Bluedell

2-0 Sima

26 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

I suggest playing people where they can play and have. McCausland and Wright have played and can play on either side easily enough. This will be a physical game, and they both are capable of that. Besides, I'd keep Sima fit and ready for the OF game.

I don't recall McCausland playing on the left for the first team.

If it's a physical game then I'd have thought we'd want to have Sima in there. If we were to rest him, I'd expect Matondo to come in for him rather than switching Wright.

31 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Almost ... I'd start Wright, Dessers, Roofe, and McCausland, and play Ridvan instead of Borna. I'd also play only one DM, either Lundstram or Sterling. Hit them hard from the off and revert to normal later on.

Clement isn't going to move away from his 4-2-3-1 that's been successful for him so far. 

Are you suggesting we play with 2 right wingers? Would Wright and McCausland not get in the way of each other? 

The John Lundstram MOTM award goes to John Lundstram.

The draw for the last 16 isn't made until after the play-off round in Feb.

Rangers 2 - 1 Aberdeen

FGS Tav

I see that FF has filtered "Bring him home" so that if you type that, it appears as "I have a large collection of butt-plugs" 😂

37 minutes ago, CammyF said:

I know, but we shouldn't be offering any more than that IMO. 

Yeah, what he's worth to us and what he's worth to them are 2 different amounts, plus I'm not sure if we would be able to afford more.

We'll probably have to look at the loan market or the out of contract market 

14 hours ago, CammyF said:

£900,000 - £1.25M plus Lowry - if they don't accept, walk away and focus on another option. 

There's no way they'd accept that.

17 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

It does seem fairly common and I don't think how Beale treated Sakala is particularly extraordinary. 

You'd have thought that he would be told in advance that he should find a new club and not have the freezing-out as a surprise, which appears to be what happened.

With anyone else, you may think that there was a bit of spin on it, but Sakala comes across as a genuine and truthful guy, and it's damning on Beale.

Fashion Sakala reveals lack of Rangers 'respect' from Michael Beale as teammates stunned by brutal Ibrox axe

The Zambian left Glasgow in the summer and has revealed the frosty nature of his exit from Auchenhowie.

Fashion Sakala has revealed his heartbreak over his Rangers exit - with Michael Beale giving him the cold shoulder without an explanation.

The striker moved to the Saudi Pro League with Al-Fayha during the Londoner's summer rebuild. After moving to Glasgow from Oostende in 2021, the forward became well-liked within the support and was part of the side that reached the Europa League final. He also won a Scottish Cup while at Ibrox, and the boss who ended his Scottish spell was sacked by October.

Speaking to the Herald, the 26-year-old has revealed how his relationship with Beale crumbled, and how he wished to have had a higher amount of respect than what he was offered through moves like not allowing him into the Rangers training ground. Beale had described their relationship as "really close" and "maybe even stronger than with anyone else in the group." Sakala said: "I went back to pre-season in Germany and it was a big surprise because my pictures were not taken. I was scoring beautiful goals and my goals were not published. I could see my friends celebrating goals.

"When we had a team meeting, my answers were not allowed to be published. People started asking if I was there in pre-season. I was there from the beginning to the end. It was a hard one to take for me.

"Even if there was a club that wanted to buy me, I could have at least been respected a little bit and leave the club in a good way. Rangers was a club that I felt was like my home and receiving that treatment was so hard for me."

On his deteriorating relationship with Beale and Rangers exit overall, Sakala added: "That was the hard one. When I was coming back for the new season, I thought the coach would trust me. and want me there for the new season. He didn't talk to me about anything or any transfers.

"He clearly showed me that I wasn't part of his plans without telling me anything. The time I received a call from Mick Beale was when he told me not to come to the training ground anymore. That was hard to take for me because I didn't do anything. Players leave clubs but they are not told not to go to the training ground, not told not to be part of the team.

"I stayed without training with the club for almost two weeks. I think I deserved much better, I deserved to be respected at least. I understand you want to sell me to get money to buy new players, that is fine.

"But let me just be part of the team, let me say goodbye nicely to my team-mates. When I received a call that I shouldn’t go to the training ground anymore, I didn’t see any of my team-mates anymore. It was hard to say goodbye in such a bad way to people who looked after me so well – Tavernier, Goldson – I had to talk to them on phones when it was time to leave.

"It was hard for them to believe that I wasn’t allowed to go to the training ground anymore. It was sad the way I said goodbye to Rangers, it is very sad. I know the fans didn’t understand the role they were playing with me, but they really helped me a lot.

“The favour I wasn’t getting from the managers, I was getting it from the fans, I was getting it from the players. I was pushing myself every day and working hard every day to do it for them because when I do it, I knew they would be very proud of me and would be singing my song and pushing me.

"They played a bigger role for me there than some of the coaches I worked with at Rangers to be honest. “For me, the fans were more important than some of the coaches there. Except Gerrard, he was special.”

I think this may be from the Record but copied from FF

Real Betis 3 Rangers 1

FGS Tav

1 hour ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

In my opinion the police just do as they are told. They don't make decisions or apply common sense.

 

Football fans are easy targets. Our supporters more than others. I think the authorities are still stuck in the 80's where every football supporter is a working class hooligan.

I believe that there's a bit more to it than that but I'm going to leave it there.

1 hour ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Not to hard to see how this can be applied by over zealous jobsworths on football fans who seem to be perceived by the powers that be as the lowest echelon of society. 

 

If you want to fix an issue with football supporters fix the issue in general society. Anything else is just lazy.

 

Are the police clamping down on them because they're football fans or for other reasons?

It's there every week. Comes across as childish, as does the chant. 

Perhaps some of their complaints as highlighted by Gonzo are valid, but it's not as if they're all angels. They can't get up to some of the stuff that they do and not expect an increased examination. 

I'm sure there's faults on both sides. 

1 hour ago, JohnMc said:

Hearts would need to weigh up criticism from their support and the loss of an important player, with cashing in on a player who by that point may no longer want to be there.

But also take into account the cash they could make from European qualification if they keep him. That may value us out of it. 

I'm going for Dessers. Got the important first goal and generally played well until he tired. 

2 hours ago, Method Man said:

Why did Dessers not have a shot with that chance in the 2nd half.

 

Needs to hit rather than take so many touches 

Think he was knackered at that point. 

20 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

We're getting drawn into a silly argument. 

 

I don't think it's wrong to say Ferguson wasn't better than anything we had at the time (Kamara, Aribo, Davis, Jack, Arfield, etc.). He looks to be more than good enough for us now, but he wasn't then. 

 

However, what he was was a promising young player, who was performing well and was seen as one of the best midfielders in the league.

 

These types of players should not be sniffed at. Even if they just become decent squad players, they should be looked at. 

 

How was Jack received at the time?

It would have been great to have signed him as a squad player but were we in a position to spend £3-4 million on a squad player?

Jack was signed on a free contract and was looked upon as a starter when he signed back in 2017 so isn't really comparable. 

14 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

He bullied our midfield on many occasions in my opinion.

 

Its mad that we still have people thinking he's not good enough for us when he is coveted by clubs who buy players more than our club is worth.

 

FWIW this isnt 'what could have been' greetin into a pint.

 

Its more of an open your eyes and look for the Andy Robertsons, Lewis Fergusons, Aaron Hickeys, Josh Doigs, John McGinns(i know that would never happen but in theory) that are here and performing instead of throwing money at guys from abroad who are not up to it and cant be registered for Europe.

 

 

I don't recall him bullying our midfield and certainly many are looking at him now with the benefit of hindsight, although I'm not suggesting that you are.

We absolutely should have tried to sign Andy Robertson when he was at QP. He was the standout player we played against on our way back up the leagues. There's also the question of whether he would have signed for us in the same way as McGinn. Hickey seemed lightweight while at Hearts and I'm not sure he would have got the chance to develop with us in the way that he has. Agree about Doig.

I'd also comment that as I didn't see the potential in Ferguson and Hickey that you can probably take my views with a pinch of salt