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It was a proud day today.Renewing the ST’s for myself & my son at the ticket office. I always feel a sense of pride in doing our bit for our beloved Rangers. I first started going to Ibrox in the mid-70’s when my grandfather started taking me to Rangers games. Today I’m sure he watched us from above with pride as myself and my son(his great grandson) followed in his footsteps supporting our great club.

Was struggling a little bit financially but with help from my son have renewed and look forward to another season of company at the games with my best pal for his help.

Ask Keith Jackson and his team of investigative journalists, mudslingers and liers?

I'd use him. Even if it's as a bit-part player to come on when we need goals. It would go some way towards paying off his price tag. He has certain qualities.

All the best mate i envy you. As I said in the Podcast last week we all make decisions in life and mine took me far away from Ibrox. Being on this forum, doing the podcast, having occasional trips to Ibrox and days like Luxembourg and today make me feel like a small part of the family.

They are saying on another forum they were at 33k Season Tickets renewed this morning. hoping to reach the 38k figure by close of business today. Monday is the last day for renewal then it's the waiting list then open for general sale. We're up on ticket sales compared to this time last season. Hopefully by this time next weekend we would have reached a full sell out on Season Ticket sales. The club should then release the seats that they hold back for punters being moved from the Family Stand to accommodate the Mhanky Mob. then reduce their numbers and remove them to the away section where every other away fans go.

He's been on it for a good few months now and simply says what the f*** he wants to wind up X and Y, including thaving the audacity to go after 'The Messiah'. I thought the latest was quite funny.......... Levein is adamant his club did nothing wrong in deciding against cutting the grass ahead of the champions’ visit. But he has been left seething by Rodgers claiming the development of players could be hampered pitches like Hearts’ as he stated: "Scotland haven't qualified (for a major finals) for 20-odd years and we're trying to develop players and a product here to move the game on.” Former Scotland manager Levein hit back: “I never knew it was as simple as that. So if we cut all the grass short, then we’ll go to the finals? Brilliant. Why did nobody think of that? That’s just unbelievable.”

When Rangers director Alistair Johnston spoke of being 'ahead of the curve' after our Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic, many fans were rightly confused. Surely a 4-0 capitulation against our biggest rivals wasn't a sign of 'making progress' as Johnston suggested? More so when we considered our ongoing battle for anything down to fourth place in the Premiership table. Johnstone did quality his comments somewhat by referring to tougher recent years and his point about 'not being swayed by the emotions of one game' may not have gone down well but he was correct about that to an extent. A decent win and performance against Hearts the following week did prove that. Unfortunately, a further humiliation at Parkhead quickly brought attention back onto the board, as well as Graeme Murty and his players with supporters again angered by this team's cowardice at the home of our greatest rivals. Murty, rightly or wrongly, was quickly made the scapegoat. With that in mind the announcement of Steven Gerrard as new manager bought Johnston and the rest of the Rangers board some much needed goodwill (and time). Gerrard's impressive playing CV and an excellent press conference (even Dave King spoke well) meant the negativity of the previous couple of weeks was forgotten about with fans instead looking forward to next season as the thought of a Gerrard-led Rangers brought back a renewed confidence about the future. That outlook has been undoubtedly helped by subsequent interim results on the pitch. Whilst our performances against Kilmarnock and Aberdeen were again disjointed and lacked quality, a first win of the season over Killie (whom Celtic couldn't beat this campaign) and a decent comeback at Pittodrie means we have second place in our own hands to grab this weekend. Hearts also beating this Sunday's opponents means Hibs can only top us via a six goal win which - our poor form aside - still seems very unlikely though we can certainly expect an attacking barrage at Easter Road. Fortunately, the three games this season have all been very tight so as much as we can't be overly confident, Hibs' return of two wins from three of those games arguably isn't a fair reflection of the matches. In the first game last August, John Beaton may as well have had a Hibs top on as he sent off Ryan Jack for nothing after 35mins at 1-1, whilst James Tavernier was the guilty party as we threw away a fine comeback in the second Ibrox match in February. Ironically, in what was one of our worst away performances of the season, we were perhaps fortunate to take all three points at Easter Road in December. All in all, predicting the outcome of Sunday's game isn't an easy task. From a Rangers point of view, after a dreadful first half reaction to a dreadful penalty decision awarded by the always dreadful Steven McLean in Tuesday's match against Aberdeen, it was slightly heartening to see us dominate the second 45mins and go onto grab a deserved equaliser. As such, one would hope the players would take some much needed confidence from that ahead of this week. Unfortunately, two crucial players from that game are both suspended with Alfredo Morelos and Ross McCrorie missing out. Whether or not this will mean a change in system - as well as personnel with Graham Dorrans also injured - remains to be seen but it's unlikely with the usual 4-2-3-1 preferred. As such, other than replacing the three unavailable players, it's doubtful there will be further changes. In defence, Jimmy Nicholl and Jonatan Johansson will have been encouraged by our clean sheet against Killie and only a dubious penalty conceded from at Pittodrie. As much as Rangers fans have rightly been concerned with the performances of Russell Martin since David Bates was injured in March, the return of Bates has coincided with an improvement at the back. Jak Alnwick has also done well in goal with Foderingham injured. James Tavernier and Andy Halliday have been less convincing of late at full-back but should see out the season there on Sunday. Martin Boyle may well miss the game but Brandon Barker will be a threat from wide areas in were key battles in previous matches. Moving into midfield and this is where Rangers have really struggled to find any sort of balance of late. Often outnumbered and certainly outgunned, only Ross McCrorie has really shone since he was moved back into the engine room after injury. With him missing and Dorrans also injured again, the management team's decision on who plays here this week will be the key to obtaining a positive result. And we do have several options... Greg Docherty is likely to be the direct replacement for the mobility of McCrorie with Sean Goss expected to provide the creative guile. Jason Holt's energy and work-rate may not always result in the attacking qualities we need but it would be a surprise to see Jordan Rossiter start after such a long lay-off - especially as the pace of the game is expected to be extremely lively. Ironically, none of the three expected first choice players being overly comfortable in a more forward role may help us gain an element of control in deeper areas in games we've needed it previously. The fitness of Josh Windass might also prove important in terms of our tactical choices against a Hibs midfield who usually impress. In attack, once again Daniel Candeias and Jamie Murphy will most likely start in the wide areas - though Murphy's improved second half display against Aberdeen in more of a central, free role was noted by this observer. Glenn Middleton has being doing very well for the development squad on the left wing but it would be a huge surprise to see him make the team on Sunday. Up front, Jason Cummings is the obvious stand-in for Morelos and the former Hibs striker will be keen to do well up against his former clubs. The Rangers bench will be interesting with guys like Herrera, O'Halloran and Dodoo perhaps brought in from the cold for the last time in their respective Rangers careers. In actual fact, they may not be the only players experiencing their last Rangers game this weekend. David Bates is off to Hamburg, whilst Martin and Goss will return to their parent clubs along with Cummings and Murphy (who may be the only ones asked to sign permanently over the summer). Hitherto fringe players like Halliday and Holt may also move on. Meanwhile, saleable assets such as Windass and Tavernier have been linked with moves away in recent days so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that Candeias and Docherty are the only members of my proposed first XI below that are involved next season. Indeed, that stark observation is perhaps the easiest way to sum up what has been a disappointing season for the club. Yes, Alistair Johnston is right to ask us to be objective in our analysis but not enough real progress has been evident on the park and this has been compounded by our choices in the dugout. In that respect, the appointment of Steven Gerrard is something to look forward to and it seems obvious player turnover will be very high if we're to genuinely improve over the summer. As I end our final match preview of the season, Sunday's result is important for various reasons but even if we do finish second in the league, as long as we remain so far behind Celtic and our football operation lacks proper management then unfortunately, we remain behind the curve. A win over Hibs would be a great way to secure European football and help us improve our fortunes. Season ticket renewals have again shown our wonderful fans to be up for it. Let's hope the players are too.

That was my understanding too. Some mhedia doom-mongering supposedly caused Brighton to make it a loan first for fear they won't see any money.

I think that deal was done in December. i get the feeling we couldn't back down and the loan was really a loan until we could pay.

Hes been the best of the january signings by a country mile

As someone who has been over to Hamburg twice and really enjoyed it and having a soft spot for HSV, it's a disappointing day. But as you say, Rousseau, it might be better in the long term if they sort themselves out in the 2nd division. I think 'the clock' was becoming a bit of an albatross for the club.

The Blue Brazil have turned on the after burners and are now 3-2 in front, 15 minutes to go. County or Thistle, toss a coin. I think Livingston will fancy their chances against either.

If the guy has addiction issues the club should be, and have to support him. As for the press and Jackson, if he is hounding or harassing him due to these issues then Jackson should be diciplined by the authorities, and police should be involved. imagine if it was a sceptic player with issues? Would the coverage be the same?

Just renewed online today. I purposefully didnt renew until a new manager was announced, and even though I am deeply disappointed at hiring another massive gamble when an experienced manager was what we require, I will be back again, home away and abroad follow following in hope more than expectation. I still am completely bamboozled and astonished that we managed to shift so many season tickets last summer when we all knew the Pedro old pals act appointment was doomed to failure. How that happened will remain a mystery forever more! The fans, especially the younger ones, seem to be buying into the big name (as a player) appointment, and along with the numbers released so far, things are looking really positive as far as the fans stepping up, yet again, and stumping up a massive amount of cash in advance, are concerned. For me, I really just want a victory tomorrow and a draw at the piggery, then we can put this most horrible of seasons behind us for good with at the very least the comfort of knowing we got over the line in second despite having no proper manager all season, only finishing 11 points behind Brenda's immortals (just dont ask them about Europe!), so from that point of view surely the only way is up for next season.

If there is no bad news about Rangers, we can always rely on the Scottish press to make one up.

No shouting at Jum Spence! Police Scotland are on stand-bye for another complaint. How is the last one progressing?

And then we throw fireworks on them instead of them on us. That is a joke as our supporters are not that low.

An EPL side would pick them up for £12m.

Can we not have Sandy Jardine and Danny McGrain types who were solid in defence and good in attack

Jum Spence

Karma.

Enjoyed that today. The tournament was well run although i did get annoyed that in the short time between games they did interviews with coaches and then when the two new teams entered the field they played blaring music until after the teams lined up and shook hands with each other. Why not do away with the music and name the teams as they enter the field. That meant they were blaring out the names of the players for the first 5 minutes of the game. I met a group of Rangers supporters from Baillieston who were going on to Hamburg. Against Fulham the two teams were pretty equal with Rangers maybe just shading it and as I stated above Zak Rudden should have scored when he ran through on the keeper. Glen Middleton is a constant threat and lightening quick for such a short guy. He does need to learn to be less greedy imo though. I really had expected a lot of Serge Atakayi but was totally disappointed in him. he was even subbed against Red Bull. His work rate was low and the other players were also getting annoyed at his input. Against Red Bull apart from the 2 really good chances i mentioned with Middleton going through on the keeper and shooting wide and Zak Rudden heading over from about 6 yards we also missed a golden chance when we broke with 3 players against 1 Red Bull defender. The Red Bull defender did not have to do much as the Rangers players mucked it up themselves. Red Bull had thrown everything forward at that time as they needed to win. the goal for Red Bull was just poor defending with a through ball to a player who slipped it past McCrorie. I don't think McCrorie had one difficult save to make in the two games today. We really should have had full points. Other things, I saw a goal from one of the hardest free kicks I have ever seen. It was Peter Lorimeresque. It was from one of the German amateur teams. The guy hit the ball I am sure from 35mtrs+ and it screamed into the top right-hand postage stamp, hit the back stanchion bulleted back down and hit the back of the post and bounced back up to the roof of the net. What a goal. The Stuttgart striker also scored a cracker taking a cross on the full volley from the corner of the 16mtrs sending it screaming into the right hand postage stamp roof of the net. One negative. I still have not seen a Rangers team win this season. Could it be me?

My perspective is only different in that he puts out a team that can hold their own against Celtic and are capable of taking points from them and the other top 3 or 4 teams. Even if we improve drastically next season under SG, we do need other teams to challenge as well.

Excellent post mate

TLB has continually been an embarrassment to Scottish football, yet is loved by the Scottish gutter press! he is an out of control, aggressive, prick of a man!. The sooner he leaves Scottish football the better.

I think Hamilton Academical managed it though. 10th EDIT: I've had to go and check the results. Hamilton managed to get promoted by beating Hibernian and also beat Dundee United to remain in the Premier. I've always thought that it was designed to be very difficult for the lower league.

I think that is what most fans would do & have done, Rangers fans are second to none!

Was it not always Walter's philosophy to make your team hard to beat 1st & foremost. Solid at the back, with a quick transition to attack....however the solid at the back begins to crumble when 1/2 your defense is up in the final 3rd of the pitch.

As has been mentioned before, one of our biggest defensive issues has been our wing backs getting caught (on the break) too far up the pitch and were are then reliant on our CB's & possibly MF providing cover....or the WB sprinting back and throwing in a fairly rash challenge. Personally, I would like the FB's to be slightly less attacking, so that they aren't so far out of position if we get caught on the break. In order for that to happen, we would rely on the likes of Candeias or Murphy to link with Tav/John slightly further back, then the wingers can push forward more.

Another positive from the Gerrard factor is that it gives the youngest generation (who have become fans in recent years) a sense of actual high profile opposed to just hearing stories about past times.

You can't take goals conceded in isolation though. We've scored just as many goals as Celtic so by your rationale, we could easily be 1st. The team is heavily weighted towards attacking play and that means we gamble on scoring more than the opposition. Having said that, our defence is horrendous and requires some serious focus during the summer. As I've said on here many times though, we don't need a new defence, we just need a strong central partnership and some protection from the midfield (assuming we kept the same or similar system). If we had a strong and settled central partnership I am certain next season will be very different, even if we didn't add anyone else. I like us using wingbacks and Tav/John are pretty effective at it. I'd hope we'd continue to use them next season. Gerrard has tried various systems, including a flexible 3-4-3 (or 3-4-1-2) and if he thinks that's the best route for us it'll be interesting to see who he prefers in those wide roles. If he prefers the defensive duties to be the focus, he may well stick with Tav and John. If however he expects a more creative threat he may opt for Murphy and Candeias instead. The simple fact about our performance this season isn't that we've been poor at home and we have to consider why that is. There's nothing tactically that I can identify a specific problem that occurs at home, which is why I think it's more about how our players handle the pressure of playing in front of our own fans. That's what Gerrard has to fix. Whether we play fullbacks or wingbacks is secondary to him fixing our team's mentality. That's what I think is broken.

Of course Cathro's arrival was actually greeted by good press from journalists and cynicism from players and ex-players. The media bought into Cathro being some kind of new super-coach despite the lack of evidence to back that up. With Gerrard the media has been largely negative and dismissive however players and ex-players have been largely positive and open to him. Now that might be because players and ex-players stick together and didn't fancy someone with Cathro's background getting one of 'their' jobs, or it might be because they know and understand the workings of a team and dressing room better than journalists.

Thanks for the welcome; although I thought I was a member before but my email addy wasn't recognised. Obviously they did get on top of us after the penalty debacle but they created very little. I remember them hitting the bar with a long range shot (that JA should have saved). The first real chance of the game was Morelos' header and we looked the more likely to win it for most of the second half. We reacted poorly to going a goal behind but we didn't collapse.

Welcome and you are correct, collapse means no way back.