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Scramble! Bandit approaching. Shoot it down.

As long as its not Rousseau Martin i'll be happy.

I'm always a little wary of some of the opinions passed off as facts on some podcasts. Much of it feels like it was briefed and you have to ask whose agenda that fulfils. Everton are shopping in very different market to Rangers. The much quoted £20 million would just about cover the fee Everton paid for Ndiaye, they paid a similar amount for an Irish right back who I've literally never heard of. Let's see what they know about the players Rangers can afford to sign. Koppen at least understood the market Rangers need to operate in. I felt Koppen was an easy scapegoat for a lot of last season. He was told to reduce the wage bill by a significant amount. He did that without making the side significantly worse than it was the season before. It wasn't better but I'm not sure that was ever realistic. The club had so much going on behind the scenes in the last 12 months that you wonder how any of them were able to work successfully. Perhaps a period of stability is upon us and the new team will benefit from that. I hope so.

Off course there is, but there is also a lot worse than Dessers out there. Point being, be careful what you wish for......

It’s a fair question. MK Dons Pass marks for steering them from relegation the first season and lifting them to 13th the next season. They finished 3rd after he left. Hard to judge without knowing more about it. Certainly looks a decent achievement, without being outstanding. Swansea Finished 6th and 4th the seasons before Martin, conceding 53 and 39. Martin took them from 4th and 39 GA to 15th and 68 GA (74% increase in goals conceded). Second season 10th and 64 GA. 5 points better than first season. After he left, Swansea finished 14th but only conceded a more normal 57. I’d say not really a success. Major red flags there for me too, specifically for Rangers. Southampton Newly relegated after a long time in the EPL, so definitely expected to bounce back up. Finished 4th conceding a lot more than teams around them again, 63, showing it wasn’t a Swansea problem. Gained promotion via the playoffs so of course he has to get credit for getting it over the line. And it suggests he certainly has something about him as a manager. But for me, more red flags, and I think Southampton expected top 2 having the second highest wage budget and it went down to the playoffs, which is a bit like penalties in terms of uncertainty. EPL season, won’t judge him too much other than to say he certainly didn’t surprise anyone did he? Almost record breakingly bad whilst being 17th in terms of wage budget. Is it a bad record? No. Just some red flags in my opinion, especially in terms of whether he is a good match for Rangers.

compo's a maverick. One minute he's banging on about the Iron Curtain defence or Jim Baxter, the next minute he's saying we should change our home strip or to dismiss our history. Great men know the past, present day and future should all be considered, all the time. That's the same for a football club.

I don't understand the emotional stuff between fans and players. I don't care what's fair when it comes to handsomely paid footballers. As much as I can't stand him, Alex Ferguson had the right idea about squad changes. If your time's up, it's time to go - no fanfare, just go.

I am dreading Martin getting the job. I can understand to some extent he appears to be less of a risk but I can't bear the thought of another Clement, playing the ball about at the back, wedded to a philosphy and stubbornly refusing to change it. I would prefer to take the risk with Ancelotti.

I think he's here until he retires. I don't have a problem with that.

It's much more important that we sell Danilo for half decent cash.

Translation: we've got our manager and you'll know in a few days.

Fans have already made up their mind, which is fair enough. I just wish they could articulate their reasons, rather than going on vibes.

I noticed that as well. A total waste of money, and it will be a considerable amount of money at that. A week's accommodation for probably around 50 people plus the training stuff, laundry etc all of which we have sufficient and very similar standards at home. I could understand if they wanted warm weather training and stick on a friendly at the end to pay for it, but this just seems ridiculous.

How come getting Southampton promoted to the EPL but failing to keep them there is seen as failure for Russell Martin but getting Leeds relegated then promoted to the EPL is seen as success for our new owners?

Get rasellik fucked in Europe?

How very Rangers Compo, talking about sacking the manager before we even know who it is! 😆

I’ve got a mate who supports Southampton and messaged me the other night saying pretty much the same thing, that Russell Martin was never a particularly popular manager, even before they got promoted. He confirmed the whole "if plan A doesn’t work, do plan A better" mentality and also said Martin had a habit of blaming everyone except himself when things went sideways Couple of direct quotes from him: “He is so horribly smug.” “Even in the Championship we got hammered by anyone decent. Got promoted with something like the 7th worst defence in the league.” “He’s never improved a team or finished above expectations.” Unforunately, he made no comment on this.....

Another reason to despise the fellow.

If the new owners employ Ancelotti any excitement and positivity from Friday instantly disappears. Gerrard Mk11 is not what we need.

I haven’t kept up to date with English football at all I have to confess, but I thought Everton were not known for shrewdness in the transfer market. Would like to see a report card on his signings. I’m holding out hope we get a helping hand from Red Bull like Leeds have had.

McCoist would have scored more simply due to two facts ; - he is a better all-round player than Dessers. - he was playing in a far superior team than Dessers. McCoist struggled in his early Rangers career as he was playing in a very poor team. The fans didn't rate him but thankfully Ally rammed the GTF chants back down the fans throats. McCosit flourished with better players around him and admitted the partnership with Hateley was the making of him. McCoist wouldn't win the Golden Boot playing in this Rangers team. Dessers may not have won the Golden Boot playing in the Rangers teams McCoist played in, but he'd have a far better chance than he does now.

I do love the TIFOS. There is a much more conciliatory tone in that statement.

It would be a nice transition if Tav was to hand down to Raskin in a way that benefited all parties, when we needed Tav throughout the seasons he produced the goods, its only fair we give him a propper send off!

It's too difficult to know if he should be captain without knowing what the dressing room is like. No reason why we can't discuss this for about forty pages.

I think next season will be his last as he’s OOC at the end of next season. He might still be captain next season but I expect a RB to brought in who’ll play a significant number of games.

So let's settle for a bang average Dessers because any striker we sign might be worse.

I smell another vote....

His record elsewhere is unimpressive, his style of football is old hat (and boring to watch) and he refuses to change it, no matter how badly it's going.

Point being, there's far better out there than Dessers. The problem is having a good scouting network that can find the gems.

I heard we're training at St George's to wind up Scottish nationalists. So it's worth every penny, as far as I'm concerned.

I might be wrong, but weren't our new owners minority shareholders when Leeds were relegated?

To be fair to @compo it’s usually me banging on about the Iron Curtain and while acknowledging the sublime skills and arts of Gascoigne and Laudrup, the greatest sight for me at Ibrox was the slide rule accuracy of McMillan’s passes unleashing the devastation that was Alex Scott. But these days are gone and in the past, etc etc. Achievements and tradition mean nothing to young Africans or Europeans nor indeed to young Scottish players unless they are boyhood fans of the club. A manager’s prime skill is to mould a team to play effective football. If he can get them to do it with a bit of style, so much the better. If he can do it with average players, he’s possessed of genius.

I think he's a DoF in USA somewhere.

Just think about the number of heart attacks among older supporters likely to result..... That is bad enough, but how many charges of corporate culpable homicide, before the Yanks call it a day?

I understand that Thelwell was brought in when Everton were under severe PSR restrictions and he helped navigate them through it. I believe the overspending that resulted in the points deduction was pre-Thelwell.

Generally not over Moshiri's (sp?) spell, but over the last few years their fans have been quite happy with the signings made under Thelwell's stewardship, in very difficult financial circumstances.

They do. The media having no clue is a bonus, watching them make guess after guess.

I like Diomande. I feel at times this year he has had too much to do and the pressure shows. I think he would do an awful lot more with better players around him. Given he has a long contract I wouldn't sell him unless for a lot of money.

Agree but how many more would have Coisty scored using the same arguement.

I'm kind of flabbergasted by that! Especially from someone who constantly reminds us that the players from our history were infinitely superior to the current incumbents. Perhaps you are suggesting some sort of reverse psychology? Are we starting afresh on day one by clearing out the trophy room and donating the contents to the Govan Scrap Metal Franchise?

Thanks for his unsucceful 50 goals then.

Finished that for you.

Ah, yeah I see that now looking at other stuff. FWIW, Thelwell as Sporting Director needs to be given the chance to implement his own footprint on the job he's been given to do. And again, just my opinion - I don't think Koppen was worth keeping, he effectively in his previous job with PSV was a scout that worked under an SD. Didn't merit being a head of recruitment/technical director in his own right, especially after such an abysmal season, the points gap to that lot isn't even worth discussing again. Nice fresh clean start.

(You're welcome.)