Arrested Development

Rangers have been treading water for years. With another season of failure looking likely, I give some thoughts as to where the club should go next.

In the wake of back to back old firm failures, there has been much inquest and discussion around the cause of Rangers issues. Fans have seen Rangers’ squads and managers fall apart each season for years, this season seems no different.

Blame has been assigned to many different areas; Players, coaches and mentality being the main ones. While these issues are definitely part of the overall problem, no single one is the main culprit of the clubs failures. Rangers biggest problem is a combination of all issues that surround the first team. The club is a horrible environment for anyone to succeed in.

The club has suffered from the instability brought on by the clubs hierarchy in recent years. Poor recruitment has been matched by managerial hires that either lacked conviction or had none at all. This has meant that good sporting decisions have been dragged down and bad ones made even worse.

The inconsistency around the team has meant that development for both first team and youth players, as well as the squad overall, has been nearly non-existent. Today I would like to talk about some of the players that this has effected, some of the reasons behind the issues and how Rangers can go about fixing them.

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Nicolas Raskin

Rangers struggles to develop players properly have existed for a long time now. Exciting talents that move to the club have mostly been complete failures or struggled to reach their potential. Midfielder Nicolas Raskin is one of the strongest examples of the latter.

He arrived in Glasgow with great potential and excitement around him but has failed to live up to expectations. While some blame has to lie with the player, it is hard to look at the environment Raskin was brought into and say it hasn’t hindered him.

Since his move to Rangers in January 2023, Raskin has worked under 4 permanent managers. The constant changing of systems and positioning has never allowed the Belgian any platform to improve. He has had to deal with constant squad changes around him as well, meaning that building relationships on the pitch has been difficult.

When Raskin made the move from Standard Liege, it looked like he would be the future at the number 6 position for Rangers. Fast forward to 2026 and fans are still debating over what his best position is.

Raskin has played in so many different roles in his time at the club that he’s never actually been able to develop into any of them. This has meant that Rangers still lack a player who can control the game, as well as a midfield with any chemistry or continuity.

After a performance against Celtic in which he completed just 23 passes in 90 minutes, the discussion around Raskin’s role returned. I understand why people would look at a game like this and question whether Raskin was poorly profiled as a number 6. However, it is ridiculous to expect a midfielder to improve on the ball after 3 years of playing in teams that didn’t want to keep it.

All of Raskin’s best performances for Rangers have come in games where he is working without the ball. He has become a great ball winner in his time at the club and this is because he has developed in teams setup to play best without possession.

These clips encapsulate Raskin at his best, getting pressure on the ball and winning it back. In games that Rangers have little possession, he’s great at starting counters and getting to second balls.

The issue is that Rangers dominate possession in almost every game, even if that isn’t how they are setup to play. Games that Raskin has to dictate and create opening with his passing play are where he shows the most weakness.

He has spent years playing in teams that want to bypass the sort of midfield play that controls games and hasn’t had any opportunity to develop those skills on the ball.

The clip above shows a situation that you’d expect a Rangers number 6 to be in often. Opponent penned back in their half and the number 6 expected to find the right decision to unlock the defence.

When Raskin gets into these situations, you can clearly see the lack of comfort. This is not an area of the game he has experienced enough to build the instincts needed to be successful. The clip shows him struggle to make a decision and then lose the ball in a position that should have ended much better.

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Youth Development

In this decade, Rangers youth system has been virtually non-existent. Nathan Patterson had an impressive few months during the 55 season and made the move to Everton, in a great deal for the club.

Outside of this, Rangers most successful youth development would probably be Ross McCausland. Who made little impact but at least made it into the first team for a solid period of time.

So what’s the problem? Is the Rangers academy incapable of producing good prospects or are there other issues that the club are facing when trying to promote young talent.

There have been good prospects through the academy in recent years. Leon King, Alex Lowry and Bailey Rice have all had a bit of hype around them before making it to the first team.

Once again though, the environment that they have to come into is not fit for a young player to succeed in. It has felt like the opportunities given to these young players have been few and far between. Managers have been fighting for their jobs so often at Rangers that they could rarely afford opportunities to youth talents.

Rangers have also been so poor that they can’t find a game that managers would be comfortable giving youth a chance in. With so many close games even at home, Rangers have struggled to create the sort of game states necessary to give the last 15 minutes to a prospect.

The lack of opportunity has contributed to another issue, keeping the best talent at the club. Scottish clubs have struggled in general to keep talent from moving down south in recent years and Rangers are no different.

You would think that Rangers and Celtic would be best positioned to keep their talent. With European squad places available and good money, the old firm clubs do have a lot to offer. None of this matters if the club never offers you a chance to play football.

Billy Gilmour left swapped Rangers for Chelsea as a youth player and has gone on to great success. Now one of Rangers’ best talents, Ashton Scally, has been linked with the same move.

How could you blame him, there’s been no proven path to success as a Rangers prospect. If you aren’t going to play anyway, then there’s no reason not to take the money that English clubs can offer.

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How do Rangers Fix This?

I feel the need to preface this part with the point that no one change will completely solve Rangers’ problems. There is so much that has gone into the club struggling in recent years. I do think that a couple of changes can be foundations for future success. The first comes from identity.

Whether you like it or not, Rangers have to dominate the ball. Russell Martin may have turned fans off of the idea of this kind of manager but it was not Martin’s ideals that caused his downfall.

Rangers financial and player quality advantages are diluted by playing a style that focuses on transitional play and off-ball control. Building a squad that wants to keep the ball and getting a manager who can implement those systems is the first step to building a consistent Rangers team.

The ownership need to have the stomach to build something rather than trying so many different things until something works. This means Danny Rohl losing his job in the summer and a new plan being built.

Some may see that as harsh, given the turnaround that the German has managed with this team. Sadly, we have seen this movie before. Even though results have improved under Rohl, performances have not. Rangers still can’t control a game or create consistent chances, even with a massive investment in January.

Constantly changing things around how Rangers play, means that there is no opportunity for players to develop and learn. There are no consistent ideas around how to attack and relying on individual quality to carry the team through a season hasn’t worked for 4 years now.

Getting a manager that wants to play with the ball and allowing him to develop his team and players into that style is the best way to make a winning Rangers. If you’re going to be forced into having possession then you may as well get good at having it.

There is obviously more that goes into it, recruitment of the right manager and players will be key. The sporting department and ownership all must buy into the philosophy.

In terms of improving the youth system, the simple answer is get them playing. Sending players out on loan is alright, as long as the clubs you send them to can offer a similar style of play to your own. Getting your best talent minutes in the first team is the most important thing though.

This has been easier said than done as I explained earlier in the article. However, I do think there is one simple change in how Rangers build their squads that could improve the situation quickly.

The club have supplemented the squad with young Scottish talent for a while now. Players like Scott Wright, Connor Barron and most recently Lyall Cameron. These players are not Rangers quality.

There are very few players in Scottish teams who would actively improve Rangers or have the potential to. Most of these players end up at top teams, think John McGinn or Lewis Ferguson. If players of this quality are in Scotland then Rangers should be trying to get them, if it’s only the second tier of talent available; could a youth player take those minutes?

Connor Barron has become a fan favourite as a hard worker who is willing to give his all for the team. Even his strongest believers don’t laud his on ball quality as anything incredible.

I think that most youth midfielders will give you this as a minimum and in best cases you can get a player who develops into even more. The even better part is that you don’t have to pay for them.

This involves changing what we see as a successful youth prospect. Not every young midfielder is going to be Barry Ferguson but if they can be trusted in easier games or to close matches out then that is a success.

Getting to this situation will allow Rangers more of a chance to keep their best talents and if the clubs academy is more productive, it can make a huge difference in the future of the team.

Making these changes won’t solve everything but the club needs solid ground to build from. Even if it isn’t what I am arguing for here, I hope to see a vision for the future that fans can get behind. Right now something needs to change.