Tannochsidebear

A wee update on this thread; Most bookies have us between 7/1 - 9/1, with the best being Betfred at 9/1. Timmy are as short as 1/12 with Betfred and around 1/9 elsewhere. Paddypower have the very strange market with Dolly as second favs at 15/2 but everywhere else they are behind us. It appears the bookies are far from impressed with our market activity as our price has not come in at all, and the tims price has shortened. Interesting, and will keep an eye on this as we get nearer to league kick-off.

On a sidenote there are some supporters buses running to this game, and I have just heard that my own RSC, Nithsdale, are running a bus and that it is already over-subscribed. I think we are going to be amazed at the numbers going to this game in Lux!

I take it he didnt go into specifics on a preferred formation? We know he favours a high pressing game and also wants us to be good on the counter attack, but he did try a few different formations, mostly unsuccessfully, with last seasons inherited squad, and I am interested to know if he has a preferred formation that he will stick with for most games with some changes to this for particularly difficult opponents, and if so what this is, now that he has overhauled the squad and had a pre-season (for what it was) to mould the team the way he wants.

It may be cheaper to travel independently but you often need a lot of free time to be able to do so. Many of my friends end up going on 3 planes and a Euro trip requiring 3 days to save £100. I am quite sure they spend more than £100 on the extra days food and drink even before costing in days off work. The big difference between the TC and SO is ticket guarantee. If you go with TC you get your ticket as no matter the number of tickets RFC receive, the first lot go to the official flight. If you book up with SO you go into the independent ticket ballot. Sometimes this works ok, and sometimes it doesnt. I agree in the past the TC has been a bit like herding sheep with some daft rules etc, but I think that was more to do with poor management which wont be an issue now that there are different personnel in charge. I know you are right BH in the pricing from SO. They generally just cut TC by £20-30 but they do run a good service as an option for those who didnt get a ticket through TC sometimes.

Can anyone sum up for those not able to watch this at work etc?

Have travelled with the TC many times and generally all have been smooth operations. I have also travelled with Sport options a few times and again are a very professional outfit. I would add that I usually just do the day trip so cant comment on accommodation etc. I will be going with the TC again this time. I was in Auxerre but cant remember if i went with TC or SO, but other than the torrential rain I dont remember being mistreated?

I wouldnt be getting too excited about additional players coming in just because of this announcement. But I am much more content now about the players we have brought in this summer being reasonably financed as I was wondering where we were getting the money from for these purchases, but it was obviously being done in the knowledge that this deal was just about over the line and that the club knew there would be a massive new income stream this season from retail activities.

We are stuck between a rock and a had place when it comes to getting rid of Ashley and Club1872 acquiring some of his shares. While we want his shareholding gone, money raised by the fans to buy shares in the club should, wherever possible, go to the club directly and not to a horrible shareholder who has done us such damage. Paying off Ashley, while gratifying in some way, also sticks in the throat. Fans opinions on this are going to be very polarised.

We must get the point across at every opportunity to buy Direct from either the Club megastore or online through Rangers.co.uk. Any other purchase at any sports store (JD Sports, etc) ensures a bigger percentage goes to Ashley. Any purchase online through anyone other than the official club store ensures Ashley gets a bigger share. Buy Direct, or not at all. That has to be the message constantly put out by Club 1872, fans groups, forums, etc. If we have to deal with Ashley lets at least make sure he gets the bare minimum while ensuring we can support our club to the max.

I get your point on things like surplus stocks. Perhaps ask Club1872 if their assurances cover this area. I assume they must have asked during the conversation they must have had to get their assurances from the club.

Match sharpness should come through in personal performance. The fact that we cant fit in enough quality and progressively harder tests into our schedule this year means I wont be too harsh if i hear that players are not "performing" greatly in the 30-60 mins or so gametime that each player is getting, so long as we are improving our sharpness overall. With so many new players, a new system, etc I wont get too worried if we are not quite "at it" in closed door bounce games. Unfairly perhaps, but we are going to be criticised if we fail to win convincingly in both legs against our first Euro opponents.

Oh you tease (not you Ian of course!)

I dont really care about performances or scores in pre-season bounce games, it is all about progressing towards match sharpness for the first match that counts. Unfortunately for us this year, the action starts ridiculously early, so there is no chance we are going to be at full speed for next Thursday, but hope that our class of player is too strong for our first two opponents as we build up towards harder fixtures and the start of the league campaign. Adds more fuel to the March-November season campaign which I fully support.

Some things never change!!

Agree with mostly all of the comments made so far. It is quality, not quantity that is Gersnet's most appealing feature and I would hate this to get to where RM got to. A stats page would be an enormous help but I dont have any technical skills to offer any help to do it as I would guess it takes a lot of work, so hopefully someone knows how to do this in a quick and easy style. The mix of regular users articles plus the use of guest articles is always worth a read. Keep up the good work guys, I really appreciate it.

Watched the game but haven't learned much as he cruised through it with Portugal well on top throughout. I'm happy enough that if he is playing in a good side at that level, he is going to be miles and miles ahead of the Wilson/Kiernan partnership that I think I will still be having nightmares about a decade from now.

I get where your coming from, I just feel his best is not good enough. Would love to be wrong.

Windass is 23, not 19 the way some are saying he is young. If by 23 this is the best he can do, then its a huge no thanks from me. 5 minutes a game of good play is nowhere near consistent enough, and the other 85 minutes he is a luxury passenger. I'm sure we can get better for the same money.

Not the way I remember it mate. At Dens Park for example he had a very good first 30 minutes but after that he lost the ball several times, made poor passes, and fell out the game before being replaced. Given his lack of gametime, nobody was too worried about that at the time from what I recall. As always in these situations, players become much better when they have been missing for a long time. The lad has potential, but I dont see a key player in him, YET! Hopefully he can leave his horrific injury record behind him now that he is a bit older and hopefully finished growing, and settle into professional football and become a fantastic player for us that we will sell on for a big number, but I think its unfair to build him up to be something he wasnt in his brief cameos.

I think the opening couple of rounds WILL be our pre-season games. We may do what Timmy does and cancel a league game to fit in a "glamour" home tie on one of the weekends in August, but that is a cash cow and not really pre-season preparation. Like last year when the League Cup sectionals were effectively our pre-season games (discounting a couple of bounce games in the USA), the Europa League games will increase in difficulty as we proceed but should be winnable with a new squad. If we come against a side in mid-season we may struggle though as even with better players you can get caught cold without the gametime preparation (Red Imps!)

Really disappointed that AJ, on his first day back as a Rangers DIrector, gives an exclusive to the media organisation which is banned by the club for continual and aggressive bias against us. Worse still that the interview is with Timmy apologist and third rate "investigative journo" Daly. He needs brought up to date quickly with who he should be talking to, and who he definitely should NOT be talking to.

If Garner was playing for the tims and had the exact same season, the papers would be saying we were expecting to get our money back, or make a small profit on him, as after a slow start hampered by injury, he came onto a game towards the end of the season. Only in our world do we always talk our players down, and our ever-helpful media do likewise, and then is it any surprise when we get low, derisory bids for our players? I can see no reason why, if we paid £1.8M for Garner who had done reasonably well in the English championship where reasonably successful strikers regularly change hands for £5M+, we cannot move him back down to that level for at least the same money we paid out. In my book he did improve from a poor start, and is a better all round player now than 12 months ago, so why is he now worth half what we paid? Time for us to play the game cuter.

Disgusting, the law is an ass. I thought I was being paranoid to have no faith in a Glasgow Jury and a Scottish Prosecutor to bring home a just verdict, but turns out I was right all along.

"A forward player who can play in a number of positions" Be interesting to hear from Pedro as to where he sees him fitting in, and also does he expect him to be pushing as a starter, or a youthful sub who we are trying to give some experience to? Welcome to Rangers young man, may your year be invaluable to both of us!