der Berliner

IMHO ... the debt with Lloyds was/is something different than something that is definately going to be paid back, e.g., a loan. There was essentially nothing certain (like a certain number of ticket sales that will come in, no matter what) to pay off the standing debt withs Lloyds, bar CL income and player sales. Would you expect him to speak "business talk" each time he goes into any lose detail about the way certain aspects of finance is being handled in the press? I do expect these hard business figures to stand in the annual reports et al, not in each and every daily newspaper he speaks to.

On a sidenote, from a fan's perspective, one of the more important lines in the article with regard to the team is that he wants to tie in Aluko on a longer deal soon.

IMHO, and this very much based on next to no knowledge about how it is being done anywhere else ... - Ticketus deal is being done as we have no other "facility" running (which bank would do this right now, HMRC looming?) to deal with everday costs et al; Ticketus themselves have said that this is usual practise and has been done for years, even with us; Assumption: Ticketus and Rangers assume season ticket sales to be at around at least 30k per season, no matter whether we face administration or not - neither expect that Rangers cease to exist (which IMHO is a ludicrous idea planted by you know who in the press). I wouldn't go so far as to assume that Whyte, Ticketus and Rangers have a good idea about the result of the case, but Thornton et al might (just might!) have told them how the HMRC people wanted to deal with the stuff and what chance they have to pull this off. - Calls for the AGM. Now, call me a simpleton, but I simply cannot undrestand why people demand an AGM when it is clear since last November that there won't be any until we know about the tax case. So keeping on demanding one right now seems to be a touch foolish - no insult intended here, BTW. There won't be results until after the verdict ... and we have time till end of March 2012, have we not? - No money ... IMHO is clear too. He obviously wants to have a neat sum ready should we face a small HMRC bill from the big case, or pay of the small one in one go. - It smacks you in the face that those people criticising Whyte these days also had EBTs running, e.g. Bain, McClelland, and its use only stopped with Whyte. On a sidenote - and the sceptics on here will tell me that his words are just that so far, i.e. cheap words - should he indeed waive the debt he has placed in the RFG, will those snipers and doom-singers really eat as much humble-pie as they have to? IMHO, Whyte has been acting like he had to in these circumstances and much of what has been thrown against him has come from people well groomed and fed by the negative hysteria press and mhedia ever since the Ellis attempt. People should calm down and try to remain on an objective level. No head in sand or the like, but not envisaging the evil business shark at each corner either.

Article in the Scottish Sun Will hopefully calm some nerves and does away with some of the stuff we had to endure these last few days and weeks!

Did Johnston say anything about how he or LBG would have handled the HMRC stuff, which evidently holds the club back just now?

He invested 20m via Ben Nevis, but not directly in Rangers Shares, but via some other business. Wikipedia is very much not up to date. Google yields only tax cases et al ...

No, he will not. Of course! ... or maybe he will. How would we know? It is embarrassing that there is apparently a consensus that he is an even murkier figure than SDM and his deals ever was. As if we ever fully knew what SDM did. Or the chap that is the Hooped Horrors' boss beyond the Irish Sea. IMHO, we have been well groomed and trained by the doomsingers amongst ourselves and the media. As I pointed out above, he will not reveal any stuff that is regarded confidental all over the world at any other club. Full stop. And much of what people want to know falls into this category. And that was the way under all managers we had before.

Did I say so? I do indeed question their dignity as well as the way to conduct this whole "business", and again question their loyalty to the club when it was theirs to guide ... for years. It smacks you right on the forehead if they come out now and criticise Whyte for what he did and does, something they could not pull of by themselves.

Whyte has by now responded (not bad, hey?), the last sentence reads:

Call me stubborn, but I will not listen to this. I've been brought up with chairmen, managers, and players who fully understood what it means to be a Ranger. Fair enough, SDM (after the credit crunch) financially drove us against the wall, but ever since Lloyds took over, a great number of Rangers people let their club down by going publicly against Rangers FC and various people within it. All these directors we had these last years before Whyte took over did nothing to get us back on track financially, did not harrass SDM into actively looking for a buyer or a way to get us out of the HMRC dilemma(s). Now that they have been punted they come back and tell us (and the world) that all the bad stuff Whyte takes on with great public attention is being done wrongly? Even a dead rat's IQ should be enough to see through this ...

I would hope the first thing Ally did this morning was tying Aluko up on a long deal.

Don't know, but for the love of *insert something that is important to you* I cannot understand what people want Whyte to say here. Speak publicly about confidential business dealings and strategies? The going on's behind his businesses with and beyond Rangers? Have you EVER heard any whispers about somesuch under/from Marlborough, Murray or from the Desmond figure beyond the Irish Sea? In times when HMRC et al look/-ed at our behaviour with eagle-eyes? He comes out with essentially all he can and has to say at the moment, whether we like it or not. Whether we are the individual supporter or some thousand-strong association. It is IMHO essential that he does not spill any beans ahead of any verdict on the case, for each little bit he does will end up in the press and be turned about until it paints us and him in a bad light. That is what happened ever since he took over. This is perhaps the most testing time for the club, but you do wonder - after all the debates that have been done about this - why people do actually fear for the existence of the club? It will not cease to exist, whether or not the verdict goes against us. Whether or not we get 250 points deducted for these next 12 years or whatnot. We took it all in our stride, these dozens of years of success under Souness, Smith, McLeish, Advocaat et al. We should be able to take the odd year of "failure" or "dispair" into our stride as well. Rangers are for life, not for the glory seasons.

A more complete list ... IN: #24 Mervan Celik â?? Contract till 2015 Out: #9 Nikica Jelavić â?? sold (£6m+ Everton FC) #10 John Fleck â?? (Contract till 2013, loaned to Blackpool FC) #17 Juan Manuel Ortiz â?? (Contract till 2014, loaned to Almeira, Spain) #36 Darren Cole â?? (Contract till 2012, loaned to Partick Thistle FC) #33 Thomas Kind Bendiksen - released (turned down contract, Tromsø IL) #23 Jordan McMillan â?? sold (Contract till 2012, refused extention; Dunfermline Atletic) #35 Kyle Hutton â?? (contract till 2014, loaned to Dunfermline Atletic) #3 David Weir â?? released Jack Werndly - (loaned to Albion Rovers) Marc Dyer - (loaned to Ayr United) Sam McMahon - released (?, Doncaster Rovers) Freddie Espling - released (?, Djurgarden) Nicolaj Kohlert - released (?, Silkeborg) On trial: Luigi Bruins, Jamael Cox, Matthew Mbuta

Some news ...

As I asked before, was Whyte even there? A lot of assumptions by the press yesterday ... and the Bears went into overdrive about it. On a sidenote, Celik is an attacking midfielder that can play as a striker, Bruins too, if he's still there. There are still some decent enough (for the SPL) forwards about on a free, you just have to snap them up.

Oh wait, was there a similar article when they invited a terrorist-gloryifing music band to perform at their ground?

We have been in that state off the pitch for these last three or more years. It was on the pitch that the titles were decided and it will be much the same this time around (unless HMRC intervenes).

So it has closed ... what can you say but ...

As I have said and as has been said, there are still loads of freebies around which we can sign from now till the end of the season. Will there be more Alukos? Who knows.

True enough. That was the point many made at the start of the season. IMHO, our main problem was that Naismith and Lafferty as well as Hemmings all got injured at the same time. How likely is that to happen again though? We saw in these last couple of games that we can create and put away enough chances to "survive" in the SPL. What was evident was that our utter lack of using the squad left us with too many people without much playing time and thus people not being sharp enough, e.g. Healy and Kerkar. I do not see them as saviours, but given some more playing time and utilizing them all (sic!) to their full potential, we still have enough people up there to compete for some time to come. In an ideal world, I would hope that we get some more freebies (Jaager and/or some strikers (Kalu Uche?)) in. We have to wait and see.

Current (21.13) revised squad to win title 55 this season: GK - McGregor, Alexander, Gallacher FB - Whittaker, Broadfoot, Papac, Wallace CD - Goian, Bocanegra, Bartley, Perry CM - Davis, Edu, McCulloch, McKay, McCabe OM - Wylde, Bedoya, Naismith, Aluko, Celik ST - Lafferty, Healy, Hemmings, Kerkar, Little

Rapid's manager has already confirmed that they receive nothing from any future Jelavic deal.

Which is an assumption. Much like most of what is posted here. We hear about this sum or that, but no-one on here or in the press has any hard figures to work with. Not that this will stop people from giving their opinion. My last info about WH bid was 3.2m up front and the rest of those 7m some day in the future. My last info about the Everton deal was 8m, with apparently 5.5m up front and add-ons. Possibly, if there's a lower fee, some neat sell-on clause. In the end, all just hearsay, assumption and more often than not, speculation.

Snatched from FF r

Round-up: IN: #24 Mervan Celik â?? Contract till 2015 Out: #9 Nikica Jelavić â?? sold (£6m+ Everton FC) #10 John Fleck â?? (Contract till 2013, loaned to Blackpool FC) #17 Juan Manuel Ortiz â?? (Contract till 2014, loaned to Almeira, Spain) #36 Darren Cole â?? (Contract till 2012, loaned to Partick Thistle FC) #33 Thomas Kind Bendiksen - released (turned down contract, Tromsø IL) #23 Jordan McMillan â?? sold (Contract till 2012, refused extention; Dunfermline Atletic) #35 Kyle Hutton â?? (contract till 2014, loaned to Dunfermline Atletic) #3 David Weir â?? released Jack Werndly - (loaned to Albion Rovers) Marc Dyer - (loaned to Ayr United) Sam McMahon - released (?, Doncaster Rovers) Freddie Espling - released (?, Djurgarden) Nicolaj Kohlert - released (?, Silkeborg) On trial: Luigi Bruins, Jamael Cox, Matthew Mbuta