buster.

In the recent AGM, Ross Wilson said the club only received one bid for Morelos. French or Chinese ?

Sounds about right !! 🤣

There are many contributing factors wrt to size of 'warchest'. Bottomline We haven't spent the budget we have had wisely. Any team can have a bad window. However, when you have several successive failures, you need to heed the signal and look for the causes. One thing I have banged on about is poor squad mgmt. Including the attempt to squeeze value out of our spend by bringing in too many injury prone players.

Morelos had his best spell (all round) at Rangers after the January International break of last year. He returned from Columbia (after zero minutes) like a man inspired and looked the mature, strong and sharp player we had hoped to see develop. Unfortunately, it didn't last for long as he picked up an injury. Gio had him play through it until he broke. At that point of approaching the final year of his contract, he more or less mentally checked out from Ibrox. The faster he is gone, the better.

Imagination can sometimes be a troublesome burden to carry 😃

Quite a spectacular Rise and Fall of a player's value. Someone out there will fancy a cut price Morelos, thinking they can get him back on the straight and thinner.

We'd have said the same thing after the first 5 wins under Gio. The truth is, IMO, that a significant part of this squad needs gutted and replaced prior to the start of 23/24 and Beale's chances of being successful will depend mostly on recruitment over the next two windows. The added difficulty will be a relatively limited budget. With that in mind, does 5M (approx) for Tillman make sense ? We've got more time to see how he develops but as it stands, I'd be tempted to spend that type of money on a new player and push Lowry, to see if he can be our creative hub.

Not at all surprising that most of this squad have little left to give the club. Not enough energy, spark or enough quality. Forget the League, this squad were never going to win it. We can focus on the Cups and should be looking to give the likes of Lowry and Devine extended runs in the league (Tav needs to sort out his injury issues). Beale can't be properly judged with this group of players. He has injected a degree of commitment and determination although that only seems to kick in after going behind and was certainly absent in the first 20-30 minutes today. We have gone behind in three of the five league games since the WC. On top of the bleeding obvious, we need a centre forward. I'm sick of the sight of Morelos and Roofe can't be relied upon.

Is there any life left in this squad ? What difference does Michael Beale make in an OF match ? We are about to find out. Looking at the two teams, lots of ifs and buts. Their bench is significantly stronger whilst some of ours will probably arrive on crutches.

Rangers 2 Celtic 2 Morelos

Its not about an individual or three, it will have to be a collective effort. It would mean most players having to significantly raise their game and having five ready to come off the bench to do the same. Are enough players still interested enough ? We'll soon find out.

Came to football a little late (first WC I remember is 74) and only saw (on TV) Pele play in a New York Cosmos shirt. My enduring memory of the man is his tireless smile, at least when in front of a camara. Excelled as a footballing ambassador and was certainly the best ever in that role. Aside All of the 74 Brazil squad played for Brazilian clubs. Only 3 in 2022 and they were hardly seen on the pitch.

We'll certainly get an idea of what the new manager has or hasn't been able to get accross to this group of players on Monday. Thus far, I haven't seen much different when it comes to playing football but there has been some added determination to eek out a positive result. It will be about mentality when the whistle blows to KO on Monday. I can see us starting hard and high and we could really do with taking the lead before the tide turns. Situation with our centre forwards is a real negative as we could do with at least one who was properly fit and firing. Morelos looked a little more interested against Motherwell, but still isn't very mobile. There is an over confidence in their fans about Monday. With the favourites tag and press coverage reflecting that, it may spill into their camp. We need to get into their faces, bite first, spook them and not let go. The obvious blueprint being 29/12/2018 1-0 game (Ryan Jack winner). Half our current team that will start on Monday started in 2018, in what was our first win in 90 minutes against Celtic in over 6 years. Difficult ask, but by no means impossible. edit Regards the "form goes out of the window" line. Most of the time form dictates the outcome, but not always. Many pointing to shared spoils but not many draws between the teams at Ibrox in the league. Walter Smith was in the dug-out when it last happened (April 2011), with Allan McGregor playing an important part in that. That said, privately, I think both managers would accept a draw. But both will be going for the win, at least at the outset. A game to make sure you are there sat down and ready as the teams KO.

Rangers 3 Motherwell 1 Morelos

Ross County 1 Rangers 3 Arfield

Aberdeen 1 Rangers 2 Morelos

Give em an inch..........and they want 436 kilometres.

Quite the start to Beale's time as manager. Certainly can't say it was boring. Makeshift defence made it more difficult than it should have been. The upside is that coming from behind to win is always satisfying. I think we have to look at things post Old Firm match to get a better idea of how we are developing under the new manager. That will be 5 games, including our main rivals and Pittodrie. We now have an advantage of 2 extra days rest/prep. before we take on Aberdeen and they'll be coming off a Celtic game. Better time to be getting them than after the Ajax 4zip game.

He argues with the mirror @CaptainContradiction.Com ------------- This is all about the Beale effect because that team would have bombed under Gio this season.

Rangers 3 Hibs 1 Morelos

Who needs central defenders when you can use midfielders instead. #..0-7-3 Colak injury?

If Gio didn't trust the back-up option to the recognised first team player, then you wonder how the conversation went between the then manager and presumably Ross Wilson regards squad management/Right-Back, entering this season.

I can't make my mind up as to who I think will win. Will switch on the TV bang on KO time and enjoy the football. I will probably watch it with Norwegian commentary (NRK) via NordVPN.

Get your bridesmaids dress out again!!

The numbers involved at the high end of the sport are obscene. I am gradually drifting away from the game. Generational to a degree, in that I remember when things were more basic.