Back in March, I stated that Rangers could be best served by bringing in an up and coming young coach and hiring an experienced director of football to help move the club up to the next level. It could offer a vibrancy that can change the whole mood of the football club!

I also said that if that plan was to work, then it would be imperative that the Ibrox club brought in the right personnel.

That brings me to the latest news reports that suggest that former Gers gaffer Dick Advocaat could be making a return to Ibrox as the new director of football.

Current Rangers boss Stuart McCall has also told the press that Advocaat has visited him at Ibrox within the last month…

“Dick Advocaat was up the other day and came to speak to me in my office. I don’t know if he was measuring up the curtains and the carpets but it was nice to see him. We had a good chat.”

For me, well I believe that would a step in the wrong direction for Rangers.

Remember Rangers are desperately trying to reach top flight football again and bring back the successful years. At the moment they’re mediocre at best and will need a lot of luck if they are going to secure promotion through the play-offs.

Would bringing back Dick Advocaat really bring back the glory years?

There is no doubt that the ‘Little General’ has enjoyed a vastly successful career in football management. The Dutch manager has won fifteen trophies in his twenty-eight year managerial career. Five of those titles came at Ibrox (where he won two league championships, two Scottish Cups and a League Cup).

Dick has almost certainly helped save Sunderland from relegation, after he was brought in by the English Premier League club earlier this year. This latest chapter in the Dutchman’s lengthy career has seen his stock once again rise in the British isles.

But let’s not forget that Advocaat’s reckless spending back at the turn of the century helped create the financial meltdown that soon engulfed the football club and which would eventually see the business liquidated in 2012.

Now obviously Dick Advocaat can’t be held fully responsible for the financial crisis that crippled Rangers and from which they have never fully recovered from. David Murray handed over the cash and the board OK’d the controversial EBT scheme, that saw the taxman ruthlessly go after the club’s board.

But the sixty-seven year old’s Gers legacy has been tainted by the millions he spent during his stint in charge at Ibrox and the fallout it helped create.

As the Glaswegian club look to evolve and grow as a new improved outfit, now isn’t the best time to step back in time.

Since 2012, Rangers have continually been bashed for not moving with the times and being stuck in the past. Former manager Ally McCoist was blamed by the fans as he stuck with old pros like Lee McCulloch and bringing back formers players such as Stevie Smith and Richard Forster, instead of being more imaginative in the transfer market or trusting the younger squad players.

Surely the new Rangers board run making the same mistakes by bringing back Advocaat.

The Little General can be a divisive figure. He tried being a director of football at Rangers before and lasted mere months. I’d imagine that he can only work with a manager that can put up with his meddling, is that really what Rangers need at this moment in time?

Dick Advocaat famously won the treble with Rangers in his debut season in charge but alas that is history now and the Rangers board should look elsewhere for someone more suited to the director of football role and show the world that Ibrox stadium is no longer an old boys club!

The time is right for someone with experience of being a director of football to come in with fresh ideas that can only improve the Rangers Football club.

Posted on May 18th, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article