der Berliner

"Deals contain penalty clauses if a certain threshold of games is not reached. ..." I wonder if this was the reason why some of our former loan players were being played week in week out despite being below the standard required time and again ...

As with players, and not the least business people I have no clue of, I'm going to give them a bit of time to prove themselves. It simply doesn't matter what a player did elsewhere, or how a DoF performed*. What matters is how they perform for us in our environment. * I grew up with Rangers in the days of Wallace, Souness, and Smith. Men who didn't need 5 to 15 men behind them to assemble, coach, and select a team.

... alas, Rangers are not swimming in the shark-pool of the EPL, with 19 out of 20 teams able to compete with you for any scrap of player-meat available. And 10+ teams having better players than you can even hope for. We need a solid shift of players capable of beating rabble most of the time, and the Scum 3 to 4 times per season. Mind you, Ange and his fellow East End gang leaders grabbed 3 or 4 Japanese guys that were laughed at this side of the Clyde, but who beat the living shyte out of the rest in Scotland week in and week out. I'd be happy if we find a guy who knows how to attract and get similar players (no matter their origin) for us.

... the board does not buy players, nor does it chose tactics, nor does it select the players. It did select the managers, the last permanent one, with a gut feeling that he is finally capable to change this on the field of play. Only to be let down once more. This season though, after a shocking summer transfer window, we had an even worse winter window. For reasons beyond the knowledge of this bear. Maybe the AGM can clear a few things up.

... posted the first video a wee while back. Some US commentator who does a lot of 49ers reporting.

... in this day and age, qualification to the Champions League. Not that it wasn't said before (and not aimed at you, buster): Handing the Scum title after title for the best part of five years (and the respective CL income), despite having a team that challenged them well enough, was the biggest let-down of the board, but mainly managers and players. It would have been even more disastrous had we not done extremely well in the Europa League - which surely (pleasantly) surprised the board and investors as much as it did us. In the cold light of reality, though, we have been back for 9 years now, and despite the supposedly monumental gulf in terms of money, we had teams that were able to challenge them quite well. Especially last season. And there comes a point when expectations have to be met at a club like ours. I would have been with the "please, be patient" arguments 5 years ago. After nearly a decade, though, you do expect changes for the better. That said, my bone of contention is more with the management teams and the line-ups, not to mention horrendous injury records not seen during the four decades before. We fully dismantled our team of last season, went into the new one understaffed in quality and quantity, and consequently toiled along much worse than before. No matter what sort of people come in, we have to get back on track instantly. A wee while ago, I stumbled over my old school stuff in a 40-year-old box. In there was a wooden school ruler who had - in good boy's fashion - the name of my favourite football teams of the time. And alongside of Rangers and BFC Dynamo, there was Nottingham Forest. (Probably) Mainly because I once went to a European Cup game between BFC and Forest. I had hardly thought about Forest for the best part of three decades, since they vanished into the lower league of the English game, while Rangers star shone brightly after Souness' arrival. Since I also skipped much interest in the EPL after quitting Fantasy League football 7 or 8 years ago, I was quite surprised to see Forest up in the EPL, in 5th place, mind you. Reading all the above, you do wonder what sort of spirit* kept the Forest folk from keeping their loyalty throughout the decades in the lower tiers, quite a few of which who saw the fall (after earlier European success) aren't around any more. And while I am happy for them Forest chaps, you do hope that our tide will turn much faster than it did for them. * That's actually a question of loyalty, one that keeps those people who support their local minnows till the end, despite knowing how bad they are and that they will hardly ever win anything in their entire existence. (Which makes quite a few of them e.g. celebrate the odd draw or win against us like their cup final.)

The main thing that most people in here, I would assume, are interested in is: how can they invest in the squad. That is, what are the rules binding external money to build a team from essentially scratch. Naming rights, advertising, whatever? While I can't compare them directly, the Anschutz Entertainment Group owns the Eisbären Berlin ice-hockey team (and to no ill-effect so far) and a host of other teams, mainly in the US. Anschutz was one of the co-founders and one of the lead investors of Major League Soccer. In 1996, he became the investor/operator of the Colorado Rapids, his first MLS franchise. The Rapids were then a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation. In subsequent years, as Anschutz acquired additional sports teams, it led to the formation of a new division of the company whose focus was sports and entertainment, leading directly to the creation of AEG. the Rapids and National Hockey League's (NHL) Los Angeles Kings as its original members. Since 1996, AEG has held ownership in the Chicago Fire, San Jose Earthquakes, New York/New Jersey MetroStars, D.C. United and Houston Dynamo.[21][22] Currently, AEG is the operator of the Los Angeles Galaxy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschutz_Entertainment_Group Who will be the people in charge remains anyone's guess. The aforementioned Cavenagh, some other chap, anyone of the 49ers franchise? The latter will probably not be looking to extract cash/assets, you would assume.

When was the last time we went there and won? Is it Barry's fault that Dessers now needs 12 shots to score, or Cerny over-runs 4 of his 5 attacks? If anything, you could blame Barry for not using Danilo more often. Of course, PC didn't do either.

I would assume that the soon-to-be owners have people in mind, as well as a certain sum set aside for him and the upcoming playing staff. How this money can be implemented according to UEFA rules (which somehow seem to hamper only clubs from certain countries) is an interesting matter, too.

Nope. Minimal at best. The one big failure was the starting line-up at Dundee. He has his hands tied behind his back with players unfit and unable to meet the demands, and there is no reason to believe that Clement or anyone else would have done it any differently than him. McCausland and Pröpper did their worst, and substitutions were no worse than what we have seen before. At the end, you need to have players up for it, and here's the one big problem that we have had all season. It didn't and doesn't really matter who we put out on the field, it always looks like a team that doesn't know each other, what positions they supposedly play, how to pick a good pass, where the goal stands ... and usually a combination of all that at various stages of each game. One can probably count a handful of good and solid displays for 90 minutes during the league season (yes, I am being kind), while, for some reason, the European games were better. Barry beat that lot at the Scumhut, maybe we can at least retain the bragging right this season with another good show at Ibrox, as little as this might mean.

Thankfully, I was enjoying the evening at the first of the final Best-of-Seven series for the German ice-hockey title and got home with happy memories. Scanned the thread in here and over at FF and, given our state and the fact that we were never in with a chance, it is still amazing how decisions go against us in vital games and moments. Be it the League Cup Final, or yesterday's non-penalty. The German commentator of the highlights had a wee chuckle at the referee's ineptness. Since I haven't seen much else, I spare any thoughts on selection and substitutions. Just one observation from previous games (and months). Jefte will probably make a decent left midfielder. Perhaps a decent defensive left midfielder. But I don't think he is made for the demands of Scottish football and, as much as I like him, should be an asset for the summer window. The complete opposite is Nsiala. All that aside, we need to make sure that the next manager comes in as early as possible, and is a manager who knows what is required in Scotland. No four months settling period, no test fields, no projects. Unless he gets enough money to get people in who beat all the dross in Scotland hands down. Not many aside from Gerrard spring to mind, but his line-ups still give me the creeps too ...

On Wednesday, the Ladies beat Glasgow City away, moving to the top of the table ...

Let's hope we don't manage to hand them their next tainted title at Ibrox. The rest is just as expected from the SPFL.

.... maybe you did not seem trustworthy? Anyway, not everyone is as clued-up as some Bluenoses about the pedigree of this or that person who they meet at social events and, what was it, DeterMND activities?