We had no chance of getting back into the game without our main creative force, and Porto picked us off on the counter to seal the points.

With two games remaining, and PSG, Rangers and Porto all on 6 points, we had it all to do. We needed to get a positive result against PSG at Ibrox to steal the advantage; knowing Porto still had to play PSG.

A real sucker punch. We were so close to getting a massive result in the Champions League, but Dembélé's late strike stole the points and left us hanging in limbo. Porto then lost to Sociedad, meaning everyone could still qualify on the final match-day:

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cinch Premiership

As mentioned in my previous post, we had a game coming up against Celtic. Well it would actually be the first game to kick off this 3 month period, and what a time to play them after a grilling 120 minutes against PSV Eindhoven just days before.

We had the backing of the fans for this tie, and it goes to show what home advantage can do for a team:

A huge psychological advantage at this stage of the season, as we move 3 points clear of our arch-rivals. A real bonus to get a win to set the precident, and this then had a knock-on effect as Celtic recorded a 3-1 defeat at home to Dundee just a week later!

At the end of November, we remain the only team unbeaten in the British Isles, and we are extremely lucky to be in this position. We were poor away to St. Johnstone right after the Celtic game, and more recently away to Livingstone as we were 2-0 down:

However, all that matters is the end result, and whilst we couldn't hold on for all three points, we did come away with a point that look highly unlikely at the start of the second half. We now look at the upcoming games and have a whole host of them, meaning that the next part is going to get a lot of attention over the next 6 weeks.

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Youth Development

Perhaps we slacked a bit on this front over the 3 month period, but with the intensity of the games, we have been unable to extend minutes into the up-coming Rangers talents.

Leon King - 19

Lewis Mayo - 23

Bailey Rice - 17

Alex Lowry - 20

Zak Lovelace - 17

The only players to feature over this period, was predominately Leon King, whilst Lowry has been involved a bit in recent games. We have been unable to find ourselves in positions when I can comfortably say that the game is done and bring on younger talent. I think the next move for Rice & Lovelace certainly, is a loan move out to another club to gain senior minutes. Both players are good enough to do a job for some clubs in Scotland, and I think this will be more beneficial in the long-term.

That will be after we get through the next run of games in December. There should be opportunities for these 5 in particular to get minutes in some shape or form, given the fixture list we have in front of us:

Not an easy run of games, but when you are manager of Rangers, there are no easy runs.

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Next update: December 2023 & January 2024

Hi guys, there’s this book that I bought to learn to master football tactics and strategy, and there’s a part where it says to practice my knowledge in football manager.

So, I’m here to ask as a guy who never touched the game, is the game that realistic?

Certainly a tough ask, particularly with the financial differences between the two. Celtic have made signings like Ismaïla Sarr and Jacob Brown, with plenty more in the war chest I would imagine!

December 2023 and January 2024

A mammoth month of games, which also consist of a decisive UCL match and a cup final! It will be tough on the legs but do we have it in ourselves to make this a month to remember?

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UEFA Champions League

The task was simple really. Win and we would have European football after Christmas. In what form? Well that depends on the result between PSG and Porto; a Porto win will secure them as P1 and PSG as P2 given PSG beat us 11-2 over two games (ouch).

Thankfully, we perform when it is in our own hands. A massive 2-0 win away in Spain meant we had upheld our end of the bargain, we just had to hope for a French victory.

Which happened! PSG won 2-0 on the night to demote Porto to the Europa League, and we would be progressing to the Round of 16, the first time since the 2005/06 season. But we will not be going any further in the competition:

A tough draw, but the exposure at this level is massive, along with the financial benefits!

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cinch Premiership

We continued to pick up where we left off each week, churning out some impressive performances in amongst these games. Čvančara has really settled in now and scoring for fun!

With things going all so well, it was a trip across the city for the traditional New Year's game with our rivals. A lot was on the line here, Celtic had dropped points and found themselves 9 behind at this stage; a Rangers win would make the league defence a whole lot more difficult.

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Despite the early lead, we were never in this game. I tried to be a bit more conservative when Degenek was given his marching orders for a professional foul, but when McGregor grabbed a second, I ended up going for the point and was picked off on the break. A tough defeat to swallow, but we were still 6 points clear going into the New Year - a mightily fine first half of the season performance, if I do say so myself.

January 2024

Thankfully, not a banana skin in sight. Straight forward victories over Kilmarnock and St Mirren kept the distance between us and Celtic, and I could start to believe.

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Scottish Cup

We were given the delight of travelling North for our Fourth Round tie, as Peterhead were going to be our hosts for the day. Knowing that I could afford to take my foot of the gas a bit for this game, I elected to go with a team of youths, and they did not let me down.

Lewis Neilson would be making his debut for the club, McCrorie, King, Mayo, Neilson, Erhahon (more to come) and Lowry would all start for the club in this round, meaning that both Neilson and Erhahon would be making their full Rangers debuts. The boys did not disappoint, as we blew away Peterhead with a first-half performance that saw us claim three goals. Complacency did creep in after we scored another before the hour mark, as Peterhead helped themselves to 2 goals before the full-time whistle, but the job was done!

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Viaplay Cup Final

We were out to claim a trophy that we hadn't touched in 13 years against our fierce rivals. So much riding on this one game; the psychological advantage it can give one half of Glasgow, the bragging rights. Would the trophy come home with red, white and blue ribbons?

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No. We had massive chances to equalise and kick on, but it wasn't to be. Iwata's 50th minute goal generated an xG of 0.34, but it contributed to the only thing that mattered. 1-0.

A sore final defeat to take, but there was more to play for this season. A league win would get us automatic qualification for the Champions League, which is massive for Scottish clubs.

We go again.

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Transfers and Youth Development

Firstly, deals in and out of the club during the month of January.

We finally said our goodbyes to Sam Lammers and Dujon Sterling. Lammers would move to Al-Duhail for £4M, whilst we hired an intermediary to get rid of Sterling - he moved to Samsunspor for £170K. Moving Lammers on for £4M meant that there was some money to reinvest back into the side.

Ethan Erhahon (22) - £2.5M - MC - A&B

Allan Campbell (25) - Free - MC - B

Zion Suzuki (21) - £2M - GK - A&C

Goh Young-Joon (22) - £1.3M - AMC - A&C

Our first bit of action in Asia's market! Suzuki has returned to Urawa for the rest of the Scottish season, whereas Young-Joon joins the club right away and is in contention. Hoping to see a bit of a social media increase in due course, and that may also help with our merchandise income stream which is sitting at £3.4M for the season to date.

Youth player wise, it has been a highly successful period for both Lowry and King:

Leon King - 20

Alex Lowry - 20

Injuries have hampered the progress of Lovelace and Rice again, but they will get another chance before the season is done. Summer signing Lewis Neilson made his debut for the club against Peterhead, and kept a clean-sheet for as long as he was on the park and got himself on the scoresheet. I keep watching over him, as I have ear-marked him as a potential replacement for Goldson in a new variant of our system:

Next Update: February to 13th April (Pre-Split)

Love the updates mate. Amazing turnaround in the Champions league to nick 2nd spot in the group but that looks a tricky last 16 tie.

Shame about the Cup final but it won't be long before you're coming home with some silverware

Loving the tactic as well, its mad but clearly effective 

Love the updates mate. Amazing turnaround in the Champions league to nick 2nd spot in the group but that looks a tricky last 16 tie.

Shame about the Cup final but it won't be long before you're coming home with some silverware

Loving the tactic as well, its mad but clearly effective 

February to April (Pre-Split)

We begin our descent down to the business end of the Scottish season. Scottish Cup games. Premiership games. Champions League Knockouts.

A huge spell of games for us, but can we maintain the form?

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UEFA Champions League

We start off with our Champions League campaign. Last time out, we were given a difficult Round of 16 tie against Bayern Munich. It would take a something massive for us to come out of the first leg at Ibrox with a positive result, but stranger things had happened.

Well, not exactly a disaster, we had a slim chance of progression but we were still well in the tie! Disappointing to concede two very late goals to give Bayern a real advantage. However, being in the competition still at this stage was massive. We travelled over to Germany 2.5 weeks later hoping to overturn the tie:

The cruelest of fashions! We were in control up until we scored and then it just seemed to get away from us, but I am mightily proud that we have competed this far. A lot more to come from the team next season as we look to cement automatic qualification for the League Phase via winning the title.

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Scottish Cup

After seeing off Peterhead at the end of January, I realised that this was no longer the time to play the youth and really go for this. Particularly with Champions League exit looming (We played our 5th Round tie straight after the 1st leg), I wanted to ensure that the domestic double had a fighting chance. We were given a draw away to Paisley, where we would come up against high-flying St Mirren. Not an easy tie in the slightest, but one we should be winning.

And win is exactly what we achieved! A bit of a sluggish performance after the big game during the week, but we are in the hat. New signing Young-Joon grabbing his first the club is a huge boost for him. We could almost taste the National Stadium turf once again, we just had to navigate a Quarter-Final tie against Hearts to give us a fighting chance.

Surprisingly, it was never in doubt. The game was wrapped up inside the first 45 minutes that we could afford to rest the first team players ahead of a mammoth couple of weeks for the club; we would be going on to play our rivals in just a fortnight, so it was important to give the team as much of a chance as possible. 

We are scheduled to play Dundee United in the Semi-Final at Hampden on the 21st April, Celtic will square off against Falkirk on the Saturday, and it looks likely that the final showdown of the season will be a 6th derby. Expectations are huge.

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cinch Premiership

Really, it was about churning out the results as they came, one game at a time. There was no point looking ahead at games, as we could only control what was in front of ourselves. But another 2 undefeated months left me a bit giddy. We were going to do it!

Disappointing to drop points against both sides from the capital, particularly Hibernian away. We were 2-0 up and cruising, before letting our lead slip in the second half. Hearts, we done really well to come back from 1-0 down, but we just couldn't find that winning goal. And that winning goal could have been all the difference by the time the 6th April rolled around.

Celtic at home. Probably the biggest derby of our season given the importance behind it. Win and the title was ours to lose. Lose, and it gave Celtic a fighting chance. A small one. But still a chance.

In a game that was all Celtic, it was actually a goal against the run of play. Tavernier whipped in a corner and Goldson was there to open the scoring. 1-0, and it felt good given the match momentum was heavily in Celtic's favour.

Just over 20 minutes, we got our opportunity once again, as Sima was fouled inside the box. Mr Reliable Penalty was on had, as Tavernier fired us into a 2-0 lead - we couldn't through this away could we?

The game petered out until the final 20 minutes when it burst back to life. Sima converted his header to make it 3-0, and I thought it was all down and let the foot off the gas. Jacob Brown haunted us just two minutes later with a goal of his own, before Hakšabanović grabbed a second with 4 minutes left of normal time. Thankfully, a roar of encouragement got the players back to ground zero and we saw out the game. Another massive win. And that win meant that we went 13 clear with 18 to play for. We could win the league the following weekend.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be as Celtic took their frustrations out on St. Mirren. But it didn't matter, we were one win away from a league title. And we could win it against Hibernian in front of our own fans in the first game of the split!

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Youth Development

The business end is really tough to give some of the boys a chance here, but with the end in sight, I can see a couple of them getting minutes prior to the season ending.

One player that has been thriving, is Alex Lowry. 

Three goals in seven appearances since February, he is really making an impact off the bench in the Treq when either Cantwell or our CM is tiring. Certainly will have a huge part to play next season, which will be followed up with some internal promotions of the younger players. We have now built a squad capable of challenging, that I feel we don't need to heavily invest in players in. We will still need to strengthen, but only when the time is right, and it is fair that these boys get there chance like Lowry.

Next Update - End of May 2024.

Fantastic work mate, to be that far clear of Celtic takes some doing! Unlucky in the CL but Bayern was always gonna be a step too far.

Alex Lowry is decent in my save too, have him lined up for a Scotland call-up soon!

Agreed mate, always going to be a tough tie, but we did give it our all and goes to show that we can upset on our day!

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End of 2023/24 Season

Our first year in charge of restoring Rangers back to a sustainable level that can compete with Celtic. We went into the split in a healthy position - one win would seal the title - and still in the hunt for Scottish Cup glory.

Could we do it?

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cinch Premiership

Yes was the answer! Probably one of our tougher games of the league campaign in all honesty, as the game yo-yo'd between 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 2-3 before we really got our act in place and ran out 5-3 winners. 

Regardless, we had achieved something I didn't think would be as comprehensive in the first season. We were Champions as we sat 13 clear with 12 to play for! A great achievement for the club, as it guarantees League Phase football next season in the Champions League.

With the league secured, we did ultimately take our foot off the gas as we slumped to a second league defeat against Celtic, before a poor 1-1 draw with Aberdeen. We did win our final two games of the season; a comprehensive win over Hibernian before a massively rotated side beat St Johnstone 2-1.

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Scottish Cup

After defeating Hearts, we had a semi-final to contend with against Dundee United. On paper, this should be a straight forward semi-final given the gulf in quality, but it is important to note that it was that. A semi-final. Dundee United were not going to let this get away from them easily.

Despite a promising start from Sima, we really made a dog's dinner of this game. Perhaps fortunate to be going to the final. Dundee United seemingly scored with every chance they created, as we wasted numerous chances at the other end. Despite a late third, we held our nerve and would be squaring off with our rivals for the Scottish Cup.

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A first half rout was just enough to get the job over the line! We finally have our revenge for the Viaplay Cup final. A domestic double in our first season in charge. It is now time to plan for the future - this club stood too still after winning the league title in 2020/21, we can't afford to let that happen again.

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Youth Plans

As we move into season 2024/25, I felt that it is appropriate to review the progress of Leon King, Lewis Mayo, Bailey Rice, Alex Lowry and Zak Lovelace.

Leon King - Development

Despite making a total of 21 appearances over the course of the season, King needs regular football under his belt. 20 years of age, he should begin to see signs of development as a football over the course of the next season, and I will be looking to send him out on loan for regular football in the top-flight. He will start pre-season with the first team, but will be loaned out ASAP.

Lewis Mayo

Although not really of youth age anymore as he is now 24, Mayo is at a make or break stage of his career. He did make a total of 6 appearances for the first team before his January loan to Livingston, where he made a total of 13 appearances out of a possible 17. He averaged a 7.02 rating with the Lothian club, and despite him being a worth squad player, I don't feel as though he will massively improve us as a side, particularly compared to Lewis Neilson. Both players are touted to be as the more attacking central defender, and Neilson's attacking ability edges it as cover for the Libero position.

Bailey Rice - Development

An injury ravaged season meant that Rice found first-team opportunities hard to come by. He did make 5 appearances for the club grabbing 2 goals in the progress, but a torn hamstring prevented him from further opportunities over the Christmas period. He will be going out on loan for 2024/25, he is deemed as a League One standard player, so I would like to see him playing with a team expected to compete in that division or a lower-end Championship side to aide with his development. Like King, he is expected to travel with the first-team for the pre-season camp, but will be loaned out.

Alex Lowry - Development

The star of the youth academy this season. Alex Lowry clocked up 24 appearances for the club, averaging a 6.91 rating in the progress - not bad for a 21 year-old at senior football! 8 goals and 2 assists, he needs to up these numbers but that should come with time. His performances this season have attracted the interest of Brighton, so we could find it tough to keep a hold of him over the summer, but in my eyes he has secured his place in the first team squad for 2024/25. 

Zak Lovelace - Development 

Another player that struggled for first-team minutes this season due to injuries. He did make 2 appearances for the club and scored on the final day of the league campaign to open his account for the senior side. Like Rice, he is deemed to be a decent League One player, and with that in mind I would like to see the 18-year-old get valuable minutes at this level and then we can reassess his future with the club.

Adam Devine

Devine spent the season out on loan to Raith Rovers in the Championship, and helped steer the club away from the drop as they defeated Hamilton Academical 4-3 on aggregate. He made 45 appearances for the Kirkcaldy side, and grabbed 8 assists. He could prove to be another James Tavernier in the right setup, and I am excited to keep him on the books for 2024/25. He is a very similar player to Max Johnston, and it looks as though one of these players will be on loan with a recall inserted to ensure apt squad depth if injuries do amount. 

A domestic double. What a season. Lets do it all again after the summer, as we look to retain our crown and really build something here.

Congratulations on the domestic double! Never a sure fire thing in Scotland, so to topple Celtic this early is huge!  I'm sure you'll kick on and invest in the squad further.

Could still do with those youth players making a step up to really challenge your first team. Give them time…

Thank you! I think after a second season we will be more on a level playing field with them in terms of finances and budgets, so this could be a crucial year!

Agreed on the youth players. Lowry showing glimpses what he can do is great, but we really need a big season from Devine and King to shore up the defence. Hopefully they perform well enough if and when they get loan deals that they can slot into the team!