Darthter

When he goes it will be an "undisclosed" fee, thought to be in the region of £20m+ In reality it will be <£10m

Had to laugh at one comment.... "1st it was £40m....now it's £4m....one more season & he'll be on loan at Hibs."

http://glasgowgospel.org/title-day-shame-celtic-fans-belt-out-ira-song-at-parkhead-trophy-day/ I'll assume that nothing can/will be done about it....

I think rating our team @ £15 is quite generous (based on recent performances)...... Ceptic's main problem is not in the teams transfer value, it is in the wages being paid. Missing out on CL money could have them tightening their belt somewhat. Its all well & good valuing a player @ £10m, but only if someone is willing to pay that. We could value our 1st team @ £500m....doesn't mean we'd ever get anywhere near it.

From what I know of Arfield (which ain't a lot really), I get the impression that he may not be an outstanding technical player, but more someone who will simply get the job done - solid & reliable. If that's the case, it's exactly what we need. As for being value for money....he's 29 & on a 4yr deal. He could have an outstanding 1st season & sold for £4m or he could end his career at Ibrox, playing until he's nearly 40 or he sees out his deal & moves on, possibly for a free. Who knows. What we should be getting is a player with experience & hopefully in his prime.

In the press conference today, Mark Allen essentially confirmed that the Murphy loan/signing was a done deal....

Looked like lower back pain, which is where is problems have been recently. I would assume his substitution was more of a precaution than anything else - don't want to take the change of him aggravating that previous injury.

Arfield confirmed: RANGERS are today delighted to confirm the signing of Scott Arfield from Burnley on a four year deal. Arfield, 29, arrives with a wealth of Premier League experience under his belt with Sean Dyche’s terrific Burnley team, while he also has top-flight Scottish experience with Falkirk, where he began his senior career. Arfield broke through at the Bairns in 2007, playing 122 times there across three seasons, with his spell there including a run to the 2009 Scottish Cup Final, where they were defeated by the Gers. His form earned him a move to England, and Huddersfield Town in League One. He was part of the side which saw the Terriers promoted to the Championship in 2012, before he switched to Burnley in 2013. He spent five successful seasons there – three of which were in the Premier League – and played a part in helping the Clarets qualify for Europe for the first time in 51 years. On the international front, he has been capped 12 times for Canada and has scored once. Arfield is the first signing of the Steven Gerrard era at the club, and the new manager said: “I am delighted to have added Scott Arfield to the squad for next season. He is a talented and competitive midfielder who has competed at a high level in the English Premiership and internationally for Canada. “Scott is the first one in and I look forward to working with him and the others who will be coming in to strengthen the squad.”

https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/gers-welcome-arfield-to-ibrox/ RANGERS are today delighted to confirm the signing of Scott Arfield from Burnley on a four year deal. Arfield, 29, arrives with a wealth of Premier League experience under his belt with Sean Dyche’s terrific Burnley team, while he also has top-flight Scottish experience with Falkirk, where he began his senior career. Arfield broke through at the Bairns in 2007, playing 122 times there across three seasons, with his spell there including a run to the 2009 Scottish Cup Final, where they were defeated by the Gers. His form earned him a move to England, and Huddersfield Town in League One. He was part of the side which saw the Terriers promoted to the Championship in 2012, before he switched to Burnley in 2013. He spent five successful seasons there – three of which were in the Premier League – and played a part in helping the Clarets qualify for Europe for the first time in 51 years. On the international front, he has been capped 12 times for Canada and has scored once. Arfield is the first signing of the Steven Gerrard era at the club, and the new manager said: “I am delighted to have added Scott Arfield to the squad for next season. He is a talented and competitive midfielder who has competed at a high level in the English Premiership and internationally for Canada. “Scott is the first one in and I look forward to working with him and the others who will be coming in to strengthen the squad.”

Very strange decision - Why was Hodson not playing LB from the start rather than trying to force Halliday into a position he's not familiar with.

£4m for a player going into his last year of contract, only made 17 apps & has been loaned out several times.....not for me. IF true, this may be where SG comes up against problems. Down south, £4m is nothing for a player that might have potential - that is the market that SG is used to. Up here, we are looking for a lot more of a finished product for that kind of money. We need to be looking at <£1m for "potential" type players.

The most important thing that SG must improve on is consistency. He also needs to get more out of the players....we are regularly played off the park by teams that have a fraction of our playing budget. I am looking forward to SG taking the reins. I think there are a lot of positives to come out of it.

In fairness....I think the Ref's in Scotland are all rather consistent - Consistently terrible. They are constantly getting big decisions wrong in all games - we're obviously more aware of the incident in our games. However, I would also say that in the Hibs/Gers games I have seen, the refs do appear particularly bad.

Totally agree...

Cummings COULD have had 2, but didn't. I don't think he gave the Hibs defense a particularly difficult time of it - in fairness, a lot of that was as a result of our general play. There was a particular instance, with Cummings out near the corner flag, exchanging short passes with Murphy I think while both waited for someone to get into the box - the very place where Cummings should have been in the 1st place. As for Murphy, I think he is by far our best option on the right. I think he is a step above Windass in overall play. Would like to see him stay, but also up his goal tally.

In fairness, it was an important event in the game....that one little thing that Windass did, resulted in a goal. As for Cummings....for me he was as non-existent as Windass, if not more so.

Was it not always Walter's philosophy to make your team hard to beat 1st & foremost. Solid at the back, with a quick transition to attack....however the solid at the back begins to crumble when 1/2 your defense is up in the final 3rd of the pitch.

As has been mentioned before, one of our biggest defensive issues has been our wing backs getting caught (on the break) too far up the pitch and were are then reliant on our CB's & possibly MF providing cover....or the WB sprinting back and throwing in a fairly rash challenge. Personally, I would like the FB's to be slightly less attacking, so that they aren't so far out of position if we get caught on the break. In order for that to happen, we would rely on the likes of Candeias or Murphy to link with Tav/John slightly further back, then the wingers can push forward more.

I think the concerning thing about that story is that he's been missing for several days...wonder if anyone at Rangers has been told??? Is it normal for players in Mexico to just drop off the radar when they feel like it???

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of comment around our full/wing backs - Tav, Waldo & John - in that while they are great ar surging forward, often they lack some of the more defensive qualities that are required. Ideally, we would like to have a good balance of defend & attack on both sides, but that is unlikely to happen. So, where should the main focus be??

but what a player has done previously, gives you an insight into what he may do in the future..... Player trading is a gamble....you never know how it's going to work out. With Cummings, we have had the benefit of "try before you buy". We have had a taster of how he may contribute in the immediate future, and a glimpse of how he may develop in the longer term. It is now up to the Manager to decide whether he is going to develop into a player that can offer real value to the team in terms of performance & goals, and potential value to the club if his re-sale value goes up. A players value only increases if his performances warrant it. All to often players stagnate & their value drops. Joe Dodoo was originally bought for £250k....he's 22, played 44 games in his pro career & scored 12 goals. I'd say we'd be lucky to get that £250k back for him. Cummings hasn't been great just now, but there is also no guarantee that he will notably improve next season, or the next.....The manager HAS to look at how he has performed in recent months & decide whether it's a gamble worth taking. If we're gonna play with 1 up top, is Cummings gonna successfully challenge for that spot, or is he gonna spend most of his time on the bench?

I suppose it all depends on how Gerrard view him....he may see something worth fighting for, he may view it as a lost cause. From Pena's point of view, if he wants to learn/progress, then who better to have as a mentor than Gerrard?

Do you expect him to get enough game time to improve to the point that he's a multi-million pound player??? While he's only 22, he has made 184 pro appearances, so he's not inexperienced, scoring 81 goals in that time, which is decent, but not outstanding. Freddo is 21, made 130 appearances, with 70 goals.....stats which make him a better prospect than Cummings IMHO. I don't see much future sell-on value in Cummings. I think he could do a decent job for us, but I'd be looking for better.

Morelos is a threat to opposition defense due to his tenacity & work rate - he is constantly running at them, around them & getting in their faces.....he is a right royal thorn in their sides. Cummings on the other hand (from what I've seen) tends to drift further back than Freddo ever does, thus giving defenders a break. He does a lot of running about, without achieving much, similar in many ways to Kenny Miller. Smart defenders pick up on this & give up chasing him. While Freddo has missed a fair few chances, but he's still slipping his marker(s) constantly in order to get into those positions - if you're not in the positions, you can NEVER score chances. That's why he's a threat.

based on what I've seen....I wouldn't pursue Cummings - not been overly impressed with his contribution over all. I can see him continuing to be as bit-player & don't rate him as much of a threat as Morelos is to opposition defenses.