The blame for Rangers’ cup exit this week must be laid firmly at the door of Mark Allen, according to Kris Boyd.
The Sky Sports pundit and Kilmarnock striker savage the Ibrox director of football for leaving Steven Gerrard with an imbalanced squad ill equipped to cope.
“Steven Gerrard will be the first to admit that he’s made mistakes, but he isn’t the man to blame,” Boyd told the Scottish Sun. “I’d be more inclined to look at the job being done by the club’s Head of Recruitment.
“Mark Allen is quick enough to jump around changing rooms when the team wins, but what has he actually contributed?
“He paints himself as the mastermind in everything that’s good when Rangers are winning, but he doesn’t fool me.
“That’s a total imbalance and stops Gerrard from being able to make changes when things aren’t going well. Look at the Pittodrie Cup clash when he didn’t make a single substitution. That tells you everything about how the squad is all wrong.”
OPINION
As usual, Boyd has gone in both feet first as he points not just the finger, but every limb in his body at Allen for transfer market gaffes that have cost Rangers dear. Fair comment? Well, yes and no. Certainly, some of Rangers signings have not paid off, and the expensive Borna Barisic and Eros Grezda signings look like money chucked down the drain. The jury is also out on the Jermain Defoe mega-deal, but why should Allen get the blame for that? It was hailed in January by everyone in the game, and from observers like us – as a shrewd deal that had Gerrard’s fingerprints all over it. Does Allen not deserve credit for signings like Allan McGregor and Scott Arfield, both of whom were signed up before the Liverpool legend arrived, as well as Connor Goldson? Boyd’s analysis is a little harsh. No surprise there. He has praised Rangers when they have delivered the goods this season, but his criticism in this case of Allen is overly savage.