Doc

That was a no messing interview. Excellent stuff but it looks like we're not going back to the SPL any time soon. The SFL must be loving this. The prospect of a divided league structure where their stock rises against an SPL that is looking increasingly irrelevant.

Good statement. It sums up what most of us fans feel and we can all rally round it but it's a nuclear option with regards the SPL. Fast forward three years and assume we have won three promotions in a row and stand on the verge of re-entry into the SPL. What are they going to do after this? They already make up the rules to suit themselves and they might just abolish promotion-relegation altogether and keep us in Div 1 out of spite. Without league reconstruction, in principle, they could just keep us out and keep Celtic plugging away at the Champions league in perpetuity. Perhaps I'm looking too far down the road but does anyone else have a view on this?

Andy they have the right to free speech through their blogs and can pander the minority of sick souls who want to follow them in the online world just as any nutter with a laptop and a website can. No one is arguing that their online ravings be shut down. They still have that right to spout their poison no matter how offensive it might be. We have the right in a civic society to ask the relevant authorities to restrict the size of the platform such people have, if the message is bigoted or racist or verges on hate speak as the Incubator does. The environment of national newspapers and the standards expected are different from the ranting world of blogs. There is no way any sensible newspaper should have touched Phil McGobshite with a shitty stick if they done any background research. The Sun isn't known for the highest standards of journalism but this is a fuck up on an epic scale. I'm glad that the club and the supporters have stood up and said NO on this. We need to be vigilant and keep fighting these attacks because this won't be the last.

Definitely. But more importantly all Rangers fans should boycott the paper from here on. Giving a muppet like this a public platform in a national newspaper is scandalous. Charles Green mentions the word "bigotry" and gets hauled over the coals by the SFA and the media in Scotland. Phil McWhatever trades in bigotry and is given a platform to parrot his hatred with no response from the authorities. Time for the club to point this out and for the supporters to fight back in the only way we can. Don't buy the Sun.

Not happy about the performance at the weekend but getting out the pitchforks and burning torches for McCoist this early is crazy. TWBD is absolutely right. Give the team a chance to gel. Does anyone remember the losses to Hibs and Dundee United at the start of Souness' first season when we had Butcher, Woods, etc making their debuts? Probably not. We just remember the glory of that season because the team sorted it out in the weeks that followed. Give Ally and the players another few weeks. If we're still scraping draws by the middle of October then we really need to worry.

Walter's involvement is not critical for me. I'd rather have a board run by a bunch of businessmen who know what they are doing, who can maximise the enormous potential of Rangers and make the club strong again than any number of ex-managers or ex-players who sat in the boardroom and slept through the mess that was being created by previous regimes. This is new territory for Rangers. The club needs to be run as a business for a few years to ensure that when we come back we come back with the means to really take it to Celtic and all the others who thought they'd killed us off. If that requires outsiders who are hard-nosed businessmen who know how to do things instead of "Rangers men" then fine. We all know how much so many so-called "Rangers men" were really willing to back the club over the last few months. They had their chance and they blew it.

Can't disagree with a word of that. The SPL's priorities are seriously messed up.

Two questions arise in my mind. Will there still be an SPL but the time we're in a position to be re-admitted? They are losing money and credibility like snow off a dyke so what shape will they be in in a year's time or 3 year's time? Second, would we want to be re-admitted to such a corrupt and incompetent organisation anyway? If they said you can't join until you pay us £10 million and we said "that's fine, we'll stay in the SFL thank you very much" what could they do? And what effect would it have on them? It would deprive the SPL clubs of yet another season's income (if we didn't boycott them anyway) and serve to highlight to the world the wider issue. What other country would blackmail its most successful club in return for rightful promotion to the top tier of football? The bottom line is that the threat only works if SPL membership brings in more than we're likely to be fined. Only guaranteed access to the Champions League group stages offers that and that isn't the SPL's to grant anyone.

Who knows mate? Clearly not today. More evidence of how much they "don't need Rangers". Doncaster must be shitting himself at these figures.

I think we all can. The SPL is a busted flush and the "quality" of their product is obvious for all to see.

I would vote NO. We are where we are and we should see it through. The SPL will get what's coming to them before too long.

My dad and uncles who were Rangers daft. I still remember my dad taking me to Ibrox for the first time when I was 7 in 1975. Old Ibrox with terracing at both ends before the redevelopment. We sat in the Main Stand because my dad had promised my mum we wouldn't go anywhere where there was likely to be crushing or trouble. Rangers played Dundee and won 2-0 I think. First time I went on my own without my dad was with pals from school in 1982. Copland front against Dundee United. One of the best experiences of my life.

Agreed, Falkirk will be a good yardstick for where we are. If we can do well against them we stand a good chance of being able to stick it to many in the SPL, especially at home. If we can knock the likes of Dundee United, Hibs, etc out of any cups this season I'll be chuffed to bits. Bring it on.

Frankie, you're being too harsh. Michael Jamieson might be a Septic supporter but he was happy to line up for Team GB and wrap himself in a Union Jack in front of the TV cameras when he won his medal. I bet that got cut out of any coverage at the Piggery last night! He trains in England at Bath University with a bunch of other British swimmers and is part of a team that wants to be the best. At worst that might make him a Plastic Paddy but then that's what most of the Celtic support really are. If they practised what they preach they would have booed him every stroke as a sell-out to the glorious Irish cause. If they didn't then they are hypocrits. The truth is - no matter how much they want to deny it - they're Brits and they know they are!

Absolutely correct. There is an important distinction be drawn here between the SFL clubs that have behaved properly and the lynch mob in SPL who couldn't wait to stick the boot in. We are in the SFL and it's too our advantage if we can get them on side. No boycotts for them, no crowd trouble and a hefty increase in the bank balance every time that we come to town to support our team. This is about rebuilding and doing the right thing in a manner that Bill Struth and the other great managers who shaped the history of Rangers would approve of. As for the current crop of SPL clubs, well they are on their own. They made their bed and we shouldn't have to pay for it. Boycott them to hell.

Absolutely correct. There is an important distinction be drawn here between the SFL clubs that have behaved properly and the lynch mob in SPL who couldn't wait to stick the boot in. We are in the SFL and it's too our advantage if we can get them on side. No boycotts for them, no crowd trouble and a hefty increase in the bank balance every time that we come to town to support our team. This is about rebuilding and doing the right thing in a manner that Bill Struth and the other great managers who shaped the history of Rangers would approve of. As for the current crop of SPL clubs, well they are on their own. They made their bed and we shouldn't have to pay for it. Boycott them to hell.

DB you're assuming that Septic will make the Champions League. That's a big assumption and one I hope proves to be wrong.

I suspect the latter. If Davie P felt this strongly where was his voice when it really mattered and might have changed something with the lynch mob who sent us down? Now that he's worked out how much it might cost Septic he's up in arms. This is a joke!

Yeah, Bobby George does the adverts encouraging peiple to to cash in on some of their old bling. And he's got plenty to choose from.

I wish we could as well but Liewell hasn't got everything he wanted yet and there's probably more crap to come.

My question is what we have signed up to in terms of the media rights and whether we are left in the situation where we are effectively propping up the SPL by default. Obviously if the SFL had been able to do a deal for their own rights with us as the main attraction without the SPL any money for those rights comes to us and the other SFL clubs and the SPL get ziltch from us after kicking us out (fairs fair, sporting integrity and all that). With the SPL buying the rights, are we getting peanuts while indirectly supporting the SPL's "product" and keeping all those clubs who couldn't wait to kick us down from adminstration/liquidation themselves? We might want some justie or revenge on them for their actions but have we just saved them instead? Any thoughts chaps?

I want both GB men's and women's teams to do well. I went with the family to watch the GB women at the Millenium stadium in Cardiff on Wednesday and it was a great day out. The game wasn't good technically but the mistakes made it exciting to watch and the crowd of mostly teenagers and families with young children got right behind the team - that included two scottish girls. The second game with Brazil was much better. They know how to play and were really good to watch, not just for their football either. I think it's tragic that the SFA were too narrow minded to let any scottish men play for the GB men's team. I used to think they had the best interests of scottish football at heart but with what's gone on over the last few months it's clear that they are just a bunch clueless, blinkered idiots.

We'd have nothing to lose at that point so it's worth a go even just to see Regan and the other snakes squirm under questioning.

Liewell will be there to ensure "sporting integrity" in any agreement.http://www.gersnetonline.co.uk/vb/images/icons/icon7.png

Compare HMRC's actions with respect to Rangers with their actions against Portsmouth. They accepted the Portsmouth CVA that reportedly had a value of less than 5p in the pound. That's close to or less than the CVA we offered. Leeds got away with a similar settlement as well. In both cases the repercussions for the English leagues were no way near as serious as they have been in Scotland. Of course you could also labour the point about how the FA and the English leagues have acted with respect to Portsmouth (no threat to strip them of their FA cup win) and how the powers that be in Scotland have treated us. No consistency or integrity there.