craig

Probably a discussion for another thread.... but what odds on him being "moved on" in the summer ? His value has to be at least 5 million if Gordon is worth 9. I hope we keep him as a solid GK is the making of a very good team.

Preparing almost a week in advance ? loser !

They didnt pull out though, the Scotland medical team ruled them not fit enough to play, so it wasnt a Rangers decision. As well as helping Croatia Gribz I am pretty sure that the game will put money into the coffers of the SFA...... still wondering why they didnt cancel it ?!?!?!

Only if we concede a penalty against them, which I am sure we all hope wont happen !

Papers yesterday said he wouldnt be back till middle of April.

The "Kevinc*ntThomson" issue was on here a while back and the BBC apologised.... after being inundated with complaints. Their apology ? Sometimes people say things in a light-hearted manner, but they should realise they are producing items for the public to see..... So in other words.... we couldnt give a shit what was said but as you have all complained we will give a half-hearted apology and hope all is swept under the carpet. And yet the Tims think the media is against THEM ?!?!?!?

Wouldnt be West Ham by any chance ? Cracking stadium though. Not only do they have 60,000 at every home game but when I was there on Saturday I was getting told that they have a 40,000 waiting list !!

You will get another one Fraser.... you did a grand job of the last one !

I know what you are saying Wij and agree with some of it. I didnt mind Weir as our defence was so poor when WS came in. Dailly I was against but have to admit he has done a great job thus far (was very solid on Wed night) - that is why WS is boss and we arent - he has brought in a few players we all thought "why did you do that" and we have been very pleasantly surprised. We wouldnt necessarily be out of the CL if we dont win the league, we would have to qualify, right ?? But we wouldn't get the automatic spot. Right now I think the LEAST we should expect are the 2 cups in Scotland but I will be disappointed if we dont win the league from the position we are in. I think the Tims are a poor team too, but then I have felt that they have been poor for a while, we have just been even poorer. Thing is, if we win the treble then ultimately WS' decisions to go with strength and power will have been proven right. And how many of us placed a bet at the start of the season for us to win the treble ? There would be VERY FEW fans who would have expected a treble at the start of the season - yet here we are at the business end and it is a real possibility. I do however, have reservations about this team if they fall behind against a stronger team - there isnt enough creativity that you would be confident in them digging the result out - despite them having done it on a few occasions this season.

Arsenal were shite last week against Middlesborough - if they play like that this week they will lose. Man U will beat Liverpool at OT.

I think that I have to agree with Cammy here. Some of us may be forgetting just how shambolic we have been for 2 years until WS came back in January last year. I for one wanted us to be more competitive but didnt expect a league victory this season, I just wanted us to be closer. WS is becoming a victim of his own success in his second stint. When PLG left all we wanted was for the ship to be steadied, WS did that in a hurry and has a team obtaining very consistent results (whether or not it is with great performances). I am sure that many of us would have wanted us to be challenging this year but to be 3 ahead with a game in hand and only 9 games to go is definitely challenging. To have the CIS cup in the bag is a good start, regardless of how the team played is good. To still be in the SC is good, especially as we are the strongest team left and, again, can only throw it away. The European run has been a resounding success regardless of performance - dont forget we were expected to come out of the group of death with ZERO points - yet we were a whisker from making the last 16, we dropped into the UEFA and have beaten a couple of decent teams (not forgetting Werder had been tipped to go all the way). We cant look into the future so can only base judgement on histrory and where we currently stand - and where we currently stand is : 1 trophy in the bag, still in the other 2 cup competitions we have entered and 3 points clear in the league with a game in hand. With the exception of performances we have NOTHING to grumble about. We couldn't be doing any better (except having the league wrapped up with only 9 games to go.... but that was never going to happen) So, to date, we have progressed beyond surely all of our expectations, RESULTS WISE. Where the debate comes into play is with the performances and they have, IMO, been poor in plenty of games this year. I think it was Bluedell that said it and I most definitely agree - WS came in and saw how poor our defence was and decided to, firstly, make it difficult to score against us. He did that - "you dont lose goals you dont lose games". WS will know as well as we do that we lack flair and creativity but when he came in his squad was a shambles and he had to steady us, he has done that. He also has given us a much stronger squad than he inherited and for not much money (when you factor in the 9 mill he got for Hutton). He also has that squad with a lot of "Scottishness" about it, players who understand what it is like to play for Rangers - the way we have battled back in somegames this year has been impressive - that wasn't there when he first came in. He has competition for every position which can only be good IF he used that competition to ensure the encumbents performed - but when someone like Charlie Adam is playing as poorly as he is yet still walks into the team that will eventually demotivate those challenging him. Bit results wise we really cannot complain. Performance wise leaves a lot to be desired. The achievement and progress since Jan of 2007 when WS returned has been nothing short of incredible. I would hope that in the summer he will look for the flair we are missing. We could also be doing with a much higher tempo performance from the first whistle which we arent currently getting.

Off topic and apologies for that.... but I just dont get the fascination some of us have with the notion that a truly wonderful player would automatically turn out to be fantastic at unearthing talent - sure in some instances it works but it isnt guaranteed. Some examples in sports would be Pele (who was a poor coach) and Michael Jordan who was given the recruiting policy when he took over the Wasington Wizards (and they went on to be one of the worst teams in the NBA). Not getting at you Gribz but I dont buy the whole "he was a great player so would obviously unearth great talent". Many times HAVING talent doesnt mean you can SPOT talent.

you have ? :fish: were you even a member ?

I didnt mean offence calscot and I certainly wasnt saying you havent watched Rangers much. I am lucky if I get to even one game a season (depends on holidays etc etc). I was merely saying I can understand the frustrations of Gers fans. Some fans were brought up on the 9IAR years and not unfortunate enough to watch some very poor Gers teams. You and I are of similar age I think (I am 34) so have seen the good AND bad of Rangers. The difference between some of those Rangers teams is that their poor games were intermittent and they usually created chances. This current crop are providing poor fare regularly and are not creating that many chances either (last night they certainly didnt). I am not taking anything away from Walter - he has done a remarkable job in a short space of time. In fact I dont blame him for last night at all. There should easily have been enough talent on the pitch to take care of Thistle (plus McCoist picked the team anyway ). The players were poor last night and not for the first time this season. There has been a lethargy about the first half displays this season and that isnt down to the management - I cannot believe any management team would request their players to play low tempo. Re the flair players and creating a team first I agree, I think that in Jan we had a team which had proven it was hard to beat and would have been an ideal time to bring some flair in (Steve Davis looks like he could be a flair player but had an off night last night). But that said, WS now has a team difficult to beat, it just depends on what he does in the summer as to how he improves that team. I for one wont ever demand a finished product but playing second fiddle to Thistle is unacceptable IMO - regardless of having a poor game we have a squad full of SPL players which should have been capable no matter what - that isnt necessarily down to WS but the players themselves - last night there was no guile, craft, ingenuity and worst of all no movement. There is no doubt WS is working his socks off and he has made us a much stronger contender, of that there is no doubt. Perhaps he is a victim of his own successes - fans perhaps forgetting how poor we were last season whilst trying to play "flair" football. As long as WS tries to strengthen and strengthens with players who have more creativity then I will be happy - the problem with the current crop is no-one can beat a player. One thing I do agree with you about though is the fans. They were very quick to complain last night and offered NO atmosphere whilst the Thistle fans MADE the atmosphere. IN fact, as I said earlier, I was very disappointed with how quickly the fans turned on Chris Burke last night (some were on his case after his VERY FIRST TOUCH - and that was appalling). He went on to hve a stinker but he was by no means the only one !

NO we are not above criticism despite the standings.

It is easy to say "I will take being boring to watch but hard to beat" but when someone has forked out 400 quid to sit through that I can see why they dont renew their season tickets. I couldnt understand Gav not renewing his ticket this season but.... having only been able to get to 2 matches this season (Gretna at home - played very poorly but won 4-0 and last night) I can see why people are so disgruntled. For me being at 2 games a season (which is lucky for me) negates the quality - but for someone having to watch that abject pish for 90 minutes at least 20 times a season ???? They deserve medals to go through it. Yes, maybe we are hard to beat but boring to watch - should that lessen the demands of the fans that the players put on more of a show ? Rangers have such little imagination on the field of play that it is beyond frustrating to watch. Calscot, there have been plenty of poor games. I think you would be hard pushed for the good games to outweigh the bad ones. Fans arent asking for us to be world beaters but we are creating very little. On the way home last night we were talking about it and as a neutral, if you didnt know which team was the SPL team, after the game you would have said the team in red and yellow. Thistle played with more tempo, more enthusiasm, played better football, better movement and created better chances. Surely with the wealth of "talent" we have at our disposal we should be the ones pushing in that way. There was very, very little by way of flair, creativity and imagination on display from us. Now, to play devils advocate... yes, I still would take boring but hard to beat over full of flair but constantly struggling for results. But I also understand the frustration from fans being subjected to these awful performances and, make no mistake, last night was ABYSMAL.

That was a shocker !

A card display like the "More than a club" but which says "you're gonna win f*ck all"

We might not get a better chance to win a treble than this season !

This is nearly the perfect week for us....... Only thing that could have made it better would have been if their game wasnt cancelled and they got beat by Well.

WOW.... had been having a rough week on the gg's (down probably 600 quid).... then Thursday appears and extra races at Cheltenham...... had 265 on Cousin Vinny in the Champion Bumper..... won at 12/1. Profit of 3 grand - unreal.

A cricket article ? :yawn: :moon:

This makes the SPL look like a complete farce.

Good idea Barry. I am a pedantic loyal so would have no issue in helping out with proof-reading. Most importantly though, good to see you on the mend !

Just a programme Gav ? Payment ? Am sure I can stretch for a programme. Nothing else ? Might pay for it for you.... within reason.