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neutralscot

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  1. neutralscot
    I remember seeing Ally playing for Kilmarnock at the end of his career. He broke his leg trying to get on the end of a cross into the box somehow - I don't really remember all the details. What I do remember is Ally trying to get onto the end of the cross despite his leg hanging off. It was instinctive, deep rooted, a refusal to give up. Today's announcement was a surprise with this in mind. I don't take Ally for a quitter, still don't. I think Ally was doing the equivalent of 'going all in' at poker, despite not having the best hand, in the hope of facing down his critics. It is surely true that Ally still believes himself to still be the man to take Rangers back to the top flight. But is he? Let's go through some criticisms of him; Criticism 1- He has a vastly expensive squad, and should be doing better with them. The squad is expensive for a reason - Good players would not be willing to drop down three divisions into a football wilderness. To even sign average players, Rangers had to fork out multiples above true market value to attain them. Cue resentment. Criticism 2- He hasn't brought through young players. He could have done better, but currently 30% of the squad are from the youth set up, and do contain some potential in McLeod and Aird. This is a better performance and ratio than celtic, who only have McGregor and Forrest from their youth set up, and Forrest has been on the scene for a few years now. Criticism 3- He is only in it for the money. I just don't buy this. This has been used constantly to smear him. I'm sure Ally could pick up his £20,000 per episode buy out for Question of Sport if he desired again. He is unquestionably the highest paid manager in Scotland, which in the current financial climate is madness. However, this is a matter for the ranger's financial controller to decide. Ally to his credit has already offered to take a wage cut, even if temporary. To put it into perspective, peter lawwel is reputed to be on close to 50% more at celtic. Criticism 4- 'We won't get promoted with Ally in charge I think the collective bottle of the support has gone rather than Ally's bottle. You are half way through December. Hearts are no great shakes and I fully expect them to start dropping points. Once they do, they may find it difficult to push forward again. In the two games v Rangers (and against Hibs), Hearts rode their luck. Is Craig Levein suddenly a football genius? The wheels will come off soon. Also, as proven against a few SPFL teams, Ally can set up his teams to beat them. The play offs if needed, will be negotiated by Ally. St Mirren / Ross County?? Come on. Hibs are your worry. Criticism 5- Players are regressing Yes, and this is to be expected. If barca had spent two and a half years playing garbage week in week out, we'd be saying how Messi was going backwards.. Two years of non competitive action blunts the sword. However, some evidence suggests he is improving young players like Mcleod, and whipping boy Aird. Criticism 6- He has been a lackey for Green, Whyte etc. Let's be clear - rangers would have had titles unfairly stripped off them if it wasn't for Ally. Ally is one of the most important people in your history - he was the one who kept going when the Goughs, Smiths, Fergusons of the world had written rangers off as dead. Ally kept pumping the heart until the pulse appeared again. Yet it is derided as a selfish act for financial gain. Jesus wept. Green hates him. This is 'a good sign'. Criticism 7- He plays hoof ball. True, and it looks very 20th century. However Ally will see it as a percentage tactic on poor pitches. Jury out on it's effectiveness. We can't expect tiki taka from any Scottish team let alone championship teams. And tbh, the SPFL looks absolutely garbage. John Greig's teams would be running riot in it I suspect. Criticism 8- He looks clueless / I hate his face etc Personal abuse helps no one, and rangers fans are particularly vociferous I'm sure a lot of you will agree. It's like keying your own car. We all know support will produce better results than personal abuse. Criticism 9- His cup performances. Could be better (ask neil Lennon /any Hibs manager /Davie Smith), but seriously, getting outraged by losing in the Petrofac cup or whatever it's called- you should be thankful your name isn't on that embarrassment of a cup. Cup football is unforgiving, but the league is all that really matters. Plus, he has done a couple of top flight teams IIRC. I'd say the Rangers support has to give Ally the benefit of the doubt and allow him to get on with his very specific goal - getting Rangers back into the SPFL. He has earned this. You may be slightly off- course at the moment, but with 4 months left, Ally should have the full support of the fans. He is the last 'Rangers man' in the building - do you really want to chase him?
  2. neutralscot
    Apologies for posting but I would to mention a couple of things. If it is true that Rangers will not earn anything/negligible from merchandise, then surely it presents an opportunity for the two organisations who are buying shares on the fans' behalf. Maybe manufacturing their own (classic style) unofficial (but official quality) Rangers tops could provide a serious income stream for the organisations. I would imagine that a football top could be manufactured for circa £5 either in UK or China. 30,000 tops at £30/£35 each would provide around £750,000 profit(after further costs) to be used to purchase shares with. Surely every website and supporters club could get behind such an initiative and drive sales. Given two or three cycles, a serious share position could be built by the fans. Well done last night.
  3. neutralscot
    bump......
  4. neutralscot
    Terracing in the bottom photo is so shallow
  5. neutralscot
    Yes, The union, RBS, Rangers….it's quite incredible. The behaviour of the RBS board as they bought ABN AMRO- they believed they were masters of the universe. The RBS conference used to be hilarious; Greek themed stage sets, slides showing billions of profits, Fred descending from his cloud… The No campaign has been ever so complacent. Should still win.
  6. neutralscot
    Was the Hibs situation exactly the same as ours? -- Hearts fans created a myth that Hibs went into administration in 1990, but it wasn't true.
  7. neutralscot
    I'm just hugely frustrated that the Rangers fans have not been 'militant' enough over the past 2 years or so. We've sat of internet forums, we're argued, we've fallen out, we've disagreed, we've targetted/critiscised individuals and groups. And all the time, our clubs continues to fall apart like a sinking ship, whilst greedy bastards help themselves to the jewllery while they can. As a fanbase we've been awful in all of this. Our lack of proper action has been painfully poor. Hurts me to say so, but the ****s would never have let it get to this. ------------------------- It's fair to say that scottish football has been on the verge of civil war at a number of clubs recently. Unreported in the media has been the Hibs board attempting an honest dialogue with the fans in a recent meeting, being shouted down with 'Farmer out' chants from a handful of fans, ruining dialogue for the future. I have worked with Tom Farmer and he is the exact opposite of a '****'. He is a very compassionate person who cares deeply about leith, and it's inhabitants. His failing is that he isn't actually that bothered about football, and it probably shows -though our training facilities and stadium are first class. The abuse of him is misguided- he saved the club from Wallace mercer and the like- we should always remember this. Across town, Hearts fans are showing a perfect model for fan ownership. 8000 fans paying around £9 month direct debits to buyout the club from a millionaire who has the com munity at heart. I believe Hearts will be a power within 5 years in a sustainable way, even challenging for the title if they get lucky and everything falls into place. I have nothing but admiration for the quiet way they are rebuilding their club. Kilmarnock have had a minor revolution with Michael Johnstone losing his controlling interest soon, after debt for equity deals for businessmen owed million plus debts. Again here was a millionaire putting the club and community first. The sale of assets has also helped the club shed the mountain of debt that handicapped them. The worst power struggle I have witnessed was at Meadowbank Thistle believe it or not. I used to go there to watch them if nothing else was on, and the abuse the chairman got (Blobby ) was incredible. There would be only 200 fans there, 190 of which were abusing the chairman all through the game. I think the take home message here is that clubs survive when there is a willingness by millionaires to put the club and community first, and help empower the fans. Anne Budge, Tom farmer, Fergus McCann all understood this. (and McCann even made an almost unfathomable huge profit when he left). Rangers unfortunately appear to have no such person helping them. I have watched the power struggle at Ibrox with interest. It's heartbreaking. A bunch of sharks on a feeding frenzy is what it looks like. They have gone beyond reasonable with remuneration and in simply being dishonest with their dialogue. I think that Rangers have a man - George Letham- that could unite everyone whilst putting club and community before himself. I don't know his financial situation but if the board were more like him you'd have no problems. Moody Blue - I understand your frustration Part of the problem for Rangers has been the utter lack of unity amongst fans. For me Gersnet is the only rational Rangers fan site (though I've only read McMurdo, FF, RM ,VB) which could coherently represent rangers, yet RM etc get probably ten times more hits etc. I would offer to call off boycotts etc if the Rangers board were willing to open access to all their commercial contracts and remuneration for inspection. if there was nothing more awful to uncover, I'd call off the strike .As a concession I'd ask the board to add £100 onto the price of a season ticket (to be placed into share purchase account) with the aim of a fan's majority buyout within around 5 years.
  8. neutralscot
    Secret footballer books are worth a wee read also.
  9. neutralscot
    No not at all rangersitis. I appreciate gersnet and wouldn't ever troll it. I used to be an avid newspaper reader but the quality of journalism now isn't as good as on some blogs imo. My routine is scotsman, hibbies bounce, newsnowhibs, cqn, gersnet, AFC chat, jambos kickback, with the guardian thrown in sometimes. I must say AFC chat is awful. Rangers media is mostly absolutely horrible and I can't read it anymore. i have more respect for your views than any journalists'. Best writing ever on football was 'The Absolute game' fanzine. I guess i grew up with fanzines and have progressed to blogs. Serious about your chances in the cup. Thought some performances have been cohesive recently. At ibrox you will be a handful for anyone.
  10. neutralscot
    Always been intrigued by your photo Ser- who is it and where?
  11. neutralscot
    I'd want about 3/1, rating your chances at around 25%. If you get home draws, I'm sure you can prevail against any scottish team. Motherwell? - knocked out by Icelandic part timers! I know the jambos turned you over but replay the game 10 times, I think you'd be lucky to lose twice. Aberdeen or celtic away would be a problem, everyone else you have a great chance of knocking out. You might be involved in a glamour tie against newcastle or man Utd next August. best case admittedly. Back in the big time. The pain will end sometime. Kris Boyd is too good for Scottish teams. Give him the ball in the penalty area. That's all that matters football wise.
  12. neutralscot
    You've an excellent chance in Scottish Cup this year.
  13. neutralscot
    Though currently I don't think you'd make the group stages of any euro competition.
  14. neutralscot
    Quote Originally Posted by BrahimHemdani View Post I think that's a very good point; and who has a better chance of playing in Europe, Rangers or Newcastle? Newcastle undoubtedly. And you know it mate!! We are miles, years, off European footbalI I don't know super- I'd say you have a real chance of euro football in 10 months, 22 months max, if you can hold it together. What a difference that would make to everyone's mood for a few minutes eh!
  15. neutralscot
    You are aware that Hibs beat rangers 5-0 in er, 1912 aren't you?
  16. neutralscot
    Regarding Walter Smith, I suppose you have to weigh up if playing attractive football and not making progress in the CL, is better than playing negative football and making the UEFA Cup final. Difficult one. There seemed to be a Largs football philosophy at the time championing quite a negative style 4-5-1. I think Smith's style in Europe at times was ridiculously defensive, but if he had employed better counter attack methods it would have been more palatable. Personally. if I were a rangers fan I would have been accepting of Smith's later tactics in Europe as they produced results. And I don't mind watching busses being parked, if one team is attacking.
  17. neutralscot
    Jesus, very sad. In all seriousness, if he was to switch to just drinking lager all the time instead of spirits, he'd probably be a functioning alcoholic. Maybe in what looks like a hopeless case, that would be better advice than cessation. Best of luck Paul.
  18. neutralscot
    Wasn't it the case that the EC were obliged to investigate the case after receiving a complaint from a Rangers fan, rather than an 'independant' complainant?
  19. neutralscot
    gisabeer gisabeer is offline i like jack daniels gisabeer's Avatar Join Date Jun 2006 Location greenock Posts 4,472 Default Quote Originally Posted by neutralscot View Post Wasn't Ally instrumental in halting the movement to strip rangers of titles? Maybe a workman is only as good as his tools. Maybe you'll see Ally build a team worth watching in the next three years as his budget increases (if so). Maybe. What do I know though. I'm sure I saw green shoots against clyde - much like the rangers of old. we'll see. I thank ally for that, but I dont see the connection here. In what way does it affect his managerial skills? --- I just think sometimes people are a little disrespectful to him. He has done an awful lot for the club and it hasn't been conclusively proven he isn't up to the job. But, hey I don't go to Rangers games so my opinion genuinely isn't as valid as yours for example. Give the guy a year in the SPFL, see how he gets on. Last time in the SPFL he was IMO doing well until the club imploded behind the scenes
  20. neutralscot
    Wasn't Ally instrumental in halting the movement to strip rangers of titles? Maybe a workman is only as good as his tools. Maybe you'll see Ally build a team worth watching in the next three years as his budget increases (if so). Maybe. What do I know though. I'm sure I saw green shoots against clyde - much like the rangers of old. we'll see.
  21. neutralscot
    Stephen Dobbie?? Whit!!
  22. neutralscot
    No I agree my first answer was too simplistic. Supercooper, it's not guaranteed income, but say one Alan Hutton and one CL group qualification every three years would be enough to keep rangers sustainable you'd think. And with the money on offer from UEFA from next season with the new TV deal, and with the outrageous fees paid by English clubs right now, (£!2 million Shane Long!) theses two avenues are more attainable than a sugar daddy, or squeezing the fans for more money every year. Der Berliner, it is true that other teams are restricted to looking in certain markets i.e. lower division or young scots, and there is a dearth of talent out there in reality, as opposed to 20 years ago. However it just means that Rangers can afford to trade with higher stakes, or be the dominant club in young scottish talent if desired. I think a new mindset will be required of the rangers support - an acceptance of Rangers (and very other scottish team) as a selling club
  23. neutralscot
    Supercooper, the answer to your question (plugging financial shortfalls in income v expenditure) is undoubtedly selling players. For Rangers to be sustainable, the target should be selling a player every season or so to England. Two routes here- the Dundee United approach of developing youngsters and selling them, or celtic's, of buying european potential and selling them at a profit. Ajax for example, have quotas of youth player promotion to the first team squad they are expected to meet every year, and also take punts with great success on the likes of Suarez. The sale of Alan Hutton is your template. Eight million raised from a youth player. Do this once every two years with a 25% sell on clause and bob's your uncle.
  24. neutralscot
    We will need admin 2 before or after king to recover from the deals greenco have handed out. --- I think admin 2 is looking unlikely (from a completely ill informed perspective I'm sure). Is it a case of evolution, not revolution now?
  25. neutralscot
    Rab, whilst the absence of RFC has been catastrophic for our game (and the mighty Hibs, and Hearts now also), I think our long term problems are running much deeper.
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