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Have a gut feeling that if we sign someone for the CL, it is none of those making the headlines this day ...

Here you go ... STV

David Goodwillie: Rape charge against Dundee United player dropped

 

The 21-year-old was charged with serious sexual assault after an incident in Armadale, West Lothian earlier this year.

 

Dundee United footballer David Goodwillie has had the rape charge against him dropped.

 

The 21-year-old striker was charged with serious sexual assault after an incident in Armadale earlier this year.

 

On Monday, the Crown Office said the charges had been dropped.

 

A spokesman said: “The Procurator Fiscal at Livingston received a report concerning a 21-year-old male, in connection with an alleged incident on 2 January 2011.

 

“After full and careful consideration of all the facts, Crown Counsel has instructed no proceedings on the basis that there is insufficient evidence in law. The case is now closed."

 

A 24-year-old woman had said she was sexually attacked in an incident in the West Lothian town on January 2. Mr Goodwillie was charged with rape but did not appear in court.

 

Goodwillie is one of Scottish football's brightest stars, with 11 goals this season, and is valued by his club at �£1.5m.

 

He played regularly for the Tannadice club last season, becoming one of the SPL’s top scorers with 18 goals, while he also made his Scotland debut in a friendly against the Faroe Islands last November.

Get him and Murphy, let Beattie return to England and the future up front looks bright!

Afraid not mate.

 

STV now saying he will get permit first time because he only missed games through injury not non-selection.

No need to be afraid

The "problem" I have with Lafferty is that he has not been a consistent thread in front of goals over the course of the season. While Naismith is so much involved in the game - physically and outspokenly - that he is bound to suffer from injury or suspension. Hemmings looks a grand prospect, Healy and Beattie are decent, but no 10 to 15+ plus scorers either. Jelavic is our main threat and as I said, you would not want to lose him like last season. This is all pretty hypothetical, of course. But as with a gun and/or a condome, you rather have one along and do not need it, than none at hand when there is need.

I like the idea of Jamie Murphy joining up. We sure need back-up amongst our frontline, as a Jela injury or suspension could wreak havoc up front. And Goodwillie ... well, we all know the "rat's tail"* involved here.

*A German saying ;-)

A few more if not newer things on Rabiu Afolabi. I would feel a touch more comfortable with a pacy and robust African chap, than a lanky and stocky type like Goian.

Interesting with the Nigerian: freebie and no work permit.

As I said before, IMHO, the first half was an experiment, how the "old" formation with McCulloch and Edu through the centre would hold in a competitive match. An experiment with regards to Tuesday. For you always have to keep in mind that the Swedes are nigh half-way through their season and if we try our cavalier football that we used at the end of the season (echo: end of the season) with people who have not really played a game in earnest this time, we easily could end up with another Unirea result. Thus, he tested a strong midfield, aimed at destroying any Hearts attack, while trying to hit them on the counter. It did not work and was not good football either. Then again, it was the first test and the first competitive game as well.

The above is the way I explained it to myself. IMHO, we should use our potential at home and hit SPL teams with a 3-5-2 or the like. That, IMHO, would also be the option for Malm�¶ at home. The midfielders and wingbacks need to do a lot of backtracking*, but if we keep them busy in their half, we should do fine.

*Davis, Edu, Naismith, Whittaker all can do that.

I think it is fair to say that it would be best if people would not start debating the ability or non-ability of players et al straight after a match. Emotions clearly take over, whether here or on FF ... and when you settle down a bit and look at the circumstance, give the opposition the credit it deserves, you will come up with a more level-headed conclusion than most of the above ... and there is no insult intended whatsoever.

So, after todays result who's all concerned? There were a few who said they'd wait until our first competitive match before worrying.

Apart from Broadfoot and Ortiz (who weren't there for obvious reasons), which of the players on show today disappointed at the end of last season or gave you concerns?

Looks like a half-decent performance on the first matchday of the week brings all the moaners out en force Slagging Ortiz off on the first day, yes, that makes sense!

It was a decent enough first competitive game of the season, Hearts made a fight of it as they usually do. Essentially a bad error in defence gifted them a goal and gave them extra spirit, resulting in essentially a cup-game affair. Second half showed a good increase in quality from us. Was not enthused about the line up, as McCulloch and Edu are not required during a home game. Might have been a test for Malm�¶ though. When the change came, I would have put Wylde on the left and Ortiz on the right (the position he was bought for?), leaving McCulloch out of it and stretching Hearts' central defence. But that's just me.

On a sidenote, it took 39 posts on FF to note that there is actually something about Ally and 4 to 5 targets.

Here we go with some more detailed info ...

ALLY McCOIST has pledged to pluck at least one wildcard from five aces up his sleeve ahead of Monday’s Euro signing deadline.

 

Rangers boss McCoist has vowed to land another signing by 5pm on Monday – the cut-off point for anyone to face Malmo 24 hours later at Ibrox in a vital Champions League qualifier.

 

McCoist has confirmed that a second offer for St Johnstone’s Murray Davidson is in the pipeline after a Ã?£150,000 bid was laughed off by the Perth club.

 

Rangers also confirmed Express Sport’s story that a Ã?£450,000 move for Palermo’s Romanian defender, Dorin Goian, is on the go.

 

The Light Blues are also keen on Anderlecht stopper Roland Juhasz and have not given up hope that Orebro will back down and let American winger Alejandro Bedoya join up on an immediate deal rather than wait until January before he arrives on a Bosman.

 

Express Sport also understands that Nigerian defender Rabiu Afolabi – a free agent after leaving Red Bull Salzburg – has emerged as a fresh option for McCoist. It promises to be a frantic next few days with Rangers not ruling out making multiple signings – and then choosing which one player is best suited to be registered ahead of the Malmo clash.

 

Rangers boss Ally McCoist has vowed to land another signing by 5pm on Monday

 

On a potential whirlwind of signings following a tortuous month of transfer failures, McCoist said: “It has been very, very hectic. And it is still going to be hectic, because there is still a lot of work to be done in that particular department. But we’ll get there.

 

“I’m still looking to get more bodies in. I’ve said it often, the boys we’ve got give us everything, and they are a fantastic group of players, but we’ve said to them that we are going to give them a helping hand.

 

“We’re hopefully going to progress the lad from Palermo. Hopefully, we can take that a stage further.

 

“There’s a bit of work before a deal can be done, but there are four or five players in the pot bubbling over.

 

“We’ve not yet put a firm bid in for Goian, but we might.

 

“The bid for Murray Davidson has been rejected and it would be unfair to speak any more about that until the club has been back in touch with Geoff Brown or Derek McInnes.

 

“I would love to take Bedoya at the moment, that would be fantastic, but that is out of our hands, to be honest with you.

 

“That is down to the Swedish club.

 

“I’m very hopeful we’ll get something done by five o’clock on Monday with at least one player, but I couldn’t say which one was more likely than any other to happen.”

 

Rangers’ director of football Gordon Smith admitted on Thursday that a deal for Carlos Cuellar had broken down.

 

McCoist is now just praying that Cuellar comes back to the Ibrox club in the weeks ahead to resurrect the move from Aston Villa.

 

The manager said: “There’s no immediate panic on that one because effectively he can’t play for four or five weeks anyway because of injury. We’re keen, but other things are far more important at this stage.”

Express

What kind of player is Goian, does six foot five say everything?

I was tempted to reply to that with some ironical comment

Don't know about his Palermo "record", but he seems to have been really good while being with Steaua. And on a sidenote, Papac said about the Nigerian chap that he knows him from their days with Austria and he would also fit in nicely.

Today (Herald) Ally is said to be after four or five targets ahead of the Malm�¶ clash. (Remember, being after 4 to 5 targets does not equal being after 4 to 5 signings. )

Well, I will be out for most of the evening ... and I think that will be good for my health :-D

Keep calm folks, it is not the end of August just yet.

Why are we paying this much for a mediocre SPL player when we wouldn't go higher than 400k for Miller or Rodriguez?

 

As for Davidson, oh joy, a St Johnstone player.

 

We're aiming high.

We once signed a player from Raith Rovers, you know.

Can't we just highjack their bid for this striker from Sweden? From his stats, he looked promising ...

I see we've been clever with this Bedoya chap too (stv):

STV understands that Rangers are willing to wait until January to try and sign USA international Alejandro Bedoya.

 

However, an Ibrox source has told STV that they will not be increasing their existing bid, which was rejected by Swedish side Orebro.

 

Instead they will offer Bedoya a pre-contract and hope to land the versatile midfielder when his deal expires at the end of the year.

Roland Juhasz ... just read in the Sun we have bid �£1.5m for this Hungarian centre half that plays for Anderlecht. Does any one know anything about this guy ?

Snatched from FF. Methinks the rumour mill is going into orbit these next 36 hours or so ...

He sure believes he keeps the Rangers fans happy with these tweets and twitterings. Does he get something for a few thundred clicks?

Why would he want / expect a sweetener from Villa? I doubt they are that desperate to sell him ...

It looks like the press crawls over one another to provide us with a even more "accurate and up-to-date" story. As said before, there is no need to get excited about anyone, unless he's seen with pen in hand and ink drying on the contract.

As for Cuellar ... I can't see any reason in pressing through with this today. He won't play for another months or so, thus he could well be the last signing of this window with no problem at all.

EDIT: And it is quite interesting to see that after all the speculation about Cuellar going to Espanyol instead of us, it was HIS agent who offered him to Espanyol, not them wanting him. So much about agent-/newspaper-talk and credibility.

European expectations? I would say reaching the group phase is a good target for the time being. If we manage that and with a nice dip into the transfer market, there is hope for Europe beyond x-mas. No matter how it resolves then, I would regard that as a success. First and foremost, our aim should be retaining the title. For, aside from making it Four in a Row, it would be back to straight entry to the group phase again next season.

You would also have to remember we have Jelavic

Yes, I see Hemmings as back up for all others, not Jelavic :grin: Everyone is back up to Jela

Not wanting to debate all too much, but the signs could be that we will groom Hemmings as back up to Healy and Miller. Of course, you'd have to remember that we also have Lafferty and Beattie here, and we won't want to have too many strikers about (should injury stay away from us).

STV chaps noted that the RSA striker Mphela (whom we look after same time last year) is going to have a trial at the Timdome soon ...

He's a back-up squad player. Not more, but not less. If he thinks he should be more than that, no problem here. Not everyone has the guts of an Alexander ... and there's no reason to be angry about it. Taking up the pay-cheque for essentially "nothing" is not looked upon kindly by many people either, I would assume.

We've got one dreadline ahead, I would assume that it is not the Cuellar and Goodwillie deadline though. Neither would be available for these CL games.