der Berliner

Bar Whittaker, I wouldn't sell anyone of our defenders or goalkeepers ...

Care to expand why this would negate the need for a tribunal? Isn't the latter exactly what is "holding" the HMRC cases "up" these days?

Disgraceful .. yes. But we sure deserve better from one of our veterans, not least last night. And IMHO they had enough wake-up calls already these last two months.

Which is essentially what it all boils down to. Speculation and assumption. We'll have to wait and see what January holds in store. As one of my fellow German boarders keeps on saying: winning the HMRC case and/or getting rid of the debts is essentially more important than another title this season. Not what your average Bear will like to hear, but that is what it boils down too. Obviously, retaining the title and getting into the CL proper should be a grand motivator for the players ... though from recent displays some of our "veterans" (at European level) seem to have lost that particular bite, perhaps thinking that reaching one European Final in their Rangers career was all what Fortune held in store for them (at this club). From rbr ... or so the papers claim. Who says that inbetween this agreement has not been edited or removed? Just out of interest.

Which is an assumption by yourself, I assume?

Perhaps a change of captain is needed too ... Bocanegra would be my cap of choice these days.

Weren't we told only recently that we may have apparently settled a deal with HMRC for 8m for both cases, after Whyte talked to the London HQ of said institution? In any case, we could - no matter what Whyte said before - still challenge any negative outcome of the case and take it into next season, if not beyond. Not nice, but very much an option. Anyways, I doubt that we need to sell players to pay other people's wages. I do wonder what keeps the smaller case from being concluded - lawyers' wages apart.

Our best performance of the season was Motherwell away, with Ortiz, Davis, Naismith and Wylde in midfield. That is pace, creativity and guile. I for one do not blame McKay or Bedoya or even Ortiz here, for they were never given a real chance in a steady and good team. Matter of fact, McKay never got a chance at all. So I stay away from any great criticism of them, far greater players have come in and struggled for more than a year. Back then, we had other performing on their peak level though. Our problem remains that we have apparently hit some hard rocks and those in there, those with responsibility, cannot get us over that barrier. You would have hoped that last week's defeat was a great enough kick up the respective backsides and Ally's line-up confirmed that he had learned ( though I assume his hand was forced with Broadfoot). The players who carry responsibility had not ... or could not life up to the standards required. Hence my hard statement above: if selling Jela nd Davis is needed to acquire what is needed for Rangers FC, no-one is bigger than the club. Still, I won't join up any panic brigade as yet. As was said before and as you see today, the world is still rotating, Rangers FC still in existence. It have been some torrid two months, but we are still 5 months away from any serious decision. They have had a "fine" streak without hitting any excellence either - whatever your next Hooped Horror might spout today. I do imagine that teams who have settled squads like St. Johnstone, ICT and St.Mirren will despite all the malice they receive not least from our parts continue to plug points away from them, while I hope that we get a few new faces in January to drag us out of the mire. The tinkering has to stop though and people have to be hold responsible for sub-standards displays. At the end of the day, each time they take the field, they should be made very much aware of the fact that they are living our dream and we have some right to expect a certain level of return here.

Just came home from work and was actually looking for a better result - only for my text-service chap to let me down here. So the disappointment is doubled. Alas, I spared downloading the game (at that minimal rate right now), after the headline on this board gave the result away. Anyway, I've said it all along, despite Naismith's grand season, a lot of our people have been playing sub-standard (their own that is) and continue to do so. What really beggars belief is that Ally does and did not drop the likes of Davis and Whittaker when he should have, so the mediocre stuff continued throughout these last two months, despite the fact there was potential on the bench. And no matter what others think, these chaps like McKay, Fleck, Bendiksen and even Ortiz can't be that bad. This morning I read Davis and Ally bragging about us being good enough for a win. That has always been a bad omen, the last time someone in blue said somesuch it was Whittaker ahead of the Malmö games. Here we go again. Right now, I for one - despite all the emotion - would have no problem if we do decide to sell the likes of Jelavic and - dare I say it - Davis ... if that means that we bring in people who want to play football with heart and soul and give 110% each and every week. And I do not care whether these people come from Accrington Stanley, Barca or East Fife, as long as they do their job. As for the result ... sure, Timothy will be jumping up and down the streets, as they were last season. But much like back then, or when we were mathematically 15 points clear, nothing is won or lost in January. We just managed to throw a healthy lead away and if we lose this title, serious questions have to be asked, not just McCoist, but also the attitude of some - key - players. But May is a long time ahead and we have an interesting month of January coming up. As my signature says ... Fortune will have her way, and she alone choses it.

Ere some jumps on tribalfootball's bandwaggon with regard to us looking for a loan of Goodwillie ... he has played for two clubs already this season (United & Rovers) and cannot play for another team this season. End of that story.

Well, we don't know much about what happens at Auchenhowie, or many other sports grounds in Europe. I happened to watch a few mid-season training sessions of Hertha Berlin over here and these people do not exactly break out sweat either.

Playing a defensive formation worked for us when we had fast players who were on top of their form. For we are much better picking teams off this season than to dominate a game or be creative. Hence, we "strolled" through a mediocre early season with Wylde, Naismith, Lafferty and Jelavic taking on this mantle. Once Naismith was out and Lafferty toiling too, this whole system went out of the window. It was more or less hit and hope ... for some brilliance of Jelavic. As soon as sides stopped us from doing that - St. Johnstone, Killie et al, we stuttered along. Ally chopped and changed and persisted in playing a combative midfield instead of a creative one, Fleck and McKay are sure pretty annoyed folk these days ... and who can blame them? It looks bad and we do not have the people to play that system. So he did a good job and brought in Aluko and as soon as Sone hits the field we look dangerous again?! Only to be denied by some rather ominous new rule that hits our new momentum right in the solar plexus region. Even Ally must have seen that his recent tactics do not work and they will not work against the Hooped Horrors either. If St. Johnstone and St. Mirren can match our midfield, I do expect that theirs will do so too. If there is need for it, that is. For they simply can by-pass it altogether and use their wing-players. Against a weakened central defence and a Whittaker who is well short of his own form, the omens do not look good. So by all accounts, an Aluko and Jelavic in the front line is a must, matter of fact, a 4-4-2 would be a surprise for the lego-eater and his ilk. Hit them fast and hit them hard, that will take the sting out of their bluster. Alas, I'll be off to work so I will have to watch the game later on ... unless we get beaten, and thus I can spare me the "drama".

We are 20 games into the season ... and have lost a massive 2 of them. The current form is a problem, but we have seen similar in years gone by, even the NIAR ones. There's a habbit to only remember the good things and leave the bad memories (grand ones aside) in the shadow of our mind, but bleak spells such as these have always been there. You can look at the future in the most negative ways possible, or try to keep a cool head and wait and see what happens. While many cannot envisage this, should we triumph at the Scumhut, their momentum is gone and we're suddenly 4 points ahead again.

On a sidenote, rumour on FF has it that we have put forward (on Friday) documents to the SPL to make two Aluko-contract-style signings this or next week. Different people with no reason to disbelief have made these statements, the sources did not tell them / had no knowledge of who these people were. Must have been either freebies (hence Aluko-style contracts). Just two freebies spring instantly to mind, for O'Connor and Allan are only available in January. Another rumour says that McCoist and Durrant were down in England today to have a look at Doncaster's Billy Sharp and Burnley's Rodriguez. The latter just your average rumour though.

I actually asumed that Ally tested various line-ups ahead of this game and you can safely say that it was a hazardous experiment. We will see a defensive formation at the Scumhut, of that I have no doubt. IMHO though, we should attack the Hooped Horrors as this is the area where they are most vulnerable. So Lafferty, Jelavic, Wylde, and Aluko are a must for me.

Ortiz, Wallace, Aluko, Goian, Bocanegra ... yep, you might have no point. Or do you mean those we acquired as - by common board opinion - as squad players? As for Jelavic, I don't know whether he would want to go to QPR if Liverpool has shown interest. In any case, I would hope that if he goes it will be sooner rather than later, so we have enough time to get replacements (!) in. As I said somewhere else, imagine he goes for 9m and we sign up three freebies like O'Connor, Boyd, and "worst of the lot" Riordan! 90% of the boards would be empty, as the members would have vanished into orbit ... BTW, I do think that while most talk is about Jelavic, we may also receive bids for Davis (AV) and Whittaker (Fulham) again. And as much as it hurts to say, for all their importance to the team, all three of them have played sub-their-own-standard this season. While you can accept some rustiness during the early stages of the campaign, we are now 20 matchdays into the season and they show no improvement whatsoever. And rest assured, I will be happy to eat my words come May, should these folk actually get their act together and deliver what they are capable of.

You know what? Rangers will be there come Thursday morning, come August 2012, and for a long time thereafter. No matter whether there'll be a 55th flag of St. Andrew's in the trophy room or not. That is all that counts to me. I for one have seen far darker days than these* and people back then - as they should now - have read these words and kept believing in Rangers FC: In that spirit, Merry Christmas. * Yep, we must be truly a shyte side compared to other Rangers teams in living (sic!) memory! 2 defeats in 20 games, dear me!

I would actually say that Davis and McCulloch were more or less in control of midfield, until the ref stepped in. Edu was running about like a headless chicken and his passing was again rather sub-standard. Davis failed to pick the right passes and when we actually got nearer to the penalty area, Jelavic squandered possession and gilt-edge opportunities. As it usually is, a number of factors that lead to our fall today. And credit to the Saints who played to the best of their abilities. What next? An attack-minded line-up against the Scum. Full stop.

I always say - no matter whether it is us or them who leads the pack - that nothing is decided until April or May. Nothing will be decided by the end of December or even January. We saw the Scum maul us left right and centre (with a little help from certain quarters) in January this year and if you go back to that time, the comments on here would be the same as they are now. The way we started the game today it looked good, chalking off a good goal and sending McCulloch off for essentially nothing changed the game. You would hope that Saints take heart from their display and go at other SPL opposition as they did with us. We clawed our way back into the game and once again, I have to say, poor decision-making by some of our stalwarts cost us a draw - at the very least. The Scum and their heralds will go on and boast about all our recent problems ahead of the game, declare how good they are and whatnot - as if they have not witnessed their own, rather mediocre displays of late. The only thing they did better than us is that they carved out results when needed. I for one am still hopeful that McCoist picks a team that is able to put them in their place again ... ere the transfer window opens and we get a chance to enhance our squad.

No use debating this on here tonight ... and sure not on x-mas eve. OF games have their own rules.

McCulloch came on last weekend and steadied a midfield ship that was rocking while Edu was in there. McCulloch has its uses, as does Edu, the two of them in midfield are of no use though. It was proven last season time and again - no matter whether we won the title or not. Obviously, the recent "slump" in form went hand in hand with injuries to Lafferty and Aluko's ban, as well as a continuation of Davis' inability to reach his own standards on a consistent basis. We can thank our solid defence for providing Ally with his bemusing selections of recent weeks. And we can hope that he sooner rather than later switches back to a 4-4-2 and selects players in their correct positions.

So first it was Lennon saying that he would think about signing Boyd, now the club says that it has rejected a move after being sounded out? What next? Will we (re-)sign a "Celtic reject" soon? Sometimes you simply cannot make this up.

There's hardly a more strange enigma when it comes to team selections this season. I simply cannot fathom what McKay has done wrong ... when you compare the sub-standard displays of Davis, the use of Edulloch and even Papac in midfield. If there was a fall out between them, credit to both that they keep their dignity so far ...

That would indeed be Peter Lövenkrands, you are correct!

I honestly have no clue whatsoever about his current form. Age is not a relevance to me, I have seen Weir, Berg, and even a "striker" like Caniggia doing well way beyond the 30s. We still have no real right sided attacker ... then again, you wonder what Ally thinks of Ortiz and Bedoya ...