redford

Why is it always about rashellick?

I though Um Bongo was non-alcoholic?

I thought his ear cupping thing was petulant, at best. Are we supposed to applaud these guys for staying amongst us or something?

Yeah. Of course.....

To yourself mainly, it would appear.

I cannot understand why a Rangers supporter would advise a promising player that he ought to move from this club. As soon as these guys leave Ibrox they are effectively dead to me.

They're the utter pits....we get it.

Agree with this. Edu doesn't win enough 50/50s.

It could be he fancies some champions league action.

At the risk of seeming anti-Nacho, ( I am not) I have to ask why he didn't accept the one year deal on offer and subsequently relied on his abilities to get the other year he wanted.

I'm no fan of Naismith, to say the least, but are we saying Smith deliberately weakened the team?

Sorry to see him leave, but his talismanic worth to the side at times outstripped his football abilities. In addition, it was up to Nacho to be better than Naismith et al and in Smth's eyes he wasn't. That''s not Walter's fault, is it ?

Rashellick quick news goes national.

"If yer a real tim Robbie, you'll stey"

A decent and fairly complimentary article from The Herald. Steven Davis exhibits mind over matter as the creative brain of the Rangers team Davis has this season shown the skills that made him Aston Villa supportersââ?¬â?¢ player of the year Richard Wilson The worth of Steven Davis can be measured by degrees. No player has created more goals in the Premier League this season, and nobody at Rangers has performed with quite such refined technique and intelligence. He represents the imagination of a side that is predominantly, and convincingly, single-minded. Davis is a deft figure, and often unobtrusive when not striking at the heart of opponentsââ?¬â?¢ vulnerability. It seems at times as though he distresses teams with the subtle intent of his range of passing and incisive running. His burden this season has been to provide the sense of wonder, or at least some kind of ingenuity, when so much of Rangersââ?¬â?¢ game has been based on stern command. He relies on being astute, but perhaps his greatest quality is the diligence that frames all of his work. Team-mates remark casually of the way he turns up every week and produces every week, as though the relentlessness can be taken for granted. But then, naturally, this consistency of ambition and exertion is not without torment. In the 1-0 win over Hamilton at Ibrox earlier this month, when Rangers looked jaded in every sense, a stray Davis pass brought Kenny McDowall to the touchline. The coach immediately signalled to the midfielder to keep his head up, as though a moment of imprecision would feel like a small devastation to Davis. After the match, Walter Smith stood in the dressing room to address his players and asked who was feeling that heavy weight of fatigue. Davis, no doubt solemnly, raised his arm. Itââ?¬â?¢s my job to create things and Iââ?¬â?¢ve managed to get a decent number of assists and a decent level of consistency Steven Davis ââ?¬Å?When you see guys like Steven Davis suffering a wee bit, you know that itââ?¬â?¢s starting to get to them,ââ?¬Â Smith says, as if the endurance of the Northern Irishman is some form of guarantee. Davis might as well have said that he was exhausted with the sheer extent of the anticipation that surrounds him. He is recognised as one of the players in the Ibrox squad most certainly equipped with the attributes to succeed in the English Premier League, where he performed with distinction for Aston Villa and then a little more doubtfully for Fulham, and with that comes a demand to be constantly relevant. For Davis, this means applying his perceptiveness in the final third, or revealing occasional glimpses of extravagance. He brings an assiduous inclination to the business of being enterprising, as if the greatest satisfaction can be found in simply being central to something meaningful. ââ?¬Å?Thatââ?¬â?¢s the side of the game I like to play,ââ?¬Â Davis says. ââ?¬Å?Itââ?¬â?¢s my job to create things and Iââ?¬â?¢ve managed to get a decent number of assists and a decent level of consistency. Weââ?¬â?¢ve got other players to break up the play and itââ?¬â?¢s the [other] side of the game that Iââ?¬â?¢m in the team for. There have been certain games when Iââ?¬â?¢ve maybe done better, but thereââ?¬â?¢s still room for improvement.ââ?¬Â The self-effacement is a virtue, so that despite having become the youngest captain of Northern Ireland, and played in the Uefa Cup final and in the Champions League for Rangers, Davis continues to seek greater sophistication. His time at Murray Park is often spent practising free-kicks and working on his finishing. Davis, among the four nominees ââ?¬â?? with David Weir, Kris Boyd and Andy Webster ââ?¬â?? for the Cheque Centre PFA Scotland player of the year award, is a pensive figure. The panache on the field may come naturally to him, but then he also understands that it must be accompanied by a fastidiousness if his potential is to be fully realised. ââ?¬Å?Davo as a footballer is top drawer, in his all-round game, and I have never seen him have a bad day in training, never mind on a football pitch,ââ?¬Â says Webster, who has spent the season on loan from Rangers at Dundee United. ââ?¬Å?His ability, his awareness, his passing, his movement, his work-ethic is second to none. Sometimes, when you know you are a good footballer, the running about is the hard part. But his fitness levels are exceptional.ââ?¬Â If the need to score a few more goals than the three he has so far this season is a small regret, then he might be consoled by their quality. His strike against Aberdeen 11 days ago, in particular, was one of exquisite savagery ââ?¬â?? a curling shot lashed into the top corner from 25 yards. It is the scope of his ability, something of deep value, that distinguishes Davis, but his care of it that is perhaps more invaluable. We might call it attitude, or at least recognise it as a willingness to distrust any sense of conceit. When Davis made such an impression on his breakthrough at Villa Park that he was voted the clubââ?¬â?¢s player of the year, young player of the year and fansââ?¬â?¢ player of the year, it was as a central midfielder capable, with sleight of mind, of providing a vital threat from behind the strikers. At Rangers, he mostly plays on the right, with two more doughty figures in the middle, although with a licence to drift that causes his marker to be disorientated. ââ?¬Å?Itââ?¬â?¢s been a learning curve for me in the last couple of seasons, playing out there,ââ?¬Â he says. ââ?¬Å?I still prefer to play in the middle but I know the manager feels he gets a good balance with me on the right. Probably my best spell of the season was when I did play in the middle, just in December when the team was doing well. But I understand the reasons for playing me on the right and itââ?¬â?¢s a position I enjoy.ââ?¬Â He is a small, slender figure, as if delicate, but he carries the ball with an irrefutable sense of assurance. Davis is treasured at Rangers, but there is also a sense of him finding himself after his move to Scotland. He has grown in stature on the field, while winning his first medals as a professional, and become a father during his time at Ibrox. When his mother passed away last year, Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant attended the funeral, a gesture which he continues to appreciate. Davis supported Rangers as a boy growing up in the small village of Cullybackey, near Ballymena, but has found the pressure to win, to always be domineering, both a surprise and a stimulus. It has demanded that he reach for the best of his game, and limit the rest. ââ?¬Å?I didnââ?¬â?¢t realise [the demands] myself until I came up here, even although I was a fan,ââ?¬Â he says. ââ?¬Å?You probably take it for granted that Rangers and Celtic win. There are no easy games, youââ?¬â?¢re playing against teams who are always up for it and if you lose a game itââ?¬â?¢s all doom and gloom.ââ?¬Â Rangers have at least been able to rely on Davisââ?¬â?¢ ability to rise to the occasion.

Gus Mcpherson chipping his nonsensical oar in about David Weir not being sent off for a barely noticable foul on Higdon a couple of weeks ago, may have helped to influence Thomson's decision too. Which ref is going to fancy that amount of mhedia earache for a week? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/st_mirren/8553720.stm

He played very well when he came on. I hope he can sustain the good form.

Agree. Their hopelessness would bring me joy.

A foul would have been given if it had taken place in the centre circle and on that basis it was penalty.

Powerful player and I would like to keep him, providing he improves his timekeeping. If he leaves and we get 6m plus, I'd be delighted.

No doubt with some home address publishing and car vandalising japery.

You won't like him when he's angry By Mark Hateley on Mar 11, 10 09:45 AM in walter smith If Tony Mowbray has learned anything from his first catastrophic season in Celtic's hotseat then it is surely not to wind up Walter Smith. I've lost count of the amount of mistakes the Parkhead club have made - on and off the park - throughout this incredible campaign but the single biggest blunder of the lot has been the complete lack of respect they have shown to the man in charge of the club across the city. Walter has had steam coming out of his ears for some time now because of a stream of insults and excuses spewing out of Celtic Park and he has responded like a man possessed. First things first.No wonder my old boss is quietly furious with the furore his rivals have been kicking up. They've blamed the refs, they've blamed the SFA, they've blamed the state of the pitches. They've accused everyone but themselves for the fact their team has performed so hopelessly since Mowbray took charge. All this crap about the "establishment" conspiring against them left a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who cares about the Scottish game. That is the kind of paranoid pap only the most deranged of supporters would cling to. But it seems pretty clear to the watching world from the comments which have been made during the last few months that Mowbray and his paymasters are buying into it too. It's pathetic. It's laughable. But it hasn't half given Walter a fire in his belly during what must have been the most trying and difficult 12 months of his career as a manager. It would've been understandable - given the financial upheaval which has been going on behind the scenes at Ibrox - if Walter had begun to feel drained by it all some months ago. He's been fighting a losing battle at boardroom level and has been left to fend for himself without any kind of support from the people running his club. Two years without buying a player? Working without a contract since January? Just about every other manager I know would have told the money men where to ram it some time ago. Walter stayed because of his love of the club - but even that will have been tested to the full. And then, just when you begin to wonder how he can possibly continue to motivate himself and his players... along come Celtic and their big book of excuses. In short, they have been an inspiration for everyone at Rangers. Walter has always been an expert in man-management but I don't think he could have dreamed for better ammunition than he has been given by Mowbray and the men running his biggest rivals. At the start of this season Rangers were as low as low could be after a disastrous, humiliating Champions League campaign. Confidence had hit rock bottom and I suspect even the great man's appetite for the battle was beginning to wane. He had been rabbit punched. He knew his group had been together for too long without new faces to freshen it up. He knew he would have problems picking them back up. And he knew Celtic were in a position to throw money at their team in an all-out attempt to win a two-horse race. What he couldn't have possibly bargained for, however, was just how badly the other lot would mess it all up. From Mowbray's mishandling of players in the early days of the season to his mass clear-out in January, it's been one cock-up after the next. Clearing out proven winners such as Gary Caldwell, Stephen McManus, Barry Robson and Scott McDonald was almost beyond belief. And it looks even more stupid now Celtic are 13 points off the pace at the top of the table and McDonald is still their top scorer a month and half after moving to Middlesbrough! Because of this list of ludicrous decisions Celtic have mounted a sustained and sinister campaign to cast some kind of doubt over the integrity of this entire Scottish set-up. And that is simply unforgivable. They have thrown accusations around on a seemingly weekly basis. The excuses they have come up with for their own shortcomings get more and more ridiculous by the day. They have attempted to blacken the reputation of the entire Scottish game but have succeeded only in making a mockery of themselves. But they were right about one thing. There is indeed something rotten in the state of the SPL - and it's festering away in Glasgow's East End. No wonder my old boss has taken it badly. Because of Celtic's attempts to deflect attention away from the real reasons why they are in such an awful mess, they have shown utter contempt for the magnificent achievements of Smith and his players. But, in doing so, they have also handed their rivals all the incentive they need to make sure they finish off the job. Rangers have been phenomenal this season and the way they have been playing in recent weeks suggests to me they have taken Celtic's nefarious smear campaign very personally indeed. I expect them to ram the point home now in the coming weeks. If they can win a treble then it will be a miraculous feat and they will deserve all the credit that comes their way. They have performed as a unit and a team with a single-minded determination to prove they are the best side in the country. No excuses. In all my time I'm not sure I've ever seen Walter so fired up. He'll want to win every game left now to leave no one in any doubt as to the quality of his team to wrap up a domestic clean sweep. If Rangers can do that then it will arguably be the greatest season of Walter's career and thanks to Mowbray and Celtic,almost certainly the sweetest.

There are few more impressive sights, within the current team, than Whitty going on one of those runs. If he could control the ball instantly, as opposed to it popping four feet in the air as he addresses it and eradicate the sundry variations of the birdie dance prior to the runs, we'd have a really special player, as opposed to the good one we have. ..........and he'd be on his way to the EPL.

I was very disappointed that it was MacPherson in particular who was aligning himself with the darkside.

I think the level of complainant (?) is significant too. We had, effectively, a few guys moaning about referees decisions on the forums and interweb and rapoops have their CE, manager, senior turncoat, most sportwriters and sundry shellic leg-ends input being sought and published as casual fact.