CammyF

Away Day Blues Whilst the result at Tannidice wasn’t really a surprise, the manner in which we conceded two goals in three minutes, was the most predictable aspect of the game. Once again we entered a tricky away fixture with absolutely no width in the team and allowed the opposition unchallenged runs from the halfway line to our 18 yard line then confound this error by allowing crosses to be thrown along our six yard line. In know it’s an old, lame joke, but McGregor must be a vampire as he is scared of crosses. He is rooted to his line and every team in Scotland now knows how to trouble us defensively – get men out wide, deliver into the box and cause mayhem. We actually started well on Saturday and took control of the game and should have been two or three up before halftime. Boyd took his goal well but unfortunately for us, Miller chose Saturday to display his worst performance since his return. Hard to overly criticise Miller as he has bone well since his return, and in fairness, he looked like he was carrying an injury on Saturday. Finally, Mendes and Ferguson gave us a glimpse of the partnership that can develop between them, but when DUFC changed their tactics after the break, they were overrun (again) in the midfield area and worryingly, Walter Smith appears not to notice when we are being overrun in that area and is slow to react to opposition changes in tactics, formation etc. Having a look back on our away record for the last calendar year, it makes terrible and tragic reading. Since Last Christmas we have thrown away numerous critical points away from Ibrox and this ‘form’ resulted in us throwing away last seasons SPL title and it appears that we haven’t learned for this harsh lesson. It is getting harder and harder to imagine where a Rangers away victory is going to come. Is it fair to say that we are incapable of playing away from home in the SPL? Sure we can point to outstanding victories away from Ibrox in the last year – 4 v 2 at Torbett Towers, 4-0 at Tynecastle, 3-0 at Easter Road – but these are the exceptions rather than the rule. We can all point to gross incompetence from officials, especially this season, but lets be honest, our level of consistency and performance has been sadly lacking. We are easily beaten – we are easy to play against – we are easy opposition. We are lacking in the basics – we can’t retain possession from a throw-in – we can’t defend crosses into our area – we can’t capitalise on our attacking set-plays – and we can’t kill teams off when we get into the lead. These failures aren’t new, they have been around since the PLG era (not blaming PLG here by the way). They just haven’t been addressed properly. We now have two massive games at Ibrox and nothing less than six points will suffice form these games. Hibernian and Glasgow Hibernian are the next two visitors and will have had us watched and will have witnessed our weaknesses and know that we are venerable. We must counter this by playing to our strengths. However, I fear that our manager will see these games, well the OF game in particular as ‘must not lose’ rather than ‘must win’. Given this, I fully expect us to approach these games with an air of caution. This will mean our ‘flair players’ will be reigned in and / or replaced by McCulloch, Adam et al. If we defeat Hibs on Saturday (no mere certainty) then I will be shocked if WS doesn’t revert to 4-5-1 against the MOPES. This actually wouldn’t be the worst move against them, however, it will depend on the personnel deployed by WS. He’ll go with a midfield five of Davis, Mendes, Ferguson, Adam and McCulloch with Boyd as the ‘target man’ and we’ll spend the entire 90 minutes throwing aimless (and hopeless) balls up to Boyd that will be food and drink to the Ork-like MOPES defence. If we played with Ferguson, Mendes and Davis as a tight three man midfield and then played Novo and Lafferty (or Beasley or Aaron) wide supporting Miller then in my opinion, we would destroy them. Their defence is immobile and struggles against pace and skill. I know many won’t be happy with Boyd being dropped, but if we revert to 4-5-1, then he has to be the one that misses out. 4-4-2 would also work against both Hibs and the Mopes, but within that 4-4-2 there MUST be a wide player with genuine pace that can deliver quality into the box. Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life During my time as a Rangers supporter I have seen a change in myself and others when it comes to being optimistic about the Rangers. In the early to mid 80’s when I first started going regularly, you knew Rangers were going to struggle, but you always held the belief that one day, all this would change and the Rangers would once again become the driving and dominant force of Scottish Football. Call this naivety of youth, but when going to watch Rangers in those days, there was a genuine feeling and belief that it would turn around (or maybe it’s just the romanticism of the mists of time playing tricks with me). And it did turn around – David Holmes had a vision and managed to persuade Graeme Souness to become manager of the Rangers. After a sticky start, we eventually won the league (and the league cup for good measure) and all those long hard days going to witness Rangers struggling at Love Street, Boghead, Fir Park et al (sounding familiar), not only seemed worth it, but appeared to be a million years away. Suddenly, the Rangers were once again the team to beat. We were the Champions and we are ready for all comers. Nothing appeared to be going to go wrong and we started to edge closer and closer to 9-in-a-row. Added to the excitement of reaching, and hopefully surpassing this achievement was the news that our greatest foes and bitter of bitterest rivals were in financial turmoil and couldn’t match us on or off the pitch. It was around this time that I think we all took our eye off the ball – we all dwelt on the MOPES misfortune and none of us could see the trouble that was just over the horizon. In fact, it would be fair to say that any pessimism from Bears was met with derision. By Christ, I wish I had listened to those fellows sooner than I did, and I wish that ALL of us had taken heed of them ‘doom and gloom’ message. When I finally realised that our Custodian wasn’t all he was cracked up to be and that not everything in the Rangers garden was rosy, those ‘doom merchants’ were a vast minority. Just like today, the custodian had cast his spell and the majority of us were taken in by his rhetoric, half-truths and promises of moon-beans and the like. More recently, I believe that the majority of Rangers fans have woken up to the harsh reality that we are broke, we are rotten from the top to the bottom, but the vast majority still believe that the man who has gotten us into this mire, is the man who will actually save us. This is an unbelievable situation to be in. We all finally admit to SDM being capable for our demise yet the vast majority still harbour images of SDM riding over the horizon on his white charger galloping to our rescue. When in the cold light of day, nothing can be further from the truth. The January sales are looming large on the horizon and WS has publicly stated that we must move on 10 players. Adam, Burke, Beasley, McCulloch, Daily, JCD et al have all been mentioned, but realistically, who is going to buy those players from us? Who is going to match their current wages? The stark realism here is that we will have to create money at some point this season to compensate for the European failure. Christ, we got to the CL group stages and then to the UEFA Cup Final last season and still made a loss (even adding in the sale of Hutton to Spurs). So in conclusion, for this Bear, it has become almost impossible to have an optimistic view on Rangers at the moment. There is no feeling that better times are ahead, and the recent good times -2 last minute SPL title victories and a UEFA Cup Final -whilst being welcome have been smokescreens and have just severed to paper over the cracks and offer false hope. The only positive being a Ranger at the moment? At least we're not one of them...... Go on SDM, prove this old pessimistic so-and-so wrong. Cammy F -

We urgently require a holding / defensive midfield player - what about Tugay from Balckburn - he is still performing in the EPL and would be an ideal short term replacement for Thommo Cammy F

Good move, get's him first team football - wasn't that where McGregor went on-loan as well. Cammy F

Found these whilst photo's of the original GersNet Banner whilst clearing out an old folder on my laptop - remember folks, we have two banners (I'll see if I can find a picture or two of GersNet Banner II) that are free for all members of the forum to use. If I remember, I'll take GersNet1 up to Tannidice tomorrow. IIRC, Del has GersNet Banner II Cammy F

It's not that long ago that Charlie Adam contributed 14 goals in one season from midfield. He has also proven that he can perform and score on the European stage. Mystified as how he has gone backwards recently - had the potential to become a very decent player and IMO he still isn't the worst player we have in our squad. Cammy F

Unless DA has made arrangements to bring Arshavin with him when he and his consortium buy out Murray Cammy F

Rod Wallace was a fantastic signing and scored some very important goals for us during his time at Ibrox. This is not only one of my favourite Rod Wallaces goals, but would probably make my top 10 best ever Rangers goals [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKqfyQQnsCg]YouTube - Rod Wallace vs Borrusia Dortmund[/ame] Cammy F

Rangers FC the footballing equivalent of Woolworths this Xmas - Everything Must Go, up to 50% off, 'employees' told they are free to find alternative employment, looking for new buyers - sad, sad, sad state of affairs. Cammy F

That aside, just shows how low Rangers FC ambitions have dropped. I always associated the festive period with Rangers delving into the transfer market and getting a player who would help the team towards the title - Graham Roberts, Gordon Durie instantly spring to mind..... Cammy F

There will be a few players exiting from Sunderland as well at Xmas - pity we couldn't afford the likes of Richardson, Ferdinand, Jones, McCartney et al - in fact, I'd try and get McCartney and Healey on loan until the end of the season. Cammy F

Kinda of topic, but a fantastic article in The Herald regarding the urgent need to find a replacement for Weir : http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/headlines/display.var.2474169.0.Smith_must_work_to_maintain_fresh_momentum.php Cammy F

DUFC are still advertising tickets for Saturdays game (home and away end) if anoyone is still looking for a ticket - http://www.dundeeunitedfc.co.uk/index.asp?tm=2&nid=3084&cd=2008 Cammy F

There are a few mitigating circumstances as to how yours truly landed with the unenviable task of detailing the contribution John Greig MBE has made to Rangers over his distinguished and well documented career. Firstly, I stupidly announced that I have some spare time on my hands at the moment, and actually volunteered this idea in the Gersnet writers forum. Secondly, John Greig was Rangers manager when I started going to watch Rangers on a regular basis. I was lucky enough to witness John as a player (and what a player he was) and given the fact of his illustrious playing career, I felt it unfair to solely focus on his managerial career (as was the thought at the time). Whilst doing some research into John Greigââ?¬â?¢s Rangers career, I have found there is very little that I can add to the many articles, books and column inches given to this unique player and his unique achievements, but never being one to shy away from a challenged, I decided to dive headfirst into the history archives and try to do John Greig justice whilst make this an interesting read. This article will serve as an introduction / overview and then Iââ?¬â?¢ll go on at a later date to delve deeper into the following achievements : 3 time treble winner Rangers Captain International Career Rangers Managerial Career Conclusion So where does one start whilst trying to dissect, detail and present John Greigââ?¬â?¢s career, achievements and antidotes picked up along the way? Well, like any goods story, lets start at the beginning. John was born September 11th 1942 in Edinburgh and came from a strong Heart Of Midlothian supporting family who he dreamed of playing for whilst growing up and watching his heroes at Tynecastle. Despite this, as we all know, Greig played the entirety of his career in the famous royal blue of Rangers. John Greig only signed for Rangers on his fatherââ?¬â?¢s insistence after being visited by a scout at his Edinburgh home. Greig made his debut for Rangers in 1961 in a league cup tie against Airdrie a game in which he scored. It is worth noting at this point that John Greig would go on and score an impressive 120 goals during his Rangers career (from 755 appearances), which is an astonishing total for a player who was predominately a defender and occasionally a half-back (or midfielder for the younger generations!). His playing career spanned from 1961 to 1978 when after captaining Rangers to a second treble in 3 years under Jock Wallace, he was picked by the board to replace the departing Wallace. This in itself would have been an awesome task for an experienced manager, never mind one as raw as Greig. Through the midst of time, Greigââ?¬â?¢s managerial career has been played down and even ridiculed. However, it started off well and Rangers were playing a brilliant brand of football, especially in Europe where Juventus were dispatched and we became the first Europe Club to defeat PSV at the Phillips Stadium. It is arguable that his greatest ever achievement was when he captained Rangers to victory over Moscow Dynamo in Barcelona in 1972. However, considering that John Greig was part of three treble teams (captain for two), then this could be argued as a greater feat. John Grieg was awarded the MBE in 1977 for his services to football and even at that juncture of his career, not many players could boast of his achievements. Just consider some of the highlights : - Captain of Club & Country - Captained Rangers to their first and only European Trophy - Holder of the most league appearances for Rangers (496 games) - Second only to Dougie Gray in all time Rangers appearances with an amazing 857 games - Only player to have won 3 trebles The above list is a mere snap-shot of his career and in subsequent articles I will endeavour to expand on these and many other highlights of this unique playing career. I believe what set John Greig apart from his contemporaries were his unmatchable passion, drive, determination and an unmatched will to win ââ?¬â?? all characteristics that make up the spirit / ethos of Rangers Football Club. There is some debate as to whether John Greig deserved the accolade of Greatest Ever Rangers (as there always will be with accolades like this, football is all about opinions after all) and this article will not argue for or against, nor be used to justify John Greigââ?¬â?¢s right to be called the Greatest Ever Ranger. I can give no higher praise than to say within the annals of our club, John Greig can proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with the many other fantastic ambassadors our club has had ââ?¬â?? from our gallant founders to our glorious leaders (Mr Struth is the obvious man who epitomises Rangers Football Club). [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxl3IQcXRVw]YouTube - John Greig pictures[/ame] http://media.putfile.com/John-Greig-Rangers-Legend Cammy F

With us interested in Tonnel from Sporting then there could be some substance in Boogie being moved on. However, we should be looking for a long-term partner for Boogie. Heard a rumour that we are also looking to bring young Jonny Evans from Man United on loan in January. SAF is looking to get the youngster some first team football, so why is he thinking about letting him come to Rangers Cammy F

.... and I'm betting any abuse that he would receive wouldn't come from our side. As siad above, if he's good enough, get him signed. Cammy F

It might not be, but untried and untested partnership is a risk IMO - it appears that Boyd and Miller have an understanding and are looking like a genuine partnership - that element may be harder to replace. Cammy F

Doesn't your mind play tricks on you? I remembered Ginzburg as a keeper from the early to mid-80's - it turns out he was with us from 89-91 and played 4 games - http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=16189 Cammy F

Yes, but at the rear of the enclosure(s), there was only ever a line of cops seperating the fans....... Cammy F

Can't agree, JCD hasn't shown either the passing ability, the knowledge of off the ball running, or the goal-scoring that Miller has shown so far this season. As for Novo, as much as I love the wee man, his best season was the helicopter season playing upfront with Prso - that season apart, he hasn't been consistant enough. Great 'impact' player tho. Cammy F

Yeah, think it stopped around the time Souness took over. I started going regularly in the early 80's (1982-83 season) and can remember them being in the West Enclosure, West Main Stand, Broomie and part of the Govan. In fact, at the rear of the enclosure, you were only seperated from the MOPES by a line of cops :devil: Can only ever remember getting the Rangers end and part of the Main Stand at Parkhead and was only in the main stand once. Cammy F

This picture is borrowed from another forum - can any of the posters remember the days when the MOPES were housed in the West Enclosure, West of Main Stand, Broomie and a section of the Govan? Or when we were housed in the jungle, Rangers End and part of the main stand at Parkhead? Back in the day, the grounds were basically split 50-50 for Old Firm games. I can remember being in the Main Stand at Parkhead (Davie Cooper scored with a HEADER) and can remember the days of them getting half of Ibrox. Can't remember getting part of the jungle, but my old can. PS - another example of how our scarves SHOULD be displayed Cammy F - Old Skool Loyal RSC

IIRC, it was Theo Snelders who replaced Goram when he was dropped. IMO, Alexander was and is an able deputy for McGregor - in fact, don't thing Alexander deserved to be dropped at the start of the season, or when he replaced the below-par McGregor this season. Cammy F

No matter the reasons, he should be dropped before costing us more vital points. Cammy F

Boyd And Miller – A Partnership To Win Us The League? Whilst the 7-1 romp on Saturday against 10-man Hamilton was a marked improvement on recent results, and given the fact that the team appeared to be more balanced than in recent times, it was the reappearance of the Boyd/Miller partnership that rightly captured the headlines and was the topic of conversation and debate post-match. There is no doubting that the reintroduction of Davis, Papac and Beasley ensured that the team was balanced and that we had an outlet out-wide. Consensus on how effective Beasley is to the team is divided, but it can’t be denied that an outlet wide helps develop the play, negates the need to thump long and aimless balls forward and gains us possession and set-pieces at the business end of the pitch. However as stated above, it was the strike partnership of Boyd & Miller who stole the show and the subsequent headlines. Boyd looks a better player whilst partnered with Miller, and some say the same is true about Miller. I would argue that point. Miller looked a better player when paired with Cousin (and vice-versa) but that ship has sailed and there can be little argument that the Miller / Boyd partnership is the most effective we have at our disposal. Our second goal (Boyd’s first) on Saturday encapsulated this partnership to a ‘T’. Miller made an intelligent run, received the ball (on the deck!) from the midfield, played a sublime pass into Boyd’s path and Boyd dispatched the ball into the back of the net. Neither Boyd nor Miller would be placed into anyone’s ‘top strikers’ compilations, but they do have their strengths and they do appear to complement each other. This partnership will only continue to flourish if both keep fit, they are continually given quality service and if BOTH are kept in the starting 11. To ensure that we continue to get the best out of Boyd / Miller, we must continue to play with at least 1 wide player in the team be it, Burke, Beasley or Aaron. We must also look at the effectiveness of the midfield as Ferguson and Mendes don’t appear to complement each other. Could the introduction of Edu be more beneficial until Ferguson regains full fitness? Or at least until the partnership develops into a workable solution? There were times even on Saturday that Mendes and Ferguson were out-muscled, out-played and out-manoeuvred by struggling Hamilton Accies. Getting back to the question posed above, whilst Boyd and Miller will never come close to partnerships like Brand & Miller or Hateley & McCoist, if we continue to play to their strengths and they continue to develop this growing and fruitful partnership, they may just have enough ammunition to fire us to the SPL title. I will say one thing, the next 3 games are critical if we are to have any chance of dethroning the MOPES. Victories against DUFC, Hibs and then the MOPES are critical and to ensure we get these victories, both Boyd and Miller have a huge responsibility in continuing scoring and playing well. However, I have an awful feeling that WS will throw us all a curve ball and will rethink his tactics and personnel for these games. Watch out for the reintroduction of the likes of Adam, McCulloch, Daily et al. In my opinion, WS will approach these games with a degree of caution and may even revert back to his 4-5-1 formation from last season. Last Minute Winners Whilst watching the excellent Everton v Aston Villa game yesterday, my thoughts were drawn not only to the ex-Gers on show (Arteta and Cuellar – Arteta had a decent game as did CC playing an unfamiliar right-back role – did MON graduate from the WS school of coaching!) but to the fact that, if my memory serves me correctly, we’ve not won a game for a while with a last minute winner. The last game I can remember us winning in a dramatic, last minute fashion was when PLG was manager and Sebo slotted home to defeat Aberdeen at Ibrox. Now, off the top of my head, I can name various games prior to this when we’ve won with (what appeared to be) the last kick of the ball : Lovenkrands in the Scottish Cup Final Rod Wallace against DUFC at Tannidice Jorg Albertz with a deflected shot to defeat Hearts 1-0 at Ibrox Jorg Albertz with a rasper to defeat Hibs (eventually!) 4-3 at Easter Road (wonderful game that was) In fact, it was considered that Rangers were the masters of winning from both unwinable positions - who can forget going 3-0 to Shelbourne in DA’s fist game and storming back to win 5-3, or trailing DAFC 2-0 on a cold, wet and dull evening (is there any other kind in Fife?) then winning 4-2 during AM’s reign - and the masters of late strikes. It is always better to have a game won long before the last kick of the ball, but there is just something really satisfying wining a game (and a League Title) at the death. However, this skill may not have been as apparent as my memory suggest, it just appears that we used to win many games in this manner and appear not to be doing so recently. Atmosphere Last weeks rant was entitled ‘Groundhog Day’ and whilst we appear to be discussing the same failings month on moth, season on season etc, we’ve not had a discussion regarding the (lack of) atmosphere for a while, so here goes. Anyone who is a regular visitor to Ibrox will know that there is little atmosphere generated out-with the dedicated ‘singing sections’. It is hard to deny that TBO, East Enclosure, Club Deck Loyal et al are welcome additions to Ibrox (for their banners, displays and wit as well as their singing) but they are hardly helped by the rest of the stadium. It appears that supporting Rangers today entails turning up to Ibrox, shouting abuse at Rangers players then buggering off after 70 minutes. Now, before going on, everyone is entitled to leave when they want and to sing if they want, but surely it would be more beneficial to actually SUPPORT the team in song and by staying the course, rather than abusing them and leaving early. Another thing I have noticed recently is that if the rest of the stadium are going to join in, they’ll only really join in when songs like ‘Big Jock Knew’, ‘The Famine Song’, ‘The Sash’ and ‘Derrys Walls’ are sung. When Rangers songs are sung, it appears to be reserved for TBO. I find this infuriating and can’t understand why others don’t join in with the many wonderful Rangers songs. There is nothing better when we are in full voice singing the likes of ‘The Blue Sea Of Ibrox’, ‘Every Other Saturday’ and ‘Follow Follow’. Also, I can’t be the only one who thinks and would love to hear 50,000 Bears singing ‘Wolverhampton Town’. So come on Bears, we are entering a crucial part of the season and the team need (and deserve) our support, so lets get behind them, lets get those vocal chords stretched and lets get Ibrox rocking. I’m sure opposition teams love a morgue-like Ibrox but wouldn’t be as assured in a cauldron-like Ibrox. Cammy F –

WS dropped Goram when his off-field problems led to a drop in his on-field performances. Goram only required to be dropped once before learning - it appears McGregor has learned his lesson - his form is aweful at the moment. Cammy F