BrahimHemdani

It is true that everything has moved up one for next season so 25th no longer automatically guarantees Q2 but almost always the other teams move up as well, for example this season the cup winners of the 26th and 27th countries on the ranking list (Norway and Serbia) had direct access to the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League. Changes will need to be made in the following cases: If the Champions League title holders or the Europa League title holders have qualified for the Europa League through domestic performance, their berth in the Europa League will be vacated (not replaced by another team from the same association), and cup winners of the highest-ranked associations will be moved to a later round accordingly. If changes to the access list of the Champions League are made, the number of losers of the Champions League third qualifying round which are transferred to the Europa League may be increased or decreased from the default number of 15, which means changes to the access list of the Europa League will also need to be made. Because a maximum of five teams from one association can enter the Champions League, if both the Champions League title holders and the Europa League title holders are from the same top three ranked association and finish outside the top four of their domestic league, the fourth-placed team of their association will be moved to the Europa League, which means changes to the access list of the Europa League will also need to be made. Redistribution rules A Europa League place is vacated when a team qualifies for both the Champions League and the Europa League, or qualifies for the Europa League by more than one method. When a place is vacated, it is redistributed within the national association by the following rules (regulations Articles 3.03 and 3.04) When the domestic cup winners (considered as the "highest-placed" qualifier within the national association with the latest starting round) also qualify for the Champions League, their Europa League place is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place". When the domestic cup winners also qualify for the Europa League through league position, their place through the league position is vacated. As a result, the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions qualify for the Europa League, with the Europa League qualifiers which finish above them in the league moved up one "place" if possible. For associations where a Europa League place is reserved for the League Cup winners, they always qualify for the Europa League as the "lowest-placed" qualifier. If the League Cup winners have already qualified for European competitions through other methods, this reserved Europa League place is taken by the highest-placed team in the league which have not yet qualified for European competitions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017%E2%80%9318_UEFA_Europa_League By the way, as I said in response to an earlier post by SteveC, as a result of Celtic's trip to the CL group stages this season, we are back up to 23rd (although that could change) so in theory the CW will be in ELQ2 in season 2018/19.

Law 11 A player is in an offside position if: he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent (usually the goalie plus one other) A player in an offside position is only penalised if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by: interfering with play or interfering with an opponent or gaining an advantage by being in that position It's very difficult to be definitive from these pictures because in the first one the ball is 1/2 yards off the RC player so you don't know where the attackers and defenders were at the moment the ball was last played and in the second one as Craig says it's a very bad angle. It LOOKS offside against the winger IF the ball is played at that moment but again it's very difficult to say. IMHO the linesman in the second picture has done well to be as close as he appears to be to the attackers bearing in mind that his starting position should be in line with the last defender and the ball travels far faster than any human being. I'd just like to add that running the line is incredibly difficult because you have to watch for two things at once: the ball going out for a throw in and the offside. It's also a lot harder these days because the play is much faster than it was in the past and you are no longer allowed to make an instant decision. Lastly linesmen like refs don't have the benefit of instant replay or freeze frame from whatever angle. Even if it was a bad call, should we be relying on that v Ross County who we haven't beaten in 3 attempts this season?

I take your point about Brentford mate but I am basing my judgement on what I have seen here and I don't think his player acquisition, management or tactics are what we need.

OK if that's correct then it just makes it worse really; because I can't see them lasting past this summer.

I think that it is fairly clear that Warburton is tactically inept. We have a man playing RB most of the season who can't defend; we have lost countless goals from corners and other set plays; we simply cannot turn attacking superiority into goals; we have persisted with 4-3-3, without a centrocampista since Kranjcar's injury and Barton's departure, when even some visitors to Ibrox have played 4-4-2 against us; and when we tried 3-5-2 or was it 3-5-1-1, we did so with a frail attacker playing left wing back, a position in which not just he but the whole defensive set up was cruelly exposed. His signings for money such as Garner, 0'Halloran, Windass and Crooks have all been failures in one degree or another; he won't give Dodoo and Hodson, for example a chance to prove themselves with a run in the team; his best performers are both well past their sell-by; from what little we know about it I don't think he emerges from the Barton debacle with any great credit and for all he talks about a path to the first team, where are they? Hence he's not going to get any more money to spend and we are not going to have a team that has a realistic chance of getting through Q1 & Q2 of the Europa League qualifiers, never mind reach the group stages. (That's if we manage to finish second or third in the League, which right now is not a given.) However, since a new manager would inherit the same squad I see no point in sacking MW & DW now; but I would have someone lined up along with new players for next season. If it's going to cost us a year's salary for them both then I would do it this summer rather than next. Undoubtedly this will mean real investment; however good loan signings might be and whatever the benefit of re-signing veterans, neither path is the future of our club any more than Demichelis returning here to Malaga for the rest of the season.

I am assuming from what has been written here about possible pay-offs that the management team are on 1-year rolling contracts, so that they would always get a full year's salary if they are dismissed other than for gross misconduct? If that is indeed the case can someone please explain why we would give a relatively inexperienced management team contracts that could be seen as rewarding them for failure rather than success? I can see that there might be some advantage to us if another Club tried to lure them away; but in reality are we not just burdening ourselves with several hundred thousand pounds of costs when the management team is sacked as is almost always the case at some point. Or is this seen as a better option for the Club than a two or three year fixed term contract?

You don't need to be at the game to know the team and most folk are not in the stadium more than an hour before KO; you can get the team on your phone or other device from Rangers, the BBC and Sky if not others as soon as the teams are announced around an hour before KO so I don't think anyone is at a disadvantage from that point of view. So I see no reason why changes should not be allowed (as has been said if your pick is not starting the game) right up to the official KO time. We had issues before with late kick offs last season but we agreed to go with the official time this season rather than try to figure out if someone forecast at say 3.01pm and the game kicked off at 3.02pm. I have had some adverse comments to say the least for forecasting against Rangers and have wrestled with this issue all season. I went for draws a couple of times when my "real" forecasts were defeats and then when I did forecast defeats I got pelters and I don't think all of it was in good humour. Neither do I think it's disloyal to predict a Rangers loss or draw. It is just being honest. It would be disloyal to bet against Rangers, I have only placed a handful of bets in my life but I would never want to win money by betting against Rangers. I think the point here is precisely that we are not betting on the result; it is a bit of fun as many have said, so fun and skill at correctly forecasting the result etc should include honest opinions of the result and score. If points are only awarded for forecasting Rangers wins then everyone will just forecast a Rangers win and no one will ever get ahead with a bold if controversial prediction. So I don't agree with correct score only and points only awarded for forecasting Rangers wins. It's not a prediction league if the only predictions that count are Rangers wins.

Yes I've got a few!

Whilst there is clearly a great deal of truth in what has been written; it seems that discretion is not a quality high on the list of key qualities for Rangers' Directors at the moment; and it must be extremely difficult for the Manager to find Directors effectively briefing against him.

Rangers 2 Ross County 1 FGS Miller

I am over in Spain and when I went out for dinner on Wednesday we had just gone 1-1 but by the time I got back we were gubbed 4-1. Watching the video it seems to me that #1 Kiernan is 2 yards off the cross, Foderingham is as much to blame for the second with a poor throw out as Halliday for allowing the ball to get away from him; #3 Hill is very easy beat (he is fine if he can anticipate a through ball but not when someone is running at him); and #4 is a terrible error by Foderingham. Kiernan has improved under Hill's watchful eye but it's hard to disguise the fact that essentially he's an English League 2 player and I'm just wondering if the usually dependable Foderingham was unnerved by the new signing? It's hard to believe that Halliday would still be in the team if Kranjcar and Rossiter were not injured but surely Holt will come back in for Saturday. Toral and Hyndman need games and must start. It's time to play Senderos instead of Kiernan, though he might be best partnered by Wilson. I didn't really see anything of our attackers in the brief highlights so it's hard to comment beyond saying that perhaps Forrester is due a start. I'll be at Malaga v Espanyol which is a 1.00pm KO here and having dinner with Antonio Tapia (who was the Malaga coach before Pellegrini) who is commentating on the game for Radio Marca; maybe he can find us another Nacho Novo.

Well, it does seem obvious that if Rangers fans gained entry without valid tickets, then there must have been some counterfeits about or fans otherwise gained entry in some illicit manner. I suppose it is possible that some were admitted to the wrong area but again they shouldn't be in the wrong area and if they were they shouldn't be admitted. So it may well be the case that Rangers fans are equally at fault for their fellows not getting admitted; if so they should be ashamed of themselves. Sadly there are those who will see it as some kind of triumph. This happened to me and a good few others in Valencia vs Villarreal when the gates were shut with perhaps a hundred or more Rangers fans outside with valid tickets on a trip that cost a deal more than going to Edinburgh. Fortunately on that occasion I was able to alert Jim Hannah and the Assistant British Consul worked the oracle for us; but it was dangerously crowded on the very steep banks inside. It looks like Hearts didn't have a choice but it will be very interesting to find out if it was counterfeit tickets or just what happened.

It would be open to the Tribunal to do that; but you do lose your £1,000 deposit.

SPFL should investigate, fine Hearts for the obvious breaches and ensure Rangers fans are refunded for tickets and all associated travel costs. Edinburgh City Council should investigate the obvious breach of license inasmuch as supporters without valid tickets gained entry and associated H&S issues.

Hyndman is a good shout but I'm sticking with King Kenny.

Hearts 1 Rangers 2 FGS Mr Redoubtable Kenny Miller for third game in a row.

Well he's signed now and IMHO it's a complete waste of money UNLESS he is at least as good and we are going to be able to SELL WF or MG for more money than we are paying for JA. I don't believe we need or can afford two first choice goalkeepers in our current situation. We could have recalled Kelly as cover if and when Gilks goes and would still have no difficulty finishing at least third and qualifying for the Europa League.

I always wondered how GS replied to my posts within seconds.......

As I mentioned in my "on the spot reporting" there was short period (perhaps 5 minutes) when the impatience of some fans on the slow if very well organised progress of the procession* got the better of them to the extent that they were throwing snowballs in the general direction of the police; in particular the van with the turret and cameraman you can see in one of my pictures. At that point the police wisely donned their helmets and for a few moments the situation could have turned nasty. However fortunately they took advice from an onlooker to get moving a bit faster and were ordered into their vehicles and the tension quickly dissipated. * This was caused in part by the organisation of the Union Bears who stopped frequently to keep their line abreast; and also the police who stopped from time to time to ensure the stragglers kept up with the main procession. No blame for the slow progress attaches to either group IMO.

I am completely at a loss to understand why we need to pay a fee for a back up goalkeeper in our current situation.

You may note the black "Rangers Ultras" flag which is something I have never seen before and I must admit caused me some concern.

It's an excellent video, which reminds me to post some of the pictures that I took along the way.