Davie P

I'm not so sure that he would turn it down. It could be that this will be the only time that he is ever offered the Rangers job so 'accept now or forever hold your peace'! I just cannot see the board going any other route but a 'safe pair of hands', none of this foreign adventure nonsense! Time will tell and no matter who is appointed, he will have my full backing and support to turn things around and get us going in the right direction again.

Misses the next league match as well as the first match Rangers play in the League cup (next season)

Who knows how a boycott would ultimately change things? However, what we can say for a fact, is that the fans of every club in the Premier has shown nothing but disdain, if not outright hatred towards us, since the return. Building bridges? Robertson has tried that, and yet here we are with possibly the biggest blatant GIRFUY from the compliance officer that could be slapped in our faces. What are we paying for an away day ticket now? Was Hearts at GBP50 or thereabouts? 14 000 x 50 = GBP700k x 2 matches per season = GBP1,4m. Trust me, if that money disappears from a club's coffers, the pressure that they immediately feel from their bank managers would bring pressure onto the clubs, who in turn would apply that pressure onto the SPFL. Alternatively, they cut their cloth accordingly and downsize their club accordingly, which weakens them accordingly. We would still have all the hatred aimed at us, but how is that any different from the current position?

100% agree but as Frankie has stated we have already effectively sold out Murrayfield and subsidised the building of Hearts new stand. (To be fair that was prior to this disgraceful decision which hopefully disgusts all fans equally). Being part of the RSC's and getting on the buses to the matches is almost part of the ritual of your youth and being indoctrinated into the Rangers way of life. I understand how difficult it is to give all of that up, and for the youngsters to lose out on that experience, but until a boycott happens we will continue to be treated as dog shite under the shoe. The difficulty is enforcing this, but look at the sales of the Daily Record. We have started to hurt them. Boycott's can be successful but it would need to be driven by the club. If the club came out with a statement saying that we will not be accepting any away tickets for the foreseeable future, that threat in itself would bring any rational business to re-consider the manner in which it operates. Of course the SPFL and SFA defy any notion of rationality, but keep at it long enough and perhaps sanity will prevail.

The only thing that will bring Scottish football to its senses is a total boycott of all away matches. We should not spend a penny in Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Edinburgh etc. and buy Rangers TV for viewing those matches. Sell out every match at Ibrox. Pump every penny into Rangers friendly pubs. The power of the blue Pound was demonstrated during the 'journey' when we single handedly secured the survival of the lower tier Scottish teams for years to come. In our absence SPL grounds were empty, including the Peadodome, despite promises of "sell out Saturdays". TV deals were a joke (although they continue to be scandalous in comparison to even the English Championship). Take it back down to the lowest common denominator, adopt a Stalingrad guerrilla mentality, burn all of the crops and start again when the SFA come out with the begging bowl. The problem is, as rangers fans, a week later and we have forgotten all about the disgraceful decisions e.g. Beaton and turn all the blame onto the manager for being 6 points behind in the league. Send off Stokes after 5 minutes, don't send off Jack, and we are probably 3 points closer. All that matters in our life is our standing in the league and as it stands we are well behind our main rivals. For what its worth, in terms of the letter of the law, Alves should have been sent off. That really cannot be disputed. However, if you are going to have trial by television, then Moult retaliated (letter of the law, red card), Bowman led with the elbow (doesn't need to be deliberate or not, it was dangerous play,) straight red all day long. I hate to sound like a mhank and play the blame game, but this decision of selective post match punishment is just incomprehensible.

I don't think Morelos is going to be terribly effective if we continue to hit long balls to him and he is up against a 6ft4 CB! It is probably the only argument for persevering with Pena, as for all his faults, he is possibly the only player capable of creating something from nothing (Niko is probably the only exception to that but fitness is always going to be a challenge for him) and if so, he can and will play in Morelos. Dorrans could be an interesting option if he was played in the Pena position, and at the moment I don't think we have much to lose by trying this as an alternative.

I think Dorrans further forward is probably a good shout. He has a decent shot on him as we have seen, so getting him up the field would make sense. Holt probably was a wee bit unlucky to get dropped for the weekend, but as Jack has possibly been our best player to date, he had to come straight back in. Holt in for the DM role with Jack, Dorrans further forward replacing Pena, and perhaps Hodson in at LB with John LM? Wont happen obviously, but we have to strengthen that hole on the left.

Pedro has already stated that if the same 11 as played in the LCSF are available, he will be picking them with a view to obtaining redemption. For me, the thought of a hapless Windass and/or Pena just gives me the fear. From a man management perspective, at some stage they have to be removed from the firing line. Windass in particular appears to have zero confidence (although many would say that's zero ability)! Irrespective of Pedro's comments, I would be surprised if Cardoso would be able to play (his eyes will probably be swollen shut by now) so McCrorie comes in for him. Does Miller or Niko come into that problematic left sided attacking midfielder position? I can't believe I'm writing that, am breaking out into a cold sweat just typing this up! When did we become so bereft of options?

Yesterday Pedro took full responsibility for the result, today the players are an embarrassment? Not that I disagree, but seems a bit contradictory. Wonder if he is working his ticket?

Yesterday he took full responsibility for the result, today the players are an embarrassment? I don't disagree with him by the way, but just seems a bit contradictory.

Calmed down a bit now, so thought I would put my more 'rational' thoughts down now: 1. Dominated the opening 30 minutes and had chances to open the scoring. 2. Poor goal to concede from the corner, but generally we have made massive improvements in that area. I do not suffer heart palpitations every time we concede a corner now, as I did last season! 3. Motherwell should have had at least 2 red cards. Foul on Morelos in the first half was a potential leg breaker, and the boy that broke Cardoso's nose obviously was under instructions to take out anything that moved. He was lucky not to have been sent off, even before the elbow in Cardodo's face. Alves will probably pick up a retrospective red card for lashing out at Moult, who retaliated as well, but as the ref booked him, presumably for that, then not sure if he can receive a further punishment. 4. Windass is showing why we spent 75k on him, that's the level of performance you can expect for that kind of money. Jersey is too heavy for him. Could have had two goals and Moult showed him how to lob a goalkeeper. I don't think that Windass' attempted lob reached the goalies knee. He was tried in a variety of positions, LM, RM and No 10 and did nothing in each. 5. Pena was totally non-existent in the first half, but bizarrely was responsible for the through ball for Windass only for him to pass it kindly into the goalie. 6. Moult took his goals well, particularly the second. 7. Perhaps we as Rangers fans now need to park our snobbishness when it comes towards players in 'provincial Scottish teams' being linked to us. I remember Moult being mentioned as a target for us in the past transfer window, and the amount of people stating that 'he's no Rangers class' was ridiculous. We are not going to go after the Scott Sinclairs of this world for a long time to come. 8. We are too soft as a team both under Warburton and now Pedro. Can you imagine Souness, Ferguson, Gough allowing the opposition to break a team mates nose, with no retaliation? Unfortunately Scottish refs have declared war on Rangers and the opposition is being allowed to physically dominate us. 9. Does Pedro need to go? He is just not answering the questions being posed to him, but I would give him until the end of this season. Reason being that the players he has brought in could potentially down tools. It does appear that there are language cliques in the change room and I don't believe that we have a united team to begin with. So any new manager coming in will again need to get rid of half a dozen players. We should be building on a foundation and be adding quality players every window, rather than ripping the guts out and starting over. 10. If we ever needed a reality check on where we are, that match just delivered it to us - We are in a fight for best of the rest with Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Motherwell and Hibs. Hope we have the fight in us, just struggling to see which players are up for it.

I see Steven McLean is the ref for the match.

No parents should ever have to bury their child. Deepest condolences to the Butcher family and friends. RIP Christopher.

Personally, I don't think that they are corrupt, (as in receiving backhanders in brown envelopes) however the entire atmosphere within Scottish football is toxic towards all things Rangers. As a result, you can be fairly sure that you are not going to receive any censure by the SFA/SPFL bosses with regards to any poor decision taken against Rangers. In that Hibs game, Beaton put on quite possibly the worst performance by a ref that I have ever seen, but if you recall the hullabaloo when he did not send of Garner last season, my guess is that he just wanted to show that he was impartial and instead of sending off Stokes, he sent off Jack to 'even' up the score.

Interesting article. Can you point out to me where Dave King has lied to the fans? If he is to make an offer to purchase the remaining shareholding, you do realise that not one penny of that money goes back into the club. That's not investing in Rangers, it is further rewarding the s***s for raping the club and awarding themselves penny shares. The magical 30m would be invested over a period of time, but perhaps the fact that this has not been provided up front is proof of his lies? The author of the article is a guy called Alec Hogg, who is a very decent financial journalist, but does appear to have a beef with King. As I said, no problem with someone not liking or distrusting King. It has been said many times on here, and there are arguments against as well as in support, but there is a manner in which this can be conveyed. I don't think that calling anyone a 'crook' or a 'skint charlatan' is overly helpful, but perhaps I am just a bit precious that way.

I actually enjoy reading a contrary view and think it is important that we do challenge our own thinking and the status quo within our football club. However, statements such as the above are unacceptable. By all means put forward your position re King, but when it is just a snidey remark, it doesn't help your argument. For what its worth: I am eternally grateful to King for having the fortitude to stand up to Ashley and to rid the club of the s***s. King is the biggest investor in the history of Rangers Football Club when you factor in his contributions during the Murray era. Does King have baggage? Yes of course he does, it is well known, but I live in South Africa and the tax avoidance methods that he utilised were legal at the time of inception. Subsequently the rules did change and he probably should have settled much sooner than he did. Do I wish that he had made the offer to minority shareholders without the need to go to the CoS? Of course, I hate to see us being dragged through the mud by our enemies, and it is even worse when the damage is self inflicted. King is undisputedly wealthy, but much of that wealth is tied up in family trusts and in equity rather than cash but would still rather have him find a solution behind the scenes at the time of the TAB ruling. Should King still be Chairman? My personal take is that if we can find someone more suitable, then I think that DK would willingly step down. This is not an ego trip for him, would anyone willingly open themselves up to the level of vitriol and hatred that he has been subjected to. Every time he misses a game, his commitment is questioned. Every statement that he releases is criticised. Would any one of us, willingly accept that level of abuse, other than for love of the club? The more pertinent question is - Who replaces him? Would the Parks step up, Taylor, Leathem? I don't believe so, they all have their own financial interests to focus on. So then who? Are we going to attract a billionaire Chinese or Arab investor? Those billions would quickly become millions in the Scottish game! We offer nothing that they cannot obtain elsewhere (other than our history), but someone looking at a club for an investment would be going to other countries first. So supporters then? Would C1872 have the funds and business acumen to purchase his shareholding and manage the club? Doubtful, we cant even agree on the colour of the sky. How are we going to agree on what is best for Rangers. What other wealthy Rangers supporters is there that are going to fund the club? King is certainly not above criticism, and I will be first in line to do so should he fail in his sacred duty as a custodian of our club, but equally, to ignore his achievements is either being ignorant or stupid.

That's not a genuine apology, it's a 'damn, we have been bust, best make a mealy mouth admission of sorts'. In all honesty, the apology is not in the public domain and all they are doing is apologising for being caught out. Anyone in that space is going to do some research before hand in terms of who they are partnering with, so their pleading of ignorance is total nonsense. The raison d'etre for the organisation is a noble one, and it's a real shame that individuals allow their personal prejudices to arise within such a framework. Although within Scotland, that appears to be par for the course.

That's not true, what about Dermot Desmond... oh wait!

Excellent review Pete, really enjoyed reading that. PS. Unless there are any unexpected injuries I agree that the team shown above will be the starting 11 on Friday night.

This is Rossiter's second season with us and he may have played perhaps half a dozen games? At some stage, serious questions will need to asked of his fitness or ability to avoid injuries (if we have not done so already). I would imagine that he is on a decent package and if the club Doctor and specialists come to the conclusion that he is made of glass, then we would be as well getting him off the payroll sooner rather than later and using those wages (plus those of Niko and Miller's) to get in two decent performers. I would guess that the three players mentioned would be earning 30k plus per week and if the rumours are true about Dorrans signing for 15k p.w., then that has to be the minimum level of player that we should be attempting to attract. I am sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong, but the contracts expire at the end of this season, for all three players? Rossiter may have an extra year? It's a real shame for the boy, he has looked like a real talent, but in our current environment where every penny is a prisoner, we just cannot carry passengers.

I don't disagree with much of what you are saying and realise the difficulties that appointing a single representative from C1872 would create. However, this is now a big shareholding and will be likely to grow in the near future (depending on the CoS outcome re King on Thursday and Friday). Why could we not employ an independent individual with no ties to either C1872 or the club? Plenty of competent individuals with the necessary qualifications, to attend say 4 board meetings per annum.

After the Benfica debacle, you may have wanted to wait a bit and make sure that the games are going ahead!

There is an extremely comfortable relationship between C1872 and the club, which is fine if you are merely a supporters association, but as major shareholders, there has to be a myriad of different and difficult questions being asked. C1872 should be pushing for a seat on the main board. As the second largest shareholder, I would have thought that they would be entitled to a position at the big table in any event. Perhaps time to pursue this with more vigour. I understand that SR cannot respond fully to questions in an open forum, but the normal bland, generic answers are really just a waste of time. If C1872 is asking about standing room for supporters, don't say that a supplier has been commissioned to investigate. Provide some evidence of the appointment and the expected due date for completion. If C1872 is asking about Celtic's allocation at Ibrox, don't say that it is 'out of our hands, as it is a requirement for a safety licence'; then provide proof in writing from the relevant authority. Why can't we receive chapter and verse on the role of L5, rather than they provide support to SR. 3rd kit launch, why no fanfare. Just because Puma and Sports Direct are responsible for this, why did the club not have little teasers running on the official website? Bear in mind that half the profit from the sale now goes to the club and could mean the difference between buying someone in January or having to wait until the next transfer window. Our marketing is shocking. Why can't he share the strategy for on-going financing of the club? Why is it a secret if there is to be a new share offering following the AGM? Why cant we receive some feedback in respect of King's thinking regarding the TAB? I am sure that you had to be there to get it in context, but unless C1872 has a seat on the main board, it cannot really drill down and interrogate the directors and help steer the club in the general direction as envisaged by the paying fan. Listen, I am a big King/3B/Park fan boy, and think that they have stabilised the club to a large extent, but I also feel that we are rapidly approaching an era of Murray-esque proportions, whereby, the punter is totally left in the dark. Meetings such as last night's really do not satisfy the itch!

Without wishing to cast too many aspersions, it does seem peculiar that every newspaper article since the alleged argument with Pedro has extolled Miller's attributes; just saying!

Just googled the article THEY THINK IT'S ALL OSA ..IT IS NOW UEFA CUP SPECIAL... OSASUNA 1 RANGERS 0 Badly-beaten Gers slip out of Europe with a whimper By James Traynor RANGERS were soundly beaten on and off the pitch in Pamplona last night when the SPL side's UEFA Cup hopes were dismantled. Just as they had done at Ibrox, Osasuna ran Rangers ragged and exposed the frailties of the team Walter Smith has inherited. Although his side had more possession in the second half the ball was a stranger throughout the first when Osasuna created chance after chance. Had the Spaniards been respectable finishers, this tie would have been over long before the riot police launched their first attack on a pocket of Rangers fans who took an awful beating. Many had arrived with full tanks after having spent the day in this sleepy town's bars but the noise as the players emerged made sure no one in Pamplona was dozing off. As usual, there were the offensive sounds decent people have come to abhor. Unfortunately there was no evidence to suggest these chants are belted out by only a handful as some Rangers people would have you believe. Fortunately for Scotland, they won't be back in Europe for a while after Pierre Webo's second-half goal gave Osasuna a 2-1 aggregate win but it must be said the cops were more than heavy handed. In fact, they seemed to be spoiling for a fight, which was more than could be said for Smith's team. They went out of Europe with a whimper. They were hopeless for most of the game although it was tough to watch what was happening on the pitch and at the same time keep an eye on the riot cops. They surged in several times clubbing everyone within reach. Although the fans who were spewing their sectarian bile probably deserve a good hiding, innocents would also have been taken out. This was the second time Rangers had lost to Osasuna in the UEFA Cup - they were beaten 2-0 here after having won the first leg 1-0 22 years ago - and it means the Ibrox side still haven't won on Spanish soil. Smith opted for virtually the same team that started Sunday's Old Firm match with Gavin Rae the only change. He stepped into the space created by Barry Ferguson's suspension but there were many who thought the manager would make at least one other change with Dado Prso starting instead of Filip Sebo. That was Smith's main dilemma because Prso has the subtlety to open defences and the touch and balance to confuse would-be markers but his fitness is suspect. The idea was to hold him in reserve until his time came. So all Rae, captain for the night, and the rest had to do was keep themselves in the game until half-time when Smith would have to consider going for broke but that would be no simple matter with Osasuna sensing their opponents were on the ropes. After all, Rangers had done nothing right in the first leg and were fortunate to be on level terms. Also, Osasuna's small but perfectly formed Reyno de Navarra Stadium was just below it's 20,000 capacity but it was alive and vibrating with expectation. The locals were out in healthy numbers to see their heroes, playing in the UEFA Cup for only the fourth time, impose themselves from the start. But manager Jose Angel Ziganda made drastic alterations to the team which had performed so well at Ibrox. Only four, keeper Ricardo, Webo, Gomez Jaunlu and Javad Nekounam, survived. Not even Raul Garcia, who scored at Ibrox, started last night but Azpilicueta did and he's only 17. Apparently Ziganda was keeping his best on hold for this weekend's Basque derby against Atletico Bilbao but within a minute Allan McGregor, who had his two-match UEFA ban reduced to one game, was under pressure. Rae gave the ball away to Webo who slipped a perfect pass to Romeo running between Alan Hutton and Ugo Ehiogu. Fortunately for Rangers the Osasuna player's touch was poor and he could only hit the ball wide. A minute later Jaunlu's free-kick from just outside the box zipped over McGregor's bar. Two minutes in and it was already clear this was not going well for Rangers but it would get much worse if they persisted in giving the ball to Osasuna. Hutton did what Rae had done at the start and gifted possession to Corrales who was then fouled by the Rangers defender just as he released Jaunlu. His low, angled drive fizzed narrowly past McGregor's left-hand post and before the by-kick could be taken Hutton was booked for his challenge. Jaunlu was through again a few minutes later and even though his delivery across the face of goal was easily gathered by McGregor his midfield and defence were putting him under enormous pressure because they couldn't find their opponents never mind a rhythm. McGregor must have felt as though he had wandered into the middle of a motorway. The traffic just kept coming at him and all he could do was dive, leap and jump. A better side than Osasuna would have been comfortably in front and cruising to the quarters but the truth was the Spanish side were actually only mediocre. Yet they were taking Rangers apart and Punal should have put them in front when he met a cutback on the penalty spot but leaning back, his shot took flight and landed in the second tier behind McGregor. Azpilicueta tried a couple from 22 yards and Webo's flick drifted wide as Rangers reeled under the pressure but Ziganda must have been furious with his players for squandering so many chances to put this tie to bed so that they could start relaxing ahead of their derby. Rangers had no idea how to reverse the flow and every time a blue-shirted player got the ball he found none of his team-mates running into space or making themselves available. Too many were hiding and unwilling to take responsibility although just before half-time they did win a corner. Predictably, it ended with Weir heading tamely into Ricardo's arms and then Charlie Adam nodding the ball wide as the referee called a halt to what had been a dreadful 45 minutes. Rangers needed something different if they were to make Osasuna think about piling forward but Prso was still a spectator at the start of the second half although, remarkably, the first chance fell to Rangers. Adam, however, blasted a 25-yard free-kick over Ricardo's bar. Then, two minutes into the half, Ian Murray's left hand stopped Nekounam's cross from reaching the middle and although it looked apenalty, the Danish referee waved play on but he booked Ehiogu for tripping Romeo just before Rangers took off Kevin Thomson, who was carrying an injury. Chris Burke took over as Smith decided that somehow Osasuna had to be subdued. Unfortunately, Rangers couldn't do what the riot cops were doing almost at regular intervals to silence Rangers fans and when you witness these seemingly random and unprovoked attacks you have to wonder why decent supporters would want to follow their teams to Spain. Sitting or standing in the wrong place at the wrong time can get you a broken head Prso was released from the touchline bunker in 63 minutes when he took over from Sebo, who had been a man alone up front for most of his shift, but it was time for Rangers to go for broke. They had to score but had never looked likely to do so and now an awful lot was resting on Prso conjuring up one piece of magic