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I'm not much of a drinker or pub goer. I like walking to clear my head from the week that's just gone by. Usually take a long hike amongst nature (away from people tbh) to get a different vista on things. It always works. Never fails.

I've also noticed an increase in the numbers of young folk in the hills in recent years. I don't know if it's a response to the Covid imprisonments but I take it as a good sign anyway. Anyone who spends time among trees and mountains will instantly become a better person.

The issue is, goalkeeper apart, most areas are coming to the top of our to do list ; Left back Centre Back Midfielder who can dictate a game Wide right player Wide Left player (if we don't sign sima) Centre forward or two I'd say replacing Tav is bottom of that list

Most of the big amateur teams around here no longer exist, what's left isn't great, the Junior game is pretty unrecognisable since it was all split up a few years back. No idea what the quality is like now. Can't bring myself to go watch either of them. It's changed days tbh, a lot more people have hobbies that don't involve football, not like it was 30 or 40 years ago.

If anyone's interested he's at 2.26 chances created a game with a total of 18 with 0 assists. Bruno Fernandes would be proud of that assist to chance return. Our forwards and attacking midfielders really are pish in front of goal. Except maybe Sima, but again, he's got a touch of an axe murderer.

*insert cheeky comment about CammyF listening to pish music here Aye, the hills: Blackford, Corstorphine, Braid etc. are all great for a wander.

Spot on Bill.

Stolen from Twitter but.... When its 19:57 and your astroturf booking is at 20:00

Like most fans i moan and moan about Tav week in week out but i will always want him in my team

Free the Ibrox 1

Here’s a lad with an eye for goal sign him

Hope PC was watching the Man City game tonight. Maybe a cheeky wee loan with option to buy bid for that Kevin De Bruyne fellow - reckon he'd score for fun up here. Saying that, could he do it on a cold night in Dingwall?

Seriously our lack of medical acumen is unreal. There were rumours he would never play again. His contract expired. 5 minutes later he’s back in the Sweden team he’s played half a season in Denmark and now he’s off to a top Belgian side.

Likewise DA but I have to be honest a week in bed with a stack of new books to read and films to watch was just what the doctor ordered. The weather being horrible outside only reinforced my guilt free pleasure.

Cheers Cammy

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/24048413.rangers-new-edmiston-house-accounts-show-30k-profit/ Full breakdown available from link above.

Superb sir, cap doffed. I never got into the munros over the festive period like I usually do, a batch of covid put paid to it.

As a young 72 yr old I still take members of a Yorkshire walking group north to play on real hills (Munro's) a few times a year!!

Lammers getting good reviews from Utrecht fans on twitter today. Good to see.

Even so we have a responsibility as a club regardless if he struggled after his injury, it’s our job like we are doing with Roofe, jack, Davis etc who are injured or even on loan for that matter to look after our players especially when another club is just not sticking to its contract they signed. Loan contract should be void

Know what compo I used to do the same until I got injured in Afghanistan, I didn’t go to the 50 pitches or the Glasgow green but I fondly remember watching the amateurs, I know care for my son as well as myself but it’s difficult indeed especially when your wanting to keep the mind active or just getting out and about, Have you tried a local Chess club or Darts if you can do so? I don’t want to ask your age but there are bowls I’m sure each local area has one pass time until Ibrox comes calling 🤜🏼♥️🤍💙

Even the refs over here are shite as well. .

A Bulat Doiged, then.

So it was a stag do?

Three goals for city took the points in this very enjoyable game of football

Meanwhile at Bill Towers

Any player could potentially lose us the league going by that logic. Still don't see Ridvan leaving. Would he have played today on that pitch if a deal was in the pipeline?

We all said the same when it was pish under Beale in his pre season...lo and behold we carried it into the competitive games. If we're like this against Copenhagen I'll have a bit of the fear tbh, but that's because of the scar tissue from Beale's training games. Hopefully this will do us good rather than be detrimental.

Dunno what people want to see here? All about opinions, but the constant Ridvan bashing is rather strange, given that he is more skilled and forward minded than Borna, always brings a new spark into his side's attack. His height is barely important. On the other hand, no word must be uttered about our dear captain Tavernier, who drags himself out of so many mediocre performances with the odd cross or penalty goal.

The match is so dull, I picked up an interesting factoid on Wiki... "The club was formed in 1892 as BFC Hertha 92, taking its name from a steamship with a blue and white smokestack; one of the four young men who founded the club had taken a day trip on this ship with his father. The name Hertha is a variation on Nerthus, referring to a fertility goddess from Germanic mythology."

This is rank - get Lammers on 2nd half.

Explains the career of Peter Crouch. Basically, then, Rangers should recruit young, slim, bony ('angular'), players, and should have them hang from the wallbars for a couple of hours every morning, until they stretch to the desired height.

The type of football played today is different to the football played in the 1950s and the 1970s and even the 1990s. As such the type of player who thrives in it has changed and the type of fitness they possess, or build, is different. I'm surprised there's even a debate that today's players are fitter, I don't think there's any doubt about that, but I accept there's a debate around whether they are stronger or more robust. The English FA did research back in the early 2000s around elite player fitness. Dr Neil Phillips was a medical advisor to the FA during the 60s and 70s. He tells the story of Alf Ramsay wanting to introduce warming up before training to the England side and it being met with resistance by many players. Jimmy Greaves in particular was quite vocal in his resistance to this, seeing it as "namby pamby", despite Ramsay getting the idea from witnessing a training session by Brazil where they had done a warm up. It might be coincidental but Jimmy Greaves retired from first class football at only 31. Does anyone think Harry Kane will retire from first class football at 31, despite being financially secure for 10 lifetimes? The FA's research also compared data taken from the English top flight First Division in 1976, they found that the distance covered in a game was an average 8-11 kilometres, 25 per cent of which was walking and 11 per cent sprinting. By the early 2000s physiologists reckon that Premiership footballers now cover around 12-14 kilometres per match and that a greater percentage of that distance is run at top speed. There was further research published in 2019 around body shape of professional footballers. "The research team included sports scientists at Portsmouth and Cardiff Metropolitan universities and was led by University of Wolverhampton. They examined how body size, shape and age characteristics had changed for footballers since the 1970s. Findings showed footballers have steadily been getting taller, with an average height increase of a centimetre per decade, but in the most recent decade are now also lighter, nimbler and much more angular. Dr Webb, an expert in sports management in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science, said: “We were quite surprised at the findings, and in particular the changes in body shape of those players who are successful in the modern game, these changes appear to have occurred very quickly. "Obviously, the game is developing and evolving all the time but, even so, there does seem to be a very quick shift in the body type of some of the most successful players, at successful clubs. This has added consequence for the clubs and the recruitment of young players, as well as any player transfer strategy. “Clubs should be aware of these developments, and it could help to inform any talent identification and development strategy at an elite club. Clubs take into account physiological metrics, as well as other factors, in any talent identification strategy or approach, and as such these findings will be of interest." Perhaps more pertinent to this thread; "Lead researcher Professor Alan Nevill, a biostatistician and Professor of Sport at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “Footballers of today have adapted to the modern game, and as a result their body shape has altered. Modern players are ectomorphic, characterised by a lean, slender body, as opposed to the muscular, mesomorphic builds which were more common in the 1970s and 80s. “A lot of this can be attributed to the increased quality of playing surfaces where footballers train and compete. Modern pitches are immaculate and well-maintained and not the mud baths that they used to be. Pitches used to get very heavy and soggy, particularly in mid-winter, which accounted for players being bulkier and more muscular.” As recently as December last year, Belgium international and Manchester United star Romelu Lukaku admitted that his poor form at the start of this season was because he was too muscular. Professor Nevill concurs: “Today’s players are more like endurance athletes than power athletes. To compete at today’s high levels, they are also working harder and harder so are much leaner.” The findings, which examined more than 2,600 top-division players using football yearbook data, also showed a dramatic decrease in BMI, which Professor Nevill believes is more a measure of muscularity as in athletes it is an indication of lean body mass rather than fat mass. He said the research could have an impact on talent scouting for the future. “Body shape is clearly important and English professional clubs might be advised to attract young, less muscular, more angular players as part of their talent identification and development programmes to improve future chances of success,” said Professor Nevill. “In an industry that is so financially competitive, any advantage that can be gained has the potential to positively influence future performance.” Lastly, one hundred percent agree with the posters who stated that Murder Hill was psychological rather than physical. Wallace was far smarter than he gets portrayed. The whole 'jungle fighter' 'fire in their bellies' narrative does him a huge disservice. Wallace took over a Rangers side that was good enough to win a European trophy but couldn't beat Celtic for the league. He, correctly, realised that this was a mentality issue in the team, they didn't believe they were better than Celtic, who were managed by Stein and on the way to winning 9 titles in a row. Murder Hill was Wallace's way of changing that mentality. He told the players running the sand dunes would make the fitter. That running them until the were literally sick meant they were now the fittest team in the league, no one was fitter than them, they had an advantage. It was nonsense, but the players believed it, or at least enough of them did. Wallace went on to win the league and followed that up with 2 trebles. In reality you're no fitter running up sand dunes that running up the terrace steps at Ibrox, which is what the players did before this. Fitness is vital, but the right mentality even more so.

His nickname was 'Polaris' to be precise. Which not only dates me but also the UK's nuclear deterrent programme too.

Did you ever watch John McDonald play for us? He wasn't nicknamed "submarine" for nothing.....

The speed and intensity of the game now creates its own challenges. @Bluedell's point stands however.

It won't (not the proper stuff anyway). Here's hoping the sunshine cures a few ailments and we return with a fuller and fitter squad.