Tumshie RFC

Don't think Craig Whyte would agree with you 100% he has took the club over looking for European Revenue the club needs this to fund transfers for players, we haven't made it i think Whyte will be a very unhappy chappy as is the whole of the Rangers support.

 

Beating Celtic has and always will come first Domestically but we have to look beyond that when it comes to Europe, Ally and the players have let the club down.

I agree mate. We have to look to go as far as we can in Europe. That should be the benchmark for every Rangers team. IMO we should be aiming to be in Europe after Christmas every season. Anything other than that is unacceptable.

Reason I'm asking this was that I was having a rant on our supporters bus on the way back from the game last night and most of the boys reactions were "Aye but the Tims got beat as well".

Maybe it's because I grew up in the 9IAR era but I'm not in the slightest bit interested in what they do in Europe. Being better than Celtic is the minimum standard we should be aiming for. We should be striving to get into the latter stages of European competitions not worried about that the Mhanky Mob are doing.

If Scottish football is now so bad that we will be getting knocked out of Europe early on a regular basis is this two horse race every season all that we have to look forward too?

What we are missing is another top quality striker. We missed three sitters over two legs against Malmo and four over two legs against Maribor. that is simply unacceptable.

We are falling further and further behind. Until we start producing players of real quality at Murray Park then we will continue to struggle.

Two European ties this season and once again the players have let Ally down again. In Malmo Whittaker and Bougherra were both stupidly sent off while Jelavic and Naismith missed golden opportunities in front of goal.

Now onto Maribor. Never mind the goals we conceded over in Slovenia over the two legs we blew four absolute sitters. If you have that many chances and don't take them then frankly you don't deserve to go through

Ally got his team selection spot on last night (only one I would argue with was swapping Edu for Kyle Hutton) but the players simply lost their bottle in front of goal.

Wouldn't take him back in a month of Sundays. Apart from winding up the Jungle Jims he didn't do anything to merit a place in the squad.

Gutted for him. I would have him in the team before the likes of David Healy. Saw Hemmings in a couple of games during pre-season and he looked good especially over in Belfast. Hope he is back sooner rather than later. He could have done a with a few appearances in the early rounds of the League Cup to get some games under his belt.

What a difference it makes. When we broke yesterday we did so with pace which Motherwell couldn't deal with. Compare that when we have the McCulloch - Edu partnership in midfield and it is like night and day.

Was also good to see Ortiz playing in his natural position and all three youngsters did well. Would have no qualms with playing the same team against Maribor.

If Ally changes the team for Thurs and the worst happens he has only himself to blame.

We will never win anything if Ally persists with both Lee McCulloch and Maurice Edu in the middle of the park. The midfield is so pedestrian. I would rather see Kyle Hutton and Jamie Ness playing in that midfield rather than those two.

I'll go through all the signings first:

Ortiz - Impressed with his workrate but not much else. Don't think he is any better than Gregg Wylde who is being kept out the team.

Wallace - Thought the price was a bit steep but i think he's been a good signing. A more natural full back he has better positional sense than Papac in that position and offers more going forward.

Goian - I know he's only played against ICT and St Johnstone but have been impressed with him. Strong and uncompromising and even though he lacks a bit of pace he seems a snip at under �£1 million

Bartley - Although he's injured we know what we will get from him.

Bedoya - Don't know much about him so obviously the jury's still out.

Bocanegra - Seemed to do pretty well at Fulham and has been playing in Ligue 1 which is a better standard than the SPL. He should do well.

If McKay comes in on Friday I believe we still need another striker to play up front with Jelavic. Overall I've been impressed with Goian and Wallace. The jury's still out on the rest of them but lets hope the squad can get settled and march onto 4IAR

If Whittaker hadn't been so bloody stupid then we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Perry looked strong in the tackle on Saturday. His distribution was poor in some cases but overall he did enough to merit a chance in the side on Thurs.

Why pay over the odds for every player? Whyte and Ali Russell are trying to get the best value possible for the club. I posted a thread last week saying exactly the same thing. It seems that Craig whyte just can't win with some fans. Some fans would be quite happy if we were offering 15k a week for average players like Craig Conway

Missed him on Saturday and the way he finished the season last time out suggests that he is more than capable of playing on for another year. Weir's problem is though that he is only 1 bad game away from people saying that he's lost it, over the hill etc

1. McCulloch and Edu cannot play together in the centre of the park. Slower than a week in the jail. Its got to be Davis and either one of them.

2. Kirk Broadfoot is a bombscare in the centre of defence. A central defender has to be brought in quickly. Thank God Davie Weir is back on Tues night.

3. The high ball up to big Jelavic has to stop. The big man's greatest asset is when the ball is played into his feet. The amount of times we saw a number of players punting the ball up to him was infuriating.

If Super Ally is half as good a manager as he was a player then I'm sure he will do just fine. One thing you need in management is a bit of luck. Coisty carried quite a bit of it through his playing career so lets hope it continues into his management career.

I would start young Hemmings up front with Jelavic tomorrow. Has shown a lot more in pre-season than the likes of Healy and Beattie. Naismith can play up front but I think he is more of a threat coming in from the right. With Wallace coming in I can see a back 4 of Whittaker-Boogie-Papac-Wallace

Aye ur right mate some times I think us fans need 2 take a step back and look at the bigger picture. We need financial stability as a football club and we also need to get value for money

As I'm sure most of you do I am a member of a couple of Gers fan sites including this one. Going by some of them and what's been said on my Facebook Mr Whyte simply can't win with some fans.

If we are outbid by other clubs he gets slated and now when we bid over �£1 million for a full back in the last year of his contract he gets slated as well.

We have had a bid accepted for Cuellar and have made other bids for players which is in stark contrast to previous seasons. We have also signed up 5 players who took to the field at Rugby Park on the final game of the season - three on long term deals.

The reason Rangers were in such a financial mess was because we paid over the odds for too many average players so I'm glad Mr Whyte is trying to being as astute as possible in the transfer market.

Decent squad player. We need an attacking midfielder as Davis is the only 1 we have. Decent player who could improve with the right guidance.

The last time we were in the qualifers against Kaunas Rangers didn't want the home leg shown in order to get more punters through the turnstiles. I suspect it might be the same this time around.

I expect us to be knocked out of the CL before the group stages. Do we need to get past Malmo to make the Europa League if we get knocked out the play off round of CL qualifiers?

I'm sure we go into the Europa League regardless of what round we get knocked out of. Lets hope it doesn't come to that though.

Following on from the season expectations thread was just wondering what everyone thinks constitues a good European campaign for the Rangers.

Personally I think any European football, whether its in the Champions League or the Europa League, after Christmas merits a decent campaign. If we can do that as well as making the Champions League group stages I would be more than happy with that.

Kenny McDowall. Ian Durrant is the first team coach.

The way he has helped guys like Cuellar, Bougherra and other who have played alongside tells me everything about his qualities. Weir has the potential to be a top coach.