JohnMc

I see a great favourite of many of the journalists who often feature in this thread made the news this weekend and lost his job today. Roy Greenslade, one time Daily Mirror editor, Sun journalist, Guardian columnist and, until today, Professor of Journalism at City University of London was himself the subject of an article yesterday. The Sunday Times reported about Essex boy Greenslade's unwavering support for the Provisional IRA and INLA at the weekend. This of course came as news to absolutely no one who has even the slightest interest in these things. He wrote a column for the Sinn Fein's weekly newspaper under an alias for years while working for some of Fleet Street's biggest papers. Greenslade's love for homicidal maniacs and sectarian murder gangs was an open secret, which makes you wonder just what this weekend's 'revelations' were all about? There were two excellent pieces in the online Spectator today in response to Greenslade's attempts at greenwashing history. Maria Cahill, a one time Irish republican - https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-did-roy-greenslade-demonise-me-when-i-accused-an-ira-member-of-rape- and Fermanagh born Ian Acheson, an advisor on prisons and reform - https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-roy-greenslade-doesn-t-understand-about-the-troubles Greenslade was very vocal when professional Dundonian, Jim Spence, was called nasty names in the street a few years back. Such intimidation can't go without comment after all. Shooting 15 year olds through the knees in the Ardoyne can be ignored though, well they probably had it coming, eh Roy. Anyway, here's hoping we never have to hear his name again.

In some ways not drawing an English side in lunchtime's draw means BBC Scotland Sport can probably survive the pressure they must now be coming under from headquarters in Manchester for a chat with Gerrard. Had we drawn Man Utd can you imagine Match Of The Day, Football Focus and Five Live just accepting they couldn't speak to Gerrard or McAllister, who they must know fairly well. This might still come to pass of course.

Point of order, she's not Glaswegian, take your well deserved ire and point it in the direction of Bute.

You might be right. I understand his style is based around relying on two or three match winning players being supported by everyone else in the team. This was not unlike Walter Smith's Rangers in his first term, but is miles from Gerrard's 'total football' philosophy. I think he is able to organise and motivate players, at least initially, but as @stewarty points out above that can only last for so long. Anyway, nothing was funnier or more enjoyable than watching his own fans turn on him, that's got to have hurt.

Yes, all fair points. The rumours of how his Hibs tenure ended certainly back up what you're saying. I think I'm just touchy to any narrative that suggests somehow our success this season is down to Celtic having a poor manager, I don't think they did, he just isn't as good as ours.

It took me a week to get over the first bloody match and then they go and do that to us! Whatever else you say about this Rangers team they're entertaining. Kent and Morelos were outstanding and while not as effective Hagi worked so hard he too deserves a mention. It's the strangest tie to review, I mean we conceded 5 goals, that would normally deserve much scrutiny and criticism but when you score 9 in reply it can be glossed over. Of the 5 we conceded 3 were poor defensively and one was a dodgy penalty. That said while I don't think we set out to concede so many I do think the game plan was simply to overwhelm them upfront. Two very attacking line-ups was always going to leave us open. Some of our goals over the tie were things of beauty, Kent must be registering on the radars of richer clubs by now, if he wasn't already. Nathan Paterson's goal feels like vindication for the liberal hand-wringers on here like Gonzo, Bill and me... I'd like AC Milan next. For someone of my age they exude glamour and majesty, but whoever we get can I just say how proud I am we're in the last 16 of a European tournament for the second year in a row, Berwick, Brechin and Peterhead feel that bit further away again.

Funnily enough I don't have a problem with them lionising Lennon. If you actually are a Celtic supporter then he probably deserves the title 'legend'. He played over 200 games for them and has managed them twice, that certainly should earn him a place in their virtual hall of fame. He won trophies as a player and as a manager, we have to accept that. I think there will always be a question mark over all the titles he won, but he won the Scottish Cup and League Cup last season, so credit where credit is due. Celtic have only lost 4 league matches this season, 2 of them to us. That's not a terrible record by any rational measurement. But their support's reaction to our imperious form has been hysterical, in both senses of the word. Our loss to St Mirren in the League Cup was no worse than theirs to Ross County, yet we didn't try and storm the stadium afterwards. They had a torrid time in Europe, again something that almost all Scottish sides experience. Almost all. Lennon's biggest problem is his support and his directors, and probably himself, weren't prepared for how good we've been this season. Not only have we been imperious in the league but we've been wonderful in Europe too. In my opinion Lennon is actually a better than average manager. His spell at Bolton apart, and they were in a bad way when he was manager, he's won trophies at Celtic and got Hibs promoted and had them playing decent football when in the SPFL. I suspect he'll get another job in management and don't be surprised if he does fairly well. Writing Lennon off as a buffoon demeans what we're on the brink of achieving this season. Lennon's problem is he's not Steven Gerrard, Lennon's problem is the Celtic 'support' have abandoned him at the first sign of difficulty, unlike our support who traipsed the fishing towns and former pit villages of Scotland to support our side. I don't like Lennon's public persona, indeed I struggle to think of a player I have ever disliked more than Lennon, and I've enjoyed watching him flounder recently, but while ridiculing him let's remember he was an experienced manager with a strong squad and transfer budget at his disposal, and this Rangers side were simply too good for him.

I just hope the club are working on this in background, talking with victims, offering support and dealing with it away from the media. The interview with the former player suggests otherwise unfortunately.

It's clearly late in the afternoon as this thread is confusing me. Albertz is our leading 'foreign' goal scorer in Europe, so surely he must make every team. Of course that's if this thread has anything to do with Europe, and I'm not sure it does. For the purposes of this thread is England 'foreign'?

McGregor man of the match?? WE CONCEDED A GOAL! He should be dropped for the next match. Standards gentleman, standards.

In the run up to the 1986 World Cup the Scotland squad had a pre-tournament training camp in America prior to the tournament. It was being used to acclimatise the players to the heat and altitude they'd face in Mexico as well as to allow the management team of Sir Alex Ferguson and Walter Smith to work on tactics, shape and so forth. Rod Stewart, at that time living in Hollywood, threw a party and invited all the players. When Ferguson heard he forbid any players to attend. Needless to say a few quite fancied attending a party in Hollywood surrounded by starlets and an escape party was created and an escape and return was executed. One of the members of this party was Graeme Souness, at that time captain of Scotland, one of the most decorated players and senior members of the squad and also the new Rangers manager. Needless to say Ferguson found out and wasn't too happy. You get a group of guys together and impose rules on them some will look to break them, that's normal behaviour in my experience. Whether it's a works golf outing or a group of well paid professional footballers, there will be some who break the rules. I mean do we really think this isn't going on at every club in Scotland? I'll bet it is, the problem Paterson has is no one cares if 5 Livingston players and their girlfriends get together, no one would even recognise them. How many members of this forum have 'bent' the rules over the last 10 months? Those of us with teenage children, can we all really say that they've followed every rule by the book? Let he who is without sin and all that. This has almost certainly cost Zungu a contract, that's a big punishment. Paterson and Bassey could have realistically played a decent amount of first team football in the next two months. Paterson, had he come on last night, played well and continued to play well for the rest of the season could have even forced himself into the Scotland Euros squad this summer, right back is a problem position for Scotland after all. That's gone now. I get the anger and the disappointment, they did something stupid, something really stupid. I just don't think it should cost them their jobs, I don't see how that helps them or us.

Surely he can't play on Sunday, even if we wanted him he'll have to self isolate for 10 days as a minimum after breaking the Covid bubble, won't he? I believe in second chances, particularly for teenagers. If he can rebuild his career at Rangers he should get that chance, but it won't be this season and he'll need to work very hard to earn the trust of the management team and the support. I suspect if someone made a bid for him or any of the others we'd accept it. It might be best for him if he goes out on loan for the first half of next season, he needs first team football and I suspect a right back just went to the top of Ross Wilson's to-do list.

Applause.

Couldn't agree more. A difficult and emotive subject handled brilliantly, well done Frankie.

When actions are agreed out of court they almost always carry a 'no blame' caveat. Even when it's clear that one side has won and one has lost, when damages have been agreed and they are clear to everyone lawyers always insert a 'this agreement signifies no acceptance of blame etc...'. Clearly the LA and the PF think they have that here, however it seems one the Duff & Phelps team feels they don't. A lot will hinge on that. I suspect the Crown will push very hard for that and a gaging order agreement on the remaining cases still to be agreed. There's little doubt in my mind the current LA is choosing his words very carefully. He's not going to admit to 'malice' in the sense that we understand the word while related cases are ongoing and also because he knows it would start a feeding frenzy I suspect he'd rather avoid. Today buys him and everyone involved time. There was no smoking gun, and this will drop down the news agenda while the related cases are dealt with. When it returns to the public eye, well, who knows where we'll all be by then.

Normally I'd challenge you on 'deliberately botched' but with what's come to light recently I'm now open minded to all possibilities. I don't think we got any answers today, just more questions.

The choice of the word 'malicious' was certainly eye-catching and we'll all have our own understanding of what that means. I'm very cautious attributing motive on a public forum though, especially to a current High Court judge or his staff. Hopefully we'll get full transparency on this in the near future.

I've held off commenting on this as aspects of it have puzzled me and I think we all have to tread carefully for our own and Frankie's sake. That said if, as is being reported, this was a "malicious" prosecution instigated by the previous Lord Advocate, then I'm not sure we're fully grasping the implications of that. The Lord Advocate, as well as being a political appointment, is literally the most senior law officer in Scotland ultimately responsible for all prosecutions. The lengths and expense that's going into keeping this from being aired publicly in open court is troubling. For the current Lord Advocate to make the statement he made yesterday is an astonishing admission. At best we have total incompetence, at worst we have corruption at a very senior level. So, you have to ask yourself who benefits from an attempted criminal prosecution against those involved with the administration and buy out of Rangers. I'm no fan of Duff and Phelps or Charles Green, but what has happened here is disgraceful. It will be interesting to see what more comes out of this and if there is an appetite politically, legally or from the media to punish those involved in this. How this isn't now a criminal matter is beyond me.

Comparing periods is very hard. The Rangers sides of the 60s, 70s and early 80s were playing in a league that had some of the best sides in Europe at that time. The calibre of domestic opposition was considerably higher than it is currently. That said, I think this current Rangers side plays the best football I've ever seen a Rangers side play. I never thought I'd see a Rangers team play more pleasing football than the one Advocaat put together in his first couple of seasons, but I now think this current side is even more attractive. Now, that's not say this team is 'better', in fact I doubt it is, that side contained Numan, Porrini, Gio, Albertz, Kanchelskis and of course Barry Ferguson, all exceptional players. Our sides of the late 60s and early 70s reached 2 European finals, winning one, you could argue that was our best ever side, even though they weren't able to win the league. Anyway, Gerrard can only build a side to beat what's in front of him, and he's doing that with some aplomb just now.

I assume this means Lewis Mayo isn't in the manager's first team plans either. Isn't Leon King a centre-half? He's only 17 but aren't great things expected of him? Surely we're buying another centre-half, wide player and midfielder in the knowledge that any decent offer received this summer can't be turned down. If English sides aren't looking at Goldson and Helander I'll be astonished, Kent and Kamara must be on the radar's of many clubs as are Morelos and probably Roofe. I still think it's our full backs who are most coveted though. The directors deserve a lot of credit for keeping the squad together this January, indeed we've probably strengthened it which is remarkable.

Whether he'll ever be international class is still very much unknown, but if he keeps scoring goals this season I suspect he'll get his chance, we're not exactly spoilt for choice up front. I've been impressed that he's been able to step up each season to a higher level. From East Stirling to Raith Rovers to Dunfermline and then Hibs, where he's currently joint top goal scorer in the SPFL this season. Hibs have been our most difficult domestic fixture this season, a draw and two 1-0 victories. I don't think any of their players were awful against us. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't swap him for Roofe or Itten, but I'm not surprised he's attracting interest and as a young Scot I wonder if we've considered him.

I read this morning that Birmingham have made a bid for Nisbet from Hibs. I've been impressed with him when I've seen Hibs this season, thought he linked up play really well on Wednesday but fell away after half time. His career is interesting. Released by Thistle then working his way through the leagues at various different sides and now looking like he's going to the English Championship for a couple of million and possibly the Scotland squad for the Euros. Losing him will weaken Hibs and if Aberdeen sell Cosgrove too then I suspect Celtic won't have any problems securing second. Shame.

Interesting news indeed. He's only in his early 60s so I'm not sure I'm buying 'retirement', there's clearly been a lot of stuff going on in the background for a few months for this to be delivered. I don't know Dominic McKay but I've not been impressed with how Scottish Rugby has been run in recent years. Their inability to turn Edinburgh into a European powerhouse in club rugby has demonstrated ineptitude on a grand scale. They have been good at finding sponsors and corporate partners, very different demographic though. Be under no mistake though, this is a reaction to what we've achieved on the pitch this season.

Yeah, with the season Goldson's having it wouldn't surprise me if there's interest in him. Albeit I've no knowledge of this player (or the Aberdeen player we've signed whose career to date has slipped well below my radar) I'm delighted we're looking to strengthen and increase competition. He's played at a decent level, he should, in theory, be good enough for this league and he keeps everyone on their toes. Great management.

Great read. I think for me it was Rapid Vienna at home that really made me start to believe this wasn't simply another false dawn.