UCF2008

That's one of the problems with our club though, or more to the point the support. We don't accept defeat easily, even in meaningless friendlies and especially against what we regard as lower class opposition. We need to win EVERY game OR ELSE. ATM if you look at our squad we've got a good few 1st team regulars who are under 26. This amounts to a general lack of experience which makes it more difficult to blood the youth team recruits as we need to have a balance in that respect. Like I said before, Furman not starting was probably just down to the fact that Fleck was getting his turn. My guess is that WS was also experimenting with McCulloch to see how suitable he was as cover for an attacking central mid role. So apparently that's what we STILL NEED then

In that case maybe we should try to hijack Madrid's move for Ronaldo. What do you reckon? Would �£5m be enough??

I thought WS had done just that already. At the very least Boyd said he had. Also let's not forget that it was Boyd who triggered all this nonsense in the first place with some ill-chosen words, dutifully twisted by the press at the end of the season. IMO all this talk about offers for Boyd is ridiculous. I don't know WTF Cardiff and their support think they're up to (Celt-ic connections??) as with the amount of former Gers playing for them you'd think they'd show a little more respect for our club, but you can be sure the mhedia is just having a field day with this BS. No club with any sort of level-headed management would WANT to sell it's top scorer. At the end of the day, Boyd doesn't want to leave and in the unforeseen event that he did, with his scoring record you can be sure that Rangers would (or should at least) have a FAR HIGHER valuation of the player than the figures being spoken about. Seriously, if Boyd was an English International playing in the EPL, with his record (and flaws), he'd be worth around �£20m. Of course he's not English and he's playing in the SPL. Does that justify such a f**king stupid under-valuation though??

It's hard to say. He's been there done that and it's an outdated system (at least outwith the SPL) unless you've got the world class players to back it up ...depends on the level (and tactics) of the opposition I suppose. Personally, I'd like to see us stick with the 4-5-1. If we can get the right combo in that midifield 5, it'll make ALL the difference. That's not necessarily good news for the likes of Boyd. However, unlike the majority, I've not 'completely' written him off in terms of ability to play the lone striker role, as when this system is played to it's strengths the 'lone' striker isn't as much on his lonesome. Basically I want to see us play a 4-3-3 in attack and 4-5-1 in defence and this only works if the spare pair of attacking mids can also defend ...Unless you're Barca of course

Of course I am trying to be optomistic with regards to Miller, but I'm still surprised that 3 votes so far have him as top scorer - Are you guys taking the pi$$?? I'm starting to feel sorry for Wee Nacho as well, because in all honesty if I was to pick a top scorer (Boyd aside) it would be him or Velicka.

Depends how many Penalty shoot-outs we end up with Seriously though, I'm hoping KM won't be too bad afterall. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a marked improvement in his goals:game ratio. If he's given enough time on the park, I reckon he might just manage 15+ in the season. Time will tell. At least us lot giving him sh*t all season shouldn't have an adverse effect as he seems to know exactly what he's got himself into.

It does seem like a lot of strikers at first glance, but if you were to count Buffel & Gow as forwards as WS probably did (or didn't:p ), then consider that we'll be without Naismith for most of the season, it could be argued that there's been no change in the number of strikers from last season... Unless of course you add Fleck to that list His appearances next season might be limited, but there's still a reasonable chance that he could score more than KM Anyways, so long as we don't sell him, top scorer's got to be Boyd.

I totally agree. Then again, the stats which I posted a link to were purely based on our performance last season. Given the topic of this thread, I felt they were relevant and showed just how 'successful' a season we had. I'd obviously prefer that we'd won the quadruple like the rest of us, but I was just trying to point out that IMO it's unfair to brand last season as a failure.

So you don't feel the least bit of pride in being classed as the 4th best team in the world right now? Do statistics speak the truth? Personally, I think it depends on how they are formed and IMO having looked into the system on which those IFFHS are based, I find it to be much fairer than the Nationalistic, 5-year run system on which the UEFA co-efficients and rankings are based. http://www.iffhs.de/?bc83ccac3be8e00390b02fc5fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeed116 As for trophies, we got 2 of those last season. It might seem like a consolation prize, but it's still 2 trophies. Would I prefer just the one next season if it was the SPL? Probably ...but what about the following season? Just think back to the 97/98 season for a moment. I can remember us being on the verge of 10-in-a-row and WS announcing he'd be stepping down. The majority of us appreciated what he'd done for the club. However, at the same time we'd grown tired of underachieving in Europe and felt a change was overdue. If you look back to the start of last season, I'm sure you'd find there were plenty of fans who'd given up all hope of success on the European front because WS was back at the helm. So essentially, whilst alleviating any doubts we all had of his ability on the European stage (OK, I'm not a fan of 4-5-1, but when played well it's f**king lethal, not to mention commonplace in the modern game) he also managed to do what he promised us all he said he would and 'challenged' for the SPL. So would you at least pay the gaffer the courtesy of acknowledging that HE was a success last season??

OK, so what you're saying is that you want us to WIN both the UEFA (or preferably the CL) and the SPL next season ...otherwise it can be deemed as a FAILURE?? Seriously though, check this out: http://www.iffhs.de/?10f42e00fa2d17f73702fa3016e23c17f7370eff3702bb1c2bbb6f28f53512 If THAT doesn't represent 'success' for us, then I really don't know what will.

I could make plenty of excuses for the very few shortcomings of last season: The fixtures were 'fixed' ; our European run took it's toll ; our captain and tallisman was WAY below par, playing half the season YET AGAIN through injury ; The mhedia did it's best to throw us out of our stride with constant talk of fatigue for the last three months of the season ; Losing the UEFA final was a severe blow to the morale of the players in the title run-in...The list is endless. At the end of the day, I see it as being a successful season and I appreciate that a lot of fellow bears dissagree. However, if we win the SPL this season and achieve nothing else, then I'm sure many will look back on the 2007/2008 season as the MORE SUCCESSFUL.

Simply because they challenged not just for the SPL but on all fronts to the last. Simply because it was the 1st Rangers European final which I had the privilege of witnessing. Simply because, against the odds we did all of this until the last day ...picking up a 2nd trophy in the process. Simply because we were the best.

No. I'm saying that last season WS was just being REALISTIC when he said that our goal was to challenge for the SPL. Consider the fact, european progress aside, that in Eck's last season we came 3rd and only just qualified for the UEFA. Follow this up with promised 'moonbeams of success' with the PLG era which, at least in domestic terms, was a complete nosedive. Walter came in and steadied the ship. As much as I dislike seeing ANY Rangers manager give credit to the other lot, you've got to admit that he WAS just being realistic. I'm sure that in his own mind he was aiming to WIN the SPL, but all things considered, he could hardly promise that to us lot. You're right. I wouldn't, but like I said I expect us to win the SPL THIS season ...and the next ...and so on. I respectfuly dissagree and I think you might change your tune as well if the SPL is our only notable achievement for the next 5 years.

OK, you've got to admit that last season had it's up's & down's. The two domestic cup triumphs are scant consolation for losing the SPL. However, the European run was never to be expected and as much as we were all gutted at losing in the final, you've got to give the team a HUGE amount of credit for getting there. You speak about the last 3 seasons as being failures and yet on the european front we've came on leaps and bounds as our coefficient has been steadily rising over this period. I know a lot of the support couldn't care less about UEFA's convoluted ranking system but, given that CL qualification accounts for a massive chunk of what little finances are available to our big club in the backwater, they really should have more appreciation for our clubs rise to 10th place in the UEFA rankings (albeit in 4 years time). http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/trank2012.html ATM Scotland is on the brink of achieving a 2nd automatic CL qualification spot and it's mostly down to us. It could just as easily go the other way and we'd be back to just the one. We really need the rest of the SPL teams in Europe to start pulling their weight instead of dragging us down. You could however argue that none of this matters and as long as we're winning the SPL that we're guaranteed a crack at the CL. As long as we're winning the SPL, it doesn't matter how poorly we do in Europe, because we'll get a share of the pot just for taking part. I however believe that we, as one of the oldest and greatest clubs in the world, owe it to ourselves to continue to punch above our weight on the European stage and keep the name of Rangers Football Club up their with the best of them. So basically what I'm saying is that on this front I feel we're headed in the right direction and that last season was a huge step forward. Back to the SPL ...You mention that we threw it away and in a sense your correct. Then again, the fact that we had it in our own hands going into the last few games speaks leaps and bounds for how much we've improved over a short period. Yes, the SPL was always our main priority last season and players and management repeatedly stated this fact. However, when you go back to the start of the season, you'll find that WS actually said that 'challenging' for the SPL was the top priority. I don't think many fans at the time were too dissgruntled at the thought that, win or lose, we might just improve enough to avoid further embarassment. So I ask you, did we challenge for the SPL? If so, then taking everything into account, you've got to admit that last season DEFINITELY WAS a success. Mark my words. This season the SPL trophy is heading back where it belongs.

He reportedly wanted �£20k a week (double what he's on at Watford). I don't see how that's Rangers fault. They were probably offering a half decent wage rise at �£13-15k, but 20?? We're better off without the greedy bassa.

Agreed. Although he looked like a decent buy at �£1.5m, it's not really where we need cover ATM. Webster, Dailly, Papac, Broadfoot & Hemdani can all play at CB, so we should be concentrating on the midfield.

Hopefully just down to squad rotation. It was good to see Furman given 20 mins though. It's all propeganda :lol Seriously though, I have to agree. Looks like he's hit the ground running ...Just so long as he doesn't keep hitting the post

Not heard anything yet except Beasley - Hamstring, Adam - Ankle. Hopefully not too serious and they'll both be back within a couple of weeks. Still not the best in terms of preperation, all things considered

1 pre-season friendly in and we're down 2 more midfielders At this rate we might just be playing 4-2-4 at the start of the season afterall

No use mate, you're forgetting that anyone with half a footballing brain (yes, I'm sure even Vinnie qualifies) would be on the pro Boyd side :devil:

The other thing to take into account is the squad size as the wages don't pay themselves. So far in terms of player numbers compared to last season, we've got 3 OUT - 3 IN and it is a reasonably large squad. We might have to offload one or two players before we can bring any more in.

I think it's more likely that we just don't have �£4m to spend AT THE MOMENT, at least not on one player. We've obviously got some of the budget left, otherwise the Davis talks wouldn't still be ongoing. If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say our transfer budget is �£9-10m

No, what I'm saying is that the one player we knew would fit right into an area where the squad was a bit thin and do a good job, could and should have been bought weeks ago. As it turns out we need that sort of player even more now. It's all fine and well to say that Davis isn't worth �£4m, but if anyone can suggest who else we're going to get instead without a) Paying that sort of money or b) Paying some foreign mercenary extravagant wages, then let's hear it. Like I said, there's no point bringing anyone else in if they're not going to do a better job than what we've already got. If you want to start talking about pissing away all our money, then how about us being linked with yet another player that we don't really need (Shitu) having already spent something to the tune of �£6m on more strikers (that we didn't really need either)

Reckon it's a safe bet that Fletcher would fit in well as he's already familiar with a lot of our players. I'd also say that I reckon he's at least as good an 'attacking mid' as Ferguson. Then there's the dissruption that could be caused to the shape of our team if we bring someone else in and then have to adapt mid-season when Ferguson comes back. For me, Davis is a good option and at a time like this we should really be pushing the boat out, but Fletcher is a good alternative.

It's time to stop pi$$ing about and either come up with the cash for the Davis transfer or offer over-the-odds in wages to a quality of player who's going to come in and do a better job of playing Fergusons role than what we've already got. ATM we've got Thomson, Hemdani, Adam, Dailly and Furman. Out of those, only Adam (and possibly Furman) is of any use going forward, but it would be a huge gamble to rely too heavily on either of these players. Another option would be to bring in Darren Fletcher, even if it's only on a 6 month loan. He usually does a good job for the national side in Fergusons absence (some would argue better) and with the opportunity of 1st team football EVERY week, not to mention the CL games, I think the player would be interested. Time for the gaffer to call in a favour from his pal Fergie?