JohnMc

My favourite player of the 21st century. Did all his talking on the pitch, a really effective midfielder and someone who comes across as a decent sort too. His retirement is an end of an era in some ways. He was the last player still at the club who was signed by Walter Smith, also the last player who played before our 2012 crash. One of a small group of Rangers players to have played in 2 European finals. Everyone knew this was almost certainly going to be the outcome, an ACL injury at any age is a big injury for a player, but at his vintage a comeback seemed unlikely. His last act at the club was to introduce young Northern Irishman Ross McCausland to the first team while caretaker for a couple of matches before Clement took over. McCausland hasn't lost his place since. There's something fitting about that. 

The UK government decide work permits, not the SFA. There are some African countries where it's easier to get a UK work visa, and some where it's quite difficult. 

The real problem a  club like Rangers has when it comes to academies, be they Scottish players or African ones, is the culture around the club. If Nordsjælland never win a trophy no one will be surprised, so they can blood young players, introduce them to their first team, allow them to make mistakes and learn their trade, safe in the knowledge they are only there to be developed and sold. Our support simply won't accept that. Young players will get a couple of games at most to prove they belong in the first team, then they'll be fair game for the crowd if they aren't pulling their weight. 

We can set up as many academies as we want, but good luck getting them first team football at Rangers. 

We already have some sort of formal football connections with Orange County Soccer and Bengaluru in India and some other thing with Hamburg, although I don't think that's a football player based formal connection. So we're already part of a "multi-club network" of sorts. It also explains all the fantastic young American and Indian talent we've unearthed recently... Didn't we get a young goalkeeper from Orange County once? 

Personally I hate the idea of multi-club ownership. City Group, Red Bull and 777 Partners are anathema to me, they go against everything I think football should be about. I hope Rangers are never swallowed up by one of them. 

The type of football played today is different to the football played in the 1950s and the 1970s and even the 1990s. As such the type of player who thrives in it has changed and the type of fitness they possess, or build, is different. I'm surprised there's even a debate that today's players are fitter, I don't think there's any doubt about that, but I accept there's a debate around whether they are stronger or more robust. 

The English FA did research back in the early 2000s around elite player fitness. Dr Neil Phillips was a medical advisor to the FA during the 60s and 70s. He tells the story of Alf Ramsay wanting to introduce warming up before training to the England side and it being met with resistance by many players. Jimmy Greaves in particular was quite vocal in his resistance to this, seeing it as "namby pamby", despite Ramsay getting the idea from witnessing a training session by Brazil where they had done a warm up. It might be coincidental but Jimmy Greaves retired from first class football at only 31. Does anyone think Harry Kane will retire from first class football at 31, despite being financially secure for 10 lifetimes? 

The FA's research also compared data taken from the English top flight First Division in 1976, they found that the distance covered in a game was an average 8-11 kilometres, 25 per cent of which was walking and 11 per cent sprinting. By the early 2000s physiologists reckon that Premiership footballers now cover around 12-14 kilometres per match and that a greater percentage of that distance is run at top speed. 

There was further research published in 2019 around body shape of professional footballers. 

"The research team included sports scientists at Portsmouth and Cardiff Metropolitan universities and was led by University of Wolverhampton.

They examined how body size, shape and age characteristics had changed for footballers since the 1970s. Findings showed footballers have steadily been getting taller, with an average height increase of a centimetre per decade, but in the most recent decade are now also lighter, nimbler and much more angular.

Dr Webb, an expert in sports management in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science, said: “We were quite surprised at the findings, and in particular the changes in body shape of those players who are successful in the modern game, these changes appear to have occurred very quickly.

"Obviously, the game is developing and evolving all the time but, even so, there does seem to be a very quick shift in the body type of some of the most successful players, at successful clubs. This has added consequence for the clubs and the recruitment of young players, as well as any player transfer strategy.

“Clubs should be aware of these developments, and it could help to inform any talent identification and development strategy at an elite club. Clubs take into account physiological metrics, as well as other factors, in any talent identification strategy or approach, and as such these findings will be of interest."

Perhaps more pertinent to this thread;

"Lead researcher Professor Alan Nevill, a biostatistician and Professor of Sport at the University of Wolverhampton, said: “Footballers of today have adapted to the modern game, and as a result their body shape has altered. Modern players are ectomorphic, characterised by a lean, slender body, as opposed to the muscular, mesomorphic builds which were more common in the 1970s and 80s.

“A lot of this can be attributed to the increased quality of playing surfaces where footballers train and compete. Modern pitches are immaculate and well-maintained and not the mud baths that they used to be. Pitches used to get very heavy and soggy, particularly in mid-winter, which accounted for players being bulkier and more muscular.”

As recently as December last year, Belgium international and Manchester United star Romelu Lukaku admitted that his poor form at the start of this season was because he was too muscular.

Professor Nevill concurs: “Today’s players are more like endurance athletes than power athletes. To compete at today’s high levels, they are also working harder and harder so are much leaner.”

The findings, which examined more than 2,600 top-division players using football yearbook data, also showed a dramatic decrease in BMI, which Professor Nevill believes is more a measure of muscularity as in athletes it is an indication of lean body mass rather than fat mass. He said the research could have an impact on talent scouting for the future.

“Body shape is clearly important and English professional clubs might be advised to attract young, less muscular, more angular players as part of their talent identification and development programmes to improve future chances of success,” said Professor Nevill. “In an industry that is so financially competitive, any advantage that can be gained has the potential to positively influence future performance.” 

Lastly, one hundred percent agree with the posters who stated that Murder Hill was psychological rather than physical. Wallace was far smarter than he gets portrayed. The whole 'jungle fighter' 'fire in their bellies' narrative does him a huge disservice. Wallace took over a Rangers side that was good enough to win a European trophy but couldn't beat Celtic for the league. He, correctly, realised that this was a mentality issue in the team, they didn't believe they were better than Celtic, who were managed by Stein and on the way to winning 9 titles in a row. 

Murder Hill was Wallace's way of changing that mentality. He told the players running the sand dunes would make the fitter. That running them until the were literally sick meant they were now the fittest team in the league, no one was fitter than them, they had an advantage. It was nonsense, but the players believed it, or at least enough of them did. Wallace went on to win the league and followed that up with 2 trebles. In reality you're no fitter running up sand dunes that running up the terrace steps at Ibrox, which is what the players did before this. Fitness is vital, but the right mentality even more so. 

I'm sure Sportsound are working hard on a documentary exposing the running of Dundee Utd and the simply unsustainable losses and level of debt they currently have. That level of financial doping in the Championship requires exposure to a bigger audience. I'm sure the public service broadcaster is making the final edits as I type. 

Went to the museum on Saturday, along with my Dad and my two sons. All of us thought it was excellent. I'd my doubts as to the viability of a museum but I now think I was wrong, it's a great addition to our club and well worth the time and relatively small expense required to visit. I booked it in advance and there weren't many spaces available for Saturday when I was booking, so be aware of that. 

There's a real mix of exhibits and information. My eldest, who is leaving to study architecture in the summer, was taken with the Archibald Leach made model of the Main Stand and the information around that. Strangely, something that really struck me was Colin Jackson's contract. A player I remember watching and a man I met in later life professionally. 

Highly recommend a visit.  

I'm delighted it finally looks like the club is addressing the wheelchair accessibility issue. I hope that's enough space and it meets the needs of our supporters who use wheelchairs. 

As someone who is well into their 6th decade I think it is beholden on the younger generation to annoy people my age, usually excess noise and general exuberance will do it. Having the young guys who sing and chant all match in the Copland feels like a spiritual home coming, the Copland was where you went if you wanted a sign song when I first started going to Ibrox. Old guys complaining about the noise is inevitable. It happens to us all eventually. 

Players have more agency in this than we're giving them credit for. If we approach Hearts for example and make a bid of say £1.5 mil for Shankland Hearts are within their rights to say 'no' for a variety of good reasons, not least their inability to replace Shankland and his contribution to their side. But, if Shankland knows moving to Rangers would give him a signing on fee of say £500,000 and see his salary treble, he's perfectly entitled to go to Hearts and say 'you're stopping me bettering myself and my livelihood, will you match Rangers salary offer'? If Hearts say 'no, you've got a contract honour it', then they've an unhappy player and, potentially unrest in their changing room, as it won't be just Shankland speaking with their agent about this. Shankland has 18 months left on his Hearts contract, he's a diminishing asset, worth less now than last summer and worth less next summer if he doesn't sign a contract extension. Hearts would need to weigh up criticism from their support and the loss of an important player, with cashing in on a player who by that point may no longer want to be there. This is the same scenario if we made a bid for an Aberdeen player or a Hibs player or any club in Scotland with the exception of Celtic. It's all very well for Aberdeen or whoever to play hardball and demand well over the odds for a player, but it's not without consequences not least pressure from the player himself. 

It was reported that the reason we allowed Sakala to leave in the summer was the offer made to him by the Saudi side was not one we could match and so we wouldn't stand in his way. I expect it was the same with Aribo and Bassey the summer before. Every club has to balance the books, keep their support onside and their playing squad happy. It's easier for Aberdeen or Hearts to convince a potential signing to join if they can point to a 'pathway' to a bigger club with higher salaries, even if the club is Rangers.