BrahimHemdani

I disagree, Boabie. It's no more part of the "entertainment industry" to throw paper cards on to a football pitch than it would be to throw your programme or any other bit of paper on to the stage during a theatre performance. If that happened the performance rightly would be stopped and the perpetrators ejected if possible. The issue isn't whether or not bits of paper are dangerous, the issue is the interruption of the performance/football match. On Thursday the match was interrupted by the morons who threw paper cards on to the pitch. As offences go it's minor and I'm sure it will attract a suitably minor punishment, perhaps with a stern warning attached. Rangers should plead guilty by letter and accept the punishment; then move on to more important matters.

I'll bring a supply. Thinking about it, I must have a fair few airline eye masks, cut holes in them, a bit more classy, might work as well. Alternatively a balaclava or a ...... for any shy ladies but perhaps I'd better not say

On the subject of sleeping at games..... In Tel Aviv for the Hapoel game, we left Glasgow at around 2.00am IIRC and some had been drinking in the city as well as the bars that were kindly kept open at the airport, then on the plane and no doubt through the day till match time. A chap along the seats from me was snoring and I thought to waken him, lest he might feel he didn't make the most of his £500 40-hour round trip. Leave him alane came the retort from his mate, as I made to nudge his shoulder, he's no weel.

You deserve a medal for the trip and an award for the stories. Post of the season, so far IMO.

John F Wilson sent his private jet.

Thanks dB. Not much time to get from the airport to the ticket collection point then out to the ground.

I agree that our team will improve game to game and that the opposition have little to offer other than two well drilled banks of four and a goalkeeper from the German lower leagues who was inspired at Ibrox. I think we will do better in Luxembourg than at Ibrox because at some stage they will have to come out if they want to win; the danger for us will be when we are attacking and they hit us on the counter down our right with Tav marked absent. (That said I wonder if Hodson will get a start considering the rollicking Tav got on Thursday). I am travelling with quiet confidence, any win on aggregate will do; but I'm looking for 2-0 on the night.

He has 20 caps for NI, don't know how many are starts.

With allowances for the google translation, the first paragraph is quite humorous.... A box of surprises, Glasgow. The drivers guide to the right, the pedestrians look first to the left, the tongue is imperceptible (this is not English or anything), the weather is rainy and there is still the question of the three-tooth adapter to fit the main electrical socket . Mind the gap , go. The first exchange of ideas comes at the hotel, where the receptionist praises the Euro-2016 backpack: "It's only worth this blue, Rangers color." We do not even call. A minute and a half later, already in the street, a taxi driver (of the Celtic, we suspect) refuses to us kindly a race for Ibrox, house of Rangers. We are worth the second cab, whose driver is from Arsenal. http://observador.pt/especiais/caixinha-rangers-mexico-sporting-peseiro/

A real gent as others have said and a man of his word who signed for us despite being offered more money by Clyde. In an earlier thread Bearger quoted "I was booked on a plane to leave Pretoria’s Jan Smutts Airport for London near midnight on 17 July 1949. Even as my suitcase sat in the hallway on the day of my departure with everything apparently cut and dried on my trial at Ibrox, there was another unexpected twist. Clyde’s representative, Roy Davies, came in very late and offered me £1,000 signing-on fee, a wage of £20 per week and a two-year contract. It was clearly a much better deal than the terms offered by Rangers, but I had given the club my word and accepted their offer so I could not possibly go back on that. I felt I had a duty to them since they had come along first and, as I said, none of this was really about the money for me. If I had been more money orientated, I would have taken the Clyde offer for sure. But, I was taken by all that I heard about Rangers and excited about the prospect of going there. My instincts were ultimately proven to be correct." Although he is also quoted as saying that he hadn’t even heard of Rangers and Celtic as a teenager. “The only British teams I knew were Clyde, Aberdeen and Huddersfield because they had toured South Africa.” My recollection is that Johnny once told me that he had accepted Rangers offer of £100 and Clyde came in with £200 and a higher wage; but no matter of a man of great principle no doubt at all. Get well soon.

Borrowed for the photo shoot All the nice girls love a sailor.

When we were held up 12 hours In AMS en route Istanbul for the Bursa game, there was a guy who drank (or smoked?) a bit too much in the afternoon, fell asleep on the train back to the airport and woke up in Rotterdam? Fortunately he was able to get the next one back and just about made the delayed flight.

Ha ha it was an expensive trip in terms of flights/hotels etc but I find that my animal magnetism works wonders in other departments.

Craig, I am going to assume that since you are on holiday you missed my post #243 above. Otherwise I feel confident that you would have acknowledged and accepted my apology. At the same time given your comment elsewhere "don't jump to conclusions"; I wonder if you now feel able to acknowledge that I did not say or imply that 10,000 fans booked their travel arrangements as soon as the draw was made. We will agree to disagree on whether or not it was appropriate for me to contact the CEO or whether he should have been involved at all.

I didn't have trouble making friends in Leipzig.....

Some of the guys have done that before and missed the connection......

I can only assume that Pedro thinks his money is better spent on other areas of the team; but why Hodson isn't in there is beyond me.

I disagree for the reason previously stated, fair enough.

All duly noted; thanks for the explanation. I still think the length of any ban should be public knowledge. "don't jump to conclusions." no indeed. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

I didn't take it that way; but if that was your intention then I see even less relevance between WWII and the actions of UEFA of which the four British Associations were founder members.

That's another fair point. I think the stoppage of play is the issue here rather than the cause of the stoppage.

I think any sanction will be limited to a warning or a very small fine and not worth the time and effort of an appeal.

I didn't see the Progres players complaining about the paper; as far as I could see the referee acted immediately he saw the paper on the pitch which he was quite entitled to do although other referees may have ignored it. It's not immediately obvious to me that what happened during WWII has anything to do with the performance of Progres Niederkorn or paper on the pitch on Thursday night. I tried to inform myself by reading up a bit here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg_in_World_War_II but can find no link other than perhaps the bravery of the resistance movement and the Free Luxembourgish Forces who were apparently involved in the Battle of Normandy and Liberation of Brussels in September 1944. The Progres team are not amateurs, though Luxembourg teams in general are no great shakes they have a higher coefficient than NI and Lithuania. I seem to recall a certain team from Lithuania knocking us out the Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round in 2008. On paper (pardon the pun) we should beat them easily enough and I think we'll do that on Tuesday; but football matches are not played on paper (pardon the pun again) as we have found out on numerous occasions not least at home against the renowned Unirea Urziceni who interestingly went defunct in 2011 and were reformed in 2015 and currently play in the Romanian 5th Division.

Unfortunately, they are in exactly that position at least insofar as games under their jurisdiction are concerned.

Excellent, well done indeed. I would have been tempted to attend but hope to be returning from Cyprus on the Friday or Saturday as well as one of my ex-neighbours in the MRS is leaving for a new life in Australia and have been invited to the "do" in Aberdeen. However, I wish you and the Cardiff RSC all the best and will drink a toast and hope to visit the memorial another time.