UCF2008

Some recent comments from Hemdani in the press seem to suggest he could be on his way out. I hope not as IMO he's one of our best midfielders. If it does turn out to be the case, let's just hope it's part of a deal for an attacking mid.

Forgot about Weir Dailly and Webster at the back certainly doesn't inspire confidence

In that case.... __________________Mcgregor__________________ Broadfoot_______Cuellar________Weir_______Papac Whittaker_____Hemdani_____Thomson_____Lafferty __________Velicka____________Boyd____________ Subs: Alexander, Furman, Fleck, Darche, Adam, Webster

If it had been Miller, he wouldn't have got as far as putting the cross in. ATM there doesn't appear to be ANYONE capable of producing a consistent standard of cross - even from a corner. Novo has spent most of his time at Rangers being played as a winger and yet has scored more goals than the average striker. We all know he's no world-beater but he gets the credit because he deserves it.

And another thing. What manager (being realistic) do you think would have actually won us those two trophies?

With Buffel & Gow I reckon there's more than meets the eye. I would hazard a guess at poor attitude. As for Boyd, I admit that it's hard to fathom, but it appears that he STILL IS down the pecking order (behind Miller) for the National team. I think it's far too early to make assumptions about what plans have been laid for the others you mention though. But they WILL stay in the EPL and as a result continue to earn extortionate salaries. The transfer fees may make them appear to be bargains within our reach, but do we really want to be paying any of those players 5 times the average salary? In some cases I would say it would have been an option to show an interest publicly, even if only to point out the salary as the stumbling block.

Ar$ehole$

If you bothered to read what I said (you CAN read can't you?) you would find that I was pointing at the boo boys as being more responsible for any lack of confidence than the tactics deployed. As I said I believe this goes further than a mere lack of confidence. What we've got is a team full of players (and coaching staff) feeling sorry for themselves. In some cases it might swing the other way, where players think 'they've made it' because of the relative success of last season. Either way, It's THEM who need to pull their heads out of the dirt (or the clouds) and get back to winning games. We can't do it for them, but the least we can do as real supporters is give them our 'support'.

Sorry but I don't buy that for a second. Where confidence is an issue, it's more likely the boo-boys amongst our support to blame than the tactics. Personally, I think last season has taken it's toll mentally on the playing and coaching staff alike. I can remember Hemdani saying before the UEFA final that it took him 3 seasons to get over losing it with Marseille. Obviously that sort of timescale isn't acceptable (not to mention memorable) at Rangers. It must have been a crushing blow to them all to have been so near to winning the quadruple and let it slip out their grasp and it's easier said than done but they can't afford to dwell. Another season is just a couple of days away and everyone (fans included) really needs to get a grip, get fired up and hit it head on. Keep believing

I'm absolutely gutted . That is without a shadow of a doubt the worst performance I've seen from Rangers. We've had our fair share of shockers over the past few years, but that was nothing short of disgraceful. The 4-5-1 was to be expected given that this was a European away tie. That said, against a team of this quality it was by no means necessary. We could easily have afforded to go 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 in this game. Aside from going with the tried and tested 4-5-1, the team selection was simply baffling, especially in midfield. Speaking of tried and tested where was Hemdani?. We played several games last season (even one or two in Europe) without Ferguson. Most of them used a central mid trio of Hemdani, Thomson & Adam / Dailly. This really makes me wonder why McCulloch was in there. Even big Lee seemed to spend the 90 mins asking this same question. Overall, far to many players failed to turn up for this game. It's a huge disappointment, but we can't afford to dwell or over-react. We now have to concentrate on the SPL and in a way, going a season without the distraction of European football could turn out to be a blessing on this front. Hopefully this upset can serve as a wake up call to all those responsible be it in the boardroom, coaching or playing staff. How they faired (marks out of 10) McGregor - Made a couple of decent saves, but also had a few hairy moments. Should have done better with first goal. 5 Whittaker - Distribution was poor throughout. Caught out of position several times. Capable of much better than this. 4 Broadfoot - He's a trier, but we clearly missed Cuellar big time in this game 4 Weir - Failed to provide his usual calming influence to the defence, nevermind the rest of the team. Not the right sort of character to wear the armband IMO. 4 Papac - Had a decent enough game. Contributed well going forward, including a late run to set up Vellicka for what should have been a goal. Was drawn out of position for the winner however. 5 Novo - Not utilised enough in a game where his pace was clearly causing problems. Put in the sort of shift we expect from the wee man. Did well to set up Thomson for the goal. 7 McCulloch - Was he even playing? Out of position, out of sorts, useless 0 Dailly - Looked amateurish throughout. Tried to get forward ..Why? Gave away soft corner through nothing more than poor ball control for the winner. 2 Thomson - Scored his first European goal for Rangers. Not a game he'll want to remember though. Failed to stamp his authority in midfield as much as he might as well have been in there on his own. 5 Adam - Even by his standards this was a poor showing. Not our worst midfielder on the night, but that's not saying much 2 Miller - Ran about like a headless chicken, missed what opportunities came his way. Need I say more? 3 Subs - Vellicka - Missed a sitter. Didn't have much of a chance to do anything else 3 , Boyd & Lafferty An afterthought when both should probably have started ?

Yes I do. It's uninspiring and does very little to lift the crowd or the players for that matter. It's outdated, very much like Flower of Scotland at National games. You guess wrong. I suppose it depends what 'traditions' you're referring to though. Well at least that makes one of us If you call telling 10,000 neds to stop singing sectarian songs 'sanitisation', then I'm all for it. I'm a Rangers fan, not because of any inbred political or religious misgivings but, because they're MY team through thick and thin and have been for over 25 years.

Brainwashing? I'd say that the inbred hatred which has been allowed to fester in our society as a whole covers that one. Like I said, Rangers have been trying to do something about it for years now. They've finally been forced to stand their ground against the 'brainwashed' generations of bigots amongst the support. They SHOULD be doing likewise at Parkhead, but that lot are too busy sniggering down their sleeves at the outcome of their dastardly scheme of a Sectarian 'protest'. As it stands, we're fighting a losing battle unless we hit them back with a taste of their own medicine. I'm afraid songs aren't the answer.

As for 'Simply the Best' - Yes, it is cheesy and there is the issue of fans singing the add-ons, but as a Rangers fan it does bring back memories of the good times and I'm sure it does the same for the Scots in the playing staff. I'd also say I prefer it to the dirge that is 'follow follow'. Sorry, but there I said it

So we should blame the current state of play on SDM? As far as I'm concerned he didn't have much option. As soon as UEFA stepped in, he could hardly deny any wrong doing on the part of our fans. If he had done so, we'd probably have been banned from Europe. As it was he held his hands up and told them that it was a problem which the club (and the other lot) had been trying to eradicate and had some success in doing so. As a result we've been able to continue to improve our standing in Europe and bring in the much needed revenues acquired from European football. This is true. Unfortunately the other lot haven't been called into question by UEFA yet. Maybe this would change if our militant minority would get their acts together and start making the right type of noises, preferably to the relevant authorities. There's no doubt in my mind that there has been a bias in the media over this subject, but this is partially because it's something which is difficult to defend. Bigotry is after all tantamount to racism.

I think it's less to do with being offended and more to do with not wanting the club persecuted any further than it already has been.

That makes a change A couple of points: #1 Charlie Adam gets far too much stick. For a player his age he's done more than most youngsters, when given a chance. #2 Broadfoot doesn't get enough stick. I'm sure he could turn out to be a decent CB, but if he's given enough game time he'll cost us the league. I Agree about McCulloch though. I'd obviously like to see him doing well, but he's just not good enough. We were robbed.

Although the Kaunas game is hugely important, the simple fact is that we're still in pre-season. I agree we've not looked too impressive so far, but the REAL WORK starts this week. If we get by Kaunas (and I believe we will) then the SPL kicks off next weekend and as much as we've not had a great pre-season, neither have our rivals. I think it's going to be a close run contest again, but as long as WS is in charge I'm confident that we're going to win more than our fair share of titles. Last season went a long way towards alleviating any doubts I had about his tactical ability on the European stage, which was really the only thing that troubled me initially about his return. I can understand the frustration from some fans at the defensive tactics we've been deploying, but like someone already said, the first task was to 'steady the ship'. We can now start to build on a solid foundation and I'm sure even WS would prefer to have more edge in attack, which goes some way in explaining the number of strikers we now have on the books. Once the imbalance in midfield is sorted, we're going to have a very strong squad. Personally I'm confident about what lies ahead for Rangers over the next few years. I hope to see Walter stay in charge for AT LEAST another two seasons and then by the time that he eventually does step down, we'll all be showing him the gratitude he deserves and happy to see McCoist take the reigns.

It's a good idea, but it would take a fair bit of financial clout to get something like this off the ground, especially with some of the names mentioned. Also, as much as it would be good to get Caniggia on board scouting for some talented Argie youths, I'm not sure if he would have any time for Rangers these days, considering the way in which we got rid of him. Then we'd still have the problem with work permits. Same could be said for the US (Reyna) and I'm not sure what Wilkins is up to these days (maybe give that one to Gazza? ) but the rest of the names mentioned would certainly provide a lure for young talent.

They would both be good additions IMO. I doubt �£1m would ever be enough for Maloney or if he'd ever want to play for us, but he's a decent player in a position where we need to strengthen. As for Fletcher, his wages could be a stumbling block, but apart from that I see him as the perfect cover for Ferguson and would continue to play a valuable part for the rest of the season once Barry comes back in.

Rangers are always ready. Don't think we need any more strikers though ...Unless of course you were trying to be sarcastic there. If so then FYI sarcasm doesn't work very well on internet forums

I think the fact that he's mentioned Club Bruges as 'an option', means that the 'several clubs' who've shown an interest don't include Rangers. I'm sure if Rangers had shown any genuine interest (and I don't mean last season) that he'd be over here in a shot. Still it's a good example of what other top european sides do with players who are surplus to requirements. He's been told he can leave but, with only a year left on his contract, they're still holding out for �£1m. If that was us we'd no doubt be paying him just to get him off the wage bill.

We'll be so far ahead by Christmas that Chesney will be away back down south with his tail between his legs, prob. to a championship side ...if he's lucky. RFC4SPL 08/09 is a foregone conclusion .

Are you mad? McGregor is without a shadow of a doubt our best keeper and should play. He's not even been out 6 months and like most the team it's to be expected that he won't be on top form at this stage of the season. After only a handful of friendlies I don't think Alexander will have much of a head start over McGregor in terms of fitness. He's hardly had a pre-season to 'look rusty' in, but then the same could be said for Adam, Hemdani & Lafferty.

I think we'll see a lot more from the likes of Furman & Fleck this season, albeit mostly from the bench in SPL games. I reckon Thomson, Hemdani, Adam and even Dailly will get a start ahead of Furman, but with the SPL under-21 rule not to mention injuries/suspensions, I'm sure he'll get his chance.

Likewise, I suppose if one of the interested SPL clubs are willing to cough up a fee which in effect covers his pay-off then at least we wouldn't be leaving ourselves open to criticism on the business side of things.