Tannochsidebear

Wont argue with that mate. I dont agree with our club's stance on this, thats just the way I see it that the money is more important to them, as it is to our rivals as well. Best not forgetting how the tag "Old Firm" came about about a century ago, nothing has changed in that regard.

I'd like to see MOH playing for celtic!

The cold hard facts of this is that it is all about the money. We are charging 7500 at £50 a pop. We charge much higher prices for hospitality packages for this game as well. Our whole tv deal, poor as it is, hinges on the fact that it is one of the worlds most hostile, noisiest atmospheres. If we take this away by having reciprocal bans or greatly reduced numbers at OF games going forward, it becomes just another league derby match between two very poor sides that the world will stop watching. They watch for the atmosphere, not the quality of football on show. The atmosphere is generated by the 80/20 split of fans. It is not going to change any time soon. The cares and interests of Rangers supporters in not wanting to give as many tickets to our enemy are of little significance to the money men at both clubs, and the league in general that is trying to sell this game around the world.

Yes, lost another 20,000 readers in November 2016. Long may their decline continue towards a terminal conclusion.

Is it only the position that matters, or does the margin come into it as well to determine if we have had a "good" season or not? i.e. if we come second by, say, 4 points but 30 points behind the bheasts, is that a success? Would the Scottish Cup run come into it also? If we go out the cup to anyone bar the bheasts that has to be a failure, yes? And to pick up on something he is quoted as having said, I have never been to a Rangers game where at 0-0 after 20 minutes the team is booed. I would like evidence that this happened. I know the press are guilty of making things up but I didnt expect our manager to start that pish. There can be frustration if we are playing slowly, badly, and getting outfought, but I have never heard boos in that scenario. Very annoyed at that. Warburton would be better spending his time trying to work out how to win an away game against a top side than spending so much time talking pish with the media.

My mystic powers know no end. I got a text at half time from a mate watching on tv that the BT scumbags had highlighted and gone into great detail about a skirmish with Kiernan and calling him to be sent off. I correctly predicted that Thursday's daily rhebel back page would be exactly as it is. Do I get a prize? A great first half hour until our pissing about at the back cost us another goal. I would like to see the stats about how many goals we have conceded due to pissing about at the back compared to how many goals we have scored directly from moves starting similarly. I think (just a hunch) we are in negative numbers this season. Garner has a couple of chances that he looked very Sebo-like in his finishing, Miller was typically gash, giving the ball away often and rarely supporting Garner up front. How he plays in front of the others remains a mystery. 4 goals in 25 or so games is an absolute embarrassment for a striker. Windass continues to look like a player from the third tier of English football and so out of his depth at this level, a total waste of a shirt. Others have commented that we played 3 at the back last night. I didnt see us like that very often in actual play. Wilson was left back in my book, with Hill/Kiernan at centre back and Tav at RB. If Wilson was left of 3 CB's, who was playing left wingback? I didnt see anyone between Wilson and McKay at left wing? I will say that my seat was very low down behind the goal and it wasnt easy to see the formation from my angle. I pretty much got the game I thought I would get last night, us playing well for a spell, falling out of it for spells, and settling for a draw. Our away record under Warburton against top 6 sides is shocking. That is now 15 points dropped in 10 away league games with a goal difference of -3. I'd like to hear a defence for that record for a team with the resources which dwarf all other teams bar one.

My mystic powers know no end. I got a text at half time from a mate watching on tv that the BT scumbags had highlighted and gone into great detail about a skirmish with Kiernan and calling him to be sent off. I correctly predicted that Thursday's daily rhebel back page would be exactly as it is. Do I get a prize? A great first half hour until our pissing about at the back cost us another goal. I would like to see the stats about how many goals we have conceded due to pissing about at the back compared to how many goals we have scored directly from moves starting similarly. I think (just a hunch) we are in negative numbers this season. Garner has a couple of chances that he looked very Sebo-like in his finishing, Miller was typically gash, giving the ball away often and rarely supporting Garner up front. How he plays in front of the others remains a mystery. 4 goals in 25 or so games is an absolute embarrassment for a striker. Windass continues to look like a player from the third tier of English football and so out of his depth at this level, a total waste of a shirt. Others have commented that we played 3 at the back last night. I didnt see us like that very often in actual play. Wilson was left back in my book, with Hill/Kiernan at centre back and Tav at RB. If Wilson was left of 3 CB's, who was playing left wingback? I didnt see anyone between Wilson and McKay at left wing? I will say that my seat was very low down behind the goal and it wasnt easy to see the formation from my angle. I pretty much got the game I thought I would get last night, us playing well for a spell, falling out of it for spells, and settling for a draw. Our away record under Warburton against top 6 sides is shocking. That is now 15 points dropped in 10 away league games with a goal difference of -3. I'd like to hear a defence for that record for a team with the resources which dwarf all other teams bar one.

I know you will think I am just reverting to type but from my seat in row C right behind that goal, I saw Miller look up, saw that Garner (the only target) was holding his position, and then still hit it across the face of goal. It looked a good ball but he could see nobody was going to be there, so it was in fact a terrible ball. Even more annoying than that though is that there was only one player in their box to try to get on the end of it, and that player is Garner who looks as likely to score as a Wilson/Kiernan defensive clean sheet, so perhaps Miller was going for the Waghorn "goal" from the weekend hoping for a defensive mistake into his own net!

Looks like 3 CH with Tav & Halliday at wing back, with a midfield 3 of Holt Windass & McKay and Garner & Miller up front. Big gamble by the manager at a very difficult venue, hope it works. I can't understand the inclusion of Halliday & Miller ahead of Hodson & Waghorn.

There is no point going into pubs looking for flares, the average age of a flare-carrying numpty is about 14, so none of them will be in the pubs. Idiots - that can be used for both plod and anyone carrying/using flares at football. Methinks this was just another negative Rangers story to add to the countless others our papers like to fill their empty pages with, or similar with our Scottish tv news stations.

We're doomed I tell you, doomed! McLean is an utter disgrace, he has never had a quiet game in charge of us. I was always somewhat relieved that he was so bad he would never get an OF game, but he must have proven his Rangers-hating credentials recently sufficiently to be awarded the game and a new shiny red card to use on our players. Without sounding paranoid, this appointment is worth a goal of a start for the scum.

I know it's like a broken record, but why is every player we are "linked" with play in the most over-inflated league in terms of quality and value for money. We are not going to build a title-winning squad/side from freebies and cast-offs from England with little to no sell-on value. I repeat that I don't believe anything the gutter tabloids print concerning our club, so I take this thread with plenty of salt, but after 18 months and going into his 4th window I can't believe MW/we can only scout/source players from one country. I will reserve judgement until 1st Feb.

Never heard it at all from Copland Rear. In fact fans were really poor today if we're honest. Thousands of empty seats and very little vocal backing apart from that embarrassing Garner ditty at the start of each half. I heard some young guys singing the Garner song on way back to the buses and must admit I thought they must have been watching a different game or were just pissed as Garner stunk the place out today, he had a shocker IMO with the header past the post being a miss I would even have backed Miller to score, never mind someone good with his head like Garner has shown. A lot of below-par performances today, but Hill & Wes were the best of our lot without doing anything special. Waggy and McKay had decent first halfs then got hooked which was strange, but I was delighted we seen it out and got the win, as I had seen this movie a few times before and was half expecting the late equaliser from the aerial bombardment. All good sides win ugly sometimes, we haven't got it done too often this season so I liked our defending and determination not to concede. Onwards and upwards to Perth on Wednesday, should be a few changes with Wallace out, Tav at RB and Hodson LB, so perhaps Windass will get a start, and I would keep the front 3 the same and hope we play better and get another win to set us up for you know who!

I would take Hill over Wilson every time. Defenders need to be able to defend first and foremost, and DW's defending over the last 18 months has been pretty dreadful. The Hill -Kiernan partnership looks a much better fit and I no longer hide behind my fingers at every cross into our box. Halliday needs dropped, pure and simple. Dreadful run of form for him. Perhaps a few weeks out can sort him out like it seems to have done for McKay & Waghorn.

It is supposedly to let the 200 or so ICT fans get home earlier as it is Christmas Eve. I would think this would suit far more Bears who travel from all over the UK than ICT fans, even if it is yet another game moved away from peak attendance time. I wonder how many games of our 38 in the league will actually kick off at 3pm on a Saturday?

Rossiter gets better the longer he is out!

While I dont believe anything the papers write regading transfer speculation, if I was Crooks and continually had to watch Halliday,Tav and even Miller getting midfield slots ahead of me, I would take the hint as well and try to move on.

Agreed, def offside. I think the delay was due to the linesman asking the ref if the final ball came off a defender, and when he was told no he raised the flag. Don't mind that as long as they get the call right. The save Wes made just before that was IMO the best of his Rangers career to date. I think that's the first time he has made a save for us that he had no right to make, a great instinctive stop.

Great performance today, the best since the April cup semi final for me. We were right up for it from the off, pressed high upfield, won lots of loose and second balls, dominated the play in good areas. McKay had a fantastic match and was MOTM by the length of Edmiston Drive for me, with Garner also having a really good game. We should have been in front much sooner than we were (how much longer do we have to put up with the utterly useless Miller in this side?) and in the last half hour (when Miller was finally put out his misery) we should have scored a few more if Waghorn had made better choices of when to shoot and when to pass. I was saying to my mate on the bus back tonight that a great performance like that gives you a lift for the whole week. Two good performances and results back to back in this huge month of challenging fixtures. Now we move on to Hamilton and see if we can carry on our form into an away fixture. There are more reasons to be hopeful of a good away performance than we have had for some time, change Wilson for Hill and Miller for Waghorn/Dodoo/Forrester and start the game like we did today and we should be confident of a good away win.

All the best Christine, it's only a number!

As I recall we had already qualified as a result of Ross McCormack's goal in Porto two weeks earlier (I was there!) and that this was a dead rubber match. Am I going mental or is it just another example of a paper getting their facts wrong?

While I would not be surprised at a large number of Rangers supporters voting Labour 40 years ago given it was still the working mans game and Labour were the working mans party, those days (for both) are long gone, so I would be absolutely astonished if 40% of Rangers supporters back this particular brand of evil known as the SNP in todays Scotland. One would only need to look at your own examples above for enough proof, never mind all the other examples. Perhaps it is a larger number of online poll-voting non-match-attending Bears that bought into the SNP's false rhetoric, and that in turn increased the overall numbers in the poll you seen? A bit like Rangers supporting Daily Record readers!

I remember vividly the articles you mention, the "Espanyolification of Rangers" which I still speak to my mates about to this day as it becomes more and more apparent this is working brilliantly for those of a green'n'grey persuasion. I dont want this to side-step the main thrust of your post, but "40% of Rangers supporters vote SNP"? Is that educated guesswork based on electoral results or a real poll?

Walter was always banging on about that, and I have to say I agree with him. Players that look good at other clubs sometimes dont fit in here under the microscope that we put our team under. To me it looks like MOH fits into this category, for one example. He looks worried sick when he gets the ball when we are not winning, and more often than not looks for an easy out ball. When we are winning he looks much better and confident. I think MW has totally underestimated the emphasis on character when assessing signings, however sympathetic you can be with his budget and lack of scouting assistance.

Well its almost lunchtime-ish!