craig
-
Posts
33,477 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
118
Everything posted by craig
-
Perhaps I should have clarified when I said "we" took our eye off the ball - I didnt mean we as in you, me or the fanbase but the men in power. Of that there can be no denying. Since the turn of the millenium I dont thing it could be disputed - 2 our of 8 titles is failure in my eyes. Again, I dont disagree - my point was that you can use statistics to prove ANY point. Detractors of SDM will use the last 8 years whilst pro-SDM followers will use his full tenure. I personally would use his full tenure to judge his results (from a trophy perspective) but it is VERY worrying where we have been in the last 8 years. However, at least in my opinion, we shouldn't be focussing SOLELY on the lack of silverware but also on how far we have gone backwards in terms of the club in general - youth policy, academy, production of players from Murray Park, financial mismanagement. I dont think it is bad luck at all - and, in actual fact, it could be easily justified that but for GOOD luck we would be staring down the barrel of a Celtic team (and a POOR one at that) looking at an EIGHT in a row. I just so happen to think that regardless of what we may think of Celtic (and I still think they are a poor team - we have a better team than they do in my opinion - I am obviously biased) that off the field they have been forward thinking and progressed whilst we have actually regressed. I think you and I agree on much more than either of us are letting on.....
-
I dont see the need for him to disguise the intentions. Therein lies the problem though - you and many more dont trust him with the club or its finances - whereas he, and his ego, believe he has always acted in the clubs best interests - so from his perspective he has mostly done right and therefore is looking for someone he approves of from hiks standard. And therein is another problem - that person(s) to take over could very well be the same and things dont change for the better. The 100 mill he claims is a hypothetical amount and is nothing to do with Rangers, it is money he believes he has lost by having to concentrate on Rangers over his other interests - no-one can quantify that, not even SDM - so he was using numbers to suit his own agenda.
-
Statistics can be used to determine what we want. We can look at the last 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 or 20 years - or longer. The detractors of Murray will look at the last 7 years. The pro-Murray will look since the start of his tenure. Personally I think both have merit - but he has won more than 50% of the leagues in his tenure (only using statistics - I am not saying I think he has been great for the club). More recently we have fallen behind them because they have improved their lot off the field and our eye has been off the ball. The recent stats are more relevant but lets not completely ignore his full tenure.
-
I think the fact that he owns 91% will be his justification as to who should determine who is "right" for Rangers. Not saying it is right but that will be his reasoning. It is still his club in ownership so he has that right, whether we like it or not.
-
Dont forget that he chose the Irish 4 years ago when we had Bertie Vogts at the helm and at that point Ireland were better than us.
-
Played for Pompey in the charity shield last week.
-
Amdy Faye signed for Stoke today or our midfield would be even stronger
-
Back on topic - are we still in for Bresciano even though we just signed Mendes ? I know they are different players but just wondered if we would splash the cash on another midfielder having just spent 3 mill on one. I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of midfielders leave (McCulloch springs to mind as we could probably get a couple mill for him).
-
Official site has it as signed, sealed and delivered
-
He is undergoing a medical which I would have thought would be taken AFTER personal terms have been agreed. I woudln't expect there to be problems with this signing.
-
Of that you couldn't be more right !
-
Agreed. It is obvious that Hodgson is a football manager and not a businessman...... His argument over Rangers not coughing up the 4 mill when they are paying 6 or 8 mill is STUPID. They get much larger TV revenues just for a start !
-
If the reports are to be believed then we have just made an excellent signing. Hopefully so. He will go straight into the team tomorrow I would think. Anyone thinking that the player chase has heated up due to the pressure being heaped on SDM this week ?
-
Actually I think that should have been more specific. I think we will have a very strong team AND squad this season. Last year we had a BIG squad but lacked in the starting XI - IF we sign these players then I think they WILL go straight into the starting XI (at least Mendes and Bresciano will and, if Aaron is as good as we are hearing, then possibly him too). A nice mix of youth and experience in these signings too which shouldn't be forgotten.
-
Just got a response from a big Pompey fan. Asked him if he was sad to see Mendes leave if we signed him. Response ? "Gutted frankly". Sounds good enough to me !! Full response "Gutted frankly Quality player and was single handedly responsible for keeping us up in our amazing come-back season – scored a 30 yard wonder goal in the final min against Man City to kick start an amazing run… Don’t understand at all why we are selling him having just sold Muntari – a bit concerned to be honest He will do great for you, tireless work horse with an occasional touch of class…." Not sure we need another tireless workhorse as we have Thomson in there - but I am sure there is more to Mendes than that !
-
I left Fleck out as I was considering him more a striker - my bad, apologies. I agree - Fleck and Furman should be blooded in when we are 15 points ahead in the league - so in November then..... we can but dream !!
-
If we get Bresciano too I have no doubts we would have the best midfield in the country - just a shame that we go about our business so late in the transfer window (although to be fair you sometimes have to wait on developments from other teams too). Those 8 players give us great options IMO and will show a very strong midfield. With the number of strikers we have on the books we should be OK on that front too. In defence we could do with a CB to partner Bougherra. RB we would have Whittaker with Broadfoot replacing (so a RB would be nice but Broadfoot would be ok as a stop-gap). Papac is doing a very commendable job on the left and has made that spot his own. IF Stevie Smith recovers from injury then we would be covered at LB too. Again, it is all about the IFS - but IF we sign Mendes, Bresciano, Edu and a CB then I think we have a very strong squad this season.
-
I was about to reply in the Edu thread but I think this deserves a thread all of its own. IF we make the signings we are expected to make in Mendes and Edu (plus Aaron who has already signed) then I could easily be convinced that the midfield becomes our strongest area of the team (surprising given how many defenders and forwards we have). Midfielders we will have : Kevin Thomson Pedro Mendes Maurice Edu Aaron Beasley Brahim Hemdani (leaving ??) Novo (seems to be a converted midfielder) McCulloch Adam Furman (must see his chances of getting a game wane - sadly) Plus the injured midfielders : Barry Ferguson Steven Naismith Chris Burke I find that to be a very strong midfield although I would expect some to be moved on (Hemdani for sure and I wouldnt be too bothered at losing McCulloch either - sell him for 2 mill and get Mendes for 3 - very decent "financial swap" IMO). But the next question to be answered is : Just how do we line up ? One thing that the new signings should give us is flexibility in formation - we should be able to play with 3, 4 OR 5 midfielders which hopefully makes it very difficult for opponents to read too much into us (although it also relies on WS changing things if they arent going well....) It should also allow us to use Whittaker at RB in his natural position, even though he has played better in other positions. IF we make these signings then things just got a whole lot brighter for this Bear.
-
At 29 he still has 4 or 5 years ahead of him. He is on a 3 yr contract when signed I think so chances of selling him on are slim but sometimes that is what you are faced with. Agreed, you need to have experience in the team too, not just youth. Will be interesting to see how our midfield pans out when BF is back - will we go 4-2-3-1 with Mendes playing behind the main striker and BF and KT playing deeper ? One thing is for sure..... a midfield 4 of Novo-------Mendes-----Thomson------Aaron Excites me a whole lot more than Novo-------Thomson------Adam------McCulloch But time will tell if that is the midfield we see. Still need a right sided midfielder unles we can get Beasley over that side to allow Aaron to play LM.
-
In thinking about this..... someone correct me if I am wrong... but when we were linked a few weeks ago with Mendes (I believe Redknapp had said he spoke to WS and Mendes was mentioned) did WS not flat out deny he was interested in Mendes ? Lies from WS or simply trying to prevent another club from stealing a march on him ?
-
That is usually a sign that you are getting a good player when the fans dont want to lose one. And especially an EPL player too - fingers crossed.
-
Actually the more I thought about this the more I agree with your definition (although it cannot be disputed that there could be more than one definition). The reason I agree is that if we sell our "best" players for, say, I don't know, 7.8 million and we go out and sign someone to replace them the expectation from the management has to be that the replacement is of similar quality. And I don't doubt that WS, AM and KM would be looking for a similar quality replacement to Cuellar. Now..... if we sign someone for, say, 2 million, that doesnt necessarily mean that the replacement is of lesser quality (although the less informed fans would think he is). The reason I use 7.8 mill is obvious - it is what we got for Cuellar. The reason I use the 2 mill ??? Because that is what we PAID for Cuellar. Now, we just don't know - we could very well bring someone in for 2 mill who proves to be every bit as good as Cuellar (early days I know but I thought Bougherra looked a very good player last week against Falkirk - although I don't see him as Cuellar's replacement). So if we CAN get someone in of as good a quality (and you never know until they have played a few games so it is always a risk) then selling Cuellar has been an astute bit of business. That said I would have preferred to have seen Bougherra beside Cuellar. Again though, if Bougherra proves an able replacement and we get one other and the rest of the Cuellar funds are spent wisely on midfield then we could actually be strengthened rather than weakened by his departure. I don't think EITHER theory gets undone.
-
Thoughts on Mendes? Seems Harry Redknapp didn't want to lose him, if you believe Joe Jordan.
-
HIghly rated by who ? Us ? Where does he play Frankie (sorry for being so lazy !)
-
Agreed. They have paid 2.5-3 mill for a player simply to stop us getting him. More fool them when he would be available next year for nothing. Re your auction synopsis it depends. If that said player ultimately is successful or gets sold on for huge profit then yes they did win. A calculated risk if you will.
