wabashcannonball

You may think it is a gross misrepresentation, I agree with the people who think it is actually the truth. http://tinyurl.com/yb8lxn2

With the greatest of respect Bain should be nowhere near Rangers, he should go back to selling pies, he is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and folds like a cheap suit, when agents appear.

The institutional integrity of Rangers was destroyed the day Murray capitulated to Ferguson in the Le Guen debacle, we have never recovered from players being allowed to dictate in that manner, we will not recover from it until Murray and Bain are gone.

Doing nothing is not an option, but that looks as if that is exactly what is happening, do not be surprised if it gets worse, a lot worse.

that below is only surpassed by this seasons haul of 2 points. Worst home defeat = Rangers (Rangers 0-4 Juventus) Worst away defeat = Rangers (Rangers 1-4 Juventus, Rangers 1-4 Ajax) Least points achieved = Rangers, 3 points (1996, 1997) Least wins achieved = Rangers, 0 wins (1996)

I am looking at Boyd no one else, you don't think he is very good, his goals say you are wrong. Eyes from south of the border think he is good enough, maybe you should enlighten them to his obvious fault, he scores goals. My point, it has obviously passed you by so we will leave it there.

Argh why should I bother, I'm arguing with an idiot and he'll only bring me down to his level and beat me with experience. There was only an arguement in your mind, Boyd is a striker who scores goals, end of. Here is what the Everton impressions were. VERTON MANAGERS: Walter Smith Manager of Everton, July 1998 - March 2002 Walter Smith FACTS Born Glasgow, Played for Dundee Utd (Defender) Appointed at Everton in July 1998 (from Glasgow Rangers) Nicknames WS, Wally, The Sliver Sloth Everton Trophies None Left Everton sacked by Bill Kenwright on 13 March 2002 PREVIOUS MANAGEMENT RECORD Seasons Club P W D L GF GA Pts 1990-1998 Glasgow Rangers x x x x x x x Honours 6 Scottish League Championships (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997) 3 Scottish Cups (1992, 1993, 1996) 3 League Cups (1993, 1994, 1997) SUCCESSES FAILURES * Excellent ambassador for the Club * General good eye for new signings * Fortitude in the face of adversity * Bizarre team selections * Bizarre defensive tactics * Reluctance to blood promising youngsters BIOSKETCH When the end finally came, it felt like a blessed release for everyone, except perhaps the players ââ?¬â? who were possibly still toeing the line closely defined by disciplinarian side-kick, Archie Knox and his baseball bat. The football under Walter Smith was never stellar but it had now become unspeakably bad; the results were simply atrocious; the performance, motivation, organization and enthusiasm of the players perhaps the worst indictment of a four-season fiasco that ultimately took Everton precisely nowhere. Firstly, let's look at the positive things Walter Smith brought to Everton: * He represented the club in a reasonable manner ââ?¬â?? albeit in a dour manner * He never conducted himself in an embarrassing, excuse-making, referee-slagging manner (like Ferguson, O'Neill etc) * He had a dry, sharp sense of humour. * He was also a very well respected name in football. * He won a lot in Scotland, no matter how easy it is to do so, or how much help he was given. * He bought a fair number of players that had good reputations. But, by the end of his third season, 3 years into the Goodison hot-seat (aka: the poisoned chalice!), Walter Smith was under unprecedented pressure: * Everton were playing utterly awful football with little spirit or creativity. * Despite injuries, the available players appeared to be poorly prepared for each match. * The 4-5-1 experiment had mostly been a complete disaster. * Smith had a bizarre aversion to playing wingers, despite having Tal and Alexandersson. * The policy of buying aging injured players had backfired badly. So where did that leave Walter Smith? Well, Bill Kenwright made it very clear that Walter Smith was going nowhere... and Kenwright's determination to stand behind the manager deserved some grudging respect. Kenwright appeared prepared to give Smith plenty of time to turn things around, and a good start to the 2001-02 season almost had everyone believing. But of course it didn't happen.... When he was appointed, Rangers fans were invited to comment on their knowledge of him: * Good motivator * Gets team playing together * Determined and competitive * Unlikely to publicly criticise players ââ?¬â?? but murders them in private, if necessary * Carries a grudge to the grave * Will NEVER change his mind or admit he's wrong * Usually good at basic organisation and team structure * Tactically clueless * Needs a strong control over his spending * Buys players on reports and videos without seeing them himself * Very poor relationship with young players * Attempts to establish a steady regular team selection The similarities between Rangers-Smith and Everton-Smith were frightening... but they should come as no surprise: people do not change; the old dog was not receptive to learning any new tricks. In his third season at Goodison, his inadequacies only become even more glaring: * He could not decide on a formation and basic system of playing. * He failed to play most of the players in their best position. * He could not ensure that each player understood the team plan and his particular role within it. * He was blatantly incapable of getting the players fit. Smith's third and fourth terms were hammered by injuries ââ?¬â? this is beyond debate. But his supporters still claimed that the true mettle of the man could only be judged when he had a full squad at his disposal. However, this is football: there are ALWAYS some injured players unavailable for selection. A manager must accept that and get on with the job, rather than continually recycling this excuse for consistently poor performances ââ?¬â?? performances that fall a long way short of the standards expected at Everton FC. In the 1999-2000 season, with most of the Everton squad fit, Smith took them to the giddy heights of 6th in the Premiership before injuries to Jeffers and Campbell began to bite deep. Smith then made a dreadful mistake in buying that once-great player, Mark Hughes. The success until those injuries does indicate that, with the right circumstances, Walter could perhaps do something useful at Everton.... up to a point! With the right circumstances, Walter Smith seemed capable of taking Everton to the middle section of the Premiership but not much further. It was as if he needed the services of a head coach of real subtlety and skill. This all assumed that the rumours about poor morale, lack of communications, dreadful fitness, diet and conditioning regimes at Everton could all be dismissed... That brought in to question the effectiveness of the coaching staff ââ?¬â?? including our playing legend and hero, Dave Watson, before he moved across the Mersey to manage Tranmere. But, based on consistently poor Everton performances, no defence was possible; there were no excuses ââ?¬â?? Everton under Walter Smith were simply dreadful! A manager should have at least three years to really establish himself and impose his style on the team, to get his players on board and have them playing together. That formula means Smith should really have been shown the door at the end of the 2000-01 season. Arguably, the volatile situation of Club ownership and parlous Club finances robbed Smith of his first two years, but the fact that this impediment had no effect on the next two identically bad years proves the lie in that weak excuse. There comes a time when patience has run its course and a change must be made, irrespective of the possible benefits that stability in management may bring. Looking back over Walter Smith's tenure, there have been many, many puzzling incidents and trends that have taxed the patience of the Everton faithful to breaking point. Some forgettable low-lights from Walter's first season: * The failure to negotiate a deal with Hutchison, who was sorely missed. * The failure to hold on to John Collins, thought to be one of his most trusted players. * The persistence with playing strange formations (4-5-1; 5-3-2) that simply don't work for Everton. * Notts Forest (h): he played an ultra-defensive line up against the poorest team in the league. * The Dunne and Ball fiasco ââ?¬â?? disciplined for laughing at a joke on the coach home. The list for Season 1999-2000 was just as long and puzzling: * The Slaven Bilic situation, where he was allowed to go home to Croatia when injured ââ?¬â?? Smith deciding the World Cup semi-finalist wasn't good enough for Everton * Relying on the efforts of 38-year-old Richard Gough in defence, which crumbles when he gets injured * Michael Branch introduced from nowhere in the Anfield derby ââ?¬â?? to disastrous effect. * David Unsworth played in midfield!!! * Defenders playing deep to protect a slow defence, creating virtually nothing as a result. * Everton taking the field with 5 centre-halfs, or 7 defenders!!! * Considered Mark Hughes as a reasonable signing. * Narrowing the pitch!!! * Displaying no tactical awareness whatsoever. * Reputed dire words to the young players for their every mistake. The loss of Olivier Dacourt and Marco Materazzi in the summer of 1999 ââ?¬â?? after just one season ââ?¬â?? proved to set a pattern for Smith's management, where the revolving door of transfers in and out succeeded in creating instability that was bizarrely used as a reason for Smith's lack of success! Materazzi was superb in the second half of the season, except for some problems against Sheffield Wednesday. Dacourt looked class but pulled the ultimate mercenary stunt in the end. And perhaps Walter Smith himself (and his obvious limitations as an effective manager) was part of the reason why player turnover was so ridiculously high. The more concerning trend ââ?¬â?? revealed only in numerous rumours ââ?¬â?? is the number of players who have fallen out with Smith, or chosen to leave because of clashes with Smith's management style. Don Hutchison, Nick Barmby, John Collins, Francis Jeffers, Stephen Hughes, Phil Jevons... May 99: Later, in a Sky Sports interview with Jimmy Hill, Walter Smith admitted that he thought about quitting the club many times when Duncan Ferguson was sold without his knowledge. He claimed that it was only the change in the management structure above himself and his assistant Archie Knox that persuaded him to carry on. He said: "I didn't know what was happening at all with the Duncan Ferguson thing, it was ridiculous. I didn't have a clue that so many things were being discussed and acted upon without my knowledge. "I thought long and hard about leaving many times. The sort of situation that arose at Goodison would never have happened at Tannadice or Ibrox. I was taken aback by such a deliberate breakdown in communications, and day after day I reviewed my position and asked myself if there was any future for me. "However, there was a change in the structure of the board, Peter Johnson left and Phillip Carter came in, and I'm getting on with him fine. We understand each other and I didn't want to leave. I'd brought in a few players and I came to the conclusion that to leave them would have been to leave the job unfinished, so I stayed," he added. Walter Smith really should have gone at the end of 2000-01 season ââ?¬â? if not before. The season under Smith became just one long catalogue of shame and humiliation, from the Worthington Cup defeat against Bristol Rovers to the FA Cup embarrassment against Tranmere Rovers; the farce of signing Alex Nyarko with his season-long tantrums and whining self-pity; the endless catalog of injuries; the Gazza saga; the mistaken signings of Alexandersson, Ferguson, Pistone: the humiliation against Man City... the list goes on and on. Walter had clearly lost all his enthusiasm by the end of that season. If he'd gone after ensuring our survival, he could have kept some dignity. By the end, nearly all the fans were fed up of him, while the know-nothing pundits and journalists were defending him almost to a man. Perhaps Walter Smith's lasting legacy was this: offered the choice of David Ginola or Jay-Jay Okcha, which did he choose? And why? Of course, it was Ginola, and the reason was that his salary would be heavily sponsored by Aston Villa ââ?¬â? just to get him off their books ââ?¬â? while Okacha went on to have a great twilight career with Bolton Wanderers.

I think the post from another place says it all really, Smith is a manager who has had an easy ride a lots of money to enjoy that ride, he has been found out by the majority now, what goes around comes around, you forgot to mentiom he has also presided over Rangers two worst ever Euro runs.

From another place and says it all, stat 21 may be a revelation, or not. Why I think Walter should go now: 1) Has spent �£30 million on SHITE. 2) Has lost the ability to motivate these players. 3) FC Kaunas, two 4-5-1's, Lee McCulloch, Kaunas are now in the Lithuanian amateur league. . 4) Unirea , fielded his own side worth �£20 million yet lost to a team worth �£1.3 million. 5) 3 home defeats in Champions League group stages, 1-4, 1-4 and 2-0. 6) One of our 4-1 defeats being against a �£1.3 million team. 7) Losing 5-2 on aggregate to the same �£1.3 million team. 8) Lee McCulloch. 9) Constantly buying players to play out of position. 10) Finishing a Champions League group stage with 0 WINS ! 11) Failure to win at Pittodrie in 3 years. 12) 1 win at Tannadice in 2 years. ( league at least ) 13) Finishing 1996/1997 Champions League with ONE win ( I know, better than this year ) 14) Calling a 1-1 draw with Unirea " a good result " 15) Ruining players, mainly young players with potential. 16) Kenny Miller. 17) Kyle Lafferty. 18) talking down the poor players HE SIGNED constantly, rather than at least trying to fire them up. 19) his inability to take criticism (see Richard Gough, Chick Young, Mark Hateley, the post match Unirea press conference.) 20) his flat, lifeless, depressing, aged demeanour. 21) equalling Paul Le Guen's losses and draws this season in FOUR LESS GAMES than it took PLG to do it. His achievements and *reasons for : 1) completing 9 in a row. * unlevel playing field, competition being Motherwell, Aberdeen and an almost bankrupt Timmy. 2) Brian Laudrup and Gazza. * he could afford them. 3) Manchester. * bit of luck, ressurected formation and tactics from the 80's that baffled modern day footballers, actually WAS ABLE TO GET HIS PLAYERS UP FOR IT, many goal posts, Alan McGregor, good performance in Lisbon, Christian Vieri's lack of confidence, Novo's big game mentality. 4) steadying the ship. * took over from PLG.....I'll leave it at that ! ! 5) Job from Fergie. * couldn't get a job in England for love nor money so his good pal helped him out. 6) Scotland. * Turned it round after it couldnt get any worse, still lost to Belarus at home and just made us hard to beat. 7) Last years title. * timmy team falling apart, Strapon's bHoys got stale after 4 years as tends to happen without investment. Think most will agree , the con's VASTLY outweigh the Pro's. Also when looked at objectively his achievements arnt exactly remarkable considering the unlevel playing field in Scotland and his support. The problem: Pretty simple but I'll play ball with the Walter fans and maybe show them a different way of looking at it rather than the polarised mind-set they seem to have. Say all Walters achievments ARE what the mythos says they are. The 9IAR era WAS on a level playing field. We WERE playing top class opposition in Scotland week in week out. We did outplay some of Europe's top sides to make the UEFA cup final, we DID thrash timmy into oblivion last season and took the lead comfortably. He didn't WANT another job in the english premiership after Everton, lets say he turned Scotland into a footballing powerhouse......lets take all his achievements and the mythos as true.....well what we are seeing now is simply............ the end of an era. Things have gotten stale under him as tends to happen to ALL teams after 3-4 years without constant investment and squad maintenance. The players know what to expect in training every day, they know Walter is at a stage where a good result to him is a draw, they know they can get away with 3 years without a win at pittodrie. Guys like Lee know where and that they will be playing every week. It is just a case of a stale team and there is no more the manager can do with them. The Solution: Walter, Ally and Kenny should go and ANY manager and staff should take over. Thats right.......ANY. We as a club are in a period of transition, we are rudderless, we are up for sale and in the red. Our playing staff are poor but have shown signs that when they are really really up for it, hell for leather up for it, they can perform a bit better than this. We bring in ANYONE just to do the basics until we are sorted off the park ( the basics is BEAT all teams in Scotland every week but for the once or twice a season blip, beating Celtic both games at Ibrox and let what happens at CP happen, were in transition mind so we are not fit to be completely dominant.....but we should be fighting for dominance at least ). ANYONE will change a dynamic behind the scenes and it might have a short but basic effect, we cant get much worse anyway and you have to break the egg to make the omlette!! Alot of people dont seem to acknowledge we are in this transition period, the least we can get is what we already have so just shake it up a bit just to at least get some renewed freshness and atmosphere about the club. Im right on this one same as I was right all those months ago and now those predictions have all came true. Think long and hard about this one bears.........all we have is hoping to get one over the worst Timmy side in 20 years......is this what you choose as not to offend the memory of your childhood icon?

Don't and shouldn't Rangers fans have higher ambitions than those two sets of supporters, one thing you can be sure of Birmingham got the best of the deal, we have ended up with Smith.

Smiths and Rangers benchmarks should be somewhat higher than a two horse race the SPL. There have to be hard decisions made at Ibrox, unfortunately there does not appear to be anyone in a footballing sense, who has either the gravitas or experience to make those decisions amongst the present board. Bain's transfer dealings have and are the sort of negotiating prowess, that would have had him shown the door in any other walk of life. Irrespective of all that is written on countless message boards, the fans will have no say in future developments. Rangers fans have been known to show their displeasure by voting with their feet, there is a danger in that if that happens this time the money people, investors, prospective buyers or perish the thought the bank, would be of the opinion that if the fans can't or wont support their club, why should we. All in all the usual scenario, the fans caught between a rock and a hard place, with their loyalty being prostituted by all and sundry around them, but still refusing those same fans a voice.

I think you are right about the mental point Frankie, but I think it all Smith's and he transposes it to the players. His mantra appears to be we start every game with a point, let's not lose that point, not let's get steamed in and take all three points. I think the bottom line is Smith is a luxury we can't afford, but we may be stuck with him.

Stats don't win games, but they give an indication as to aspects of a teams strength and weaknesses. The biggest weakness that I can see and have seen in Rangers playing style is the reluctance to tackle until the ball is almost on our 18 yard line or worse. Getting men behind the ball is all very well if they are going to do something other than admire the oppositions holding of the ball, we could do with a heavy dose of combativeness and grit, it would also help to tackle the opposition in their own half. The stats from last night. Sevilla Team Statistics Rangers 1 Goals 0 1 1st Half Goals 0 7 Shots on Target 1 11 Shots off Target 2 8 Blocked Shots 0 13 Corners 4 6 Fouls 14 1 Offsides 2 0 Yellow Cards 3 0 Red Cards 0 87.7 Passing Success 73.8 23 Tackles 19 73.9 Tackles Success 78.9 63.6 Possession 36.4 56.9 Territorial Advantage 43.1

You are quite right, the other problem is finding someone of stature to accept the managers position.

The important position to be addressed is the managerial position and staff, without the right appointments more money will be wasted.

I believe the Everton fans were glad to see the back of WS and his anti football, the Birmingham fans on the other hand seem quite at ease with AM, doesn't take a fisherman to work out which one is pants, your judgement of managers is about as good as your judgement of a striker.

Obviously you are correct, that is why AM is an EPL manager and WS is not.

That will be why he has, allegedly, an understanding with McLeish as to his future place of employment, because he is poor against "quality". The story continues. http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/388651619?-11344

He doesn't play, he is payed to score goals, something he does rather well.

The action may be at MIH, it appears the MIH website is unobtainable.

'uber fan' refer to Germanic language...super etc etc

The Turks appear to think �£50,000 a week is or was on the money. http://fanatik.ekolay.net/Trabzonspor-Trabzona-gol-makinesi_3_Detail_35_142535.htm?ver=26

Kris Boyd will not accept a deal from Rangers which would see him on a “pay per play” deal, according to reports in the BBC today. The hugely successful Rangers hitman is not seen as a high priority player and the club have said that he is likely to be offered a “new deal but not on the same basic wage”. But Boyd is apparently unwilling to accept the reduced terms while his stock remains high, with other clubs tempted by his prolific goal-scoring record with the Scottish giants. He has scored over 100 goals since arriving from Kilmarnock in January 2006 becoming the second highest ever scorer in the SPL behind Henrik Larsson. Boyd, who earns less than his strike partners Kenny Miller and Kyle Lafferty, has been courted by a number of clubs during his time at Rangers. He rejected a Ã?£3.8million move to Birmingham in January and more recently turned down Ã?£50,000 a week with Turkish side Trabzonspor. He was also linked with German Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin With his contract expiring at the end of this season Boyd will be free to move clubs on a Bosman. He will be able to negotiate a deal from January onwards. Meanwhile Boyd is waiting to find out if the clash of heads during the Old Firm match on Sunday has left him with a fractured eye socket which would keep him out of action for weeks. Last updated: 06 October 2009, 15:21 I wonder if Rangers will match the alleged Ã?£50,000 or expect KB to take a wage cut, WS has already sown the seeds. He said: "It's good news we are able to speak to the players who are coming out of contract, the ones we want to keep. That obviously includes Kris. I don't know if we'll be able to make him an attractive enough offer. There are a lot of variables. "If you pick up the papers, according to them he's been offered an awful lot of money elsewhere. Whether he has or not, I don't know. But Rangers are in a position now to make him an offer when we weren't able to before. "At least we are ahead in that respect. But whether it will be enough or not remains to be seen."

Maybe Boyd and his agent can't afford mobile phones.

Hardly a secret and hardly a story, maybe WS is working his ticket back to the Scotland job. I think we as a club have more pressing problems. http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/rangers/smith-i-feared-that-rangers-wanted-me-off-the-wage-bill-1.990930