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Reference the thread : How can Rangers justify the Defoe deal? The clip lasts twenty minutes, it's taken from a podcast by Irish Independent radio entitled, 'Off the Ball'. The show is hosted by Joe Molloy and Kevin Kilbane is riding shotgun. They have a topic, 'the Rangers Revival' and invite BBC Scotland's Chief Sports Writer, Tom English to provide insight into Gerrard's management style at Rangers. Actually, what it does is provide insight into BBC Scotland's indolent treatment of both Rangers and Rangers supporters. Joe Molloy hosting exudes Irish charm and enjoys bonding through the medium of conspiracy. Tom is slaughtering Rangers finances and hints it's only going to get worse. Rangers are driven by the armageddon of ra Sellik achieving ten-in-a-row. It's a forecast that has Joe sneering and he is unable to indulge, "is somebody not going, is this not feeling a bit familiar everybody"? Tom travels from sheepish grin to open face guffaw. He recovers because he admires Gerrard, "I am a big fan of Steven Gerrard". Tom expands, Gerrard has been exceptional, has a big presence, and offers, "you have to have your wits about you when you are in the same room". Further, Tom concludes Gerrard's dealings with the media in Scotland has been exceptional. Certainly, Tom is giving an impression that he has crossed swords with the Rangers manager? Joe inquires as to Gerrard's style of management, "have you had the chance to sit down with him"? Tom's embarrassed smile appears, you know that one he reserves for discussing effigies hanging by the neck from the north stand at the Stade de Gadd? A hesitant Chief Sports Writer at PQ comes clean, "No, we have a particular local difficulty here Joe, BBC Scotland and Rangers don't see eye to eye". Joe continues, "is that right, is that a long term situation"? A hesitant Tom admits, "yeah, it goes back a number of years now. The less I say about it, the better". I suspect Joe is nonplussed that expert Tom is in the same darkness as himself but Tom opens a door to recovery, "it's impossible for me to speak to Rangers players so I speak to players who play against Rangers". He offers Hearts close season signing, Steven McLean as his star witness, "he tells me that Rangers are tougher, mentally and physically. They are stronger, better coached and organised". It's a Fred Quimby production, after 20 minutes of padded speculation, we are entitled to hear, "that's all folks". An insight into Rangers by talking to opposition players. At least, it's consistent all PQ discussion on Rangers is by opposition supporters for opposition supporters. All that is expected of Rangers supporters is that we continue to pay our license fees to enable Tom's considerable remuneration.

I've never been much of a podcast listener but wanted to increase my Rangers exposure post-OF game, and after listening to their free flagship pod (a review the game just played, similar to our own excellent Gersnet pod)), and after hearing friends rave about it, I decided to pay my £1.99/month to get the increased amount, and it's one of the best £1.99 I've paid. There's more pods than I have time to listen to and most are of excellent quality. Since the turn of the year there's been: Daily update - most week days. An update by Davie Edgar summarising what's happened in the past 24 hours, and his giving his presumably informed take on things. 2 separate excellent tributes to the Ibrox disaster. Half season review parts 1&2 Quiz The Eck era episode 12 Blue scarves on - pod by a couple of females= (fantastic name for a podcast) Top of the flops - Alan Gow (not disrespectful, which was a concern of mine) Interview with Graeme Murty out at the Mercedes Cup in Germany Time Capsule - fantastic review of Killie 1 Rangers 5 in 2011 Our Rangers players - Stuart Munro Tactics talk There's also other Rangers stuff that I haven't mentioned like Hoggy's Hamper and Patreon-ising, and other Gers stuff that I haven't mentioned. That's in addition to non-Rangers pods - Review of EPL Serie A (this may be normally on the £3.99 subscription) Eurpean Hangover - Aspects of European football ((I'm assuming this is non rangers) Grandpa Simpson I'd recommend it any Gers fan. Davie Edgar obviously runs it and is excellent to listen to in my opinion, and appears on some of the shows, but he's built up a team of other really good podders as well. You can subscribe through the Patreon app, and if you don't like it you can cease paying at any point. I'd highly recommend it.

There were some bright spots and it started and ended brilliantly with wins over Hearts and Celtic but generally we didn't play well enough and dropped too many points in games we should have won. 15 points from a possible 24 isn't good enough. Sure there were external factors but, all things considered, the win over Celtic added some much needed gloss to what was a disappointing December. We may not have been any worse in that month compared to others but consistency and getting over the line with wins was still an issue. We have to find a way of obtaining more points this year as we can't afford to rely on others doing the business for us.

Candeias for me is by far a better player.

Not Rangers related -- I'll move it if requested -- but it shows how important analytics are in modern football. Rangers are in a difficult position: we're a big club, without the financial muscle of the big clubs. The point of picking up players from smaller, unknown clubs based on certain qualities and attributes that your team needs is particularly important for us. We've needed a destroyer-type player, so we've gone for an unknown Coulibaly (although he's went off the boil) and now we've gone for Kamara, who's similar. It's intelligent player acquisition. Even an aerial threat up front; players like Eaves -- not sure what's happening with that? -- may look like poor players, playing at a very low level, but they may have the qualities and attributes we need to do a job.

I think I would prefer it if he went on loan to a team like Hull for the next few months.

I like the sound of Mohanad Ali Kadhim: young striker, who's scored a good amount. There are questions marks about the level, but he looks a good unit for 18. (Al-Shorta, his current club, look to be a top club in Iraq; they're currently 1st in their league.) Woodburn doesn't interest me. He's a wonderful talent, but he's not really played much, at any level. He may be a useful creative presence off the bench. I would recall Docherty.

It's incredible the depths our supposedly objective national broadcaster will plumb in order to keep cretins like her in work. Actually, 'disgusting' is probably a better word to describe it. She is ugly, inside and out.

To be fair to the lad, he did later apologise for swearing.

What a load of rubbish! Bin all the swots I say! If you want to unearth real gems you just need to hire a manager and get him to hire players he knew from the league he used to manage in before. Like Caixinha and Mexico, for example, or Warburton and ... er ... Would your silly spreadsheets have told us to sign Eduardo Herrera or Carlos Peña? I think not. Checkmate.

You have to wonder why it seems everyone except those in the club knew about Football Manager during the 2011-2015 years. They bemoaned our lack of a scouting department and largely stuck to Sportscene scouting.

I find the daily update particularly useful. No need to look at the B.B.C. or gutter press.

This is very much Rangers related Rousseau because this was one of the first departments Gerrard sorted out when he arrived. Gerrard knows how an appreciation of numbers changed (for the better) his own game, so he wants other players to appreciate their own game and develop accordingly. It is of course also used to scout new players. This part is nothing new, but what really interests me is how we are assessing a player's mentality before he is signed. The stats are one thing, and provide an excellent insight, but how do we assess whether a player is a capable of surviving and thriving in a cauldron such as Ibrox? It's something I've looked at as a pet project because to some extent stats have been reviewed in isolation. However, when stats are overlaid with the game/league circumstances at the time, it can be very revealing. For some players (Halliday and Jack being an example), the movement, touches, awareness and tracking appears not to dip even when the team is losing or under pressure. This contrasts with a player such as Ejaria, who, when under pressure situations tended to change his game style (which I doubt was tactical). I realise DMAA was joking when he mentioned Football Manager, but their database is now used by many top clubs around the world. They have more scouts than any football club has afterall. If we can scout a player's mental attributes we will save ourselves a fortune. Fingers crossed.

I think the manager has been quoted that he may consider a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 for some matches but, as with most formations nowadays, I doubt it will be the orthodox system we're usually familiar with. I'm just glad we have options and lots of competition for places. Yes, we still have some first choice players but no-one can consider themselves undroppable if they're not doing the business.

Frankie: John looks at how the manager can change tactics for a title push Me: Please don't say 4-4-2... please don't say 4-4-2... John McIntosh: 4-4-2... diamond Me:

Newspapers will get some right and many, many more wrong. Transfer stories are usually click bait and often placed upon the instruction of agents. Their links are usually lazy rehashes of unfounded rumour and, for the most part, you'll get better info from trusted fans on your forum of choice.

Aren't they making things more difficult than it needs to be though when all you have to do is go and buy the latest Football Manager? ? I still think Coulibaly is good at this role. He largely went off the boil when he was asked to play further up the field and predictably struggled. I blame Gerrard for that one I'm afraid. The silver lining is that as a result Coulibaly's value hasn't risen much you wouldn't think so I'd still consider signing him because he has a lot of ability a destroyer and is very young. I wouldn't say Kamara is a destroyer type from what I've seen. He's the opposite of Coulibaly, very technically gifted and strong in possession and even playing through balls. He has the ability to get into a tackle but it doesn't seem to be his strength. I seem him being a good player to have when we are at home and need our centre midfielders to be good in possession and creating something.

As soon as I posted it I remembered he had northern Irish roots but I didn’t have time to go and look it up

Surely Northern Ireland international and Corby raised Billy McKay is too?

Fair enough it wasnt very clear. My point really is hes hardly some kind of animal. Every offense has been a yellow. Most for aguing or persistant fouls. Not done a thing that would injure anyone. Meanwhile he gets kicked up and down the park.

Quite enjoying my Heart and Hand daily updates.