STEPHEN McGOWAN: Atalanta are exactly the kind of club Rangers SHOULD have become
One of the yo yo clubs of Italian football, Atalanta always had more in common with Hibs or Dundee United than Rangers.
Based in Bergamo, the city has a population of 120,000, slightly less than Dundee and five times fewer than Glasgow.
The capacity of their rebuilt Gewiss Stadium, meanwhile, is closer to Easter Road or Tannadice than it is to Ibrox.
Until they thrashed German champions Bayer Leverkusen to win last season’s Europa League final, La Dea - The Goddess - hadn’t won a major trophy in 61 years.
Yet, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s relentless team gave Celtic a probing examination in the Champions League the other night, Atalanta looked like the model of the club Rangers could have become when they embarked upon ‘the journey’ in 2012.
Atalanta celebrate after their Europa League final victory over Bayer Leverkusen
The Italian side have become one of Europe's top teams under Gian Piero Gasperini
Atalanta were kept at bay by Celtic but are now a major force in Serie A and beyond
Instead of throwing two grand a week at Kevin Kyle, they *should* have developed the best academy in the country.
They *should* have snapped up the best young players they could find and developed a profitable player-trading model.
Instead of fixating on bringing in Rangers men to recreate the club of the past, they should have studied new systems and ideas and built a football club fit for the modern age. A club like Atalanta.
Known in Italy as *Regina delle provinciali* - the queen of the provincial clubs - Gasperini’s team can’t match the financial clout of the two Milan clubs an hour’s drive away.
They bridge the gap, instead, by developing then selling talent like Teun Koopmeiners to Juventus, banking the fee and targeting players with future potential like Matt O’Riley.
A mid-sized club from Northern Italy gained access to the European elite by doing the important things well.
They appointed an outstanding coach in Gasperini. They utilised data analytics to develop one of the smartest and most profitable recruitment models on the continent.
They leveraged performance metrics during games to develop a high defensive block, man-for-man marking and formational flexibility - and won a European trophy.
Everyone knows how Gasperini’s team play, because they do it every week.
There’s a well-established plan and style of play which needs 90 minutes of solid concentration and defensive discipline to counter. As Celtic discovered.
Evidence of a well-constructed strategy runs through every facet of the club. So long as they’re stumbling around looking for a chairman, a chief executive, a football operations director and a new head of academy, it’s hard to say the same of Rangers.
Manager Philippe Clement says he’s sick of losing and, in that respect at least, supporters are in full agreement.
Where the Belgian claims to see solid evidence of potential and quality, however, fans only see inconsistent displays interspersed with intermittent flashes of quality.
While the Belgian described a four-goal rout of FCSB in the Europa League as a ‘tonic’, the effects will wear off quickly if his side fall even further behind Celtic and Aberdeen in the Premiership.
Rangers enjoyed victory over FCSB this week but they are frustratingly inconsistent
Rangers fans are still waiting to see if Clement's promises of jam tomorrow come good
Clement will hope this week's fine performance in Europe can transfer to domestic stage too
The reality is that, from one game to the next, no-one has the first idea which Rangers team will turn up. Flakier than a Greggs steak bake, Clement’s side are beset by boom-and-bust.
One week they’re plodding their way through an inept defeat to Kilmarnock, barely capable of striking a cow’s backside with a beach ball.
Stick them back in the Europa League and, for 90 minutes only, they’re back to being the butchers of Seville.
It’s too soon to say yet if Thursday’s performance was evidence of all those promises of jam tomorrow coming good or another mirage in a desert.
Until St Mirren and Aberdeen are out of the way, it might be wise to hold fire on the bunting for now.
A group of players afflicted by travel sickness have won only two of their last nine league games on the road. They’ve scored fewer goals away from home than any other team outwith struggling Ross County.
Inflict a first defeat of the season on Jimmy Thelin’s side on Wednesday and Clement would buy himself some time and goodwill.
Already looking to fill some key executive positions, directors don’t need a search for a new manager as well. Rack up a few wins and they can stand by their man and give him more time to develop young players and sell them on like Atalanta or, whisper this, Celtic.
Where Gasperini was granted eight years to build a provincial football club into a European powerhouse, however, Clement must know that time is not on his side. The fragile truce between fans, manager and directors will be stretched to breaking point if the bad old Rangers turn up in Aberdeen.
Critchley chalks up an early victory for the algorithms
When Hearts agreed to work with Tony Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics, they were in for a penny, in for a pound.
In the search for a Steven Naismith replacement, they either accepted the data or they went their own way and blew the whole thing up at the first hurdle.
When the algorithm turned up the name of Neil Critchley, the recommendation wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms.
Pundit Michael Stewart described the Englishman as an ‘underwhelming appointment’. Far from an isolated view, many Hearts supporters felt the same.
It’s early days. But back-to-back wins over St Mirren and Omonia Nicosia suggest that data analytics might have a stronger grasp on the nuts and bolts of what makes a good manager than the ex-pros clogging up the nation’s airwaves.
Critchley urges on his Hearts players during victory over Cypriot side
Blair Spittal, right, celebrates with fellow goalscorer Alan Forrest
Run by Justin Ray Said, a 37-year-old from Cambridgeshire, Jamestown Analytics employ bespoke data and specialise in recruitment in football and cricket.
They’re now working for the first time with teams outwith Tony Bloom’s network of clubs. And, while the precise formula is steeped in secrecy, it seems to work.
Como, coached by Cesc Fabregas, ended their 21-year-absence from Serie A by winning promotion last season.
Castellon have been promoted to the Spanish second division after Jamestown Analytics overhauled their playing squad.
Hearts have yet to draw the benefit of their evidence-based player analysis during a transfer window.
On the basis of his first two games, however, Critchley has managed to improve the players already at the club.
And, if he secures a third straight victory in his first Edinburgh derby on Sunday, the naysayers will disappear faster than snow off a dyke.
