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That's @der Berliner's Christmas present sorted:

Oh - ppg is only useful when it agrees with you? Disappointing. In the Hearts match: 2 or 3 (who signed Raskin?) were MB signings, I think; 5 were PC signings. He does play most of his signings. Like I've said elsewhere he did want more but we we couldn't get them. We can't blame him for that. I have no evidence. I'm not disagreeing with you, per se. I just get the sense that it's down to invididual injury prone players that he didn't sign (Yilmaz, Lawrence, Tamundo, Danilo, etc.) that we must release to get over it. Cortes, I agree, is the one solely on his watch. Worse case interpretation, it's the same. It's not worse.

Between CammyF praising Lawrence and Dessers and you with this nonsense, I'm seriously thinking of nipping to the off-licence.

Is our injury list not better this season? I thought our only injured players currently are Cortes, Matondo and Lawrence, am I missing someone? For comparison Celtic currently have Odin Holm (cost £2.6 million played 3 games this season), Adam Idah and Greg Taylor out, with Carter-Vickers having missed much of the season. Every squad will have injured players, but without wishing to jinx things we do seem less injury prone this season, certainly we're on a par with other clubs where last season we'd 6 or 7 players out fairly regularly. Interestingly we played Livingston on the 12th of November last year, five of that starting line-up are no longer at the club and of the five subs that came on, four of them have also left the club. That's quite a big change in 12 months.

It was a pretty good bounce - one trophy, unlucky in another cup competition and Rangers would have won the league but for fixture postponements.

I think the wage bill estimates will be way out. It will be much lower now that it was under Beale.

Players will pick up injuries, particularly with the amount of games we play, we can't expect no injuries. My point is that our injury situation this season is on a par with Celtic's, arguably it's been slightly better. That's an improvement on the last couple of seasons. It's only November, we'll need to see what the winter brings, but in my opinion the injury situation is a bit better, so far, this season. Domestic football has been poor recently, there's no denying that. Of the signings made during Clement's time only Igamane, Kelly and Nsiala aren't regular starters. Kelly was always signed as a back up to Butland, no one expects him to start, do they? I don't think anyone has seen Nsiala before or since he joined us, I guess he was a gamble, no idea if it will pay off. Igamane, so far, looks like a poor signing. He's only been at the club for a few months, so far too early to write him off, but he's got a way to go before he's ready. Those 3 apart, Diomande, Barron, Jefte, Bajrami, Cerny and Propper are regular starters, most are first choices. Cortes, when he's fit, usually started too. Kasanwirjo is featuring regularly now too. For that reason I think your 'old guard' comment is unfair, we literally don't have any other players to choose, we have to play some of the players who were at the club before Clement. You can complain about the lack of signings, but you can't criticise the manager for not choosing players that don't exist.

We draw 2-2 with Motherwell yesterday in a bounce game with Curtis and Propper scoring. For those who'll instantly jump in and say this is evidence that Curtis should get an opportunity in the 1st team, it's worth noting that PC has given competitive minutes to 1 player under 20 since he took over. Thats less than any of our previous 3 managers.

Perhaps but momentum means a lot in football. Players with greater determination or even the players we had managed by Smith or Wallace would probably have got through it and not collapsed at Dingwall So, one Cup and not far off a treble. What did Beale come close to winning?

Standards have fallen if any of us would be satisfied with McInnes being appointed Rangers manager.

PC won’t get sacked until we’ve played the yahoos at ibrox in January unless things deteriorate so badly. But Id advise those wishing his departure to be careful what they wish for. Some of the names mentioned fill me with dread

We should do away with goals altogether and just decide matches on xG...

Our xG difference is worse this season than MB's last season, which is more important to me than goals scored, etc. - although there has been an upturn over the last 5 games. This is still better than MB. I found MB particularly difficult, though. But, if we use ppg, my table shows PC is still better than MB - a 0.29 ppg difference, to be exact, which is substantial. PC has been poor this season but he's currently hitting what Gerrard was doing in his first season. He is still relying on MB players simply because we couldn't strengthen the first team as much as we and he wanted to. I wouldn't blame PC for that - or NK as we were in for more but the deals didn't get completed. On the whole the recruitment approach has been good: a lot of deadwood out, and young hungry players in. It's a good start. We had to take big losses on MB players - we will not have to do so on Jefte, Barron, Igamane, Diomande, etc., mainly because they are younger and didn't cost as much - Diomande aside. Injuries are still not good. I really think it's just down to individuals now: they are just injury prone. The only way to fix it is to release them. Our more recent Koppen signings have been a lot better in this regard. We did spend a lot. And while I wanted more first team players, I really can't fault our approach. I like the profiles targeted and I like that we didn't get dragged into spending more than we were able. I think case for keeping PC is still there. He's on board with the rebuild, prudent spender, works with our DoR, he is a competent manager - no matter what everyone says - has won a trophy, reached another two finals, good European results. Obviously that's difficult for fans when domestic form is so poor. I had already written off this season as a full rebuild. The big negative, for me, is the xG at the moment. It's worse than under MB (second season). It needs to improve - which it has technically over the last 5 games, but it's still meh. I'm okay with Clement, for now, considering all the off-field issues. But, if Potter says he's wanting a crack I'll kick PC out the door and crawl down to get him.

Aye, but when I do it you call it nonsense! It's a bit selective. (The financial numbers are very misleading, too.) If we expand it, we can see why Beale deserved to be sacked. I was quite content going into that season with a 4-diamond-2, but the ppg drop off was quite severe. Clement then brought about an incredible turnaround, then we get a drop off this season. Gerrard's last season saw a bad drop off, too. GvB was quite consistent, I'd say - but the football was dreadful. Do you know what the average is over these 7 seasons? 2.25 ppg. Season Manager MP Pts PPG Change 18/19 Gerrard 38 78 2.05 - 19/20 Gerrard 29 67 2.31 0.26 20/21 Gerrard 38 102 2.68 0.37 21/22 Gerrard 12 27 2.25 -0.43 GvB 25 59 2.36 0.11 22/23 GvB 15 33 2.20 -0.16 Beale 23 59 2.57 0.37 23/24 Beale 7 12 1.71 -0.85 Clement 30 70 2.33 0.62 24/25 Clement 11 22 2.00 -0.33

Beale set us back some distance. I'm not convinced Clement is the best man for the job but he still has a lot of Beale's mess to clean up, so deserves a bit of slack. Our away form is the big issue. We're struggling at every domestic away ground and this is killing any chance we have of competing for the title, as the yahoos are trouncing everyone, home and away.

I’m assuming Cortes is included in PC’s signings but I’d argue Beale wasting so much money has prevented PC from getting more signings Id also point out that of all the signings MB made less than 18 months ago only Dessers now plays regularly. Says it all really…

Fine & good but MB got a lot more money to spend than PC has had so far. PC has inherited MB’s duds In all honesty it will take 2 or 3 seasons to clean up the mess MB and Wilson left behind

SteveCo Talks Sevco! The PQ Gang Hut began to assemble the firing squad a month past. After Rangers defeats at both Pittodrie and Rugby Park, the firing squad were ordered to load, make ready and fire. Obviously, the target was Rangers Gaffer, Philippe Clement and the national broadcaster justified their actions by citing Rangers supporters demands. The Belgian remains bound to the post but continues to breathe. The club Board have so far failed to deliver the inevitable for probably three reasons : 1. Clement has taken the club to their third successive national cup final. 2. Clement has guided the club to successive promising performances in the Europa League. 3. Clement achieved the provided brief ie moved players on, cut the wage bill substantially and, was rewarded with an improved contract. Impatience within the PQ Gang Hut is being tempered by concurrent activity. Anticipation levels are rising as the saliva runs down the chops of ra Sellik state of mind collective. Right across the national broadcaster's outlets - Sportsound, Sportscene, the View from the Terrace, Off the Ball, ........ etc; they have all sniggered whilst warning of an upcoming humiliation for Rangers in the League Cup final against Sellik. Rangers are funny and getting funnier reinforced by Craig Fowler's coup de main, "Rangers are hilarious". The laughing stocks are our confinement and the Gang Hut both encourages and rewards the continuous pelting of rotten fruit. Constant exposure is guaranteed if you chorus the issued narrative. Rangers supporters are stupid for accepting the situation and deserve ridicule. Providing regular supposed imagery is supplied because marginalisation makes it easier to hate. Step up to the microphone former Chair of Dundee United, Stephen Thompson. On Saturday, Tam Cowan introduced Uncle Fester and told us he would present an insight into the events of 2012. Ray Bradshaw wondered aloud as to why Stephen was blamed for Rangers demise? The chortle fest ran for two hours : Stephen told of his 'successful' ten year tenure at the Tayside club where integrity was the guiding force. Stephen told of being persuaded by his club's supporters to condemn Rangers to the fourth tier. Apparently they refused to purchase season tickets unless Dundee United voted us out. Stephen sided with sporting integrity. Stephen reminded us he served for five years on the SPL management Committee. Stephen wanted to ensure adherence to sporting integrity. Stephen reminded us he refused to enter the Ibrox Board room at the 2014 Scottish Cup semi-final, preferring to sit with his fellow fans because he felt threatened. Stephen maintained his integrity. Stephen told of a continuing threats and a wariness of west coast accents. He illustrated this by a recent visit to northern England where he was accosted and relieved when his questioner revealed he was a Yahoo, the meeting culminated with fist pumps. The entire bar applauded the displayed integrity. Stephen told of charging Rangers supporters again for a postponed game but not levelling the charge to his own supporters. Their is a real cost to sporting integrity and Rangers fans must pay it. Oh, and Stephen revealed he declared himself bankrupt recently. Now, is Stephen Thompson still Stephen Thompson? He wants to get back into the game and noted Rangers are looking for a Chief Executive. Is he a separate entity? Can Sevco employ SteveCo? Do we need to host a series of Sell Out Saturday events to raise the funds to provide protection to SteveCo? Is there any integrity to be found in these supposed episodes or is it just another PQ Gang Hut sponsored sniggerfest? Of course, PQ omitted the full integrity presentation because the facts are inconvenient to the pushed narrative : Stephen was launched from the family home by his then wife because of constant extramarital affairs. Stephen was hauled into court by one former mistress because he refused to pay maintenance for their child. Stephen was blackmailed by a teenage girl whom he met on a Sugar Daddy website. Stephen employed Jum Spence as his personal PRO. I suggest Stephen forms a double act with another Rangers hating bankrupt, Chris Sutton will bring some integrity to SteveCo and help secure the position of succeeding hosts to RAB Cosgrove and Tam Cowan.

My father once said he’d have strapped Stanners to the front of a 25 pounder .

Nothing remotely funny about those two players whatsoever. Even years down the line, I doubt I'll be able to look back and laugh about their time here.

We might well be - but the facts are they scored goals in 1-0 wins, so if they hadn't we'd be worse off. Dessers has scored 10 goals in 20 games in a team who don't create chances. He is on course to score 20 goals in back-to-back seasons. So we have our 20 goal a season striker we were all crying out for.

Currently that's correct but we've had Igamane, Ridvan, Propper, Danilo, Sterling Diomande (IIRC) all unavailable this season. It's a continuing trend. There has been a large turnover but we are still relying on "the old guard" far to heavily. That means either Clement doesn't rate his signing, they were the wrong signings, they are injured, they are not ready or a combination of all off the above. However, the discussion on player turnover, starting 11s etc can't mask how poor we are at (attempting) to play football. That's down to coaching.

I heard it said PC wanted 3 players in the summer & got none of them. Joan Jordan was one but not sure who other 2 were. think another might have been the CB who went to Norwich

I have exaggerated my position wildly, but in my defence, I prefer xG to Goals only in the sense that's it's more reflective of performance over a season. A team can play extremely well and not score, a team can be camped in their own box for 89 minutes and win with a single flukey, deflected goal. That does happen. XG describes this.

Covid.

I’d like to see a breakdown of that £61m wage bill

The regression since the Motherwell defeat has been insane.

A brilliant piece of analysis/stats from a poster on FF which shows how far we've regressed under PC (from MB) - link below and we'll worth a read. MB points per game - 2.37 PC points per game - 2.24 However, since the home defeat to Motherwell in March, PC's PPG is 1.76. This would mean a total of just 76 points over a 38 game season. https://www.followfollow.com/forum/threads/clement-vs-beale.285905/

When two stubborn posters clash...

Certainly, we have had to endure more than our fair share of Hairy Patter merchants.

You're right. It shouldn't be that difficult to get it right off the pitch. We're not a difficult business model to understand. Much of our income is known to an extent at the start of the season and likewise the costs. We need someone who is mentally strong, and perhaps not from the West of Scotland. It really shouldn't be difficult to get a capable chairman and CEO. They are out there.

Do we know that these are players that he's signed or are they just players that signed since he took up his position?. I'm sure not many managers actually identify and sign players now. If that's the case here, then none of them are his.

I don't disagree that we have been generally poor this season, but it isn't a surprise. We were highly likely to struggle this season. What has been a surprise is Aberdeen, but we'll see what the table looks like after 2 rounds of games (22). Despite this, we are in a cup final and are doing ok in Europe. We aren't going to finish better than 2nd in the league. With the injuries to the wingers and the lack of cover at centre forward, we were never going to break high scoring records. For me, it is upstairs that deserves the pressure. Gilligan hasn't supported the manager as he said he would.

Can't disagree with most of that, but we are now in a situation where fans decided to boo when the manager made the correct decision (to replace Barron). Barron was struggling and when replaced, we regained a little composure and control of the game.

Makes sense. Better to have a lawyer taking on the company secretarial function where possible, particulalrly when there's a plc involved.

The only England manager to have a 100%record