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“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” (George Santayana) Allow me to summarise briefly. The Panel of Takeovers and Mergers ruled that the current custodians of our club did not act properly in their acquisition of same, determining they had acted as a concert party and consequently, having control of 30% of the business were thus compelled to make an offer to investors for the remaining shares. This was denied by Dave King who took the decision to the Court of Session where his legal argument was rejected by Lord Bannatyne. The Advocate for the takeover Panel highlighted during the hearing an e-mail from George Letham to Dave King which cautioned King about the consequences of exceeding the 30% benchmark. These warnings clearly went unheeded. Subsequently King was ordered to make an £11 million offer to the Club’s remaining shareholders despite the fact King’s lawyer argued that his client could not afford to make such an offer. If alarm bells are not sounding amongst our support – they certainly should be. When Laura Fawkes, a Director of Club 1872, challenged Dave King at the 2017 AGM with regard to the recruitment of a replacement manager, the timescales as well as apparent failure to put in place previous assurances given with regard to succession planning, Dave King responded as follows: “As far as the manager, I don’t accept the comment you’ve made. It’s difficult to put a time limit on it. The issue with Pedro was not one of succession planning, there’s maybe a perception that Pedro was doomed to failure. It wasn’t my view, I don’t think it was the board’s view, we continued to back Pedro. Ultimately results speak for themselves and having taken action we were extremely aware that this is going to be a 3 year appointment. We have got to be a careful we don’t let adverse results distract us from the process and I’m personally happy that we have taken the correct amount of time.” After 68 days we had still failed to appoint a new manager and eventually installed the youth coach Graham Murty, as temporary manager. That remains the status quo at the time of writing. Our club is one home defeat away from our worst ever series of home performances on record. In terms of assessment of our club’s progress, rebuilding and vision to reclaim the top spot in domestic football, it serves as more of an indictment than a positive indicator of continuous and steady improvement. I would hope by now the alarm bells are loud enough to suggest a major headache is imminent. Any honeymoon period which the current board deserved is now at an end. It is fine being beholden to them for rescuing us but they need to be judged by the job they are doing now and if that is deemed unsatisfactory or below standard then criticism should be forthcoming. Not silence.

Tactically Murty has got it right on a few occasions, but there's as many he's got wrong. How many home games have we watched when the other manager makes a tactical switch and seemingly outfoxes us? There are other better obtainable managers out there and we should be lining them up already.

Another weekend where we've let them off with dropping points. Have we managed a victory when they've lost or drawn this season? Depressing. And our next match is at Fir Park too.

King and some of the rest of the board have put on money to keep us going over the past few years, and therefore deserve our thanks and the ability to make the decisions. Where would we be without their cash? I hate to think. What alternatives are there to the current board in terms of finance? None that I can see, and none that anyone else has offered. However D'art is correct. The honeymoon period is over for the reasons he highlights. They deserve some criticism, even though they do have the best interests of the club at heart. That doesn't mean that I want them out as there's nobody else waiting in the wings.

That’s a joke of a red card.

Murty suffers from the handicap of having no on-field driver. No Shearer, Greig, Brown or Ian Ferguson. Doesn’t have to be the captain. More like a foreman who gets other guys to roll up their sleeves and fight ‘til the day is done.

I have a degree of sympathy for Murty as this situation was thrust upon him, however he's never looked comfortable in the Manager's seat and sadly he isn't up to the job of managing the first team and whether he could return to the U20's after such a long spell on first team duties remains to be seen. Clarke seen the substitution Murty was about to make and counteracted that with a double substitution that effectively killed the game. Clarke has proven you don't need to be a world beater to succeed in the SPFL merely competent and experienced. I'm not advocating Clarke for manager but he's done an excellent job with little resources and deserves the plaudits he's receiving. I'd feel happier if there had been meetings with Roberto Martinez rather than his assistant. Without doubt the next managerial will be the most important in our history we simply cannot afford another f*&k up and I doubt our business plan can either. Actually look forward more to away games at present than home as the players simply look scared and nervous when playing at Ibrox which they really should be making a fortress.

Yeah, it was hardly the biggest secret in the world. Every man and his dog knew they were acting together. King was just insulting everyone's intelligence when he claimed they weren't.

Bang on for me. I don't hold out any hope of winning it. With this team even if we somehow get passed the mhanks I can see us losing the Final. I think we will get 2nd because the sheep are as big a bunch of bottlers as us. Hibs worry me more to be honest

Windass reminds me of that kid who always got a game because he was related to the coach in some way but even though he could actually play a bit the minute someone went in hard on him complained that the person was just a hacker and went in a huff about it all.

Cold hard cash might prove to be a useful instrument in attracting and securing a proven manager. Remuneration and a realistic player transfer budget are essential in that respect. The question is 'are the board willing to countenance spending some?' I suspect I already know the answer to that but I'll open it to the floor...

I don't understand what you're saying here. Why should alarm bells be ringing? We gave a young manager the chance (after the 'preferred candidate' thankfully turned us down), and last week we were within touching distance of going within three points of Celtic. Had we won (which we clearly should have if the players had done their jobs properly), we would all have been delighted, so how can the events of the last week now suddenly be the fault of the board? What are you calling for? Banners at Ibrox demanding something? If so, what?

Without money we’re not going to get a good top experienced manager who we can be confident in. They will want to bring their own backroom staff in and will still need funds for better players. They will also need to understand the Scottish game. I can’t see an obvious choice. Our stated model is to bring in, develop and sell players and back them up with a core of experienced professionals hopefully with talent who understand the challenge of playing for Rangers. I think we have been badly hit through injuries to key players and if the likes of Jack, McRorie, Wallace and Dorrans get back we should be more consistent and results might have been better had they been around and the view on Murty might be more positive. You then then improve and add a few fresh faces from a blend of experienced pros and developing youngsters. This was always going to be a process over a few years at least and we unfortunately lost 3 years of our recovery through a second year in the championship, McCoist, Warburton and Pedro not always doing the right thing. If we believe Murty can do the above (and why couldn’t he?) we need to keep him. If it takes another year it’s tough but our progress has generally been greater under him than the others. We are complaining about tactical errors against Celtic which cost us the game last week. He has been tactically astute twice at porkheid. We could have won that game last week or at least drawn it. A year or so ago we were watching OF games through our fingers with a sense of dread. In fact that was the case earlier this season. Celtic are favourites for the semi but it’s not a firegone conclusion. I don’t think you need to be a tactical genius in the SPFL and he can learn from mistakes he has made. What we need by and large is better players and the point about leadership on the park is a good one. In any case case we need to see where we finish in the league and we need to get behind Murty for this cup match. If he wins that all this negativity will diminish and if we also finish ahead of Aberdeen it would be a brave decision to remove him.

An electric fence 240 volts and give them a wee jolt when they get uppity .

Murty's FIFTH home league defeat in just 11 games proves he is tactically inept, cannot change games, cannot find a formation to break down defensive formations, and dont get any bear started on his subs! Most bears I was talking to this week were worried about this game as it is exactly the type of game we seem to lose almost every time. After feeling sorry for ourselves for blowing a great opportunity to beat our rivals, myself among many others were worried that Jimmy Nicholl and the youth coach would struggle to get these guys up for it as they seem a very mentally fragile bunch. We now fall to just 2 points ahead of Dolly who have a game in hand, so effectively third place again. At least it gives the board no excuse to promote a youth coach to manager just to save a few bucks. If Murty beats the scum in the SF 5-0, then beats Dolly 5-0 in the final, it changes nothing. We have to bring in a proper manager who can achieve consistency, has tactical awareness and a variety of tactics and formations he can utilise, knows how to change games and use subs. If you want to know what that looks like, he was sitting in the away dugout with his feet up and a big cigar watching his bargain basement side achieve an easy win at Ibrox yesterday.

Basically is was a straight swap Cummings starting for Morelos, Cummings is not suited as the lone striker role. Like you point out it's a balancing act, but it's a balancing act with both starting that's needed, Morelos is better suited as the workhorse, Cumming the more natural goal scorer. Murty has to come up with a balanced system that includes these two players, working as a partnership.

If any UBs read this, the Killie fans were singing the same crap as you today. That's how generic and boring it is. STICK TO RANGERS SONGS. We have a great repertoire, why copy foreign crap?

The board are faced with their biggest and most important decision in approx. 8 games time , one IMHO they simply cannot get wrong , and that's appointing a new and experienced manager . Firstly , I like GM , I think hes a thoroughly decent guy and a great youths coach , I've seen at first hand at Auchenowie how he is with the youths , however he is not ready for this job , I said when he was appointed that he had been thrown under the bus by the board and I still believe it , today was symptomatic of the types of results we have had this year, where we simply are not set up to break teams down that sit in. Though the rebuilding that was started under GM and MA has born some fruit , the midfelders especially are too young and inexperienced to shoulder the responsibility of playing week in week out , against celtic we had 3 ,21 year olds, one of which was playing only his 12th or 13th senior game . There have been rumours of meetings with Roberto Matinez's No2 , whether that's fantasy or not who knows , but we need an experienced manager to take us on to the next phase of our journey . I only hope the board and MA are up to the task . One last thought or rather point , this seasons debacle at home is our worst set of results at Ibrox since 1914 .

I think losing twice at home in the space of a week has done Murty no favours. He failed to take advantage of Celtc going down to 10 men & his team selection yesterday with Cummins up front on his own was madness. Whatever the board decide to do they must make up their minds pretty quick as we could be playing an ELQ in just over 3 months time. If there is to be a new manager he needs to be in place long before then.

Wasn’t Walter assistant to McLean at Dundee United?

My only wish is that a bomb/flare or otherwise goes off in the pocket or otherwise of the person who is carrying it so that he/she is the person who is injured.Then it might serve as a warning to others.

If's and but's this season has many "swings & roundabouts" to come the only certainty,unfortunately,is the mhanks are going to be champions(boak) but other than that noting else is settled. Still have hopes re cup and second place,but there again my cup is always half full

I don't hold out any hope about winning the cup and we'll be 3rd if Aberdeen win their game in hand. This last week has been a real kick in the guts for us all.

To your first point, no. It doesn't alarm me at all. It appears that he's taken action that he saw fit. It's a private matter for him. To your second point, again no it doesn't concern me at all. King's point was latterly that he doesn't have the funds as it's all within his trust. That's perfectly normal and I don't understand why there's any scaremongering about that. He has to resolve that and is once again a private matter. The board does warrant criticism for appointments, etc, but as I said it would not have been an issue at all had we won last Sunday. The team out there should have won, as I'm sure you'll agree. Had that happened, we would have been joyous with a feeling of great optimism. It just seems that there are people like you with ready to roll headlines anytime something negative happens. What would you have done with your post had we won against them? Would you have merely put in on ice until the inevitable next difficult period arose? I appreciate people reviewing the actions of the board and keeping them honest, but it just seems there are some very unreasonable and hysterical reactions sometimes and I'm suspicious of the motives.

So you are thinking along similar lines to me Gonzo79. The close season will undoubtedly crystallise many fans opinions of this board. The ready made excuse of being hamstrung by not having access to the revenue stream of replica strips and merchandising in general will be nigh on impossible to be cited again by King et al. Are the power-brokers truly serious about halting Celtic's dominance in the short term? I remain to be convinced. In my opinion, D'Artagnan makes several valid points re King and the board.

I think when Carragher is driving down the road he shouldn't have to deal with some twat shouting at him and filming him. Who the fuck drives down a road with their young daughter filming people on their phone? Spitting is disgusting but Carragher is a decent pundit and the father's actions are more reprehensible to me than Carragher's. I don't think spitting is something I would ever be capable of doing, but we've all had a rush of blood to the head, particularly dealing with insidious morons.

Does it not alarm you that the current chairman of our club embarked on a course of action which a regulatory body and the court of session deemed improper, despite the clear warning from George Letham ? Similarly are you not concerned that the man who has pledged to underwrite future losses at our club appears to be in default with an order from the Takeover Panel, reinforced by a court of session ruling, with no sign of resolution ? After 68 days of failing to appoint a manager, embarrassing ourselves with an undignified statement regarding the sole target they had identified, we appointed the youth coach as interim manager as replacement for the disasterous appointment they had previously appointed - and yet the board feel they are immune to any sort of criticism despite assuring fans they would ensure there was succession planning after Warburton ?

You will never get continuity if we keep changing manager and it will be a drain on money as any new manager would want to bring in his own players then they will need time to bed in , then after two defeats the fans will be wanting another man at the helm meanwhile the papes will be heading for their own version of the 12th and I will be six feet under .

Or a wee sniffer of some good Russian nerve gas that will tober them up .

Who ?

Our home record is poor, however, I was dismayed to hear jeering and anxiety after 15 minutes yesterday; that can't help. 15 minutes!?

Mulumu played well, but the only reason he looks so good is because of the compact team around him; put him in the Rangers or Celtic sides and he'd look lost. Holt would look like the white Mulumbu if we played that way; but we can't play that way or we'd never win a game.

Not yet it’s never nice to me so I never listen to it.....

At which point in time has the seat of the Rangers manager not been a massive one? It has become somewhat vogue to point at Murty's pedigree ... and more than was/is necessary. He's not much younger (a year or the like) than Sir Walter was when he stepped out of Souness' shadow ... and has had to work in a significantly more challenging environment. I see people talking up Clarke or the likes of Wright ... only to - probably- miss the point that most of them have teams with little more ambition than to thwart the "bigger" teams playing football and stealing points by excelling at "brick-wall-soak-it-up-and-hit-them-on-the-counter" football. And if you have some decent footballers and drill them well, it is probably the easiest game possible. Up until they have to come from behind and chase the game themselves. Hence, these teams usually get no-where at a higher stage. It usually is pretty pointless to analyze each game on its own and thus whip up evaluations of each and everyone on a weekly basis. So I usually take in the last few games and give my opinion of how this or that game should be approached. Not so long ago people hared after Warburton because of his "Plan A and make it better statements". What we have seen with Murty now is that he plays exactly one system with more or less enforced changes, rather than switching tactics and personell according to the game at hand. Not very dissimilar to MW. As long as it works, people will say: never change a running system. People will remember that - for all his goals - I have been questioning Windass cast-into-stone starting slot. He sure offers a certain danger if given space and time ... but honestly, in any other team, he would probably be the joker player to hit teams on the counter, rather than occupying the main attacking creative slot. We do not have that many creative alternatives in the middle there (maybe Miller or Murphy, as long as Dorrans is out injured), so if he doesn't perform, why not send out a 4-4-2 with Cummings and Morelos, for a change? Neither of these two is really comfortable as lone strikers. But we have them out there against packed defences or the like each and every week. How easy to prepare against is that? Double him and the wingers up, pack the midfield lump balls up the park to your pacy attackers looking for scraps. It is exactly what Alan McLaren told us the whole afternoon on RTV and it is exactly what Killie, St. Johnstone et al are doing. Solutions? Easier said than done. We simply lack the quality in that creative role. Kranjcar should be one you could trust with any ball, but he's been out on a different planet for a year or so. I hope we get McCrorie back soon, as he's a tough ball-winner in midfield and also knows to spray a pass. What I would do instantly is chuck Windass to the bench, have Cummings and Morelos up front and possibly go 3-5-2 every now and then. Win the midfield. Another alternative could be Murphy as shadow striker, once Wallace is fit. John has become a real threat on the left while Murphy can and has played across the front line. He would sure offer some constant creative threat in the role behind the striker too. ... and I do reckon that Allen is working his socks off as we speak.

I want a talented coach over experience, to be honest. But, of course, they have to have some sort of track record of improving teams. I want a German (They've promoted young managers with talent, Klopp, Tuchel, Nagelsmann, Tadesco (Schalke) etc. all without any real experience; I think that's the way to go). Tuchel's still available, but he's out of our reach. And Nagelsmann (Hoffenheim) is available in the summer, but again, he's out of our reach. It's a really difficult decision. I don't really know what level we're browsing in. Is it Tuchel, or McInnes? Or is it somewhere in between?

It is a big decision. The role was thrust upon Murty, but we all knew he wasn't ready. I'm not going to criticise a man who didn't want the job and is not ready for it; he had only just started as a youth coach. He's still done well: he's got us to a stage where we can compete with most sides -- outwith the situation rbr outlined above, the ability to break extremely compact sides down; it's not easy. The semi will be different because Celtic will not be sitting-deep; that's not Rodgers' style. This result only dents our chances of gaining second -- which is still the target. I don't -- and never did -- want him as permanent manager, but I'll thank him for the work done.

GM may not be ready, I'll concede that. However, what group of players chucks it in the second half against Celtic and after 15 mins. today. The almost same team was winning against all sorts just three weeks ago. We've watched this through five or six coaches now, when are the players going to take responsibilty? Do they really need to be led by the hand through each stage of a game?

hes still a very young man , managerial wise , so a tad harsh

Hes not ready yet. I think he will be a good manager but hes not ready yet.

I'll be honest - they annoy me. I'm fed up hearing they create all the atmosphere. Their atmosphere annoys me. Stupid boring chants and songs and daft behaviour. If you want a real atmosphere give us The Sash and other old favourites. The boys are doing what they can and I wish them no ill will btw.

Maybe they've been to Starbucks with the SLO and a Director and we'll hear about it in a few weeks once the Director has gone through the statement line by line.

Cummings is a finisher but doesn't do much else. Morelos causes the opposition a lot of problems but misses sitters. It's a balancing act. I don't blame Murty for starting Cummings but it didn't really work.

He says he wants to be top scorer report card says show up in games.

Took a big chance dropping morelos and it back fired.