JohnMc

Lammers worked hard closing down and doesn't hide when we have possession, he made a contribution last night. He's improved since Clement arrived, like everyone else I'm doubtful he's going to make it with us, but I'm not sure who you play in his place currently. He'd one beautiful bit of skill late in the 2nd half, he got fouled but the ref played the advantage which came to nothing. As we keep saying there's a player in there, he's just hiding him very well. Prague were always going to come back into it in the second half. Sparta are no mugs, they've some decent players and are experienced at this level. That they changed their tactics and upped their game after half time shouldn't surprise anyone. This is the Europa League, we're going to have periods where the opposition are on top. As it was we defended pretty well and again Butland showed his quality, he's been a great signing. Four weeks ago I wouldn't have believed this performance was possible. What Clement, his coaching team and our players have done in such a short space of time is remarkable. We're not only winning again we're doing it in an attractive and exhilarating way.

C'mon, why don't you include Ian Durrant then, how about Derek Johnstone or John Greig? I mean if you're counting players from 20 years ago why not just make it 50 years and we can close the discussion now? Or, we can talk about the here and now, where we actually are as a club and deal with reality? If they don't break through to our first team then really, what's the point? Listing players the club released as an example of how good our youth system is seems a self defeating argument. The fact that Greg Taylor is a first choice full back for Celtic is not the ringing endorsement for the Rangers 'Academy' that you seem to think it is. Look, I'll be delighted if McCausland, Rice and King, or any of our current youths, go on and establish themselves as first team regulars, I'll gladly recant my criticism. I'm sceptical, but we'll see. Ryan Kent played 140 games for Rangers, that's a decent return for any player who was 19 when they joined us. Did we overpay for him, probably, and should we have sold him a couple of seasons ago, definitely. Same with Morelos and Kamara. But all 3 of those players contributed more to our first team than every Academy player put together over the last 5 seasons. Let Motherwell or Hibs or Charlton or whoever develop them into first team players, then we should sign them young, offer them the chance to play in front of 50,000, European football, the chance of medals and fame before moving to a wealthier club in a wealthier league. From the outside that looks to be a much better 'business model' for the club. It's interesting that Celtic had a short period where they developed McGregor, Forrest, Christie and Tierney, successfully integrating them into their first team. The period coincided with us being out of the league. Without us the challenge to win the SPFL was much easier, Celtic could afford to drop points, take some chances on youth and know it wouldn't really matter come title time. Since our return they've not developed anyone of note. I don't think that's coincidence. I've been having this same conversation on here for a long time. I'd love Rangers to be able to spot, nurture and produce our own players, but unfortunately all the available evidence says we haven't and can't.

Family friend or not he's hardly a poster boy for our youth set up or someone I'd be holding up as an example to our current young players. Are you really comparing Rangers to Falkirk? We've really only got Nathan Paterson to show for years of work and millions invested. Gilmour left the second he could, as did Mebude and Rory Wilson earning us very little in reality. More importantly we've really only got Leon King as a recognised first team squad player and he's what, fifth choice now? I've unhappily come to the conclusion that we'd be better off focusing our energy and money on finding players in the 18 to 21 age group. Bassey, Aribo, Kent, Morelos have provided far better value for us, I think Lewis Ferguson, Doig and Hickey could have done similar too. Hopefully Raskin will prove a good player for us and command a decent fee in the future. If we accept that we're now a stepping stone club, a tier below much wealthier leagues, then those are the kind of players we should focus on.

Charlie Miller didn't come close to fulfilling his potential, he was genuinely one of the best players in the world when he was a schoolboy. Barry Ferguson did, but I doubt he would have if Advocaat hadn't taken over when he did and chose to build a side around him. Of the players you've mentioned above I suspect only Bailey Rice has a real chance of making it with us. The rest will get some games but I can't see them become first team regulars, I expect they'll move on when their contracts are up. Lowry still has a chance, but his inability to secure a starting berth in a poor Hearts side suggests to me he's still missing that something required to become a top professional. We hear the same platitudes about pathways and opportunities trotted out time and again, but I honestly wonder if we should bin our youth set up and simply focus on our first team. Indeed I'd go as far as to say all professional football clubs in this country should.

I think McKenna will peddle whatever the hierarchy down London Road way tell him. I've never seen much capacity for original thought.

Add me to the 'not sure why we didn't buy Shankland' camp. He was the best forward on the park yesterday, scored one, created Hearts best other chance and held the ball up really well all match. He's 6'1", 28 years old and scored 24 goals last season in the league we play in. I suspect he'd have cost way less than either Lammers or Dessers too. He's also Hearts captain which suggests he has some presence around the dressing room too. Buying the best Scottish players available has worked well for us in the past. Shankland's experience of our league, ultimately the one we need to win every season, could have made him a real asset. It's all moot, but I'm a t a loss to what our football department saw in some of our summer signings but didn't see in Shankland or indeed Nisbet. As for yesterday I thought it was going to be one of those days we've become so used to in recent seasons. That it wasn't might be very important, or might be a blip, time will tell. Hearts tactics were so defensive, it was a grim watch. I don't think Mr Naismith will be in the job for long if that's what his side are displaying every week. We huffed and puffed but didn't look like blowing them down until we did. It was a better performance than many we've seen this season, Clement has improved us, but ultimately it's the same players and there's only so much you can do with them. A fully fit Cantwell and Danilo will make a difference, it was also good to see Dowell make the bench, if Lawrence and him can stay fit then who knows. Even with that we need more goals in our team. If only there was a proven goalscorer in our league we could consider...

I gave it to Cantwell, he kept driving us forward and was the one creative spark while on. It's funny how we all see the games differently. I thought Davies was given a torrid time by Shankland, who constantly got the ball ahead of him, held it up and laid it off while Davies seemed to be a yard behind him.

Have Celtic banned English and McLaughlin? I didn't know that, very interesting. I see the 'flags' story is the lead on the BBC Scotland web page this lunchtime. How it's even 'news' is beyond me, far less the leading story. Who cares what flags they choose to wave. Another bizarre editorial decision.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s Rangers used to train in public places, like West Of Scotland Cricket ground and Jordanhill College grounds. You could go along and watch them and I occasionally would. I witnessed a bounce game once where you'd have sworn Peter Huistra was the finest football player on the planet. His close control, touch and dribbling were literally unbelievable, he simply couldn't be dispossessed. The speed with which he'd make a fool of anyone stupid enough to try and tackle him was incredible. Mikhailachenko and Trevor Steven played in that match too and were close in ability, but Huistra was simply outstanding. Come a Saturday though Huistra was a nearly player. He'd some very good games, and some good moments in games but he wasn't the player I saw in training. Professional sport is 90% ability and 10% mentality. If you don't have that final 10% the other 90% isn't enough. Barker, I suspect, is similar. I think Matondo is another one. It's why so many talented young players simply don't make it.

That's a big post, Bluedell. I'm going to quote you on the podcast shortly as 'an insider'...

McCausland showed enough in his cameo to retain a starting place ahead of Wright or Lammers. You could replace pretty much every one of the rest if we had anyone to replace them with.

Sima, a limited player at best but at least kept trying last night and took his goal well. This is a bot like being asked which part of your body you'd like stabbed in first.

Who else could he play? Roofe probably isn't fit enough to start, everyone else is injured. Cifuentes has been poor recently, Jack must be injured again, then we're into untried boys.

I actually think the support will give a manager, any manager, time if we can see progress. Beale's problem wasn't that we lost to Celtic and PSV, it was the manner of those defeats. The side had regressed, there was no discernible style of play, we were passive when we should have been aggressive, we were naive when we should have been knowledgable. Gerrard got time because we could see progress, despite setbacks. His style of play was attractive, the gap between us and them was closing, the players we had were better and continued to improve. There's more realism in our support than we get credit for. We want to win, we want to win the league, but we'll accept defeat if we beleive the side has given everything and is on the right path. In my opinion.

Muscat's time in Belgium was undoubtedly a failure by any measurement. The only mitigation you can make is Sint Truiden are a funny club. At one time a feeder for Charlton Athletic they're now the play thing of a Japanese entertainment company who have installed Japanese corporate management and signed a plethora of Japanese players. While most Belgians speak good English I doubt Muscat speaks much French or Flemish or went in with much knowledge of the Belgian second tier. It strikes me he got the job because of his exposure in Asia while managing in Oz. Interestingly despite this blip he left Belgium for a pretty impressive spell in Japan. In truth I don't know who I want, but I know who I don't want. Some of the names on that list would drive me to watching Junior football of a weekend.

I'm pleased the board have acted, they should have done it a few weeks ago but at least this wasn't dragged out any longer. With his entire backroom team going too I don't think it was realistic to bring in an interim manager from outside the club. We've two big games coming up this week, having a temporary manager who doesn't know any of our players would simply create more chaos. Davis, while inexperienced at management level, at least knows the bulk of the squad well and will already have informed opinions on each of them. Davis might well prove to be a wonderful manager but I suspect this job has come to soon for him and that it is indeed a temporary appointment. If he excels in the coming weeks there might be a clamour for him to get the job until the end of the season, but I'll need some convincing that's wise. Davis was a wonderful player, my favourite of the 21st century, there's very little he's not achieved as a player, so he can speak with authority and should command respect in the dressing room. I'm happy to give him my full backing. I'm a little surprised at Rae coming in as his assistant. Do they know each other well? They didn't play together as far as I can tell. Rae's coaching career isn't stellar, it strikes me he's available, knows the club and won't cost too much. He does feel like an interim appointment by the club rather than who Davis asked for. I've no idea who I want as the permanent manager. I've seen various names bandied about, many of who I've never heard of and so can offer no opinion on. That there isn't a stand out candidate means whoever comes in will need to win over at least a section of the support. There's not an obvious Scottish manager, surely our first consideration. McInnes burnt his bridges last time, Martindale has to much baggage, the Aberdeen manager is inexperienced as well as being an ex-Celt and Naismith is also too inexperienced as well as polarising many in our support. Kettlewell is doing OK at Motherwell, but not so well he'd be considered for us. Stephen Robinson is doing well at St. Mirren again this season. He did well at Motherwell too. I can't imagine his is a name that will get many in our support excited, but we'd be remiss not look at his record and knowledge of the league we ultimately need to win. Beyond that I'm just hoping we don't go for someone like Lampard or a big name former English player, hoping lightning will strike twice. There is a big argument to go for experience this time. Rangers job is different from most in football. You're expected to win every match, that's not the case almost anywhere else. Not everyone is able to manage in those circumstances. I saw Brighton got hammered at the weekend, if that happened to Rangers we'd be demanding heads, despite the wonderful things the manager has achieved beforehand.

Nah, we beat them 3-0 at Ibrox last season. Surely someone else has beaten Motherwell at home since then.

I was at that Osasuna match. It rained so hard that night the Clyde Tunnel was closed due to flooding. Funny the things you remember. It feels great to have won, and on balance I think we deserved it. We were disjointed and struggling to find any rhythm in the first 30 minutes or so but from around then onwards we were the better side, I thought. I think we're all agreed that Butland had a very good match, arguably our man of the match. I thought our defence played well, Goldson was immaculate and the other 3 stuck to their task and came out on top more often than not. Still not convinced we're good enough mid to front, yet. Perhaps it'll gel and come good. there were patches of decent football last night, but we still give up possession too easily. Lawrence going off is a blow, hopefully it's nothing serious.

This. They know how important qualifying is, other than that I don't think they care much. It's an organisation focused on making money, and they're good at that to be fair.

I'm old enough to remember when everyone thought Peter Ridsdale was a genius for how he was running Leeds Utd. I mean David Murray was a visionary at one time! Brighton are this season's darlings, it was Leicester City a few seasons ago, it'll be someone else in a few more. There is clearly something in the whole Moneyball, data led, analytical insights driven club structure. Much easier to impose it on a club where there are no expectations than it is on a club where not winning the league is viewed as failure. I'd be surprised if there's a professional club at the top level that's not using data on players, I suppose it's how that data is understood that's the clever bit. I quite enjoy watching a smaller club stick one on the English mega clubs, but this is the guy who bought Union Saint Gilliose in Belgium too. He's not some benevolent owner, he's making money and he'll use any club to do it. I hate the concept of feeder clubs and multi-club ownership, it's as bad as that Super League nonsense he says he's so against.

Even an out of form Rangers should scud this St Johnstone side. They're abject and in terrible form. So are St Johnstone...

Thanks. Agree about Cantwell and Lawrence, even Wright to an extent. Rice and Devine as well as King and possibly Cole McKinnon will probably come in too then.

Is Dowell a long term injury? Only 4 midfielders catches the eye. Can we add young players to this, I seem to remember that was allowed although I might have made that up.

The second a director goes on the record either backing or criticising Beale the story will magnify enormously. Currently there is no story, it's largely discontented fans on forums or social media sounding off. Every PR person worth anything will advise the directors to say nothing, whatever their thoughts are. With no game this weekend there are no press conferences scheduled anyway, so any kind of statement, on or off the record, will simply give oxygen to something that will probably fizzle out naturally in the coming days. Whatever failings our directors might have, they surely understand that. I'd say the lack of comment or briefing suggests they don't want to publicly back Beale, which suggests they're not happy with our start either and know that unless there's a big improvement in the coming games there is only one way this ends. Clearly they've decided to give Beale more time, results will decide how long that is. Personally I'd make the hard decision now, (or 5 days ago) but I can see why they've decided to wait a bit longer. That might yet prove to be the correct decision, we'll see.

While the board have the benefit of seeing what's going on behind the scenes and speaking with the management team and players and so seeing a fuller picture than we do, they're also well aware of supporter sentiment plus are watching the same performances we are. I've no inside information but I'd be astonished if directors haven't discussed it, even informally. They know Beale is under pressure, Beale knows he's under pressure. I doubt anything will happen in the coming days, but I do think he's only a couple more poor performances away from the board deciding this can't go on. Beale doesn't have credit in the bank, it would be hard for any board to simply ignore supporter sentiment for an extended period. If Rangers can somehow find form and start winning with some style then Beale will be fine, the challenge the board have is whether they think that scenario is likely.