JohnMc

Pena is the kind you need to build a team around and I'm not sure we've got the players to do that just now. He needs hard working, hard running, ball winning players to allow him to find space, drop off and run late. Take Jack out of our side and we don't have anyone else like that. Holt works hard but he's more of a creative player, Windass and Candieas are more attacking types too. That just leaves McCrorie and it's a lot of responsibility to put on a young player. So when Jack, and Dorrans to a lesser extent, aren't available Pena becomes a player it's difficult to accommodate. I can't see him and Kranjcar in the same side as things stand either and I expect Niko will start against Celtic particularly if Jack is out.

Hardie out of contract at the end of the season? Every time I've seen Hardie play he looks like he can score goals. He doesn't look like he can do much else but scoring goals is a fairly valuable commodity on its own. How he hasn't had a proper run in our side, 6 or 7 games on from the start, to see if he can do it at first team level is beyond me. So now he can sign a pre-contract with someone else in five days time. I suppose Murty must know him better than most and if he's not starting him then clearly the feeling at the club is he's not ready or not good enough. Neither reflects well on us. A 6'2" natural goalscorer, how'd we mess that up?

Absolutely no problem. I thought as you'd done the 'Well one no one was doing the Tims. I'm happy for you to do it. You better be lucky now!! :-)

No problem Pete, I misunderstood his post.

Is no one doing the Celtic match? If not I'm happy to give it a go.

The continual overlooking of Kranjcar is strange. If he's done then don't put him on the bench, if he's not then play him. I wouldn't have played Pena today, not his surface and without Jack's industry he'd have been a complete passenger in my opinion. I think Murty changed it because Kilmarnock are decent out wide and our diamond is narrow and would have given them too much space. Still, what he did do didn't work either. You also have to ask when Hardie will get a run.

I'll hold any criticism of Murty today. Our starting 11 today had an average age of 23, our most experienced player today was Candeias at 29. That's a big part of the problem, the lack of depth in our squad is very noticeable when five first choice players are missing. But Pena, Herrara or Kranjcar could have at least brought some experience to the side because it was clearly lacking. Our midfield contained two people you could say are midfielders; Candeias and Holt, and even then you could say Candeias is really a forward. None of them are leaders or people who'll stamp their authority on the match. To be fair only Kranjcar from the bench could have brought that. We can only speculate as to why he isn't getting a game. I guess he could have played Cardoso instead of Bates or Wilson but thay're much of a muchness to me, perhaps and Kranjcar instead of Hodson letting John go back to full back. But beyond that who is else is he going to play? Herrara shouldn't start in front of Morelos and he can't play the position that Windass was asked too. Pena is a luxury player, he's got a deft touch at times but his work-rate and awareness seem to be lacking. Barjonas is only 18, he's not the answer, yet. Jack will be back soon and I hope Alves and maybe Wallace. They'll make a difference to the side. But that squad needs strengthened and soon because Murty has no chance as it stands.

Hamilton and St Johnstone.

I'd take both of them back. I liked Halliday and with Dorrans out long term, Rossiter still at the glazier being rebuilt, Kranjcar struggling and Jack getting sent off every 3rd game there's room for another central midfielder in the squad. Maybe Murty can do something with O'Halloran, he's got pace and we're short of options up front and wide so makes sense to bring him back.

Murty it is then. Good luck to him, hopefully he can find some consistency and the odd exceptional performance. I guess we can forget about any meaningful signings in January, maybe a loan deal at best, and depending on how his tenure is going players downing tools in the later stages as they realise he isn't who needs impressed for a new contract. Still, at least it's been decided and I quite like Murty, maybe he's going to get lucky. Here's hoping.

I'm not sure where you get 3 years from? He's been in almost constant employment since leaving Twente in 2010 after winning the league, a tremendous achievement and one he deserves a lot of credit for. But he then managed Wolfsburg, Forest, Twente again, Derby, Newcastle and Derby again without any significant success. His first spell at Derby went okay, they lost in the play-offs, but the following season didn't go as well. All the other spells ended in failure too. This isn't so much what I think as how I'd think if I was a director of the club and putting my own personal money up to pay for the new manager. Wright (and McInnes) would cost less, know the league well, have had some success in it and are almost guaranteed to improve the side based on what they've done on less resources elsewhere. Neither is going to turn us into a European power, but then we're miles from that point anyway. McClaren would command a big salary and his recent record provides little evidence he could do any better than Wright or McInnes.

I suspect the board did take it seriously, and may well still be taking McLaren seriously. However I suspect his wage demands are well above what we'd be looking to pay and he's currently working at Maccabi Tel Aviv so there will be compensation to pay. He's 56, he's never managed or played in Scotland, he has no previous connection with Rangers, he's had as many failures as successes in his career and indeed hasn't had any genuine success since his time at Twente which ended in 2010. A seven year losing streak does tarnish his reputation somewhat. I agree he seems to be well regarded in footballing circles but he's a gamble, a bigger gamble that McInnes and arguably a bigger gamble than Tommy Wright too. So I can see why the board are reticent. It's their money we're spending after all, if it was mine I'm not sure I'd be gambling it on Steve McLaren to turn our fortunes around.

Oh I'm not saying his mother doesn't believe that's why he was overlooked. I'm saying it was a handy excuse for Rangers scouts to use to excuse their incompetence in overlooking arguably the greatest full-back these islands have ever produced. McGrain himself in recent years has said he doesn't know if this was the why Rangers didn't sign him and that in fact no scout from Rangers ever actually spoke to him. McGrain's from Drumchapel and went to Kingsridge High.

I've never been sure about the explanation that we didn't sign McGrain because of his name. I think it suited some people back in the day to use that excuse instead of admitting our scouting was just terrible in the late 60s and early 70s particularly in Glasgow. I mean we missed out on Dalglish too, no issue with his name and his entire family was waiting for the call from our club having been told Rangers were going to make a move. Now, 50 years later, it suits the Tims to say we didn't sign him because of our bigotry. It might be true but I've always believed it was simply incompetence and arrogance that was the issue.

It was down most of yesterday for me. The upside is my productivity was the highest for months! Time to say thanks to Frankie, the mods and the people who keep this place online and working, I appreciate the time, effort and money you put in. Have a great Christmas when it comes.

Surprisingly honest from the ex-Celtic captain. He might not be invited to smash open the giant bottle filled with pennies at the Sons of Donegal supporters club doo now.

I don't entirely disagree with you, but I do think a level of pragmatism is required, particularly for where our club is just now. There's fixing Scottish football and then there's finding a manager that can make Rangers challenge and ultimately succeed domestically. The former isn't something we can do on our own. I'm not convinced there's any desire to improve Scottish football among the people who actually do have the power to either. The latter is entirely within our gift but I'd be concerned if we appointed a promising, young Italian or Spanish manager for example. At this stage I think we need someone who can hit the ground running, create an indomitable team spirit and bring the game to Celtic who've had it too easy for 18 months or so now. With the disparity in finances we won't be able to buy better players than Celtic so we need to create a better team. To do that we need someone who understands how Scottish and British footballers tick. Like it or not that's who we'll be largely picking from for at least the next couple of years. In terms of dragging Scottish football out of the "glaur" as you beautifully described it that requires a systematic change to our league structure, how our clubs are funded, how we use young players, how we judge 'success' and how we reward it. The next Rangers manager won't be able to affect much, if any, of that.

And yet, whilst enjoying your post, to date non-British/Irish managers haven't done well in Scotland. Advocaat won the league and had us playing some fantastic football but he'd a budget so far above every other side in the league. When Celtic did get their act together, and brought in O'Neill, Advocaat was found wanting. Le Guen and more recently Pedro haven't achieved anything. At Celtic Wim Janson won the league against an ageing Rangers side, but it was still a reasonable achievement and Delia won the league but, frankly, a monkey could have managed Celtic to the league title in the seasons we were absent. Venglos was an abject failure. Away from Glasgow, where 'success' might be easier to achieve there are no obvious successes either. Ivan Golac won the cup with Dundee Utd but was poor in the league and was sacked. The Norwegian Aberdeen had was horrendous, nearly got them relegated. Hearts have had a few, Paulo Sergio won the cup but the rest were pretty uninspiring. Motherwell had a Fin who'd done well in Finland but failed in Lanarkshire and Frank Sauzee at Hibs didn't last a season. Paatelainan has had some success but he's almost Scottish he's been here so long. Lastly, Bertie Vogts. No more needs said. So whilst I agree football in this country is lacking something, indeed it's lacking lots, simply bringing in a 'foreign' manager doesn't seem to be the answer. For whatever reason an understanding and experience of football in this country, or at least British football, does seem to be a prerequisite for success if history is anything to go by.

The thing with Murty is he's managed to create some sort of team spirit and the side is showing a degree of fight now. I've no idea if he's capable of managing us full time, but in the short time he has been in charge he's galvanised a squad that looked beaten whenever things went against them on the park. He deserves a lot of credit for that. Neither Caixinho nor Warburton's teams latterly had that. Perhaps the wheels will come off after a few setbacks, but whoever takes us over full-time can at least see that this squad is capable of better results than it was getting.

Everyone's looking at Lewis Morgan. Fairly strong rumours that a deal has already been agreed with Celtic where he'll sign for them but remain at St Mirren for another 18 months on loan. Jamie Murphy would be decent signing although £1.2 million is a lot of money for us these days. He's a bluenose too.

I didn't think Holt was going to make it in the SPFL when we went up. But since coming into the side this season he's been immense, he's taken his chance and even if Dorrans was fit I'm not sure I'd drop Holt for him. His energy, his creativity and his fight typify the side over the last few weeks. For a wee guy he's got a big heart, you can't help but admire that.

You know for all Hibs carried the greater threat, not exactly surprising at Easter Road, Morelos should have scored a hat-trick, those two back post headers were great chances. Hibs goal was a wicked deflection and, yes, they had chances and close things in the second half but it wan't the hammering some are suggesting it was. Yip, they could have had a penalty, but so should we. I couldn't be happier about the result. Beating Hibs never gets boring. For me that performance was everything that was missing from Pedro's sides. Early in the match we lose our captain and most experienced player from a side already featuring two teenagers and yet we fought, harried, cleared and backed each other up all night. It was the kind of battling performance all Rangers sides need to have. Sometimes the other side is just better on the night, so you need to be able to out fight them. Rotten December nights away from home are where markers are put down and real teams are forged, to come from behind is even more commendable. The side clearly still has weaknesses, but now it has strengths too. Wee Holt's pass to Windass for the first was a thing of beauty and McCrorie was superb throughout, his emergence this season is really exciting. Remember that side was missing Wallace, Jack, Dorrans, Miller for most of it, four experienced and almost certain starters.

I'm not sure that's fair. The Park's might be wealthy but they run a motoring group in the West of Scotland, they must come into contact with, and mix with, 'ordinary' Rangers supporters all the time. Paul Murray and John Bennett have visited supporters clubs in recent times and Murray certainly lives and works in Scotland, he's not an elusive millionaire, he's a fairly down to earth guy. I do agree with Gonzo that King's remoteness must be a hindrance. I accept technology makes communication easier but there's still nothing to beat being in the same room as someone to know your message has been understood.

The biggest frustration for me is the missed opportunity regards putting pressure on Celtic. I'm realistic, Celtic have a better squad and a better first choice 11 than us currently but they've yet to be put under any pressure in Scotland and the last couple of months was our chance. Celtic were always liable to drop points domestically whilst in the Champions League, and so it's proved, but we didn't step up and win the matches we should have. Rodgers couldn't handle the pressure at Liverpool, I'd love to see how he'd react to some being applied up here. Celtic will pick up injuries and suspensions as the league goes on, that we're not in a position to put pressure on them is very frustrating.

I don't think Be Boer's what we need just now. Our next manager will have to motivate and organise a squad of largely British players and look at signing new players from the lesser leagues of Europe. Is De Boer that guy? Steve Clark is an interesting mention up thread. I wouldn't have even considered him in the summer but his work at Kilmarnock has been pretty impressive. The fact there isn't a favourite after all this time is damning in itself.