Hildy

You were doing fine up until #5.

NEVER, in the lifetime of this club's support could we agree to anything to do with that club.

Has the last four years meant nothing to you?

It's not something I'm wishing for but if Rangers and Celtic play to poorer crowds, fail repeatedly in Europe as the Scottish League becomes like the one just over the Irish Sea, and if they struggle to compete with CL glamour, any commercial suggestion that a merger could have them playing as one in the EPL will be seriously looked at.

Did you ever imagine that the Irish Republic would one day vote for the legalisation of men marrying other men?

The future is a very strange place and it almost never turns out the way we expect it to.

Firstly, another attempt at reconstruction is likely to diminish the standing of the game even more. The more we mess about with the system, the less credible it is.

Secondly, a new system which is as complex as this one is not a good idea. It has certain good points, but whatever system is used should be simple and easily understood.

Thirdly, whatever system that is used will have little effect on Rangers and Celtic, assuming of course Rangers can get back to being a major player. The Old Firm need a continental option - an Atlantic League of sorts - because their future if exclusively in Scotland will drag them down and remove them from the glamorous side of the game altogether.

Fourthly, mergers of smaller clubs can't be forced on smaller clubs, but they can sometimes work. Inverness and Aberdeen came about due to clubs merging.

Fifthly, here's one for the future. Rangers and Celtic to merge into a superclub which will be welcomed into the top league in England. Sleep on that.

I really hope that Walter Smith is kept at arm's length by the board. We should not be seeking his advice about who the next manager of Rangers will be.

This is the man who trained up Ally for the role and still doesn't seem to grasp that his apprentice was abysmal in the job, but we also need a manager who will have the team playing a style of football that is worth paying good money to see.

I still think McCall will get the gig if we go up, but if there is an opening, the board should endeavour to seek out new faces who will rejuvenate the whole playing side.

This isn't a revolution. It's more like the beginning of a recovery. The disease that infected the club has been beaten - for now - and we're hopefully on the path to return to good health.

The illness that knocked us for six was so bad though that no-one can be sure that we will recover to become what we used to be.

Think of that tackle on Ian Durrant. Was he the same player afterwards that he was before? This is what the club has been through, a damaging trauma, and full fitness may be beyond us.

Rangers has been damaged as a football club and as an institution. The extent of the damage may only be known in a few years when hindsight provides a clearer view.

Lots of people sending the exact same letter/email will detract from any points raised.

Anyone wishing to complain formally should do so in their own words.

MD saying the 'New Pioneers' painting will be removed today.

I'm pleased to hear it.

The new board appears to be listening so praise where it is due.

'New Pioneers'?

What utter nonsense. This is farcical.

Even with a new and improved board in place, the club still knows how to make a fool of itself.

How can adults take the club seriously when it promotes junk like this?

So much of attending games has to do with habit - and once the habit is broken, it's hard to get back into it. When you have a season ticket, you just go to games. You don't think about it. the game's on; you go. Simple as that. But if you don't have a season ticket and have to think about forking out every time, arranging lifts or driving through on your own the hassel factor rises and it's more difficult to make the effort.

 

That's why the damage that the previous bunch of con-artists and crooks was so serious and long lasting. We will have permanently lost thousands of fans after the boycott and it will take time and success to get the next generation to come.

This is about right.

We have lost thousands of supporters. They will continue to count themselves as fans but rarely or never go.

The article highlights the fact that our attendance numbers are significantly less than was anticipated. I have no problem with that because they are.

A older relative of mine was a good tennis player. She had a natural feel for the game and used a doubled-handed backhand to get extra power.

This was frowned on by coaches who told her that one hand should be used to play both forehand and backhand shots. She was also instructed - yes, instructed - not to play a baseline game. The idea was to serve and volley: always. No other way was coached.

Then a younger generation came through, possibly from the USA, and they threw away the coaching manuals They doubled up on backhand and played hard and powerfully from the baseline.

Coaches and purists frowned on this, but they were wrong: completely and utterly wrong.

We all went to see our players well coached but it's possible to set a player's career path back if coaching or management is flawed.

When Charlie Adam left Rangers, he was widely expected to vanish without a trace by the Rangers support and yet it was perfectly clear that he possessed an abundance of talent.

And that talent was allowed to flourish at Blackpool. He has gone on to make a great career for himself at the top of the English game and probably has more money in the bank than Rangers.

Occasionally players slip through the net, but Charlie Adam wasn't one of them. His talent was glaring but our coaching staff didn't know how to get the best out of him.

As a result, the Rangers support wrote him off. Few believed that he'd shine the way he has in the English Premiership. He was even voted one of the top five players in the division by fellow professionals, and yet we thought he was useless.

Just now, we have a young player who has a good instinct and a nice touch: Tom Walsh. He's been played out wide but apparently this is not his favoured position.

Let's hope that his career develops in a good way - with Rangers.

Glad that you are looking forward to the play-offs Hildy. I wish I had your optimistic spirit. In contrast, I am just looking forward to a nightmare of a season, coming to an end.

It's been grim alright . . .

But we can still get out of here.

I'm quite looking forward to the play-offs.

I have no doubt that we have the capability to get thought this, although I fully understand that we could still blow the opportunity.

Until the manager brought McCulloch on today, we were doing quite well.

The manager should make a point of leaving McCulloch out of the squad for these games.Getting it wrong is bad enough but getting it wrong when a player unsuited to being there is included is inexcusable.

Sorry,I dont think Rangers or any other teams should be seen as victims cos they are in the playoffs.

They are providing added entertainment by playing and should not be penalised for doing so.

Victims?

The play-offs are a godsend to Rangers. We have the opportunity to participate, make money and get promoted.

Where would we have been if there had been no play-offs?

At least £100m to the victors.

How is the gate money split by teams in the English play-offs?

Do they keep it for themselves or is it shared out between all member clubs?

This is fair comment but only after costs,50%before costs we lose money,thats not fair.

The prize for clubs in the play-offs is promotion.

The prize for every other club is some extra cash - generated by the play-offs.

If we were to come up with a system for the play-offs ourselves, we would probably want it to benefit everyone and not just those clubs who weren't good enough to be promoted automatically.

Because it is us being directly affected, and this wasn't on the agenda a year ago, we are up in arms about it, but we really shouldn't be.

This is a losers' tournament to create a winner. The prize is promotion but there should not be riches to go with it.

Does anyone know what the share is in the English play-offs?

There are two wrongs in play here.

The SPFL, having set a precedent last season with Hibs, should allow Rangers to admit ST holders free. By refusing to allow Rangers to do this, the SPFL is being inconsistent and wrong.

The SPFL however is not being entirely unreasonable taking half the gate to share between other member clubs.

The playoffs exist to give clubs not good enough to win promotion automatically an extra chance to go up. Should incompetence be rewarded by allowing, for example, Rangers, the opportunity to have three extra home games where they pocket the entire gate?

Are we saying that the club that was vastly superior to all the rest - Hearts - should earn nothing from these bonus games. Are we saying that divisional runners-up should make far more money than the champions?

It is because Rangers have been so shockingly poor this season that we have potentially three more home games to get out of this place. This is a bonus. Would we rather finish third and miss out on promotion altogether in a system where there were no playoffs - and no opportunity to earn extra income?

The SPFL is behaving abysmally and none of us should be surprised at that, but Rangers has painted itself quite needlessly into a corner.

The SPFL is wrong - and Rangers are too.

I remember when the thread title would have had us thinking about England.

Changed days.

I spent time recently with a group of colleagues who are enthusiastically nationalist.

Two things they discussed.

First, they had a laugh when Nicola Sturgeon suggested that she would favour England against Germany in a football match. They believed that she would be staunchly behind Germany - because they most certainly would be.

Secondly, re current talk of tactical voting - they think this is some kind of establishment plot. Basically, if the SNP doesn't sweep the board, it will be to do with some form of anti-SNP vote-rigging.

There's every chance that it will be Stuart McCall, but if it's not, it's up to the club to identify a good candidate.

Who in the Celtic support thought that Deila would be the man to manage Celtic?

It's our job to demand a good manager, and it's the club's responsibility to find him.

Based on what they did at Rangers, Negri was the better finisher. Mols was world-class at making space for himself in the box but he could be clumsy in front of goal. Negri had more poise when it came to pulling the trigger.

You have a point but do Hearts get any of that money?

I have no idea what the SPFL will do with the money, but if it distributes some or all of it to the rest of its members, or just pays its bills, that won't be objectionable.

The play-offs are generally thought to be a good idea, but they should not provide a huge financial advantage to lower placed clubs over the champion club.

If we had won the division, we wouldn't have cared, but we didn't and now we're squealing about unfairness.

Maybe we should just appreciate this lifeline after the worst onfield failure in our long and distinguished history.

One thing worth thinking about.

Should clubs that have failed to win the only automatic promotion place available make a fortune from three play-off home ties, thereby cashing in from not being the best, while the best team, in this case, Hearts, misses out on a cash windfall?

I would give the guy the benefit of the doubt about deliberate but in a game I would expect a sending off and penalty. If it was like rugby a goal would be given. However, the officials missed it and that happens in game after game. That lot have had a lot more in their favour and they get lawyers in to defend their players when they are obviously guilty.

 

I agree with Gordon Smith that we need to introduce two challenges a game that are referred to the TV replay judge. (And if you win the challenge you don't lose it.) The higher levels of the game can easily afford it and the amount of money that a bad decision could cost a club is disproportionate. Forget it in the lower leagues and amateur stuff, but the top leagues and cups should be allowed to decide if they want it and it should be compulsory in UEFA competitions and internationals.

 

I've been saying something like this for many years. The question I'm sometimes asked by the likes of the Tims, who just don't get fairness, is what if your team lose games because of the technology, and my answer is always, I have no problem losing a game fair and square. I do have a problem with losing unfairly, but as long as that unfairness is consistent, I'll take the smooth with the rough - ie if we win by a bad decision, I'll be a bit embarrassed but happy to keep the points or the place in the next round as things usually tend to even out over time.

 

I do believe if the game was a lot fairer and rules applied more consistently we'd actually be a more successful club - thinking about the likes of Marseilles and our game congestion for the UEFA final and SPL finish, and much more. We seem to get treated unfairly at pretty crucial times. I also believe Celtic would be much worse off as they have manipulated so much into their favour from which they have benefited from and which will never even out.

Although I can see some merit in a system where challenges are allowed, I'm not sure that I want it introduced.

Every late or last minute goal would be challenged and this robs the fans of the golden moment when a winning goal is scored. Everything is put on hold.

I can see other problems too. Remember when Celtic had a goal disallowed against Rangers after a 'soft' challenge against the Rangers keeper? Replay after replay never put an end to that one. It was debated for weeks.

Imagine a challenge after a winning goal is scored in a crowded box after a corner. An infringement is not that difficult to find if a microscope is used to seek one out.

The problem here is one club: Celtic. It cannot accept defeat with good grace. It never could. Let's not re-write the rule book to suit a club which will ALWAYS find a way to scream injustice.

A lifetime of regret, really? I hadn't realised Wilson was a scouser. Had he bided his time, played another couple of seasons in our first team he'd have been far better prepared for the EPL, everyone could see that at the time.

 

Time will tell if his career is heading upwards or not, but once again he seems to be chasing money.

Liverpool was a fantastic opportunity.

Players generally can't pick and choose when super rich clubs with impressive pedigrees will come knocking at their door. When the moment comes, you grab it.

Many players would choose Liverpool over Rangers even if they were offering the same money - but chasing money - if that is what he was doing, hardly makes him unique in his field.

He was right to go to Liverpool even though it didn't work out. Not going could have been a lifetime regret.

He has his career heading upwards again and it will be no surprise if he ends up playing for his boyhood heroes at Parkhead.

Anyone who cares one bit about the club perhaps and has a modicum of decency. He was being paid English Premiership wages while were were playing in the 4th tier. He is still being paid the same wages, months after leaving the club. He's a disgrace if we're being honest. He's made a complete and utter mess of our team, wasted 10's of millions on absolute worthless rubbish. He should have been done the decent things years ago. At the very least he should have given up his remaining salary when he left - our fans have pretty short memories and would have soon forgiven him.

 

We must be the only club in history who were paying three managers salaries at once.

Yes, he was a dreadful manager for us - no argument there - but how long did it take for the support to wake up to his inadequacy?

And you are right about the club currently paying the salaries of three managers at the same time, but the blame here lies with the club - not those who are honouring their contracts to it.

McCoist should put family before club - we all should - and wealthy though he may be, I doubt if he feels wealthy enough to just walk away from what could be his last big payday.

Notice should have been activated on McCoist's contract - by the club - a long time ago. It didn't do it, though, and so now we are paying the price.

When I made this suggestion on here, I don't think one person backed it.

We have made our bed and now we must lie in it. This time, McCoist is not the villain.