Should Rangers fans be content with Mark Warburton's January dealings?
No, says Gary Keown
MARK WARBURTON said it himself in mid-December. He wanted more maturity within his squad and more physicality along with a little more magic in the final third of the pitch.
Michael O’Halloran is enjoying an excellent season and will certainly serve as a valuable attacking option with that blistering speed. The same could possibly be said of Harry Forrester, although he has much to prove following a disappointing end to his time at Doncaster Rovers.
Neither of the two will add a physical presence to the Rangers team, though, and they are hardly the kind of experienced heads you feel Warburton desired.
O’Halloran, of course, is 25. He has really hit his stride this season after showing promise in his first two campaigns at St Johnstone, but he is not the finished article.
He is a guy still making progress in his career. He only just seems to be developing real confidence in his undoubted ability and it is right to think that Rangers may benefit from his best years.
They ought to be applauded for pushing the boat out on deadline day to secure the deal. It was important that the board showed they mean business.
O’Halloran and Forrester, trying to prove himself on a short-term contract, are not leaders of men, though. Not yet, anyway.
It is hard to say much about Polish goalkeeper, Maciej Gostomski. Only contracted until the end of the season, he does not even make the matchday squad now that Cammy Bell is fit again.
Rangers are building towards a planned return to the Premiership and it looks like they will have to perform quite a bit of surgery in the summer should, as expected, they win promotion.
The current squad is not good enough to get the better of Celtic over an entire campaign. Several players will still have to be added.
Trying to bring them in and knit them together over the course of the close-season is a tough ask. Clubs such as Rangers bring particular challenges and demands and it generally does take players a little bit of time to settle.
They should have used this window more effectively to introduce fresh blood to the squad with a view to next season.
Fans will be pleased overall, says Chris Jack
THE arrival of Michael O’Halloran on deadline day proved to be Mark Warburton’s final bit of business of the January window and he will now have to go with what he has got at his disposal for the second half of the campaign.
To that end, Rangers are more than strong enough to go on and win the Championship title this term. They already had the best team in the division and now Warburton has added more competition and more firepower in the final third.
But, looking longer term, only time will tell if the Ibrox boss should have pushed the boat out in recent weeks to further bolster his squad ahead of what looks like being a Premiership campaign next term.
There is no doubt that O’Halloran and Billy King will improve Rangers in the coming months, while Harry Forrester has a point to prove and will have a part to play.
All three should help Rangers achieve their main aim and secure promotion this season. And, really, that is all that matters between now and May.
It is unlikely keeper Maciej Gostomski, now seemingly third choice at Ibrox, will have to be called upon to become a key player in the title run-in, though.
Warburton spoke on Monday about the requirement to bring in a further 4-6 players in summer but it would surely have been beneficial to try and get at least another one or two in during the January window.
Matt Crooks and Josh Windass will remain with Accrington Stanley until the end of the campaign and, like anyone else who arrives later this year, they will have to hit the ground running if Rangers are to challenge at the top of the table next season.
The Gers squad is still short of cover in the full-back areas and another centre-back is likely to be on Warburton’s shopping list when the window reopens in a couple of months.
Having missed out on Toumani Diagouraga, an experienced holding midfielder is now a priority for Rangers but Warburton seems content to wait until the end of the campaign.
More money will be made available by the Ibrox board for Warburton to go back into the market and secure the additions he needs for a shot at the Premiership. January is never an easy market in which to do business so any cash could well be better spent during the summer.
The first few weeks of the season will tell whether Warburton was right to hold off doing more deals this month or whether fans’ fears over a lack of additions were well founded.
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