Zappa

This is why while most people were saying Adam should take a hint & GTF, I really hoped we'd manage to hold on to him. With Fergie away, Thomson coming back from serious injury & Edu still out I knew we could have done with keeping Adam for backup. Our problem now with the midfield is that replacing a good squad player like Adam with one who's even just marginally better than Adam was, is going to cost us MUCH more than �£500k so my guess is that we'll possibly rely on our �£2.5m man McCulloch with the youngster Ness as central midfield backup or John Fleck as an attacking midfielder & put any transfer money made available to strengthening the defense. That's what I'd do anyway; just get the defense strengthened with a center back & another RB, as SW can move to left back if Papac is out.

They've appealed the Loovens 1 match ban & will have him for their Aberdeen game. Dirty bassas.

That's not exactly a good comparison Craig. There's a hell of a big difference between a few people talking about Scottish teams doing well for the coefficient & dozens of Rangers fans saying they'd be willing to sacrifice us getting all the CL TV money & in effect losing out on close to �£3m so that we can *possibly* have a slightly easier CL group draw. That's what I was talking about & it doesn't make any sense at all, especially when we need that money and don't want the tims to get it. Any Bear that's willing for us to lose that money to the other lot just for the possibility of getting an easier CL group must need their head examined.

There must be something strange going on when 30 Bears vote yes in that poll. They're either dense or not Rangers fans at all.

In fact, here you go. I was primarily talking about a thread on RM called 'Celtic Win To Us Get Into Pot 2, Would You Be Happy?'. It's a yes/no poll currently with 165 votes, 27 of which are YES votes (16.36%). Incredible!! http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=118781&st=0&start=0

LOL Cal, you're right. I should just have given Walter a tinkle. Anyway, it was just something I thought was an interesting suggestion with a lot of positives. A young center back who Bougherra already knows from the Algerian side. Ok, so none of us have ever heard of him before, but Bears are calling for us to sign Gil Blumstein & we'd never heard of him either until a couple of weeks ago. I know it's likely not to happen, but you never know who reads the forums.

My mistake. It's ages since I saw the replay. In that case then, it was essentially an off the ball incident & tantamount to assault.

Rangers could actually make some noise about these decisions. The challenge by Loovens definitely deserved at least the same punishment as Lafferty's simulation, given that Lafferty admitted the mistake & apologized while Loovens denied any malicious intent & was found guilty.

It was on RM & it was actually genuine Bears. Obviously not the sharpest tools in the box though.

It's annoying, but there's no way he was going to tell the truth which would've been something like:- "I completely misjudged the challenge & when I realized he was beating me to the ball, I decided to try & hurt him badly. That's when I changed my direction mid challenge. You can see it in the replay. I would normally apologize for deliberately trying to hurt another player, but in this case it was a Rangers player & I will always try to hurt Rangers players if I think I have the opportunity".

That's what I think will happen. Aaron or a n other will drop in there. Davis should be left in the center with Mendes at least until all our midfielders are at 100%. Hoping that Davis only gets punted wide right in a real emergency & losing Novo for a short period doesn't constitute as an emergency.

What he said. ....with cherries on top & the world's smallest violin player doing a sad song. :giruy:

I've actually seen some muppets this afternoon saying they'd be happy for Celtic to beat Arsenal so that we get into pot 2. I mean come on. Aye, let's sacrifice nearly �£3m in TV cash so that we can get a slightly easier group draw.

We all know we need another central defender & preferably one with the advantages of youth & pace on his side, so that we have the necessary sharpness & pace throughout the back line to not be embarrassed in that department in the Champions League where we're likely to be up against some of Europe's finest footballers. Reading the latest thread about Bougherra I got to thinking "what if we bring in another Algerian defender who Madjid already knows?" "an Algerian international?". After a quick scout I think I've found an interesting player:- Rafik Halliche is a 22 year old Algerian center back who in the Jan 08 transfer window, received interest from a number of French clubs, namely AJ Auxerre and Valenciennes FC. However, on January 30, he signed a four-year contract with Benfica & moved to Portugal. Benfica immediately loaned him to C.D. Nacional in their own League until the end of the season. He made his debut for Nacional just 8 weeks after signing, coming on at halftime in a 2-0 home league win against Leiria. Obviously competition for starting XI places is extremely fierce in Portugal & as a result Halliche only made 18 appearances for Nacional, although that's perhaps not too bad for a 22 year old center back on loan in Portugal's top league. So, my thinking with this suggestion is that:- a] He must be a very decent player as he attracted interest from a few big clubs before Benfica gave him a four year contract. b] He's been training & playing in Portugal for about 18 months now & will have gained considerable experience from that. c] He's only 22, but has 5 caps for Algeria. d] He could possibly be drawn to Ibrox by the prospect of playing with Bougherra and the chance of Champions League football. e] He wouldn't cost us too much in wages. f] If signed, he could be a player that has the potential to greatly increase in value. Is this a player that could slot into our central defense with Madjid & quickly forge a good partnership? Is it a player we could possibly even get from Benfica relatively cheaply? Any thoughts?

TBH, I can't see the tims drawing Arsenal anyway, as their suspiciously never seems to be a battle of Britain CL qualifier. I'd guess at them drawing Lyon or Sporting.

Nothing is 'guaranteed' over 2 legs. Even a quality side like Arsenal can have off days as their EPL record shows & even an average/mediocre side like Celtic can have good days as their European record at home shows. Obviously I'd expect Arsenal to win, since they're by far the better team, but I wouldn't be putting money on it.

Like Craig, I'm not trying to start a Boydy debate, but there's some things said about him on forums that are simply not true. 'Can't head the ball', 'can't hold the ball up', 'can't play the lone striker', 'can't pass the ball', the list goes on, but these claims or statements (whatever you want to call them) are false imo. He needs to improve his fitness & hopefully improve his pace as well, but other than that, all you're left with to criticise is some poor first touches & mistakes, which are traits that our other strikers also posses.

If Boyd gets his fitness level up, he can definitely play up front in the center of the 4-3-3. He'll need a decent run of games in that role to prove it though & it's looking a bit doubtful that he'll get that game time atm. I definitely think he can play the lone striker or in the center of 3 pronged attack, but he just hasn't been given the chance due to the widespread acceptance that he can't do this & can't do that. Well imo, you shouldn't always take widespread opinion as being a FACT.

Dynamo shouldn't have sat back as much in the first half. They were breaking on the counter attack without any players. Thought the first half was even stevens & it should've been 0-0 at HT. Moscow always had a problem going out a goal down after HT. Hope they get Lyon next.

post deleted.

Aye you're right mate, I've changed the original post.

DINAMO MOSCOW v CELTIC (Champions League: third qualifying round, second leg) Venue: Khimki Stadium Date: Wednesday, 5 August Kick-off: 1700 BST Coverage: Live on BBC Two Scotland and the BBC Sport website, plus BBC Radio Scotland So, will Celtic's 'major' summer signing Marc Antoine Fortune find his shooting boots this evening in Moscow?? Nobody knows, but we'll all find out before 1900 BST this evening, as our greatest rivals take their team & a few hundred people wearing green & grey hoops to the Khimki Stadium in Moscow for the 1700 BST kick-off of their Champions League third qualifying round second leg. The extremely sharp Russian side which won away from home in the 1st leg at the Tattiedrome will certainly be no push-over. In the first leg, the Russians deserved to get their away win, having converted one of their several good chances & going on to keep a clean sheet away from home. So, alas, the pressure is now on Celtic to put an end to their embarrassing away record in Europe over there in Moscow against a formidable team full of youth, talent, pace & desire. The Russians won't be taking this 2nd leg lightly & neither will their opponents from Glasgow's rougher side, but I'd certainly say that at this point, it looks like Dynamo Moscow are the favourites to win the 2-leg tie. Mon the Ruskies!!!! :devil: My prediction - Dynamo 3 v 1 Celtic. (4-1 agg) - as well as Russian newspapers reporting trouble with 'British' football hooligans in Moscow, but very little (if anything) reported in the Scottish press.

Have to agree with this!

I like the tops including this one, but the shorts are all rank rotten imo.

Jinxy bassa ye. :box: S_A, it's mildly amusing that you don't care about the coefficient but you're willing to hope that other teams' results give us a better chance (of sorts). :devil: