Norris Cole

While we miss his experience in European games, I don't think Ferguson has been irreplaceable since 2003 to be honest. Pedro Mendes needs dropped IMHO, and it'll be even harder to justify his continued inclusion when Edu returns.

Loldwell and McManus will do the creating, don't worry about that

Maybe so, but he's in arguably the worst form since he came back. Novo and particularly Naismith are the form men up front. If we start with those two I strongly back us to win.

Yep. And I heard today that FIFA have changed the rules at the last minute to make the World Cup Play-offs a seeded draw. Now why would they do that then? They should just save us all the bother and pick the teams from the countries with the biggest TV revenues...

No doubt about it in my eyes. I am absolutely convinced the bheasts don't want him to start on Sunday. In Europe and in OF matches you get more threat from Novo in 15 minutes then you do from Boyd in 75. Five years and they still don't know how to play him.

I sat and watched their game tonight. They are murder. Close down McGeady (why can't we just batter into him early doors like we did in the old days?) - he'll tire after an hour anyway - and just wait for them to lose the ball. They must have had about a hundred misplaced passes tonight, the vast majority of the pressure their "defence" had to deal with came about precisely because they kept giving the ball away so easily. Walter keeps saying we're better at keeping possession these days. Do that on Sunday and I reckon these bheasts will lose the head. They're shite.

Tribute to Jacko?

:nn: :sn:

must realise we need to play two up front on Sunday. Their defence is absolute dung.

Not so much as manager, but back at the club as part of a consortium. Why does his name keep cropping up re. consortiums?

Got those three out of there. Pointless friendly.

Smith offered a new three-year contract? Ever decreasing circles: Radical change of philosophy required at Ibrox Darryl Broadfoot Published on 30 Sep 2009 Rangers find themselves in a cycle of helplessness similar to that which has rendered Gordon Brown a phantom figurehead of a soon-to-be shadow government. After the Prime Minister failed to rally a fractious Labour Party at their annual conference in Brighton, the Scottish champions hardly delivered a confidence motion before their new leader, Alastair Johnston. It was not defeat to Sevilla but the manner in which it was inflicted that has highlighted Rangers’ inadequacies at Champions League level and, frankly, exposed the collective tedium that now threatens their more modest domestic ambitions. Rangers performed prettily but without any hint of penetration until Sevilla began perforating Allan McGregor’s resistance. In the clamour to accuse the novice Swedish referee, Jonas Eriksson, of costing Rangers a penalty and a chance of victory, the most pertinent observation was glossed over. Walter Smith, a manager in the midst of a battle of wills between the board and the bank, could not have been more damning on the limitations of his team. “Once we have to open up and play, that becomes a problem for us,” he said. It was a comment that provoked nary a splutter amid the debris of a 4-1 lashing but, in the final analysis, such brutal honesty has been lacking from the hierarchy throughout this period of financial and qualitative downsizing. Rangers, and Celtic for that matter, are now so far removed from Europe’s elite they might as well take their curious little rivalry to Kazakhstan. During Johnston’s inaugural speech, he spoke optimistically on the challenge of removing the club’s dependency on external financing – ie the overdraft facility agreed with HBOS/Lloyds – while ensuring the club’s readiness for football’s next big revolution. Such talk is wildly presumptuous for a team who have won just two of their last 17 European ties inside 90 minutes, against Werder Bremen and Sporting Lisbon. It is a record of achievement that, superficially at any rate, is akin to cannon fodder, yet this sequence somehow took Rangers to a UEFA Cup final. There remains a strong whiff of denial regarding Rangers’ health, both in finance and on the football field. Smith, for one, has had enough of the propaganda. It is understood that he has been offered a three-year extension that would keep him at Ibrox until retirement age by the board members who wish to be part of a new order at Ibrox. At the same time, the bank have steadfastly refused to entertain the idea of any significant contracts being awarded to strengthen the team. It is this anomaly that leaves Smith less than enthusiastic at the prospect of staying on long term. The 61-year-old had not intended hanging around this long but the misery of last season’s exit to FBK Kaunas and a sense of duty towards his assistants prompted him to stay for another season. Had Rangers not been in such a brittle state, he would have left having restored the championship to Ibrox. In good conscience, he refused to let Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall to take the strain of losing 11 players in the summer while being thrust in the middle of a political struggle between the board and the banks. It is, though, unwise to assume that Smith will accept a gentleman’s agreement to stay beyond January. He may be a man of honour and integrity, but he does not button up the back. On Tuesday night, Smith stopped just short of saying his team no longer have the capability to compete, in the purest sense, with any opposition at Champions League level, never mind the established heavyweights. It is a watershed moment for a club whose best hope of finding a buyer rests with Dave King sorting out his tax issues with the South African authorities. Rangers’ squad has stagnated through lack of competition. The malaise was apparent even before kick-off against Sevilla. While the Spaniards snapped the ball around purposely during a rigorous, high-intensity warm-up, Rangers players converged around a temporary goal to take shots at the goalkeepers. It was the closest they got to scoring. Unless a new buyer can be found within a year, the club must give serious consideration to a radical change of philosophy. Smith will not continue to work in ever-decreasing circles but that is precisely what will happen if the club cannot retain their title and return to the Champions League. The sale of Madjid Bougherra, who now stands head and shoulders above anyone else in the squad, seems inevitable next summer. There are familiar groans about Smith’s lack of faith in youth, not least for playing a full-strength team against Queen of the South, yet he has historically railed against such populist action, not least with Barry Ferguson and, at Everton, Wayne Rooney. If Rangers do not place a heavier emphasis on youth development, though, there will come a time when the viability of Murray Park must be seriously questioned. If the board cannot sanction investment for the manager, then they will need to look elsewhere for a manager who is prepared to promote youth at the expense of instant success. That in turn will require a lowering of expectation from the support and a dilution of Rangers’ kudos. The air of resentment around Ibrox at the mixed signals from their club is now conducive to such sobering reality. There is a feeling within Ibrox that winning the league was the worst thing to happen, since many of the problems off the field have simply been patched-up. The outcome of Sunday’s Old Firm derby will either remove some of the gloom in the short term or compound it if the club slip seven points behind their rivals less than two months into the season. Johnston’s flying visit having passed without a victory being achieved, it will be left to Martin Bain to deal with the day-to-day running of the club. The chief executive deserves his opportunity to emerge from the shadow of Sir David Murray. He knows he must act decisively and clinically to address Rangers’ deep-rooted problems or suffer the same fate as the puppet prime minister whose strings are about to be cut. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/rangers/ever-decreasing-circles-radical-change-of-philosophy-required-at-ibrox-1.923211

Oh I'm capable - you think Ramsay "died on the plane"?

Here's hoping, though I'm not sure it would be as exciting as that dramatic day in 1995 when I kidnapped Derek Wilton's gnome Arthur. http://www.itv.com/soaps/coronationstreet/characters/m-pcharacters/norriscole/

I used to laugh at people who suggested this went on. After Scotland v Italy and Chelsea v Barcelona I completely changed my mind. There's a difference between incompetent referees and UEFA referees. I know a number of Chelsea fans who claim not to care about the CL, or the "Corrupt Cup" as they call it, anymore, and who boycott games, don't bother to watch on the telly etc. "Give me a Carling Cup at Southend any day" was one quote.

The only surprise is that people are still surprised by this. Most people have woken up to the fact that UEFA is corrupt.

Just heard on the Man Utd v Wolfsburg commentary there that the Champions League Final is to be held on a Saturday this season. Seems this had passed me by. An interesting prospect. It's still a 7.45pm kick-off apparently - I'd have made it a 3pm start myself.

Difficult to predict an outcome given the men running the line, but I do believe we're a better team than them.

First I've heard of that - disgraceful. Seems the Euro Ned was out in force after all.

Hear, hear, quite agree. Going to Ibrox is for the privileged few. Some clearly need reminding.

I can't believe a good poster like yourself is willingly repeating this nonsense. I'll assume you're saying none of the millions of Rangers fans living abroad are real fans. While that's your opinion and you're entitled to it, I'd suggest it's a trifle harsh.

There's nothing in that post I can remotely agree with I'm afraid.

At �£40 a pop, I'm not sure I'd use the term "not bothering to get off your arse". Having more money than others doesn't make you more of a fan. There will be 20,000 "fans" scrambling around for footage of Novo's goal this morning. What a shame.

Aye very good. These people stream, and I mean stream out the exits with 16 minutes left just because the game's gone and you're telling me I'm no supporter. What a stirring sight that must be for the players, at least they know we're with them through thick and thin eh? Clogged exits and huge swathes of empty seats being broadcast around the world. Again, stirring stuff. Real No Surrender that. "Follow Follow"? If you don't understand what's wrong with the above you have no idea what Follow Follow even stands for.

The sight of Stewart Kerr between the sticks for the bheasts was somehow symbolic of our supremacy in the 90s.