The Tin Man

The work we do off the ball is superb at times especially against European sides

His league appearances for the last few seasons don’t give the impression of an almost £4m player... 15/16 - 13 16/17 - 16 17/18 - 29 18/19 - 5 19/20 - 10

According to a Scotsman exclusive we’re close to signing South African midfielder Bongani Zungu for around £3.5m..

First home game v St MIrren moved to Sunday Aug 9th 3pm

BREAKING The Scottish transfer window is now active. FIFA have just approved a Scottish FA request to open the window from now, closing in 12 weeks time at midnight on Monday 5th of October. #SPFL #Scottishfootball #transferwindow @talkSPORT

Ahh ok sorry,won’t happen again.

SEVENTEEN weeks and a day have passed since Rangers last took to a football pitch for a match – but the waiting was ended this afternoon with the Light Blues defeating Hamilton Accies in a bounce game at the Rangers Training Centre. Sporting the stunning new Castore home kit for the first-time, everyone in Steven Gerrard’s squad was given a run-out during the 90 minutes, barring Steven Davis, Ryan Jack, Allan McGregor, Filip Helander and Nathan Patterson, who were all carrying minor knocks. Indeed, each of the manager’s new summer signings – Ianis Hagi, Calvin Bassey and Jon McLaughlin - were all given opportunities at some point in the afternoon. Gers began with much of the ball, but it was Accies who took the lead after eight minutes as Ronan Hughes picked the ball up on the edge of the area, strode forward and finished well out of reach of McLaughlin. The home side responded well, however, and very quickly camped themselves in the Hamilton half with James Tavernier, Joe Aribo and Ianis Hagi all having efforts blocked by white-shirted defenders. Calvin Bassey managed to get something on a Borna Barisic corner at the back post through a cluster of bodies, but his header was grasped by goalkeeper Ryan Fulton. Hagi then dug a superb effort out of his feet from 25 yards which only just cleared the bar, before George Stanger got his head on another Hagi effort from outside the area which looked goalbound. The goal looked to be coming as half-time approached, and on 43 minutes it duly arrived. With Gers still pushed forward from a corner, the ball broke left for James Tavernier, and he delivered an excellent ball into the front-post for Calvin Bassey to nod-on into the back of the net beyond the reach of Fulton. Into the second half, and the Light Blues twice came close to taking the lead in the opening minute of the half. The lively Jamie Murphy was alert to rob Daryl Meikle of the ball as he dallied on it at the back, but sub ‘keeper Kyle Gourlay did well to block his powerful effort from the edge of the area. The ball broke, however, to the incoming Alfredo Morelos, and he hit it first-time from 25-yards with his effort only just clearing the bar. Rangers continued to threaten, and Murphy had another effort from distance held by Gourlay, while the goalkeeper made a super block at his near-post as George Edmundson flicked a Jordan Jones corner goalwards. A grounded Lewis Mayo had an effort on the six-yard line deflected over, while Gourlay denied Morelos from close-range on the end of a Murphy ball into the area. Greg Stewart then did well to intercept a Gourlay ball to full-back Kyle Munro but after superbly dancing his way into the area, he fired his eventual effort over the bar. All the play was being made by Rangers, and the chances were only going one way – and with just three minutes left, the Light Blues were awarded a penalty with Markus Fjortoft bringing down Morelos inside the area. Up-stepped El Buffalo to take it, and he expertly dispatched it into the back of the net, waiting for Gourlay to move right before finishing to his left, to win the game for the Light Blues. This was a very worthwhile exercise for Gers as they stepped up their preparations for the new season. Next up is Ligue 1 side Lyon on Thursday evening Article Copyright © 2020. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to www.rangers.co.uk

Yep 2-1 Bassey and Morelos with a penalty

As part of the resumption of professional football in France, Groupama Stadium is delighted to host the Veolia Trophy on July 16 and 18. This tournament organized over two days in the Décines stadium, propriety of Olympique Lyonnais, will bring together four teams: two French Ligue 1 clubs, OL and OGC Nice and two Scottish teams, Celtic FC and Rangers FC. The Veolia Trophy will take place on the model of a mini championship in which each of the French teams will receive the two Scottish teams according to the following program: Thursday July 16th at 6:15 pm OGC Nice / Celtic FC Thursday July 16th at 8:45 pm OL / Rangers FC Saturday July 18th at 6:15 pm OGC Nice / Rangers FC Saturday July 18th at 8:45 pm OL / Celtic FC The tournament will be broadcast live on OLTV / OLPLAY. OL / Celtic FC, scheduled on Saturday July 18th at 8.45 pm, will also be broadcast on Canal +. Environment Partner of Olympique Lyonnais, Veolia is joining in the return of professional football on the field with its public, offering the Veolia Trophy to the winner of the tournament. For the first time since the official reopening of sports arenas to the public, Groupama Stadium will meet again with some spectators, with a reception capacity set at 5,000 people per day. Particularly involved in supporting the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic, through its Foundation, Olympique Lyonnais wished to thank, together with the local authorities of Préfecture du Rhône, all personnel involved on the front line during the health crisis (nursing staff, associations and communities, etc.) by inviting them on the first day of the tournament. The second day will be dedicated to Olympique Lyonnais fans and members, who will also be able to benefit from invitations by prior registration. Tickets will be valid for the 2 scheduled games on the same day. In order to prepare for the return of the public in optimal conditions, the staff at Groupama Stadium have worked actively to set up sanitary facilities in line with government measures and shared with sports authorities. Distancing measures will thus be applied in the circulation areas with the establishment of traffic directions and the differentiation of access points according to the flow of spectators. Wearing a mask will be compulsory in circulation areas and hygiene devices will be reinforced by fixed and mobile hydroalcoholic solution dispensers. In the stands, spectator groups must be spaced by seats left empty. The delivery to seat service will be activated in order to limit waiting lines in catering areas and encourage contactless transactions. The “OL Protège” system, set up in conjunction with the local authorities since June 5th on Groupama Stadium north entrance, will be activated. This unique medical mobile unit is dedicated to spectators who want a free and secure access to a Covid-19 diagnostic.

Nice sentiments, he can certainly talk the talk... Another cracking interview by the lads. It’s nice to be able to read a piece knowing that nothing’s being taken out of context or misrepresented in anyway. Quite refreshing really. In the week when the DR’s parent company announced hundreds of redundancies you think they’d take note...

With the 2019/20 season now scheduled to finish on 21 August, the principal change to the 2020/21 calendar is that everything is now a little later. Qualifying, which had been due to begin on 25 June, will now kick off on 20 August. The group stage draw will take place in Athens on 2 October with the competition proper getting under way on 22 October. The knockout stages will be unchanged from the original schedule. All qualifying ties will be single-leg matches. These matches will take place behind closed doors. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will not be introduced for the group phase, as was planned. It will still be used in the knockout stage, with introduction for the group stage in 2021/22. The final will take place at Poland's Gdańsk Stadium, which had been due to stage the 2020 decider. Seville, the prospective 2021 host, will now host the 2022 event. When will matches take place? Qualifying 20/08/2020 Preliminary round 27/08/2020 First qualifying round 17/09/2020 Second qualifying round 24/09/2020 Third qualifying round 01/10/2020 Play-offs Group stage 22/10/2020 Matchday 1 29/10/2020 Matchday 2 05/11/2020 Matchday 3 26/11/2020 Matchday 4 03/12/2020 Matchday 5 10/12/2020 Matchday 6 Knockout stages 18/02/2021–25/02/2021 Round of 32 11/03/2021–18/03/2021 Round of 16 08/04/2021–15/04/2021 Quarter-finals 29/04/2021–06/05/2021 Semi-finals 26/05/2021 Final

Not a Rangers transfer rumour but I seen a piece today linking Sadiq with Man Utd for £15 million! Even accounting for the years between 2012 and 2016 he is quite possibly the worst player I’ve seen in a Rangers shirt! By all accounts he’s been banging them in for Partisan Belgrade but surely there’s never a BPL striker there!?

The revamped website looks the business as well as it goes

Try telling that to the Twitterati! For what it’s worth I like it, looks nice n fresh!

World football’s law-makers are set to extend the temporary rule allowing teams to make five substitutes in a game, rather than three, for all of next season. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) introduced the change in May as a short-term measure to protect players in leagues that would be trying to finish the 2019-20 season after the COVID-related lockdown — the rationale being that players would be playing a congested schedule after a long lay-off, with only a limited “pre-season” period to return to fitness.

Think it’ll take a catastrophic injury list for any of the young team to breakthrough this season of all seasons.

I watched every game Helander played through my fingers or from behind the couch! Just never took to him at all. His lack of pace was a massive concern for me

RANGERS are disappointed to announce that Niko Katic has sustained an injury during preseason training. The injury was sustained more than a week ago and will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future. Niko is being looked after by our medical team led by Dr Mark Waller.

Aribo v Braga for me

Quite liked Polster as it goes. Don’t think he did too much wrong when he got the nod but never really set the heather on fire either. £300k’s probably aboot bob on. Good luck to the fella

Cracking looking top and what’s more the sales seem to be purring along seamlessly, haven’t seen one complaint about the website crashing etc. All the usual pandemonium that goes with a kit launch has been negotiated well so far

Nobody takes Murty’s spot!

https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/castore-supporter-update/ RANGERS are delighted to confirm that our 20/21 Home kits will be officially unveiled on Wednesday 1st July at 9.00am. The kit design is completely unique to Rangers with best quality fabrics, bespoke design features and will be the first Castore x Rangers product to be launched to supporters. Furthermore, following the unveiling of training wear, we intend to launch our away and third kits in the coming weeks. This milestone will reinforce our partnership and a new era for the club. The fact that Rangers Football Club directly benefits from every product bought through Castore is very encouraging and gives fans the peace of mind that their purchases will be reinvested in our club. As previewed in the partnership announcement, MyGers Members will receive exclusive early access to the kit launch video and can also look forward to viewing the kit at 8am on the 1st July. Our new Ibrox retail store is being significantly redeveloped and is set to open mid-August, whilst Castore identify further retail sites across the UK. Commercial and Marketing Director, James Bisgrove commented, ‘’We’re looking forward to officially unveiling the 2020/21 home kit on 1st July. This is the first of many exciting and bespoke Rangers products that have been developed together with Castore for Rangers supporters across the globe.’’ ‘’The product development process with Castore is continuing every day with a number of further exciting products in the pipeline for next season. As we reach the significant milestone of our 150th anniversary year, we have a keen eye towards the 2021/22 season and the numerous opportunities this presents for limited edition Rangers products.” ‘’The new Ibrox Retail Store is making excellent progress and we’re looking forward to opening the doors in August, which will be a major milestone and representation of the new era and fresh start that this partnership brings.”

According to various outlets this morning Kamberi has had his loan extended in order to play in the Europa.

Clubs have been given the chance to opt out of next season's League Cup, SPFL secretary Iain Blair has confirmed. Those in the Premiership and Championship have said they will participate, while League One and Two clubs have been asked if they wish to do so. The group stage, normally played in July, is set to start during the international break in early October. "We recognise that this is not a normal year," Blair told BBC Scotland. "I think all of League One and Two will participate, I really do. They definitely want to start the league process in October, as part of that process we're also asking them about their participation in the Betfred Cup." SPFL warn of 'enormous' fixture strain League One and Two clubs to vote on 27-game season Blair says the exact format of the group stage will be dictated by the number of teams participating but he expects the competition to operate as normal, and confirmed there had been discussions about clubs who choose not to take part being compensated. "What we did not want to do was to force clubs to play football when it wasn't beneficial for them to do so," he added. "We just wanted to say to them look if you don't take part, it doesn't mean you're going to get no money from it, there are ways in which we can deal with that and it just helps them make a more balanced decision without a gun to their head to an extent." The SPFL warned of an "enormous" strain on fixtures for next season with postponed European and international fixtures to be accommodated in the normal calendar, as well as the semi-final and final of last season's Scottish Cup and the group stage of the League Cup. Blair himself warned on Friday that clubs face the prospect of playing four games in eight days, but added they are planning to avoid this where possible. To try to ease fixture congestion, the SPFL has held discussions with the Scottish FA, who administer the Scottish Cup, about scrapping replays. "For 2020/21 we think there's an incredibly strong argument there should be no replays once the Premiership teams come in in round four," Blair said. The fate of next season's Challenge Cup has yet to be decided, with the SPFL currently in discussions with clubs. They are also speaking with Inverness and Raith Rovers about rescheduling last season's final.