Bluedell

I think Furman showed today that he's not ready to be a first team regular.

Included on my season ticket.

I might go for a Marcus Gayle (?) one. The wording under it: Played 4 games badly.

A new owner who was able to take the club forward would be most welcome. Fresh enthusiasm and new ideas would do a lot for the club. However who is going to buy the club knowing that a bad result on Tuesday would result in a �£10m+ loss for the year? A buyer would know that and realise that if that happens 2 years in a row, all he is going to do is pump cash into the club. Not an encouraging scenario for any potential buyer. Spending? Most, if not all of last season's cash has gone already. The supersized Ibrox? In this instance I don't go for the usual smoke-screen. My feeling is that the lack of finance available from the economy generally and HBOS specifically have resulted in the plans being shelved. Whether this is permanent or not depends on who long the current economic problems continue and how long Murray stays around.

If Boyd was starting in preference to anyone, it should be JCD rather than Miller, based on last night's performance.

NOOO. It's so 1980s. Can we not move on and get something else? It may have worked during NIAR, but it's not really appropriate now with the gash that appears on the pitch.

A job for Frankie, me thinks.

Yes, there is.

RANGERS Chief Executive Martin Bain has spoken for the first time on a number of important topics as the new season opens. He revealed record season ticket sales, explained the reasoning behind the five per cent charge on the sale of away tickets and insisted work is still being done to bolster the squad ahead of the new campaign. During the interview, the Chief Executive also announced exciting plans for Ibrox that will make it amongst the most cutting-edge in European football. He said: "We are well on target to set a new record of 44,000 season ticket holders which has been achieved as a result of our new ticketing strategy enabling a higher saleable capacity within the stadium. In the past four seasons we have reached highs of 42,500 but on the back of last season, the demand for the coming campaign has been such that we will hit the new record figure. "Last season was a journey beyond all expectation for Rangers supporters and was what we all aspire to, which is Rangers competing at the highest level in Europe and on all fronts domestically. The last day of the SPL season was our only downside. "Our new strategy aims to make football more affordable to families, and to maintain and create a great atmosphere in the stadium where supporters are safe. It wasn't just about pricing however, we also wanted to provide some additional benefits to season ticket holders. The first of these takes place on Friday with a free training day which will be a great day out for families. "To date the initiative has resulted in an 11 per cent rise in juvenile season ticket holders with many more on the waiting list and we are absolutely delighted with the ongoing response from the fans. "We had 19 European games last season and with the financial pressures in our economy today we could not have asked for more from our supporters, their commitment has been second to none. Tickets for tomorrow's Kaunas game are going really well and the Liverpool match on Saturday is fast approaching sell-out. "Last year we identified the need to address the playing surface and other aspects of the stadium infrastructure, resulting in the commitment of capital expenditure for an interim overhaul. We have ensured that the items invested in are easily transportable should our long term development plans come to fruition. "First on the agenda was restructuring the pitch and Walter Smith told me yesterday that he is delighted with the new playing surface. "Despite the inclement weather in Scotland we are confident we will have no problems with our pitch this season and let's hope it is the same scenario at every other SPL ground. We have invested in our pitch and it would be good to see the other clubs investing in a similar way to avoid the problems of last season. "Our next priority was to introduce a fully integrated stadium entertainment system. This will be phased in from the first SPL home game where our new state of the art LED perimeter advertising system and LED scoreboards will be unveiled. "The perimeter advertising will run the complete length of the Copland, Broomloan and Govan stands. In September we will install LED jumbotrons, giving Ibrox one of the most ambitious media and entertainment systems in British football. We plan to introduce the system into the concourses thereafter. Even the dugouts, uniforms and Club ties are changing!" Rangers begin the SPL campaign on August 9 against Falkirk, one of four clubs who have refused to accept the Old Firm plan of a five per cent charge for the sale of away tickets. Bain remains unrepentant at the approach taken and commented: "It is incredulous that despite our attempts to explain this rationally to other clubs, some of them continue to refuse to accept our approach. Rangers supporters travel the length and breadth of the country, often paying premium prices for grounds which are often found lacking in their overall facilities. This is about our fans. I believe they more than pay their way in Scottish football and we want to alleviate some of the financial pressure. "I am also disappointed at the other clubs lack of understanding of our continual efforts to make it as easy as possible to distribute their tickets with minimal cost and effort on their behalf. We help maximise ticket sales for SPL away grounds to the region of �£2.5million, but accept that this comes at a cost, hence our proposal for the reciprocal arrangement. This would allow us to remove the costs currently borne by our fans. "I am surprised that other clubs have failed to realise that we have maintained a core fan base for away matches and that base may drop off given the convoluted systems they are operating to sell tickets to Rangers fans. "The actions we have taken have been in the best interests of our fans and the Club and we hope this is recognised by our travelling support, despite the complicated and difficult route that may now exist to obtain tickets for fixtures that were once easy to obtain." The Rangers Chief Executive hopes that those who choose to sell to Old Firm fans directly will ensure that they take all the responsibilities which accompany this decision. He said: "The SPL guidelines are such that every person who buys a ticket has to supply their name and address, and I now look to the SPL to ensure that while these other clubs have taken it upon themselves to sell these tickets that they record all these details. That said, it is unfortunate that I won't have the same level of awareness of whom the tickets are now being sold to. "At this stage Falkirk, Hibs, Hearts and Dundee United have indicated that they will sell tickets to our fans themselves and we await confirmation of the official response from the remaining clubs." Although the signing deadline has passed for tomorrow's Champions League qualifying match with Kaunas, the Chief Executive insisted that work is still being done on the playing front. He said: "We are still working hard to make sure we have a squad capable of challenging on all fronts. "The nature of Rangers is such that we are constantly linked with players with no foundation. But we are used to that and know what our priorities are. I am confident through experience of transfer windows in recent years that there will be movement, both in and out, in the weeks ahead. Walter has a core squad to meet the immediate challenges, although we are disappointed to have picked up a couple of injuries at this early stage." http://www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,5~1353740,00.html

I doubt Liverpool would have wanted to play us last weekend.

No inside information. Just an analysis and understanding of the accounts that are publicly available.

Agreed. Our biggest problem with last season was the lack of creativity. Walter's done nothing to address that.

The money from Hutton funded the transfers at the start of last season. The money from the CL went towards paying the players' wages The money from the UEFA cup went towsards the funding of Walter's budget this year (spent on Miller Velicka, Lafferty). I believe that the NET income was less than everyone has been led to believe.

Any word on Cuellar?

Gow had the option of furthering his careering by moving to another club on the same money as he was on at Rangers. If he wants fully paid up for his contract then feck him. Let him rot in the reserves or at home. What benefit do we have buying paying him off?

No, a t-shirt of the pope is not acceptable during an old firm game. Circumstantial evidence can be used as provide proof.

It's becoming more and more difficult to disagree with that.

I disagree with all of that, mate. Yes, circumstantial evidence can be enough. He wasn't doing it in his garden. he was doing it at on old firm game. It's generally fairly obvious whether someone is doing something through genuine religious belief and when someone is trying to provoke or antagonise by bringing religion in.

I'm not an expert in law, but would think that his intention was clear. He does not normally wear a pope t-shirt and he chose an old firm game to do it. Enough circumstantial evidence to suggest what his intentions were. Yes, I'm sure there is at least one nutter in our support who would react to a t-shirt. Not being an RC, I'll leave them to argue the level of offence that he caused to them, but the argument that I'm making is not that it is offensive, but that it is intentionally provocative and therefore he should receive at least another caution. He also brought religion into the game in a provocative manner and should be dealt with by the footballing authorities. The fact that his act of provocation was condoned by all at Celtic says a lot about them as well. Rangers, for example, publicly announced that Gazza would be disciplined for his flute playing.

I'd have a bigger problem with Diamond being at the club than Miller.

The guy received a caution before for trying to incite the crowd. That was what he was doing again. How many times is he allowed to do it before someone ends up reacting. Both the football authorities and the police have washed their hands of it, and it's ridiculous. Different standards are yet again applied.

The leaflet:

Your very own piece of Ibrox history. I am selling Rangers desk sets that are made out of the wooden seats that were installed in the Main Stand at Ibrox in 1929 and were removed in 1990. They were originally sold in the early 90s following the modernisation of the main stand (the original leaflet is below). The "Executive" model comes complete with twin pens and golf on aluminium plaque with the Rangers crest and has an upright formed from the back of an individual seat with the original ivory coloured number disc with solid brass pins. �£89.00 The "Gold" model has all the features of the the executive plus a polished brass plate on the reverse of the upright with your own individual name and company position (or whatever you would like) engraved alongside the Rangers crest. �£114.00 Postage & packing are on top. I can email a paypal invoice to you or else it could be arranged to meet up at Ibrox on a matchday. I have sold a number on FF and everyone has been delighted with them If anyone wishes to order one or would like further information, please PM me.

I would generally agree. I would say though that I expect last year's wages to be well over �£30m. I would also expect our profit to be under �£20m and when you then take the Hutton profit as being used to fund last season's purchases, and the uncertainty of us qualifying for this year's CL, you can see why the transfer budget is not higher.

thanks mate. I assume it was silence and not the applause nonsense?