Tannochsidebear

Did Thomson pick up the injury while training with Scotland, or is it an aftereffect of the OF game?

I've only been to one Scotland game in my life and that was at Ibrox!

 

I've always put supporting Rangers ahead of Scotland but of course always want Scotland to win and do well even if there are players and managers who I haven't liked.

 

I can see where some supporters are coming from not giving a toss about them etc and I would certainly not call anyone doing so a traitor for not supporting them as it is their choice, a strange one IMO but it�s up to them surely.

 

I hope we win tonight and qualify for the world cup but I personally don't think we will and Burley is my reason why. He had 1 great season as Gribz said with Ipswich but I just don't like the way he comes across or what he has done recently but that's only my opinion but I do genually hope he can help us qualify.

 

I also don't mind tartan, kilts or bagpipes

I was in full agreement with you right up until the last sentence, then you go and spoil it.

I also agree we should all give Scotland and any Scottish players our support.

I do agree with Tannoch though in that i do wish Internationals were only during the week as i hate a weekend without Rangers playing.

Tannoch, you should not be too hard on Celtic players as you never know one day they could play for Rangers;)

I know fine well I should give all Scotland players my full support, I just cant. I am well aware that is a failing of mine, and was the main reason for the original post, to see if it is only me with this affliction or it is shared with fellow bears.

As for scum players playing for us, at least we know that would never happen...........

I couldn't disagree more. Rangers are a proud SCOTTISH club and anyone who does not back their country is a traitor IMO. I hate McGeady for turning his back on his country, not because he plays for THEM. In fact, I couldn't care less if they ALL came from Parkhead, I'd still be cheering if they help Scotland to any victory. Some of you guys should be living in England and see what we have to put up with every time there's a competition England are in - all the silly flags on cars etc. They don't care if players come from Arsenal or Man U or whatever and neither should we. In the current situation, injury deprived us of Rangers players - it's totally irrelevant that the OF match resulted in some international players being on the losing side. Some people of my nation need to grow up. And btw 'Flower of Scotland' makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck!

I dont see what is wrong with promoting the flags of your country, and it was really pleasing to see all the saltires hanging out the cars in the build up to the Italy game. Shame they all disappeared shortly afterwards. I am glad you like FOS, musical taste is a very personal thing, it is just not my taste and I cannot listen to it. If I am watching a Scotland game I turn off the sound for FOS being masqueraded as our National anthem. That is my choice.

First and foremost I think its the opening post has some ridiculous comments but it still opens up chance for a decent debate. It kind of makes me glad im not living in the backward victorian society of Scotland now. As someone said...go live in England for a while then you will see bias at its best and Scotland seems non exsistant. I lived there for a while and the BBC BSKYB are supposed to be British - your having a laff

 

 

 

Firstly anyone who has a smile on there face after there own national team get beat can talk a walk and go apply for citizenship of another country.

 

 

 

I find this very Celtic like minded and a pure example of how the hatred in the game will never disappear. Why cant it just be a banter fed rivarly between the 2 - because people are so filled with a self anger.

 

 

 

You dont sound proudly Scottish - You just told us you had a smile on your face at full time!! How on earth can an annoyance of bagpipes, tartan and kilts show your proud. I agree that there is not much need for them at football matches and they are over used on occasions.

 

You have a point on the anti-englishness thing, again this should only be a bit of banter between the 2 places IMO.

 

And on International football, there is a problem with the set up IMO for this. The qualifiers should be played in 1 period and not broke up over 15 months or whatever. There could be a winter break from the domestic season and then play half or all the games then. I can see where getting motivated for Scotland v San Marino isnt easy for some fans...but I would still watch the game with support.

 

 

 

A bit of a glory hunter then are you?? Jump onto the bandwagon when its going right???

 

 

 

Football is emotional at times, i pick up on every scottish players bad pass whether they play for Dundee Utd, Celtic or Rangers. But to single out Celtic players is harsh IMO...ok slaughter them when they are in a green hooped shirt

 

 

 

What do you want - a 2nd Rangers team turning out for Scotland?? Should every manager be a Ex Ger???

 

Whether Burley ws the right pick is another debate, I was 50/50 with him and I still am as he has only had 1 competitive difficult away game. His selections have been a bit baffling but there isnt much to choose from. Not sure if he ran away from Hearts, he was being told what who to pick for the team. He had a superb season with Ipswich, taking a small club to 5th in the Premiership. Massive clubs like Spurs and Newcastle are struggling to do that.

For someone who does not even live in the country they profess to love so much, I think you will understand if I refrain from taking Patriotism lessons from you. Perhaps if you chose to live here, living the rivalry, putting up with our demonisation at every turn, listening to how great they are from their mhedia friends, then you would understand my point a little more.

I thought it was clear that the wry smile at FT was due to there being 5 OF losers in the team and my long-held belief that if there are more of them than us in a national team, we under-perform. No answer forthcoming to the question posed?

I stick by the fact that I am proudly Scottish. I am Scottish, both my parents are Scottish, and all 4 grandparents are Scottish. My wife is also 100% Scottish and my son is Scottish. I am proud of our heritage, the great inventors we have given the world, our part in the shaping of the world. Around the world people have great respect for the Scots when you meet them and this also makes you proud for your country. The small matter of the international football team does not really have any bearing on being proud of your country.

What I personally dislike is the National dress (the skirt) the bagpipes which are an embarressment to music, and the fact we have promoted a second rate folk song to our national anthem because of an anti-english agenda to bin GSTQ because England sing it (rightfully) as their National Anthem.

I am fully behind your idea of cramming all the internationals into a winter break. Take a month off for the players to recharge, get their clean-up operations etc and get ready for the second half of the season, while those unfortunate enough to be selected for their country get to go off and play 8-10 games in a month all at once. It would perhaps refocus supporters like me into going back to being interested in international football again, as all the focus is on the internationals for a month at a time. Unfortunately I dont see it ever happening but I do like the idea.

I dont particularly require a National manager to be ex-Rangers, but they must be qualified to do the job. Burley has never had a big job to see if he is any good. Yes he did well for ONE season with Ipswich, but that was over 10 years ago. If that really is the peak of his management career, then he is most definately not the best man for the job. A Scotland manager should have managed at a big club or have international management experience. He falls short on both.

It has to be NIKE. Proper global branding. Go anywhere in the world and you have NIKE sports shops and you can see a selection of clubs tops from this group. There are celtic tops in sports shops that would not be there if they were not with NIKE. Similarly our tops are not there.

If it is not NIKE, second best would be ADIDAS, as at least they have global branding as well. Not as much as NIKE I dont think, but it would certainly get our stuff into shops worldwide. We missed out hugely by not having our tops in sports shops around Europe when we reached the UEFA cup final.

I know I shouldn't and I should know better, but I did have a wry smile on my face when the final whistle blew in Macedonia last Saturday.

I didn't see the match as I was travelling down to Birmingham for the weekend to watch the Masters, but I listened to most of it on the radio on the way down.

It always intrigues me why I dont want Scotland players to do well if they play for celtic. And on top of that if there are more celtic players in the team than Rangers players, I cannot wish them success.

I am proudly Scottish, but some of our "Scottish" culture really annoys me. Bagpipes, tartan, kilts, anti-englishness and that truly awful so-called anthem FOS. The results of England, Wales and NI dont even register with me, international football is just an annoying break from the real stuff in my opinion.

I must admit that when we pushed France and Italy close under Walter, and then Alex in the last campaign I couldn't help but get caught up in it a wee bit and actually went to the local club to watch the Italy game on the big screens. Even then I could only look at players like McThug and Hartley and wish them every misfortune and wonder why the manager could not find someone better than them to play instead.

I pick on the celtic players when they play for Scotland. Every bad pass, lost header or mistake is further proof that they should not be in the team, and Rangers players mistakes are "unlucky".

Under new management, with a ridiculous pair of assistants, Burley has a lot to live up to. I was naturally sympathetic to Scotland's cause under the previous two managers due to them both being former Rangers managers. Burley on the other hand looked to me as under-qualified for the job. He ran away from Hearts before we could see if he was any good and his greatest success in England was over a decade ago. His first few friendlies last season were hard to judge as Rangers players were withdrawing due to our mammoth campaign, and friendlies are a waste of time.

To pick 5 celtic players in the starting line-up barely a week since they were gubbed in the OF game was a poor call. The OF game is huge and their confidence must have been shattered (LOL). He can state that he had call-offs, but you must ask yourself why. It is already looking like Berti mark 2, with players seemingly uninterested to play for him, and I am sure most players will ask themselves why they should turn up to be coached by someone like Pressley, a player with "limited ability" if ever there was one, and no coaching experience at all, while Butchers experiences in the game since hanging up his boots are, sadly, hardly admirable.

So I leave you with this question,

When was the last time a Scotland team won an WC/EURO qualifier with more celtic players than Rangers players in it?

Answers on a postcard to Iceland before tomorrow night.

Likewise mate. Shame I couldnt stay for a beer and a longer chat, there's always a next time.

Agreed. Especially when you see the form they have knocked up, a one page "Word" document that must have taken about 2 minutes to create.

And if a Billionaire comes in, he wont give a toss and take his money and run.

It is easy for Murray to say he will only deal with people with Rangers best interests at heart, when nobody is wanting to buy it at all.

The proof will be in the purchase/sale.

In January 2007 we were admittedly miles behind the filth. The PLG moonbeam had failed and we needed big investment in the squad and team to even make us competitive.

While Walter on the face of it has done really well to completely transform the squad with under �£10M net spent in 4 windows, our chairman has systematically failed to give Walter the funds required to try to catch up with our rivals. We have spent less than them in a period where we needed to invest more than them.

Only their incompetance in the transfer market has allowed us to close the gap, and perhaps even overtake them. Strachan's continual bad buys has been of more benefit to Murray than anyone else.

Also, their failure to bring through any of their own talent in the last two years has meant that they were unable to sell on a "Hutton" to allow them to strengthen other areas.

I think Hibs thought that was the fairest way of making a voucher available for rangers fans to contact them directly. They obviously need to vet every fan that applies in order to comply with SPL regs on unacceptable conduct, so a voucher will have all the required info on it for bears to fill in. They are following Falkirks lead in this regard, but at least they are not using the local paper like Falkirk did.

Personally, I think it would have been better for them to put a dowloadable form on to their website, or to buy tickets online. These options may be considered later in the season or perhaps for next season if this system is to continue.

Again, I think Rangers will back down and go back to charging us an extra admin fee of around �£2-�£2.50

Deflecting the attention away from a monumental, disasterous, unequivocal trouncing.

We beat them then??

I see the point you are making Beattie, but I agree with the other posters on this thread.

Just because someone else is worse off does not mean you are doing well.

Great news. John MacMillan is a good guy, and he's got off his backside and done something about a dreadful situation.

 

It's a shame that guys like me will lose out through not getting their allocation through their season ticket though.

Of course I have some sympathy for season ticket holders who like to go to away games but do not wish to join a RSC. Thise are the real losers from Bain's 5% charge but you dont count in the eyes of our club. Just keep renewing and dont ask for anything.

As far as the Hibs game is concerned, a voucher will be in Mondays Sun for ST holders to apply directly to Hibs for a ticket. First come first served. Good luck.

No, not that one, I mean the good old Rangers Supporters Association.

Much maligned and much smaller than in its heyday, the RSA has done its member clubs proud this time.

John McMillan, the secretary of the RSA, has held meetings with both Hibs & Hearts over the last couple of weeks and has secured ticket allocations for RSA member clubs for this seasons matches at Easter Road and Tynecastle.

The long standing history and good record of the RSA was a key factor in negotiations with the clubs.

As John and the rest of the RSA often get some abuse for perceived inaction or press statements, I thought it was a case of credit where it was due.

i find it hard to take when people are outraged at the stuff he does, though. it's just irrelevant.

Correct, he loves the attention.

I would love to see the bears just ignore him when he does his half time blessing, he would soon stop.

He also said that Weir missed the OF game, and that McGeady was one of the best wingers in Britain. Our National team is back in Berti-esque territory i'm afraid.

If they cannot blame the ref or linesmen, they jsut get their friends in the mhedia to deflect all talk of our glorious victory and instead talk about victimisation of poor wee neil for days on end afterwards without a shred of evidence or proof to back it up.

If I remember right they only get about 6 minutes from each game to show as highlights as part of the broadcasting deal.

Gone are the days of 20-25 minutes of highlights from the main game, live broadcasters wouldn't pay the money they do if punters could see about a quarter of the game a day later.

I think Fletcher is a good player, as long as he is beside another good player in centre midfield. I dont think he is the one creative player we are desperately looking for, but is certainly better than playing defenders or strikers in midfield.

Maloney I am not impressed with. Was a one trick pony while with the scum and I for one was always fairly happy when he was in their team as the likeliehood was he would go missing for most of the game. Dont give him any free kicks in front of goal and you are fine. He was just another in a long line of undeserved POTY winners from the sellick-minded mhedia.

Yes we certainly can win the league and IMO we will win the league. It will again come down to away games against the top six sides, and we cannot be any worse than we were last season in this category. Improve that record, repeat our excellant home record, and the title is ours. Whilst not wanting to talk about the scum, their lack of improvement from a squad that was average at best last season does not make me fear them at all.

That is a good assumption to make from that. Expect it to be picked up and in the papers tomorrow.

I was quite glad we missed out on Shittu as I have not been impressed from what little I have seen of him, and for that kind of fee as well. I dont think we need another centre half, with Cuellar, Weir, Webster, Dailly, Broadfoot as well as the younger players who are waiting in the wings and even Hemdani could play there as he did reasonably successfully in the PLG era. I would much rather we concentrated on a winger and a quality central midfield creative player.

Given that your question is what do we think WS thinks is his best 11 and not our own opinion, if everyone was fit and in form, my Watty XI would be

McGregor

Whittaker Weir Cuellar Smith

Novo Ferguson Thomson Beasley

Miller Cousin

And in Europe, Miller would be much deeper, or Hemdani might come in to make 3 in the middle of the park and Cousin up on his own.

Again, not my choice, but given how he has played players when available and what he has said about players when they are missing etc, I think that might be his first choice.

This is purely financial. We need to play home friendlies to generate income. If we had won the league and therefore not had 4 Euro games to play, I believe we would have arranged another home friendly as well.

The timing is probably more to do with Liverpool's preparations as they gear up for their CL qualifier as well.