maineflyer

If I wanted to point a finger at fatcat bastards, which I don't, I could find many more appropriate people to point at than Rangers players. I reckon they're as free as anyone else to do what they want with their own money. I hate this envy-driven criticism of people, soon it will be considered worse than paedophilia. The little bastard who pissed on a war memorial deseved criticism, young men wanting a night out don't.

They've laid down a template of deep dishonesty. Of course this may be quite different in the future. ...... Shnarfle.

17 plans. It sounds kinda mystical, himalayan. A sort of hypnotic path to enlightenment and trophies. Oh yeah Elija, those bastards know what they're doing alright. It's all fukking cosmic determinism and inevitability. Lloyds won't know what hit them, poor bastards.

Wonder what happened to the RST's pursuit of their 17 different plans for the future of Rangers? Last I heard from them there wasn't a minute to lose and everyone needed to check their bank accounts and climb on board NOW! D'you suppose someone told them that Mark Dingwall would never be a director of Rangers and they could take their ball to another park? Of course I'm only speculating but it has gone awfy quiet.

Gentlemen, I've no stroke here, I just come along and say my bit, try to learn a bit from others and enjoy the experience. If it was any of my business, I'd be tempted to knock your heads together and ask if you both to grow up a little. Frankly, you're spoiling this and other topics, for me at least, and I'd like to ask if you could stop the tedious squabbling. Thanks.

to be fair though Ian, it's not crazy. It might be precipitate or even rash but surely not crazy. If, as many do, you think he's not the man to take us forward the surely that's accepting that he will have to go at some stage and even implies that sooner is probably better. Again, the inability of fans, individually or collectively, to identify a replacement manager cannot, in all honesty, be the determining factor in replacing a manager. Fans are seldom well enough informed to make such a determination, either about the choices or disposition of manager who might be available, or of the clubs ability or intent to attract given candidates. You (or my) inability to identify credible candidates can hardly support a case for it being crazy to try. I certainly won't be accusing you of any such thing. We're all entitled to our opinions. Some days we're more relfective, other we're prone to more assertive statements. You want Walter Smith to stay until the end of the season, or at least you're prepared to accept that arrangement. Others think a more proactive and immediate change would be better for the club. Without actual insight into club's situation, or the nature or availability of candidate managers, the truth is none of us are in any position to judge what's best. We all just take punts based on what we do know but I think all of us need to accept we just ain't best placed to take dogmatic positions on this. All I know? is that there are many problems to be overcome, both on and off the field, and there are people whose responsibility (even in law) it is to act in the best interests of the club (company) and to address and solve these problems. They may well be doing so but I see no actual sign of it yet. In the case of Walter Smith, I would welcome his departure today but only insomuch as that was possible because a new and more capable manager had been found and appointed. If no such replacement is found then it makes emminent good sense to carry on as we are for the time being. I think we need to separate the wish to see Walter move on as a sign of progess - and the wish to see him leave because he's actively continuing to contribute to a growing problem. I think he is indeed part of the problem but the degree to which Walter Smith's management abilities will further damage the club over the timeframe of (say) the rest of this season will be negligible. For that reason, as I said in a previous post elsewhere, I'm increasingly ambivalent about pursuing the departure of Walter Smith. The game is being played on another level altogether and it's already certain that Walter's departure will be part of the cure rather than the cure itself. There is some unattractive comment flying around this forum these last couple of days, especially from established posters who should know better. Whatever the reasons for this, Walter Smith shouldn't be one of them.

Who would know what to believe. In any case, it looks like this is the Sun's week for �£4m Rangers to Spurs moves. Two of them in two days. Lazy journalism, shite journalism, good journalism (well no, not good)? I know what I think of the Sun and Iknow what I believe Bougherra's intentions are. He'll be gone and it really doesn't matter where to, only the price matters now.

You need to get a grip on your standards mate. This post of yours still hasn't been groaned at yet. How are you going to get your groan count up where you need it if you don't make sure they actually get noticed by Super_Ally.

Jeeesh fella, you know how to hand out the compliments. There I was, thinking I'm an intelligent and provocative contributor and all along I'm just catching crumbs from your table. Something's not right here but only one of us knows what it is.

He's nobody's fool that Lee McCulloch, he knows the score at Ibrox. Seriously, what a fukking muppet.

To be fair, he's spent nearly �£30m, presumably trying to create a successful team. The net spend is an accounting outcome, if I wanted to judge business managers I wouldn't ask Walter to step up on the podium. The actual spend is what he is judged on as a football manager, that's the money he employed to improve the team, lay down a legacy for the future. And that's a hell of a lot of money for a quite miserable return in almost all cases. We can talk about titles, trophies and UEFA cup but in the final analysis what Walter has achieved with that spend coiuld be seen at Ibrox on Tuesday evening and it was .... simply dreadful. Whatever I think of Walter as a Rangers man is quite different from the way I see him as a tactician and motivator of players. But when it comes to the fundamentals of being able to spot a talent, take it another level and mould players iinto a successful team .... Walter ain't your man, never was.

The problem isn't your negativity, God knows there's been no shortage of justification for that at Ibrox. It's that you frequently make it extremely difficult to understand what your point actually is. Many of your posts have come across as evasive and deeply dogmatic. I think if you're prepared to put some flesh on the bones now and again you'd get a much more constructive reaction. There are some well-informed debaters in these parts and, despite their obvious character flaws:), there are probably more appropriate websites elsewhere if you just want to shout and throw stones.

Don't bite ........... don't .... bite ..........

And I'll drink a toast to him if he does. However, I'm sure he's not the only one who could win an SPL title for Rangers and his real weakness is that he will leave no legacy of success when he goes. the next guy will have to start from scratch, as happened the last time. Actually, I've little stomach left for criticising Walter Smith. Everyone knows his limitations and everyone knows this will be his last season. Most people are already looking beyond Smith and Murray and thinking about what might lies in store for Rangers.

Let's just say some people would find their next post rather difficult.

And I thought you and I had walked the same path since I arrived here. This is a most disappointing revelation.

Your consistency is next to your Godliness. Jock Wallace was an inspiring manager who deserved the respect he earned on all sides. Souness could manage, a real leader with money to back it up. Advocaat could manage with money, but not very well. His ego kept getting in the way of the players. McLeish did Ok while he had Advocaat's players, after that it was dreadful. Whatever PLG was, his tenure was farcical. Walter is taking Rangers on a stroll to nowhere but hey he's Walter and he's entitled.

Never mind that shit. I get the book or I publish the photographs!

Bugger all has changed, still couldn't disagree with one name...... except Mendes.

This is a club with a healthy respect for tradition. We held on to Advocaat longer than we should have. We held on to McLeish beyond his sell by date and we persevered with PLG at least ten minutes longer than was good for us ..... so we'll bloody well stick with Old Father Time until the sands of the Sahara slide into the sea.

Ha ha ha - but hold on a minute Musky, if we waited until we saw what happened we'd never be able to offer a prediction. And this new chant of yours, is it TBB tune or what? We're doomed, We're doomed, We're crabbit as can be. We're doomed, We're doomed, Don't scowl at Big Gordy He's full of hope and set for fun He'll no stand for for this gloom For he snorts coke and ecstasy

....and patly due to the rump end of Advocaat's spending spree ..... De Boer, Cannigia, Numan, Arteta, Klos, Ricksen, Mols, Arveladze, Konterman, Amoruso (Walter Smith). When these guys went there was precious little left and the pain set in. No money was spent after that until Walter Smith returned and he, like the talent spotter he is, blew the lot on dross. Smith's record in the transfer market: 2007/ 08 we brought in: Weir (Free) 99 games 4 goals. Ehiogu (Free) 9 games 1 goal. Thomson �£2m 51 games 2 goals. Djeziri (Loan) 0 games. costing �£2m we released, sold or put out on loan 9 players, taking in �£1.8m 2008/ 09 we brought in: Efrem (Free) 0 games in 2 years. Smith (Free) 0 games in 2 years. Beasley �£700,000 23 games 2 goals. Broadfoot (Free) 42 games D'Archeville (Free) 38 games 13 goals. Gow (Free) 1 game in 2 years. Cuellar �£2.37m 36 games 4 goals. Carroll (Free) 1 game. Michetschlager (Loan) 0 games. McCulloch �£2.25m 43 games 5 goals. Whittaker �£2m 62 games 8 goals. Cousin �£750,000 28 games 11 goals. Naismith �£1.9m 32 games 6 goals. Faye (Loan) 4 games. Vaiculis (Free) 0 games. Bendiksen (Undisclosed) 0 games. Bagci (Undisclosed) 0 games. Alexander (Undisclosed) 19 games. Dailly (Free) 21 games 2 goals. costing �£9.97m we released, sold or put out on loan 18 players, taking in �£9m (in 1 transfer) 2008/ 09 we brought in: Webster �£450,000 1 game, almost 2 seasons injured or out on loan. Miller �£2m 53 games 18 goals. Velicka �£1m 8 games 4 goals, almost 2 seasons on the bench, injured or out on loan. Lafferty �£3.25m 29 games 6 goals. Bougherra �£2.5m 36 games. Niguez (loan) 3 games 2 goals. Mendes �£3m 39 games 3 goals. Davis �£3m 53 games 6 goals. Edu �£2.6m 12 games 2 goals. costing �£17.8m we released, sold or put out on loan 34 players, taking in �£10.3m 2009/ 10 we brought in: Rothen (loan) 7 games 0 goals. Wiktorski (a 17 year old Pole) we released, sold or put out on loan 20 players, taking in only �£1.95m So, in under three years, Smith has bought 34 players, sold 81 players with a total spend of �£29.77m, bringing in �£23.05m. And we're worse than ever. Once the over-emotional dry their eyes, how else are we to judge any menager.

A lot of the current Rangers support have their football roots in the Murray NIAR era. The next generation will be completely different and will have to find reasons other than success to bond themselves to the club. If we continue the current decline, the Rangers support will eventually and inevitably diminish too. Fan ownership in such circumstances could become an inescapable liability rather than a means of improvement.

I think you're both right and wrong. Right that we will enter a new era - wrong that it will be anything like we've seen before and certainly nothing like the revolution of the Souness years. We'll never see that sort of turn around again. Our new era will be very subdued and it might take quite a while (years) to see any difference. To think this will be our last embarrassment in Europe is beyond optimistic thinking, it's cloud cuckoo land.

Actually, you could make a case for worse things in football than the state of the Scottish game. You can no longer trust officials at the top level, whether it's club or country and a whole lot of results seem strangely 'pre-ordained', if you'll forgive the pun. Corruption is rife, money and greed dictate everything, and debt grows by the day. Fat bastards get fatter and the rest, including ourselves, are starved of funds and sidelined. How long do you think this will run before it flys up its own arse. I'll give it ten years, tops, before either debt or boredom kills the golden goose.