Creating a team in his own image; Michael Grant ponders the problems

BY far the greatest disadvantage confronting Alex McLeish, as he makes his first attempt to build a Rangers team in his own image, is the one he inherited on the day he agreed to manage the club. McLeish is having to rebuild a side capable of giving Celtic a run for their money when Rangers can no longer hose money into the transfer market. That has remained an unaltered handicap throughout the 28 months he has been in office, but in relation to his signings there is an emerging, secondary difficulty which has been of McLeish's own making.

On the back of winning the treble last season - taking his total to five of the first six domestic trophies available to him - McLeish realised he had bought himself time and won over the Rangers support. That bond has been eroded over the course of this, his second full season in charge. An increasing number of supporters question their manager's ability to make the best of what he has, and they will be quick to judge any signings who do not make a good impression from the outset next season.

The unimpressed reaction to Marvin Andrews' signing was symptomatic of the cautious way many supporters now react to McLeish. Players such as Didier Agathe and Stephen Pearson have stepped up from smaller SPL clubs and quickly made themselves at home at Old Firm level. Many doubt that Andrews is capable of a similar advancement, despite the fact McLeish's most recent SPL signing, Gavin Rae, has become an increasingly prominent player.

Celtic's runaway championship win and comparative European success was always going to magnify the intensity on McLeish and in the search for flaws the focus has fallen on his transfer market judgment. David May, Emerson Thome and Alan Wright were here today, gone tomorrow trialists last summer, but those he actually signed proved to be almost as transient. Nuno Capucho for (pounds) 670,000 and Emerson, Egil Ostenstad and Paolo Vanoli for free represent four failed signings in McLeish's nine incoming deals since the start of the season. On the other hand, Zurab Khizanishvili, Henning Berg, Gavin Rae and Frank de Boer have been satisfactory, young Hamed Namouchi has seemed promising, and McLeish consistently signed well for Hibs.

Rangers say they were hurried into last-minute signings last summer. Barry Ferguson announced he wanted to leave on August 15th and two weeks later he completed a move to Blackburn. By then Rangers had beaten FC Copenhagen to qualify for the Champions League proper and two days before the signing deadline for the group stage Ferguson left and Emerson was brought in to fill his vacant central midfield position. If there was logic in that signing the same could not be said for the rushed arrival of Ostenstad 24 hours later.

Nor can the club claim to have been hurried into signing Capucho, who had joined before the first pre-season friendly. Capucho has been a very poor acquisition although it might have been worse. Another Rangers target last summer, Luciano Figueroa, for whom a (pounds) 2.5 million deal with Argentine club Rosario Central was almost completed in July, was released by Birmingham in December having played only three minutes of Premiership football.

"It's not a case of regretting the signings we made last summer, it's about looking at the facts of what happened," said Martin Bain, Rangers' director of football business. "We had a plan in place but were not expecting the resignation of Barry Ferguson. Barry moving on had a huge impact. We were in a transfer market dealing only with Bosmans and we signed a few players who Alex admits haven't done as well as we would have liked."

Having lumbered himself with unwanted baggage - Capucho and Emerson have been transfer-listed, along with Christian Nerlinger - McLeish needs them off the wage bill to release funds for his rebuilding. The trio earn (pounds) 20,000-a-week each and all three have another year left on their Ibrox contracts. "A lot will also depend on transfers out of the club," said Bain. "We have spoken to certain players and told them we'd like them to look for other clubs. If they're going to sit without being in the manager's plans that will speak volumes for the players themselves. They're footballers and if they want to play football they should try to move on."

Rangers fear being left with their equivalent of Winston Bogarde who has pocketed (pounds) 42,000-a-week at Chelsea and shown no inclination to add to the four first-team starts he has made since 2000. "We don't want players who'll sit picking up wages without playing. But I am aware that might happen and I'll have a plan B in place," Bain added.

Plan A is presumably to find new employers for Nuno Capucho, Emerson, Christian Nerlinger and hope irresistible bids arrive for the squad's few marketable assets, a group which includes Mikel Arteta, Fernando Ricksen and perhaps Michael Ball, Peter Lovenkrands and even Craig Moore, who has been lukewarm on signing an extension and is too often injured.