JohnMc

Can I just check, are the Glasgow police against us now too? I know the media, politicians, civic society, those in the arts and junior and senior judiciary are actively plotting our demise but I hadn't realised the police were also part of this cabal as well. This might come as news to the couple of coppers I know. Again, I think it's a big jump from hastily scratching obscenities onto a car to setting it on fire.

To be completely honest my first reaction to this news was 'what's McGregor been up to'. I don't know where McGregor lives but I'm going to assume it's one of the city's more affluent suburbs, where you'd expect the chance of passing neds happening upon his car opportunistically is less likely. Plus it's quite the escalation from shouting stuff at him or his house or even scratching or vandalising his car to torching it. That's premeditated, that's someone arriving with the necessary tools to carry it out and the means of escape at the ready, because torching the car is going to wake everyone in the street up. Plus, why McGregor? I'm not aware of any special animosity towards him other than the usual dislike all our players get. Morelos or even Gerrard I could see, but McGregor? If this turns out to Celtic supporters targeting him for simply being a Rangers player then that's a serious escalation in bampottery in this city. I hope it's not that, I hope McGregor chatted up the wrong guy's bird in a bar, or cut up the wrong guy at the lights.

Guy's like Stewart aren't actually BBC employees, they're freelancers, so this is unlikely to make much difference to this particular parcel of rogues. With a large majority Tory government and a new BBC Chairman due soon, appointed by said Tory government, a move to the right and a reducing of budgets seems likely at the BBC. As ever though I expect the goings on of a regional sports department won't be high up on any new Chairman or DG's agenda. Keep up the good work 26th, always an entertaining read.

I like Borna and he's developed into a more influential player over the last 12 months, but I wouldn't be totally opposed to selling him. He's had a funny career. He had a 'big' move from Osijek to Zagreb earlier in his career and it didn't work out for him, he barely played for them. He stepped back to his home town club, Osijek, again and caught our eye in the matches against us in Europe. He looked really good and I was delighted when we bought him. But he struggled to make an impression at first, perhaps the change of country, language and culture coupled with injuries but it was really last season before he became a first choice. It wasn't that long ago people were suggesting Flanagan or even Halliday start before him. £8 million is a decent profit on him too, he's 27 and in his prime so if we could get £10 million to be honest I'd take it. Surely we can find another left back good enough for the SPFL for a quarter of that.

Aye, that's a fair point, although there would be some TV money I suspect, but nothing like the occasion it would be under normal circumstances. Although a trip to Ibrox would be significantly less expensive for them than a trip to the continent I suspect you're right and they'd prefer to play us under more normal circumstances. From our perspective though it's a short trip if we're away and we'd be massive favourites to win, significantly less tricky than a trip to Bosnia.

Is it still a one off game or will it go to 2 legs? Hope we draw Coleraine, who had a brilliant result last night. I used to work with a guy who was a director of Coleraine, he was a big blue nose too.

Giving this a bump, it deserves a read and you never know who might have a connection.

I was lucky enough to be given a copy of a new book titled The 50 Greatest Rangers Games by Martyn Ramsay. This is my review of it. We all have a favourite Rangers match, or at least a handful that standout above all the others, but I’m not sure I could rank my top 50 and certainly not in order of importance. So I approached this book with a mix of trepidation and excitement. In a recent edition of When Saturday Comes magazine, the writer, Taylor Parks, talks about the 3 ages of football supporting. The last age is nostalgia; always looking back, comparing everything new to what’s been before. That’s the age I now inhabit. The book ’50 Greatest Rangers Games’, by Martyn Ramsay, is a sepia hued, blue-nose nostalgia-fest, that skilfully avoids rose-tinting the past, while celebrating the seasons, matches, moments and people who have shaped our club and our relationship with it. The premise is simple enough. Ramsay, who is involved in The Time Capsule on the Heart & Hand podcast, asked listeners to select their ten greatest Rangers matches in order of preference. From that a top 50 was created out of over 170 matches suggested. It’s democracy in action and like all democratic decisions it will have its dissenters. Ramsay is self-aware enough to say that this isn’t the definitive list, indeed I’m not sure even he fully agrees with all the matches chosen. It’s certainly not my top 50 and probably not yours either, but it is a wonderful collection of matches from our foundation right up to relatively recently. One of the more enjoyable aspects of these type of lists is disagreeing with them. Announcing to my startled family my incredulity that the Glasgow Cup Final of 1986 is missing, the match where Souness first showed me what could be possible, or why 3 European Finals make it but the other one doesn’t. Then you remember that this isn’t the author’s top 50, this is democracy’s, and, well, democracies don’t always get things right as we know. But I’m being churlish and nit-picking because while you might not agree with every match featured you’ll agree with most of them and you’ll enjoy all of them. Ramsay, wisely, doesn’t regurgitate match reports instead he paints a wider canvas drawing in the context of the game. Most chapters extract a little colour from supporters or players, helping to personalise the occasion. Ramsay even manages to use both Jerry Seinfeld and Albert Camus to aid his description of our first ever match, two great thinkers on one of the most important occasions in sporting history, now that’s inspired. This book isn’t tabloid hackery and it’s not cliche ridden hyperbole hoping to cash in on the blue pound either. The analysis is considered, the context is thoughtful and the overview honest. Not every match was football as poetry, sometimes the occasion was better than the performance and the book doesn’t hide from that. Memory is deceptive mistress. I found myself reading about matches I attended, and thought I recalled vividly, with renewed appreciation. Many of us will easily remember the Gascoignes and the Laudrups but forget that some of the sides Walter Smith wrung performances from were far from laden with superstars. I was astonished to read our bench for the famous Marseille home game in the first ever Champion’s League contained Steven Pressley, Gary McSwegan, David Hagen, Ally Maxwell and a semi-retired Davie Dodds; even I’d have fancied my chances against them as a 5-a-side team. Smith’s teams feature heavily in the top 50, which, as the author recognises, says more about the demographic of his listeners than the 115 or so years that came before Sir Walter’s reign. But I am that demographic and I lapped it up. My unrequited love affair with Ian Durrant was reawakened reading this and it was magical to relive some of his finest moments. There’s a line in the telling of a 1-0 victory over Celtic in 1986; “…amid the usual cacophony of Old Firm heavy metal, Cooper and Durrant managed to produce a moment of pure ballet” that lifts the reader far above the melee. Ramsay has captured not only the essence of that goal but also something deeper, why we, as otherwise normal, sensible middle-aged men and women invest so much of our time, energy and emotion into something that often makes us miserable. Simply, because there are moments that are almost transcendental, and Cooper’s flick and Durrant’s reading of it were that for me. That moment of beauty and joy sit proudly on the credit side of the ledger so often burdened down by financial catastrophe, lower league calamity and signing Ian Black. Many of your heroes are here, although some might be missing. You are reminded just how fortunate we are to support Rangers. Our top 50 contains league titles, domestic and European cup finals and famous victories over other great sides. If the last decade has taught us anything it’s to not take that for granted and to remember it and enjoy it more often. It’s not all victories, there are draws and even losses in this list, a reminder that greatness can be achieved in defeat as well. But Rangers aren’t about defeat, we’re about trophies and this book doesn’t disappoint on that count. The author has evidently done his homework, the amount of research that has clearly gone into every chapter is impressive. For instance I’m not sure I’d ever known that one of the reasons for the banning of the back pass was the amount of time Pat Bonner held the ball during a match at Italia 90. That this indirectly then led to one of our greatest ever victories over Leeds Utd was an interesting insight. Well done Packy! But it’s when writing directly about Rangers that Ramsay excels. It’s not just his study of the matches that shines through, although it does, it’s that this has obviously been a labour of love. There is emotion, warmth, honesty, jubilation, frustration and disappointment in his writing, but most of all there’s love. This isn’t just a book about Rangers, this is a book about a relationship that’s endured for most of his life. Most football supporters will be able to relate to that, but few will be able to express it so well. This book understands football fandom isn’t just about a professional player who is fleetingly wearing a blue jersey and scoring an important goal. It’s about how that makes us feel. Truly great football matches aren’t watched, they’re felt. It’s why I laugh whenever I’m faced with all that ‘new club, Sevco’ gibberish. Only someone who fundamentally doesn’t understand football could think that way. This book understands football. For me, the author has taken these matches and added the soul that's so often missing from written accounts. There’s a paragraph in The 50 Greatest Rangers Games that particularly resonated with me. It comes at the end of his chapter on the 1973 Scottish Cup Final and I’d read it the night before the news of Tom Forsyth’s passing, a match in which he scored a famous winner. Ramsay talks about the connection Rangers creates between generations of the same family and how that shared passion in Rangers allows us to communicate with each other, something we’re not always good at doing. It was a stand out paragraph for me in a book I really enjoyed. I’ll read it again, and I’ll give it to my Dad and to my sons to read too. I encourage you to do the same.

I still think Docherty wasn't given a chance and we need his type of player in some games, last Sunday's being an example. I'd play Docherty over Hagi in that type of match all season long. I noticed Lewis MacLoed, once of this parish, joined Plymouth this week, he joins Ryan Hardie there. He's another that's had a terrible time with injuries.

I'd sell Kent and buy Martin Boyle from Hibs and David Turnbull from Motherwell (I think he's quite good, plus lols). We'd probably still have about £7 million left to spend on people I've not heard of.

Mixing up Linfield and Glentoran doesn't go down well in parts of Belfast! Charlie Lindsay is seen as a real talent in Northern Ireland, he's the youngest player in Glentoran's history to play for their first team. Glentoran would be of a similar standard to Ayr Utd, Dunfermline maybe even a Hamilton type side, mid to upper level Championship club.

Reach are significantly more than the Record and Sunday Mail, they're actually one of the biggest printers in the UK. Put simply Reach have printing capacity they need to fill and Rangers need someone to print and distribute their programmes. The contract printing side of Reach is quite separate from the newspaper publishing side, I'd be very surprised if anything changes in our current relationship with the Record and Mail (reach also own the Daily Mirror, Daily Star and Daily Express plus their Sunday equivalents and a raft of major local titles). Their CEO is a guy called Jim Mullen, from Hamilton, I've never met him but I don't think he's particularly Rangers friendly shall we say. I guess the club have weighed up the cost saving against the supporter anger and decided which is more important to them. Somethings never change.

Richard Gordon isn't on Go Radio, I think it's Rob McLean, easy to confuse them to be fair. As a commercial station I suspect Go Radio will endeavour to be far more balanced than BBC Scotland, if only from a revenue perspective. Alienating the Rangers support won't be good for business or please advertisers (or indeed new commercial partners...). Paul Cooney is a talented producer and despite his personal leanings Clyde's football coverage was much fairer than BBC Scotland's when he was in charge of it. I've yet to hear their new show, I see they've got Si Ferry and Barry Ferguson on so my heart has sunk already, but at some point in the coming weeks i'll give it listen. If it's to be successful it will need to appeal to us, you can't alienate the biggest club in the country's support if you're not being financed by the licence fee. You'd hope Haughey and co understand that.

With respect BD neither you nor I are black (you're not, are you? I'm going to look pretty stupid if you are) so we're not affected in anyway by this. Let's be honest, there's no chance at all of Marxism making any kind of political inroads here, (and it's laughable to suggest it could happen in America) and by supporting the club and the players I don't think anyone is going to mistake either of us for Leninist agitators. This whole Marxism thing is bewildering, we're not living in a 1960s Le Carre novel, our way of life is not threatened by Conor Goldson protesting. The Israel/Palestine thing is nonsense too. Over 70 years of superpower intervention, terrorism, war, mediation and global attention hasn't been able to resolve that part of the world, you and me accepting James Tavernier kneeling before kick-off in a friendly isn't going to bring down the Likud Party or harden the resolve of Hezbollah. But Conor Goldson is a young black man. I don't know what he's experienced in his life due to the colour of his skin, perhaps nothing, only he knows. But as a white man I feel really uncomfortable telling him his choice of protest; one that's peaceful and largely symbolic, isn't appropriate. He's not looting or rioting, he's not closing down streets or marching. He's simply using his profile and platform to maybe make people like you and I, white men who've not had to give this much thought before (well I've not, apologies if you have been involved in this in the past or present) pause to consider whether our society provides the same opportunities to everyone regardless of their ethnicity. I'm not unable to accept it means something else to others, I'm simply challenging why that is. I don't understand why it's provoking so much debate, it's largely symbolic, and I know symbolism is important, but it's unlikely to lead to wholesale change (and it's not going to lead to Marxism, I'm positive about that). I wear a poppy every year. Both my grandfathers and my father served in the forces, I was brought up with it. I learned about the horrors of WW1 at school, attended the Armistice Day service at our local war memorial with the BB every year. It's something I grew up with, culturally it's important to me. I suspect a number of people on here had a similar upbringing. When I moved to Belfast I continued to wear a poppy around that time of year. For me it was a way of honouring ordinary and extraordinary people who'd made a sacrifice I'm not sure I'd be willing to make. But for the first time I met people who'd a very different view of the poppy. Who saw it as a symbol of the British military and they'd a very dim view of the British military. So I considered it but decided to keep wearing it. I'm happy to explain to anyone concerned that I don't wear it because I supported the invasion of Iraq (I didn't), or Afghanistan, or to make some kind of political point or prove how patriotic I am (I'm not patriotic in the slightest). I wear it to remember the millions of people who died either through government misadventure, idiotic orders or trying to achieve something truly noble and necessary that has made the world a safer and better place. I'm not honouring governments or politicians, far from it. That's what it means to me, thats why I wear it. I'm confident Conor Goldson doesn't want to bring down the government in this country or in the middle east, he bends his knee and raises his arm so you and me will see him and think. That's all.

I don't think you can equate Rangers with Formula 1. FIFA equate to Formula 1, Rangers are a car in it. Of course the club have an option. Not everyone feels like they're being railroaded into this BD, many, many people have looked at this and can see the merits of it and accept the sentiment it makes. Judging by Stewart Robertson's statement earlier it suggests the board are comfortable with this. Conor Goldson has told you what the phrase means to him and why he's using it. If that's still not good enough explanation for you I don't know what else to say.

I disagree with those who think this is just posturing and won’t make any difference. It might not make any difference to a 45 year old who supports Britain First and thinks Tommy Robinson should be the PM but it might make a 16 year old who perhaps hasn’t really thought about these issues properly give it some consideration. Modern day footballers have a platform, they do have influence. I went to see Rangers play West Brom at Ibrox in a pre-season friendly, Google tells me it was almost exactly 37 years ago. West Brom had a number of black players and it was the first time I’d seen a black footballer live and I suspect that was the case for many in attendance that day. West Brom’s black players were subjected to boos, jeers and abuse throughout the match. All around me people made jokes about them, shouted to our players to be ‘careful in case they had spears’ that type of thing. The abuse was actually quite good humoured, people thought they were being funny, indeed lots of people were laughing so they were being funny. This wasn’t a naked display of white power, it was an example of what was still socially acceptable in Glasgow at the time. Mocking an opposition player because of the colour of his skin was largely okay in 1983, nobody thought they were really doing anything wrong. I certainly didn’t, I laughed along like everyone else. I know if West Brom were to play us today there wouldn’t be much abuse of their black players, at least not for the colour of their skin. That’s not just a change in our crowd, that’s a societal change, something that’s gradually brought us to this point. Black Lives Matter is the next step along that road. We now have black players, we didn’t then. Some of those players are heroes to our support, they are revered by us, there is no question they are accepted whole-heartedly by our support. When we see them the only colour we see is blue. So when they decide to tell us something we might find uncomfortable or think doesn’t apply to us, perhaps we should pay them the courtesy of listening and trying to understand. I don’t think that’s a big ask. I’ve never voted for a political party where I agree with everything they stand for or hope to achieve. I look at who I think most closely mirrors my views, or I feel will do the best job. There’s always something I won’t agree with though, sometimes it can be a fairly fundamental thing too. But good is better than perfect. That’s the case with most things in life I’ve found. A level of compromise is required to move forward. I lived in Belfast when the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated and agreed. That was a very hard pill for many, many people to swallow but it brought about a serious reduction in murder and terror that had become a way of life for decades. People are alive today who wouldn’t have been otherwise. Northern Ireland is not perfect, or even fixed, but it’s a hell of a lot better today than it was when I first went there and it is slowly, in its way, making progress. I really don’t think it’s hard to accept the message that black lives matter and differentiate it from other things that some wrap up in it. I don’t understand how anyone can function if they’re unable to make compromises, particularly for something that doesn’t really have any impact on them or their lives.

To get things slightly back on topic I notice the management and players of both sides 'took a knee' prior to both the Lyon and Nice matches. As far as I can tell cultural Marxism hasn't managed a full coup on Edmiston Drive quite yet, but no doubt it's only a matter of time now. The defunding of the police on the other hand is well underway. Funding is down over 16% in the last decade. Those arch-Marxists David Cameron, Teresa May and Boris Johnston need watched I tell you, soon you won't even be able to say you're English anymore. For what it's worth, as is their democratic right, quite a number of people on social media, who certainly seem to be Rangers supporters at first glance, posted their disagreement with the club's official Twitter and Instagram accounts posting pictures and accompanying hashtag. It's worth noting though that the post on Instagram attracted 29,860 'Likes' and on Twitter over 7,500, the highest of any posts from the club during the tournament, including goals and interviews with players. Maurice Edu, our former player and an African American, felt moved to comment on the club's original post and then replied to some of those criticising the club or taking issue with the 'black lives matter' message. Conor Goldson has also felt the need to address some of the posts and comments left by supporters on this subject from his personal account. Both are worth reading. As I said earlier in this thread if this is important to a number of our players I've no problem with our club supporting it. It doesn't threaten my identity or my understanding on how a democratic society should function. Being serious for a moment I was saddened to read Forlan's Sisters post about his recent health. Sepsis is a horrible and very dangerous condition and I hope you are feeling better now and receiving the correct treatment. Clearly Gaffer and FS have experienced challenges during the last few months and I know they aren't alone. I hope we are all able to enjoy better times very soon.

So good they named them twice. Or something like that. I never use 'Glasgow' when referring to us, we're The Rangers, every other Rangers is defined by their subsequent relationship to us. That said I did enjoy it when UEFA used to call us simply 'Glasgow' during Champion's League draws and matches back in the 90s. It really annoyed some our fellow citizens, that's never a bad thing. Speaking of fellow citizens I was raised in the north of the city and knew quite a few Partick Thistle fans growing up. Everyone I knew simply referred to them as 'Thistle', there was no need for 'Partick' to be said, who else could we have been referring too after all. But i've noticed this has changed over the years and now hear many in the media describe them as 'Partick', it's something that sounds so wrong to my ear.

Well now, this thread's taken an unexpected turn since I last visited. So if Covid 19 is a global hoax, who is behind it and why? I lost a friend to Covid 19, he didn't have any underlying health issues beforehand, his death was sudden and shocking. Three other family friends also died of it, they were older and did have underlying health issues. They all lived in the same small town, two in a care home, and the virus swept through taking the lives of a number of older people in a short space of time. I guess I'm struggling to accept it doesn't exist or is in fact just your normal winter flu. But I'm fascinated to see your workings on this @Gaffer and trying to remain open-minded. You're not stupid so you must understand why posts as incendiary as yours have created reactions ranging from disbelief to anger. No one likes being called a fool, and that's what you're inferring we all are. I'm fairly cynical and hold a high degree of scepticism towards politicians but even I'm struggling to accept Boris Johnson and his cabinet and advisors are covering up thousands of deaths, ruining the economy and upsetting millions of voters on purpose and that he's managed to get Nicola Sturgeon and the Irish Taoiseach in on it with him.

Oh, I think if we took some strong stance against supporting black players right to protest for example the broadcast partners wouldn't be happy with us.

Jeez, BD you're grumpy this morning! I'm delighted to read that you've never found class a barrier in your life, others will have different experiences. With only one UK Prime Minister this century not attending a private, fee paying school at some point (the only one who didn't was Gordon Brown and he wasn't elected) I'd suggest the class system remains in place. That's not to say social mobility doesn't exist. If you extrapolate Rangers supporting Jermaine Defoe, or any of our players, use of the statement 'Black Lives Matter' as supporting defunding the police or having any interest in Middle Eastern politics I'd say you're mistaken. On some subjects I describe myself as conservative, on others as liberal, this doesn't mean I support either of the parties that carry those words in their name. Likewise I'm entirely comfortable with the phrase Black Lives Matter and the sentiment behind it, without it conferring my support for anything else they might espouse. It's possible to support organisations without agreeing with everything they say or do. When I lived in Belfast a couple of decades ago now it amused me to see the Israeli flag flown from lamp posts in Loyalist areas of the city. I'm fairly certain it was solely as a response to the Palestinian flag being flown in Republican areas. If one side said 'black' the other side had to say 'white', that's how it was. I've seen the Star Of David flag at the occasional Rangers match too, as I'm sure you have. I suppose if it becomes a big topic here, something the population and the support become involved in it's inevitable the club will become involved on a superficial level at least. But no, it's not something I'm in a hurry for any of us to get involved in. I can only speak as a man. My rather flippant remark was meant to highlight how far football toilets have come in 40 years, not who uses them. In all honesty I struggle with the 'trans debate', it's so niche and irrelevant to my day to day life, I also don't think I'm alone in that. On balance I'm yet to be convinced a biological man should freely use female only facilities, particularly if it makes females uncomfortable. That's my view just now, it might change as I learn more about the subject, or it might not.

Surely 'equality' is about equal access to opportunity rather than forced distribution of wealth? In a country like the United States there can be little doubt that the colour of your skin has a direct impact on the opportunities you are given. This sits uncomfortably with the 'American Dream' narrative that's so important to many there as well as the belief that 'anyone' can 'make it' and the whole "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses" idea that's so intrinsic in American culture. That's how I've always understood it anyway. I don't think that idea is as set in the DNA of our culture here though. Class has always been a much bigger barrier in this country and it's fairly colour blind. While plenty of people from modest backgrounds have found success in various fields in the UK the concept is not as important in our culture as in some other countries. Anyway, back to Rangers. Sport is one of the areas where you will see black people have high profiles and success. In our current culture being good at sport brings not only wealth and profile but also a platform. I think that's why many black sports men and women feel the need to speak about political matters, there is an unseen pressure on them to use their profiles that equivalent white sport's people perhaps don't always feel. As football is the highest profile sport in this country footballers have the biggest platform. The current Rangers team has a far higher percentage of black players in it than the support does. That's not racism, simply that the black population of Scotland is less than 1% and it's smaller again in Northern Ireland, the two main areas we draw our support from. So, in all honesty, 'black issues' aren't high profile among our support or indeed in our country. You could argue the black players at our club and the club as a whole should keep out of these topics, after all what have they got to do with us? But then if these subjects matter to them perhaps we should encourage them to speak about them, to teach us, to help us understand what being a young, black man in 21st century Britain is actually like. I've almost no insight into that. I've a lot of respect for Jermaine Defoe. Not only is he a talented footballer but he's an impressive human being as well. He's a consummate professional who has made sacrifices to ensure he's made the most of his talent. He's also demonstrated empathy and enormous responsibility for others. His friendship with the terminally ill child Bradley Lowrey seemed genuine and heartfelt and his use of his profile to help that boy and raise awareness and money for his condition and others like him was exemplary. So if Jermaine Defoe wants to use his profile this time to raise awareness of racism in society, I'm okay with that. I think that's a good thing. If that involves 'taking a knee' or wearing an armband or some other symbolic gesture that might make someone like me, who has known very few black people and gives the subject little time, pause for thought then I suspect that can only be a good thing. If the club want to support him in this I'm okay with that too, if some, or all, of his teammates want to join in then I'm pretty relaxed with that. It won't change the world, but it might help enlighten some of it. As for politics and football not mixing I tend to disagree. Football clubs used to be a reflection of the communities they came from, we certainly were. This is hardly new. I read an obituary of Jack Charlton at the weekend and was reminded of the money and time he gave to striking miners during the 80s, Robbie fowler was fined once for wearing a T-shirt in support of striking Liverpool dockers and recently Pep Guardiola was reprimanded for wearing a label badge raising awareness of issues in Catalonia. Most modern football clubs want to keep sponsors and broadcasters on side and so tend to take a very corporate view of 'politics', fearing a backlash or criticism if they make a misstep. Rangers will be no different I suspect. They'll follow the mood and media narrative and take their lead from that. Forgive my cynicism. As someone who started watching football when many ground's idea of a toilet was a wall with a trough at the bottom and which by half time was ankle deep in urine the idea that we're speaking about toilets for trans people is almost amusing. I suspect the club will wait for the politicians to deal with this and legislate one way or another. As we're responsible for voting for them that feels like a wise move.

They've got a limited broadcast area, these things are licensed. It'll be similar geographically to Radio Clyde if that helps.

Yeah, he's a bit too Unionist and Royalist for my tastes as well (winky face) I can't claim to know him but I have been in his company a couple of times. I once saw him outbid everyone at a charity auction to get the 'Rangers' lot much to my surprise. As far as I know he's not presenting any of the shows.

Go Radio, a digital station with a greater Glasgow broadcast footprint, was taken over by (Lord) Willie Haughey and (Sir) Tom Hunter last year. They've fairly big plans for it, plans that have been hampered by the Covid lockdown, but are now finally being rolled out. They see sport, specifically football, as being key to the station's growth and success. They're investing in 'talent' and production people and, if rumours are to be believed, have their eye on securing commentary rights for SPFL matches. Apart from the co-owners having deep pockets they also have excellent connections at Hampden, having helped fund the purchase the stadium from Queens Park a couple of years ago, so getting a sympathetic hearing might not be hard for them, plus the game is desperate for money so any new revenue is likely to be very welcome. I understand they see the dynamic between Rangers and BBC Scotland as providing an opportunity for them to attract listeners. The 'talent' I've heard mentioned doesn't suggest this is going to be some kind of Rangers love-in, but if it at least provides live commentary of matches and interviews with our manager and players it might be very welcome. Time will tell.