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JohnMc

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Everything posted by JohnMc

  1. JohnMc
    Is that real? No one, but no one, pays £3k for an ad in the Herald these days!
  2. JohnMc
    I've not read anyone suggesting we should limit our players or coaches to Rangers supporters, no one at all, that part of your post is a complete strawman. Being owned and run by people with an emotional connection to the club doesn't seem to have hindered Bayern or Barcelona or Real Madrid. I think we should always remember the caveat placed on 'Rangers Men' is not just any Rangers Man. Park and Letham have strong business backgrounds, King does too, but he also has baggage that concerns some. If for example someone was suggesting that I should take control of Rangers simply because I'm a 'Rangers Man' then that should rightly be derided, Mr Sarver is clearly better qualified than me, but when comparing him to the '3 bears' or King then it's far less cut and dried, indeed on balance the people who understand the club, the support and indeed the sport seem more preferable.
  3. JohnMc
    Valid points, the 'fan' on the board can get carried away 'chasing the dream' and bankrupt us just as easily as the incompetent or corrupt director. There is no guarantee any of those interested in the club can run it correctly, but the very basic business premise of not spending more than you make would be a start and you'd hope at least one of them understood that. For clarity I'm not criticising Craig, I'm genuinely interested in his take on the compatibility of the two sporting cultures.
  4. JohnMc
    Well a section of their support was so hacked off they left and formed a new club. By any measurement Manchester Utd have not improved under the Glazers, the club has spent over £680 million simply servicing their debt since the glazers took over. Think about that figure for a minute.
  5. JohnMc
    I don't have a 75p target, I think you misread my original post. He only has to make the club worth more than he paid for it. If Celtic are worth 75p a share and we're in the low 20p bracket then their is scope for that rising clearly.
  6. JohnMc
    Do you feel the skills are transferable Craig? American sport is quite different from European sport, the franchise system, the manufactured equality of the league, the fact the NFL, NBA and major league baseball are basically the Champion's League not some backwater provincial league. Liverpool are on their second American owner, the first guys were deeply unpopular, John Henry seems more popular but Liverpool are still punching well below their weight globally. Aston Villa fight relegation every season and Man Utd are being milked as a cash cow. Rangers aren't a franchise and our culture means anyone making money out of the club will be despised by the support, it's not how our sport has evolved. We are are run at breakeven by people who care for the club or at a loss by wealthy people as a hobby. I'm not sure any other system works in the UK.
  7. JohnMc
    No, our recent history shows that so far everyone who has got involved with us since SDM left was purely interested in making money. Hopefully King and the '3 bears' are different but I can see no possible reason for thinking this guy is.
  8. JohnMc
    We don't need to be worth three times Celtic, just more than someone is willing to pay for us today. Hey, it's a gamble, there are no guarantees. But I can't see owning a Scotch soccer team cutting a great deal of ice down at the Mirabel Country Club or Pheonix Rotarian bridge nights.
  9. JohnMc
    We're a gamble, we're not a sure thing. You still need good money at this stage to 'buy' us for example, its not like last time when you could pick us up for a few million, it's clearly going to take £20mil plus at this stage, that's not small change even for millionaires who normally have their wealth tied up in businesses, properties, etc rather than in cash in a bank somewhere. A succession of people have seen the opportunity to make money out of us in the last few years, some have succeeded too! I'm speculating of course, but I just can't see any other motive, he seems an unlikely patsy or stalking horse.
  10. JohnMc
    C'mon, he wants to make money, pure and simple. He see's an opportunity to make millions, it's really not rocket science there is no point in speculating on any other motive. He's an American banker, he has no Scottish blood, no connection to this city, he's not even some mad born again Proddy looking to use the club to spread-the-word. Here's the thing, if he (anyone) can buy us for say 25p a share, fix us so we aren't haemorrhaging money, which shouldn't be that hard in all seriousness, get us promoted to the top flight again and competing at the top of the league then our club will at least double in value. Celtic shares, even with no Champion's League money this season, are trading at around 75p currently, so ours reaching 50p a share shouldn't be beyond us. There's a lot of disinformation around just now, the 'investment' needed in the club isn't so vast, most of the playing staff are out of contract in the summer, the wage bill will be a fraction of what it is currently without doing anything. He see's an opportunity, whether he can pull it off or not is moot.
  11. JohnMc
    There have been a couple of profiles about him in the press in the last couple of years, this from the BBC is as good as any http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29463560 He's really young and has never played professional football, he's basically been a football coach all of his adult life. He's been heavily involved with a number of SFA initiatives with youth coaching. The question remains, is he the next Jose Mourinho or the next Andy Roxburgh? Time will tell.
  12. JohnMc
    Yeah it's strange. I notice a BBC piece quoted on another thread mentions us being 'saved from administration' by Easedale yesterday so it's clearly a line the media are running with. That might be simply because the club haven't as yet denied it and because it adds even more drama to events. It also reads like whoever fed them the original NI story has come back with an 'explanation' when questioned about it's veracity in the the face of the SPFL saying 'nothing to see here'. For what it's worth I remain sceptical. Easedale didn't actually give the club any money, he simply made funds available until the MacLeod money cleared, that I imagine happened today if payment was made on the 3rd. The addition of the 'imminent administration event' simply made it look like Easedale had saved us.
  13. JohnMc
    Yeah, I'm sure Dave King needs business advice from us.
  14. JohnMc
    Yeah, but how'd that all end for Ms Keaton!
  15. JohnMc
    By the time I get to Phoenix, she'll be rising And she'll find the note I left hangin' on her door And she'll laugh when she reads the parts that says "I'm leavin'" 'Cause I've left that girl so many times before I'm always thankful for a Glen Campbell earworm but that's pretty much all I'm pleased about with this story. Let's assume the story is true. Firstly what does an American banker with no connection to Scotland or apparent interest in football even want with our club? Secondly does he understand that we aren't a 'franchise' to be changed at the whim of an owner? Thirdly what does he want with our club and lastly just what does he want with our club??!! This talk of a gazillionaire seems to have got some people very excited, will we never learn? These people should be nowhere near our club, we're not a 'franchise' and we're definitely not a money making opportunity. Plus the Phoenix Suns are rubbish. No thanks.
  16. JohnMc
    This is an interesting point. A section of the Rangers support are merciless towards young players, look at the abuse that's thrown at Aird currently. Heaven forbid we might try and support the lad, you know, encourage him, help him. Fuck no, we abuse him, tell him he's shite, shouldn't be in the team and is a wage thief. That's part of the problem, a large section of our support won't allow a player to develop, to make mistakes or show inconsistency something all young players do. That vocal section expect every Rangers player to be fully formed, the finished article. Ironically they are often the same section who abuse the manager and the club for not producing young players. The SFA and the clubs should all agree to have a certain percentage of the their squad as 'home-reared', overnight it would force clubs to focus on it properly. That being said there is nothing stopping a club doing it unilaterally. But heaven help the young player who has a poor game in front of the Govan.
  17. JohnMc
    I think you might be confusing poor tactics and motivation with fitness here. Our full-time professionals are 'fitter' than part-time players, to state otherwise is simply nonsense. You might have seen them given the run-a-round by part-timers in the last few seasons but that was nothing to do with fitness. As for running as you are aware there are two real types of running. The first is sprinting, simply speed over 10, 20, 30 yards and so on. You can work with sprint coaches, have your gait analysed and adjusted, work with weights and improve your speed but that'll never be able to compensate for natural athleticism and ability. Some people are simply born 'faster' than others, their body shape, weight to muscle ratio, leg length means they are simply faster sprinters and there's nothing you can do about that. Sure, if someone chooses to put on a lot of weight or gets an injury they'll slow down, but that won't make someone else faster. The other type of running is distance, involves stamina and strength. Good sprinters often aren't as good at this type of running, it requires different strengths, lung capacity is more important for instance. It is also an area that can be worked at and improved, and is the main area all professional footballers work on. It's the core of all fitness, the ability to 'run for 90 minutes' is a cliche but it's what all professional footballers aim for. Some are better at it than others; injuries, age and core strength all make a difference but pretty much all are operating at a very high level. Distance runners are usually slightly built, carrying as little excess weight as possible, that's not possible for pro footballers, upper body strength is important, they are muscular because of the contact nature of football. Professional, contact, team sports work on core fitness in pre-season. Huge amounts of running and other endurance work is done then to build up the body to a peak level of fitness. This is then 'topped up' during the season, this is standard and universally recognised way of 'training' and it would more concerning if Rangers weren't following that. Most improvements in 'fitness' during the season are entirely psychological. The infamous 'murder hill' of Jock Wallace was a perfect example of that psychology, the players believed it made them fitter than everyone else, whether it did or not wasn't actually important.
  18. JohnMc
    Guys like Miller, Boyd and Daly will be in demand, for any low to mid-ranking SPFL side they could make the difference between staying up or going down. If they offered to take them on half their current salary and we paid the other half I can't see us turning that down. Likewise Black and Moshni will find clubs without difficulty, they'd get what we're paying them in the third tier in England. We didn't recall all those boys out on loan because we want to bolster the reserve side.
  19. JohnMc
    It seems clear that every first team player who has only six months left on their contract will be told to find another club this month, every other player is available for transfer and those left at the end of the month will make up the first team squad. That's our current strategy, whilst some seem to welcome this madness I for one would rather we got promoted and that the best way of doing that is by getting the best out of our better players, not freeing them and playing the reserves or those no other club wants. On top of that they'll be managed by someone who himself doesn't think he can do the job far less want it, his assistant was warned not manage East Fife for health reasons and they are being assisted by a player who has never coached before. Curious recipe for success.
  20. JohnMc
    With respect that's not true. The level of fitness and conditioning for full-time professional footballers is exceptional, ours are no different. Whether one person is faster than another is the luck of nature, but in terms of core fitness you are incorrect. I'm reminded of all those supporters who accused Charlie Adam of being 'fat', it was patently ridiculous, but plenty still said it.
  21. JohnMc
    I'm not sure I agree, at no point does Faure suggest anyone saw McCoist as anything other than the 'boss', he was simply showing the difference between the two cultures and McCoist's ability to relate with players and his accessibility for the payers. It was only one example, more telling for me was McCoist losing it with Miller and that being the first time Faure had seen McCoist really lose it. There's a lot of uninformed talk from supporters of all clubs about what they think football training should be like. For most it's a cross between a military bootcamp and an intensive medical facility. Professional sport and football in particular has evolved to this point, players are fitter than they have ever been, they've access to dieticians, specialist fitness coaches, medical facilities and so forth. They are monitored, checked and assessed all the time, these guys are exceptionally fit. At that level though, the little gains to be made are psychological, both in terms of an individual' belief and state-of-mind but also of the team spirit, that 'band-of-brothers' ideal that all teams strive for. Making training 'fun' or at least enjoyable is part of the psychology, you've 20 odd players, only 11 of who can start a match, so you've more pissed off players in danger of becoming disillusioned and disruptive at any one time than you have satisfied ones. That needs addressed and part of that process is making training enjoyable. We might not like that, we might expect our players to be hyper-professional droid-like beings but that's simply not the reality of a typical footballer. Faure has barely started this season and could have used this interview to slate the club, the management who are clearly overlooking his playing genius and his colleagues who aren't as good as him in his own mind after all that's happened plenty of times before. He didn't, he complimented the club, his colleagues, the management and the support. He did this against a background of the most disruptive possible period in the club's history. No one thinks McCoist was a tactical genius, but he understood the importance of team spirit, of togetherness and he clearly managed to foster that during a very difficult period. Credit where credit is due.
  22. JohnMc
    Oh I agree we'll spend another season in the Championship, if not starting again at the bottom, I can't see promotion and selling MacLeod only underlines that. I also agree the money will vanish like every other penny the club's taken in the last few years. So I accept it isn't good business in terms of improving the side, it's the opposite of that. £1 million isn't a pittance though. It might be small change to some clubs but none of them are in Scotland, it still represents good business, considering our desperation and poor governance I'm amazed we didn't end up giving Brentford money frankly. McCabe only played 7 games for us, he left far too soon, everyone could see that but him and his agent, and Wilson simply joined the wrong club. But guys like Burke, Adam, Hutton and McCormick have had decent careers in England, McLeod has at least the potential they had.
  23. JohnMc
    I'm not sure what point you're making, Falkirk are in the same division as us and Norwich are in the same division as Brentford. McGrandless had played more first team games than MacLeod has. As such it seems to be the going rate for promising midfielders in our division. Also how can you argue that he's not a good enough player for the league he's joining whilst complaining that we didn't get enough for him?
  24. JohnMc
    If we're being realistic then £1 million for a 20 year old who has yet to play in the Scottish top flight and had a serious heart condition earlier this year is good business. Scott Arfield left Falkirk for £600,000, Johnny Russell for £750,000 and Ryan Gauld £1,500,000 plus add ons that might take it to £3 mill, so £1 mill seems pretty good, assuming that is what we'll get. I disagree with those who question MacLoed's ability, he might be playing at a lowly level but he's clearly got enough to take him to another level if he can stay clear of injuries. He's acquitted himself well when he played against SPL sides and he wasn't chosen for the last Scotland squad because Strachan and his coaches wanted to do us a favour. In an ideal world we'd have kept MacLoed, built a team around him and sold him in 3 years time or made him captain and gone on to become a club legend. But we've not lived in an ideal world for a long time. Good luck to him, he brought joy where there was otherwise only pain.
  25. JohnMc
    Ah, fuck. Turns out their fans are nice too. Bloody hell.
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