JohnMc

Nah, Duncan Ferguson was sold for what we bought him for, he was no dud. Ferguson was treated differently from pretty much every other footballer in Britain it remains a disgrace he was jailed for what happened in that game. The other 2 players were paid off by us. 

56 minutes ago, Sutton_blows_goats said:

Good to have him on board.

 

Now need to move on some of the deadwood like Kamara, Barisic and Colak. Maybe even the likes of Sakala if we get a decent bid in.

As my son said to me last night with this proposed change to offside Sakala will be worth £100 million next season...

I hadn't realised that Dessers is actually Belgian, so hopefully Raskin and Lammers being at the club will help him settle. He's had a peripatetic career, not sure what to read into that, still, if he has a couple of good seasons then moves on that might be okay. He seems to fit Beale's plan to make us a much taller side. Every one of our summer signings so far has been over 6 foot so far, I suspect Beale felt we were being bullied by physical sides before. 

Looking forward to seeing some of these guys on the pitch now, the side will have a very different feel to last seasons. 

On 01/07/2023 at 17:18, yuddie said:

Just watched the short video of the lads going through the tests for pre-season.

 

*SPOILER*

 

Devine and Lundstram come out on top on the bleep test, we've all done them so it's interesting to see who's got an engine and really, a young full back and a box to box midfielder makes sense!

 

I'll link the video in here, some of you might not be able to watch it but I can't help that, apologies.

 

Another thing of note is Cantwells rascal gear haha.

 

https://www.rangers.co.uk/tv#/videos/Training Ground/0_2ce6fb0o

1 hour ago, Devil's advocaat said:

I'm not a US sports fan, so forgive my ignorance, but they don't really do relegation, do they,?.

 

I went to baseball twice, only went the second time because I thought it couldn't be as dull as it was the first time....

No relegation in the major leagues as far as I'm aware. I've also read that some teams will deliberately lose so they can get an early pick in the draft. It's probably not a good comparison actually, while players do move teams the transfer market isn't like football's. 

12 hours ago, Bill said:

Why is there still so much contention surrounding the DoF/Manager relationship. It's not as if this is a new idea. It seems to be a relationship that's so prone to discord that it surely has to be a structural issue? Where is it so often going wrong.

 

I imagine it's partly due to the precarious and public nature of a manager's job. In England the average tenure for a manager is now 477 days, I can't imagine it's very different in Scotland. If you know at the outset that you've pretty much only got 18 months in the job then I imagine the people who have the greatest affect on your role are the ones you're most likely to come into conflict with. Players cost manager's their jobs, it's probably easy to blame the person who chose those players, rather than yourself. Add in the public nature of a manager's job, constant scrutiny from the media and clueless fans waiting for the kettle to boil before starting work writing about them as if they have the first idea what they are talking about. Few jobs are so public and watched by people who think they know better. It's a wonder managers aren't in conflict with everyone all the time. 

in American sport the average MLB baseball coach tenure is 3 seasons, and in American football it's 4.3 seasons, in the NBA it's 3.7 years. It's not always easy to compare sports but structurally the American system seems to be what's coming into European football, so maybe we'll see a time where managers are given longer. 

On 24/06/2023 at 16:58, craig said:

Did Spurs actually have to buy land ?  They built it on the same footprint as the old White Hart Lane and spent a season or two as tenants at Wembley

They had to buy quite a bit of land adjacent and around the old stadium. They somehow even managed to get a compulsory purchase put in place on a decent sized steel fabricating business nearby, how they got that through I'll never know. The new stadium is adjacent to the old one and does overlap, but it's not exactly in the same place,  a bit like us building a new stadium on the site of the Ibrox primary school across Edmiston Drive. 

9 minutes ago, Gonzo79 said:

Genuine question: These stands all offer good views of the pitch and are solid structures, so what's so bad about them?

 

Everton, Spurs and Brentford are all in the EPL, so comparing our financial situation with those clubs is like comparing Susan Boyle with Margot Robbie - just nuts.  

 

 

I don't think there's anything 'bad' about them, they're simply getting older and as buildings get older they incur increasing maintenance costs. I imagine they'll be fine for another 20 years albeit the money required to maintain them will take up a larger percentage of our costs. They're too small, demand outstrips supply currently, we'd sell another 10,000 or so seats based on season ticket demand. That of course could change in the future. 

I wasn't comparing our finances with those English sides, simply the reported costs of their new stadiums. They seemed more relevant than Danish or German stadium costs. 

I don't think I need to point out that the club haven't actually asked me to explore this, I was just a little bored while having a cup of tea earlier. 

1 hour ago, 26th of foot said:

Or, Tommy Hutchison?

I was reading a review on a recent book on him just last week,  oh for the days when Fife coalfields produced international players with regularity. 

I'm old and don't always follow some of this chat, but are we saying he's a 6'3" dribbler who doesn't score many goals? I suppose Aribo could have been described similarly. 

1 minute ago, compo said:

Do we ever look at players in the junior leagues these days or do we consider ourselves above that 

As in Pollok and Yoker, teams like that? 
I doubt it, the days of Junior (few of them are Junior anymore since league reconstruction) clubs developing players is largely gone. Most players come through at senior sides and 'drop down' to that level if it doesn't work out for them further up. To be honest there's little difference in quality in those playing in the West and East Of Scotland League and the Lowland League and Divisions 1 and 2. Player regularly move between them. 

POTS - Tillman; consistently above average all season, no one else was. 

Flop - Matondo; might still come good, but enormously disappointing signing so far.

Most Improved - Sakala; looked like he'd no future with us at one point, improved to the point that with a touch more composure he might become a star...

Unsung Hero - Tav; 55 appearances (more than any other player) and 18 goals from fullback despite a dip in form and struggling with injury at times. 

Best Signing - Colak; joint top scorer this season with Tav and vital goals in Europe. Lawrence looked good before injury, Souter looked good after injury, Cantwell and Raskin haven't played enough matches yet, all 4 of them may prove better signings in the long run. 

I think this confirms what we already knew, namely that pod contributors know nothing. 

No real surprises.

Kai Kennedy looked like he was destined for great things at one time, but during his spells out on loan he's simply not kicked on. He should still have a career in football at Championship/League 1 level, but can't help but feel it couldn't have been more. 

Likewise with Charlie Lindsay, he was (may still be) the youngest ever player for Glentoran. He's another I thought had a real chance at one time. It must be hard for these players, even if it wasn't a surprise. I can't imagine being that age and being told you're not good enough to do the thing you've always assumed you would do. 

For a lot of players there's financial incentive in making international squads. Not only from whatever the SFA pays them but from personal sponsors and also from their club contracts. Often a player's contract will have levels (games played/cups won/European qualification etc) and making international squads is often one of them. A player who is a current full international also has a higher value than one that isn't, even if it's for a 'poorer' footballing nation like Scotland. International football is seen as a higher level of competition than domestic league football and enhances a player's transfer and salary value.*

I can understand why we're nervous about two players with poor injury records playing more football when we'd prefer them to rest. I suspect both quite like playing international football, it's a different type of challenge for a player. Whatever your views on Steve Clark he's done well with Scotland and we've a reasonable chance of qualifying for a tournament, something almost every professional would like to be part of. 

*Some 20 or so years ago there was a scandal in Brazil when it was discovered their national team manager was getting paid by agents to give random players one cap. These were players who would normally be nowhere near the Brazil squad. These agents were then able to tout their player to European clubs as a 'Brazilian international' and command a larger fee and salary for an often very average player. One team who fell for this were from Glasgow, they bought a Brazilian international centre half to some fanfare. It turned out he was the most aptly named player of all time - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Scheidt

3 hours ago, craig said:

They both have been very good signings.  Have to say too though that Ridvan is proving me wrong with each passing game - I didnt think he would cut it but he has been very good last couple of games too

That's interesting. I thought he was poor last night and his crossing is surprisingly bad for a specialist full back. A bit like Sakala he works hard but I'm not convinced by him yet. Still early days in terms of playing time of course. 

I knew someone who had something like I8ROX on a Porsche (he may still, I've not seen him in a long time). He had a business in Glasgow and was running an important customer to Glasgow Airport after a meeting, in the days when you could drop off and pick up on the road right outside the terminal. Unfortunately several plane loads of Celtic fans were returning from a European trip at the same time. This resulted in an unexpectedly rowdy send off for the bemused and concerned important customer as voices were raised and threats exchanged. 

45 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

John is diminishing Butland's ability to make a point. 

 

In truth, Butland was a superb 'keeper; one of the best in the PL. 

 

He then takes a dip in form just before Covid and an injury that messes up the next year or two. 

 

Crystal Palace sign him for competition, but they did have Gaita as 1st, who is, again, one of the best in the PL.

 

Then Man Utd take him as back-up - he wasn't ever expected to displace DeGea - which is another positive, IMO, because Man Utd wouldn't take rubbish.

 

He's not a Championship 'keeper, he's a PL 'keeper. 

 

The issue is wages. 

I'm really not. Since making his first team debut in 2011 he's only spent 2 seasons as the first choice keeper for a side in the English Premier League. One of those seasons saw his side relegated. Every other season in his career he's either been the back up making a single figure number of appearances, out injured or he's been in League 2 or the English Championship. I'm not sure clubs signing him and then choosing not to play him really enhances his reputation either. 

Look, I think that Butland is a 'better' keeper than McCrorie currently, he's significantly more experienced and at the perfect age for a keeper. However, I don't believe, based on what he's done to date, that Butland is a 'top' keeper and so significantly better than McCrorie as to warrant the expenditure. With the limited budget we've got I'd gamble on McCrorie, keep McLaughlin as back up and invest our money elsewhere in the squad.