craig

Wonder if Ajax will say Vitesse lay down to PSV, ala Chris Sutton .....???

3-1 - sweet !

Gav had an apparently good excuse for not meeting up with me Pete - actually it WAS a good excuse - the pub we were going to meet in was mobbed and Gav couldn't get in as he was late due to traffic. I am just taking the piss, which is fun especially when Gav is the recipient.

Rangers best right-back of the 2006-07 season Gavin Rae

Rangers best right-back of the 2006-07 season Gavin Rae

If they somehow survive though then it IS a cop-out as the team that gets relegated instead of them would have rightful grievances that there should have been a points deduction. Actually, the fine even though a cop-out, probably hurts West Ham more than a points deduction - they will probably be relegated anyway so a points deduction wouldn't have hit them that hard - but to be relegated AND have a 5.5 mill fine - that is a double whammy

But will you actually show up ?

Holy shit !! 5.5 million is HUGE - and given they will likely get relegated too - yikes.

Exactly - young Fraser has pushed and pushed himself for that award so much that I think I may even vote for Colshy as best Newcomer.....

Exactly - young Fraser has pushed and pushed himself for that award so much that I think I may even vote for Colshy as best Newcomer.....

Exactly - young Fraser has pushed and pushed himself for that award so much that I think I may even vote for Colshy as best Newcomer.....

Because a team is made up of 11 players, not just 2 ?? Just because a player plays in a "run of the mill" SPL side doesn't mean that they aren't good enough to cut it with the OF. Or do we have delusions of grandeur ? Maybe we should just risk paying 1.8 mill for a Sebo than go for a guy who has scored 13 times this year in the same league and with a less fashionable club ? Naismith is 20 yrs old so has lots of time on his side - he has scored a decent number of goals this season and lets not also forget that a certain Arsene Wenger had him on trial at Arsenal where he was apparently impressive. To me it looks like young Naismith is more than a "run of the mill" SPL player - but then what would I know ?

Gribz, Sebo may have been close to MOTM against Celtic but he showed NOTHING as a forward, was never a goal threat - and as a striker surely that is what is expected ? Running around like a headless chicken showing commitment is great, but if you dont pose a threat they you are almost (just almost) as bad as when Boyd would be as well not being on the pitch. OK, so why don't you compare Boyd's scoring record to Kenny Miller then if you want to look at him as a comparison to them - or even JvoH - I think that Boyd's scoring record stands head and shoulders above both of them. I dont get you not buying the "top scorer for 2 seasons...." argument. It is FACT that he was top scorer 2 seasons running - surely he is doing what is asked of him (put the ball in the net). You seem to justify your argument of this being a crap statement by saying goals need to come from the whole team - well how do you suggest that this is BOYD's fault that no-one else seems to be contributing to the goals ? Teams certainly win you prizes but your argument was one against Boyd as an individual, not a team argument - so I just don't see how that is a decent comparison.

Same here Hurlock - May 5th is my birthday - come on the gers !!

Lovenkrands is the type of player that would do it against the better teams but not against the smaller teams (the polar opposit of Boyd). PL relies on his pace and almost every team in the SPL plays with 10 behind the ball which doesn't suit PL. Where would we play him ? He isnt a LM and everyone seems to be saying we need a target man as Boyd's foil but PL certainly isnt that ! Or do we sell Boyd ? I would like to see PL back but I doubt it will happen.

I don't think that anyone was saying that 2nd best was acceptable - I think what people were saying was that it is inevitable that we won't finish 1st all the time and that, in that case, 2nd best is what we have to achieve. The target should always to strive be the best but sometimes it wont happen - doesn't mean that we aren't trying to be 1st.

Yeah but statistics can be manipulated whatever way you want to Cammy - over the last 15 seasons have we not been 1st on at least 50% of the time ? I know what you are getting at though and we are most definitely a distant second to them OFF the field - but I still firmly believe that we are not that far from them ON the field (however, this could easily change is SDM doesn't pony up some cash or sell - because they look like continuing to grow off the field meaning solid transfer budgets and wage budgets for good players whilst we seem to be perenially treated to the Bosman market).

^ What he said... Seriously, I agree - there is NO WAY we should be taking 1.5 million for Boyd - that would be financial suicide and makes little sense in any way. I would be pretty sure that his wage isn't excessive and he is still pretty much our only scoring centre-forward. So sell him and do what ? Replace him with someone else that is unproven (much like Sebo was last summer.....). Sorry Gribz but your logic makes no sense to me - you want to give Sebo a chance to stake a claim for a place in the team and squad when he has done NOTHING - yet you want us to punt our top scorer in the last 2 seasons (with one of those actually being HALF a season) for less money that Sebo cost. Makes no sense to me. Boyd really has no-one to play up front with him - if we can get a Hateley type player and he doesn't produce then that would be the time to get rid (it is hard to say he doesn't produce when you look at his goal scoring record against the so called "diddy" teams - but he doesn't seem tp produce against the better teams - but again he has no-one really to be his foil). I am not KB's biggest fan but to accept a meagre 1.5 mill for him would be criminal !

Eric Caldow used to own my local - a gentleman and most definitely a true Ranger. I am too young to know but am reliably informed he was also a very, very good player.

Absolutely disagree calscot. As one of the onesgiving the players a hard time I will respond. I can easily look myself in the mirror and tell you that I do follow the ideals - the argument is about doing what your boss tells you because he thinks that it oozes professionalism. I can categorically say that I do what my boss tells me at all times as it is my job to follow instructions. Posting on here is done when I have down time - the start of training for the players is most important but some decided they didn't like that. Your analogy of "not being at work but thinking about problems" is a poor analogy as well. Are you missing the fact that when the players are stretching in the morning they are at work and expected to be doing as told ? When they are at home do you think they are thinking about problems at work ? Or are they playing with their games consoles and counting their cash ? How many of those players do you think are trying to improve themselves when they are not at work ? By this seasons performances I would suggest not a lot. You can call it hypocrisy all you like - but given you know not of what the requirements at work are for any of us you have no insight to make such judgements. But then, given that you aren't slagging off the players it is convenient for you to label those who are......

This was pretty much the same team which presumably, with AM in charge, were enjoying their training more yet still lost the title by 20 points. You would think that they would have been accepting of some change to try to improve fortunes on the field - obviously not.

You think that by laughing and joking around that they can still be taking the stretching and training seriously ? Sad that we see someone who comes in and tries to instill a bit of professionalism into our club and he gets treated by the fans who, with all respect to all of us, have NO IDEA how to run a football club, as if he is an imbecile who doesn't know what he is doing. Just because we had the 9IAR days when we had the mantra of "the team that drinks together wins together" doesn't mean that logic should apply in this day and age. For one, in that era, we were far and away the best team in Scotland with easily the best players (we can't claim that now so you would think a bit more professionalism might be a good thing) and secondly times change and move on. PLG and the way he did things and the results we were seeing will always split our club - but I find it amusing that we see many who, when PLG was installed, said that it was a long-term vision we needed and that he would need time and that those same people were then calling for his head after 3 or 4 short months. We will never know how good, or bad, PLG could have been but to suggest he was "taking the piss" for trying to instill his will and professionalism on the team is harsh IMO.

Not in absolute terms but for a keeper 25 actually is quite young, especially as a keeper generally can play a few years more than an outfielder.

where is the option for all 3 ?

Newcastle screwed you Ian - and you had the hardest of the 3 with the Arabs winning !