Bluedell

PLG refused to Murray any assurances that he was willing to stay on past the end of the first season, and as such I don't have any problems with PLG and SDM agreeing a parting of the ways when they did. I would have been happy for him to stay on but if he wasn't commited to staying then it was best that he left.

I still fit into both categories.

I would class myself as a supporter and a fan. Don't really see much of a difference.

What do you mean by "support your team"? Do I boo? No. Do I sing at Ibrox? Usually not. I work all week, and go to the football to enjoy myself. It's the team's job, so I'm not sure that I should be judging myself by the same high standards. Do I embody everything it is to be a Ranger? Again not sure what you mean here.

There are a couple of clues that it didn't come from Sky.

TBF I haven't watched the game again either and have no intention of doing so. On Lafferty/Davis, I can't say I've noticed it where I sit, but that perhaps isn't representative of other parts of the ground.

You were making a good point up until then. I thought he was as crap as the other midfielders and was cupable at the second goal.

Is it fair to compare today's Rangers support to the support of previous generations? What was the highest number of season tickets sold in a season prior to the mid 80s? I'd imagine it was around 5,000. We now have over 40,000 season ticket holders, and there is an inbuilt loyalty factor that comes along with that. Yes, crowds may fall a bit due to the fare on offer, but I can't see them falling down to these levels for a while.

Nobody has any idea what goes on at training and how influential McCoist is or isn't. McCoist hasn't done anything to suggest that he would be a great number one at a club. He hasn't done anything to suggest that he qwouldn't eitehr, but given the lack of knowledge, shoutiing for McCoist seems a big risk which we don't have to take. It should be remembered that Smith had over 10 years experience wwhen he was appointed. MMcoist doesn't have that.

He does irony as well.

Great idea. Hopefully this will help the situation for all involved.

by Lindsay Herron "AMID the mud-slinging and mayhem in the wake of George Burley's departure from the Scottish national team last week Kris Boyd was once again portrayed as some kind of treacherous villain. Remarkably, Boyd has been getting it in the neck again from a variety of newspapermen, radio pundits and ex-players as the search continues for Burley's successor. They seem to think that Boyd's request last year not be selected for the national team while Burley was in charge was an act of treason. Indeed, many critics have even suggested that the actions of Kris were considerably worse than those of Boozegate duo, former captain Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor. Eh? Make no mistake I feel the striker could have gone down another path to accentuate the point that he was wasting his time reporting for international duty in the ill-fated Burley era. However, he was so angry at being so publicly snubbed by the manager in the World Cup qualifier with Norway at Hampden last season that he felt enough was enough. If you look at the situation, Boyd played for 18 minutes for Burley against Croatia in a friendly in March 2008 and then got 10 minutes against Macedonia in Skopje in August last year as the World Cup qualifying campaign opened up with a 1-0 defeat. In the previous 13 international matches under Alex McLeish and Walter Smith he scored seven goals. There is scarcely a Scottish striker in living memory who has a strike rate like that. For whatever reason Burley did not fancy Boyd and, of course, he is perfectly entitled to his opinion. However, he effectively sent the message to the Rangers star that he was fifth or even sixth choice at that Norway game in October last year. He started the match with a strange set-up with included James McFadden, James Morrison and Shaun Maloney in advanced roles. He then took off McFadden and Morrison and replaced them with Chris Iwelumo and Steven Fletcher. Given that Kenny Miller missed that game and probably would have played, it told Boyd all he needed to know. We all know what happened next. Iwelumo was culpable for the worst miss seen at the national stadium since the old King died and Fletcher also had a decent chance in the game but failed to take it. Managers stand or fall by their decisions and Burley has now fallen. As I said earlier, I don't think Kris was right to very publicly announce he didn't want to play for Burley. There were cuter ways he could have handled the situation. However, it is hardly the first time that a player has "retired" from international football so I don't really understand the vitriol aimed at Boyd now that it has been made clear that the new manager - whoever he may be - will be able to select whoever he likes. The one thing he will get when he does select Boyd - and he surely will - is a better player than the one who left the international scene just over a year ago. There is no doubt that Boyd's touch, movement and link-up play are all better than they used to be. However, one thing has remained constant - goals. He was top scorer in the SPL last season and he is heading in the same direction in this campaign with five strikes in his last four games. If he scores on Saturday he will reach 150 SPL goals in 277 matches - 71 as substitute. Given the paucity of talent available to any prospective Scotland manager, they simply cannot afford not to bring Kris Boyd back."

I may have a set of 1987 accounts somewhere, possibly at my mother's. If I find them, I'll send a copy to you.

Leaving him on the bench was probably the best punishment Walter could come up with and got my full support. It's easy to take the view that what he did wasn't the best thing for the club, but I believe it was. Punishing Bougherra sends a messgae to the other players and playing him may have had a longer lasting negative effect, as the players are obviously mightily pissed off with him and they may have reacted badly if he was played. Walter has the SPL to think about as well, and he did what was required and did what was best for the team in the long run, and just one game that we would have lost, whether Bougherra was in the team or not. As David Holmes said in my recent post "Rangers are bigger than any individual, however talented."

Frankie, Boss, I've just emailed the 1986 accounts to you in case you want to use them as well.

McGregor by a long way.

McCulloch has also had a go at him, saying he has let down his team-mates, the management and the support. An apology from Bougherra would go down well, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

He was asked about why Bougherra didn't play and he said it was obvious as it had been talked about all week, then confirmed that it was because he was late back, and then refused to asnwer further questions on it, making it clear he was very unhappy with the questions and Bougherra himself.

It's when they are told to report back that's the important thing. You ignore that (3 times) and you are in trouble. Also, who in our team can be described as super fit athletes?

Walter's starting formation of 5-4-1 was a joke and he has to take a lot of criticism for that. I heard it described as 3-4-3, but that was obviously by people who weren't watching the game. Boyd was isolated upfront, and the usual full backs were playing as, well, full backs. Once we went one down he changed it back to the traditional 4-4-2 and things got better for a while.

I largely agree with Biggodry's post, but that doesn't preclude criticism for tonight's tactics.

Walter was clearly unhappy with Bougherra tonight as well. Didn't hide his feelings. I guess Miller is just repeating the party line.

Very poor performance again. Offered very little tonight, and was scared to tackle on occasions after his booking.

I've never seen Boyd play left wing either but I feel that I can make a judgement on his ability to play there. :fish: He has shown no aptitude for any of the requirements for playing upfront on his own. Miller at least works the defence. The new improved Boyd that we saw on Saturday may suggest that he is learning these things but he has to show that he can do it against a defence that are better than the rank rotten showing by Killie. Hopefully the improvement will continue and we might see signs that he may be able to do it, but he is far more effective when playing alongside another striker.

Don't have 87 (probably lost in my parents' house). Will fire over 86 when I get a chance.