Le Guen creates new order
MOIRA GORDON (scotsman.com)
(mgordon@scotlandonsunday.com)
23 Jul 2006
IF THE Rangers defence proves as dogged and adept as blocking forays into the box as their manager is at preventing unwanted intrusions into his thinking, then they will be a tough nut to crack.
Already portraying exasperation at the inquisitive perseverance of the Scottish media when it comes to all things Old Firm, Paul Le Guen has mastered the art of the single-word response and even when he stretches it to more, his answers rarely proffer bountiful information. Ask a yes/no question and you get a yes/no answer. Just don't expect him to expand.
Which suggests the meeting between Marvin Andrews and the Frenchman may have been fairly concise.
A stickler for discipline and authority, it's unknown what Le Guen's response was on learning that the God-fearing defender considers himself answerable to one person and it ain't his football manager. But the chances are when he discovered the Almighty had more sway than Rangers' medical experts when it came to deciding what treatment the defender required to maximise his worth throughout the season, Andrews didn't have a prayer.
Which is probably why he has become the latest man deemed surplus to requirements as Le Guen overhauls his squad.
The Trinidad and Tobago defender famously refused to undergo surgery for knee ligament damage last season, leaving his former gaffer Alex McLeish sweating every time he chose to select the cumbersome centre-half and it's unlikely the new man would chose to go through that.
It had been believed that a new one-year contract was on the table but when questioned, le Guen said Andrews would not be featuring in yesterday's friendly against Middlesbrough and if he has another possibility then he is free to leave the club.
The subject was not up for expansion. "He can leave?" "Yes." "Is that your decision?" "Yes". "Was there not the possibility of him getting a contract?" "Yes. He had the contract, but now he can leave."
Not only good at blocking, it seems, the new Rangers manager is also a decisive finisher.
The decision to give the former Livingston defender the freedom to play his football elsewhere follows on from the one to leave Olivier Bernard and Bob Malcolm at home for the pre-season tour of South Africa where Jose Pierre Fanfan and Julien Rodriguez formed the defensive spine of the team. Swedish summer signing Karl Svensson is another vying for a starting berth as Rangers seek to improve on the number of goals conceded - a league tally that was the club's worst in nine years last term.
With further additions to the midfield selection pool and the hunt still on for a top-class striker to add to the mix, Le Guen is obviously in no mood to accommodate players who do not share his way of thinking.
And he believes that even without any more new faces, he already has a squad of players capable of not only clambering back over Hearts but also wrestling the title from Old Firm rivals Celtic.
He says he now knows the players better thanks to the ten-day trip to South Africa, which he claims was a positive experience despite the quality of pitches, and he maintains that, if no other targets can be signed up before the transfer window closes, he will be happy to begin the league challenge with the personnel already at his disposal.
"I am happy with the effect the team made [in South Africa] and happy with the squad now, but if we could get one or two more it would be great but I am happy with the players, yes I am happy. I selected 18 players [for yesterday's friendly against Middlesbrough] and I am happy with this selection."
But while content with the players, he clearly still feels some time is needed for them to gel and start performing the way he envisages they can. With that in mind, he has warned Rangers fans he does not expect the team to be the best as the season gets underway.
"I hope, but I think that we will be better in two months than we will be tomorrow but it's normal to say that, it's not protection. We arrive, we discover, we try to go fast, we go to see games in Scotland to gain, but I am sure we will be able to be better than today in two months."
The fact that he believes the staff he inherited are actually better than he first believed may not thrill fans who were less than pleased with individual and team performances on the way to their third-place finish last season, but the proof will be in the Premierleague pudding, when the real action gets underway, against Motherwell, next weekend.
"When you arrive you are always surprised, you change your opinion and it's important to have new eyes when you arrive and it's important to build your own opinion.
"When you arrive at a new club during the first two months you must work a lot to feel the club, the squad, it is what we have done since the beginning of the season."
And it is a number of the homegrown assets who have impressed. "Yes, I'm happy with our Scottish players. We have Boydy [Kris Boyd], Burkey [Chris Burke], Ian Murray. It's important to me. And Gavin Rae and Charlie Adam. It's important and I hope to keep them during this season."
One Scot who will not be rushed back into action is Barry Ferguson. The club captain will undergo further examinations this week to assess his injured heel.
"I will follow the medical advice," said Le Guen. "That is logical. I think Tuesday is the exam and then we will see what happens."
And he is clearly peeved by the notion that he would act against advice or ask his player to turn out despite injury or discomfort as he did throughout the last campaign.
"I have just said I will follow medical advice. That is the best behaviour. I know what happened [last season] but I am the manager and I am able to listen to my experts."
It was the club's medical experts who Andrews refused to listen to last season when he was told to go under the knife to repair the ligament damage and as the defender seeks a new club he may come to realise that it was those voices rather than the man who answered his prayers who, when it comes to Rangers and Le Guen, had the greater authority.
