maineflyer

The game Rangers can't afford to lose Published Date: 22 November 2009 By Martin Hannan FOOTBALLERS, MANAGERS, fans and sportswriters alike would much rather talk about events on the pitch than off it. Ball control rather than balance sheets is usually the preferred topic of conversation, but with Rangers up for sale, you cannot ignore the latter. So let's get news of the Ibrox club's financial crisis out of the way first, with the simple statement that there is no news. Or at least there will be no official update from inside Rangers at the moment, not even on manager Walter Smith's future ââ?¬â?? "it's not the right time to make such decisions," he said. Every senior staff member has received a letter from the club's lawyers telling them in polite legalese to shut their traps as Rangers are now in a formal potential takeover situation and the stock market honchos don't like comment that could influence share prices. So now we can get on with the business of Rangers as a playing team and oops, there could be a bit of a crisis looming there, too. For on Tuesday night at Ibrox, Rangers play VfB Stuttgart in the Champions League. If they lose, they are out of the Champions League, and will also be unable to gain third place and the parachute drop into the Europa League. Victory is vital, therefore, as it is for Stuttgart who have also stuttered with their league and European form, being only a point ahead of Rangers in Group G. The omens for a home victory are good. On the two previous occasions that Rangers met Stuttgart at Ibrox in the Champions League, the score was 2-1 in favour of the Glasgow club who have only ever lost twice at home in Europe to German opposition. Indeed Rangers had only lost once in 20 home matches in Europe before this season's disasters against Sevilla and Unirea Urziceni. It's a case of getting back on track, then, for a side which showed in Stuttgart with a 1-1 draw that they are more than capable of competing. And the hero of that night, goalscorer Madjid Bougherra, has been given a passport to play against the Germans on Tuesday. Northern Ireland internationalist Steve Davis feels that Rangers can still qualify for the latter stages of European competition, but says they need to fix their home form. "I don't know how to explain it," said Davis, "but when the groups came out we were looking to our home form to push us through and we just haven't been capable of getting the results. "We played well for an hour against Sevilla but they opened us up after that and against Unirea the performance just wasn't there, and we didn't have any luck either. If we were to lose our first two home games and still qualify that would be a big achievement. It's a must-win game and it would be a big plus if the fans can get behind us. "It's hard for the fans to get behind you when you are getting beaten 4-1, but hopefully we can start well, the fans can get behind us and we can go on and get the right result. We have to win to give ourselves a chance of qualifying for either of the competitions. "We performed really well against them out there, and though it took ten or 15 minutes to get to grips, I thought we played really well after that, especially in the second half when we controlled the play." One probable source of danger to Rangers is Stuttgart's most influential player, captain and midfield general, Thomas Hitzlsperger. Davis played alongside Hitzlsperger at Aston Villa and remembers him well, comparing him with a Rangers hero of recent vintage, JÃ?¶rg Albertz, with whom Hitzlsperger shares a nickname ââ?¬â?? Der Hammer. "I had just arrived and Thomas was an established first-team player," said Davis. "He had a great left foot and could shoot from distance, and that was one of his main attributes, and since he has left Aston Villa (in 2005] he has gone on to do really well for Stuttgart and is quite a big part of the German national team as well. "There's not many can hit the ball as hard as he does, and obviously JÃ?¶rg Albertz was similar with a great left peg. As a midfielder, you have to be aware that he is capable of hitting one in from 30 or 40 yards into the top corner and you have to close him down quickly. At Villa, every time he got on the ball at that distance you could hear the crowd willing him to shoot." Smith agrees that Hitzlsperger is a major threat: "If you let him have a shot at goal he's just like JÃ?¶rg. When I was at Everton I saw him play in Aston Villa's reserve team and he scored two goals from about 30 yards." Though securing third spot and a place in the Europa League last 32 would be most people's idea of salvation for Rangers, Smith pointed out that both his team and Stuttgart still have a chance of qualifying for the next stage of the Champions League: "The motivation for either team is great because though the results have not been great, we find ourselves in a position where can still qualify, but we have to find a dramatic change in performance from our last home game." Rangers simply must not lose or they will be out of Europe, with all the budgetary devastation that will cause. There we go mentioning money again ââ?¬â?? perhaps the best thing Smith could do on Tuesday would be to tell everyone at Ibrox to forget about bad finances and play good football.

It's fairly obvious he thrives on attention and seems intent on grabbing as much of it as he can. I'd suggest he's had all he can handle.

Yes I'm David Edgar's butler. Thanks for confirming everything.

I know who makes daft claims, then spends time denying and deflecting. I'm still very confused, what is the point you're trying to make? Is there one?

I've never been aware of any anti-RST sentiment on Gersnet at all. Do you have even one example, in case I missed it?

So, you haven't a clue. Thought not. Which confuses me a lot. If you know so little, what's the real point of all this?

And who do you think that is - stop being so mysterious and tell us who you think it is. Clue - you need to think about a name or names.

Thanks for that Calscot, it's a very useful perspective I hadn't thought about before.

Who do you think is providing the advice you mention?

It's actually a very serious question you raise. If we knew who this membership was we would have some way to grasp the weight of these statements from the RST. At the heart of the dishonesty I keep referring to is the inference by the RST board that their constituency is far bigger than it actually is. In fact its more than just an inference because we have their spokeman on record claiming a membership at least three times larger than it really is, so the RST also clearly recognises the importance of membership numbers. If the RST is really just speaking for its membership, why doesn't it just send out an email to each member with board information and recommendations? Or place hese on its own website? The fact it doesn't restrict its pronouncments to its membership is proof that it wishes to exert an influence beyond its constitutional boundary and this is where your question is entirely relevant and justified. The RST will say that it wishes to represent the best interests of the wider support and is therefore justified in reaching out to them. I would say that this is a dangerous position to take and the RST should instead work to expand its membership and those on whose behalf it can legitimately speak, rather than speak for those who have given no permission for them to do so. What I cannot understand is that even in the midst of a storm of criticism fom friends and enemies alike, the RST is making no attempt to change its style or strategy. Why is it that the RST cannot just publish it's membership on its website?

I think there will be a large number of people who will want to be members but, for whatever reason, will be unable to afford the fee. I just hope we can avoid any misunderstanding here - being a member would give you a voting right, nothing more. However, every Rangers supporter, member or not, will still be fully entitled to an opinion.

I'll wait and see what the truth is with this and I'm sure there's more to learn than the Daily Mail knows. However, there's a growing consistency to the direction Bougherra's career is going at Rangers and I think it will be somehing of a relief when he goes after New Year. These people cannot be the furture in any case. Danny Wilson and many more like him are our future. We'll need another manager to make that happen though - is here another Jock Wallace out there d'you think. Before I get pilloried, I'm not having another go at Walter but he's probably not the best man to launch a new era of home grown youngsters. It's all change ahead and I for one am really excited about it. Like a lot of my generation, I've seen better Rangers teams than those of the last twenty years, certainly than the last ten years, and I desperately want to go back there. What's even better is that it's within our grasp and isn't constrained by money.

Grood to have you on board in any case.

Very impressively done. If you pull this off you deserve great credit.

Rangers 5 Killie 0 Gotta be the score one day.

So are people from Dundee allowed to use Gersnet these days. :devil:

Every yes vote will only add to their pissedoffness, which seems entirely worthwhile.

Pete, Sorry for extracting again but I just wanted to make he observation that, while fan ownership would indeed be a worthwhile outcome, it really does depend on that ownership being set in a truly workable framework where all fans have an equal say in critical decision making and the overall direction of the club. If it emerges as another vehicle for the personal aspirations of a small elite as we've seen so often at this club then I'd sooner stay well away fom it. The reality is that fan ownership is no guarantee of a well run club. Unless very carefully constructed, it could be a chaotic disaster. Intuitively, I also lean owards supporter ownership but I can also see huge dangers unless it is very carefully constructed and a meaningful balance is struck between safeguards against and empowerment of the executive.

Are we saying that a boycott is only a real boycott if mobilised by the RST/RSA. Is everyone sitting around unable to reach a personal decision without being told it's a good idea? I'd have though boycotting Tannadice was an excellent idea any day of the year, whether the RST/RSA thought so or not. Sometimes it looks like we act like so many sheep - no wonder we find it so difficult to get anything done.

Aw naw, and he'd only just stopped. Right, I'm to VB, RM or any other two-letter abbreviation that doesn't have this pseudo-financial numptiness.

Glad that all seems to be at an end then.

Steady now Mr Ally, remember the blood pressure and the scrotal rash. I think we may all have to accept that Mr Spanner isn't necessarily playing with what used to be called a straight bat.

Accountants are of course quite dreadful people, simply goes without saying. Unfortunately, they're a necessary evil and sometimes have to be listened to .... then when all useful information has been extracted, kicked around the office per the natural swing of things. Our resident Gersnet accountants are different. Mild-mannered, erudite and practically house-trained. Clearly these are people who could have gone on to do a real job. Which is why, spanner me old cock, I think you should either stop the daft game or take some time to digest the very useful information you've been given over the last couple of days. Even I've learned quite a lot and I'm a genius.

I don't know if this applies here but I can tell you from the front line that there are a lot of people in our banks who are in a state of some personal panic at the moment, have been for the last uear or so. Some of the behaviour varies between irrational downright bad practice. Nothing that some of these people decide to do would surprise me particularly, driven as they seem to be by personal survival and opportunistic career development. Don't base your plans on an expectation of rational, business-as-usual decision making. From a business perspective, God help anyone who finds themselves actually depending on our bankers. Better to rely instead on any passing headless chickens right now. The idea that a boycott of LloydsTSB will result in a particular desired response is strictly from the land of wishful thinking. I doubt of anyone in Lloyds TSB even knows ahead of time how they will react... or afterwards, if they reacted at all. It's a heady concoction ... banks running in circles and changing their position almost daily, and the RST just running in circles. Good luck everyone, keep you knees together and ... jump.

You may be right but when I mentioned to the NUST committee member I was a Rangers supporter and was interested in any differences in strategy between the two organisation, it didn't sound to me like there was much awareness of the RST at all. It didn't surprise me.