calscot

My first reaction was how come they diagnosed pneumonia and we didn't? I was thinking that they must have better medical staff than ours. Thankfully it turns out to be the exact opposite...

I really can't see the case for unprofessionalism - it may be there but I can see no evidence of it. People just seem to want to point the finger at every opportunity. How does anyone know if the tax bill has been paid or not - and what relevance does it have? I don't pay a bill if I think it's the wrong amount - I negotiate and tell them why I think it's wrong. In fact I did that 5 minutes ago and brought a �£173 bill for servicing at a bike shop down to �£60. I'm sure by the time I pay it will creep up a bit again in "forgotten items" but I'll still not pay �£100 over the odds. I get the impression some people on here would just have paid in full - and patted themselves on the back for their "professional" behaviour.

I think it's very hard to tell whether someone is the right man for the job until they've been in the job half a season. I thought PLG was the perfect man when we signed him and thought the treble was as good as in the trophy room. After half a season it was obvious how wrong I was. I was reluctant to take Walter back as it's always difficult to reach the heights of previous success, especially for a football manager with a much lower budget, second time around. After half a season, I knew he was the man for the job. You can look at Advocaat and Eck who both started brilliantly and ended disastrously. It's so hard to predict and so you have to go with someone with enough credentials, who you think can do the job. Ally fits into that and there is no evidence that he can't be a success when you look at similar scenarios in the past. We just have to suck it and see. Boxes that he ticks: Rangers through and through Understands the demands at Rangers and the culture Rangers legend Fantastic playing career Coaching badges Very long and successful apprenticeship under a master at both Scotland and Rangers Good analysis as a pundit where he actually spoke intelligently and with insight I haven't seen from most Good people person Good with the media Knows when to stand up for himself Knows how to be humble Cons: Cheeky chappie reputation - maybe he can't attain respect or be serious - maybe he can Lack of management experience as number one - hasn't stopped many good managers though and he's up against a rookie Hasn't had a flying start - not much of an indication after a short break Apart from that, I can't think of any more...

Seems like we could make up a whole team of ex-players linked to us...

I alluded to the same 7M on the table in a previous post. If he's trying not to spend money, he's playing a dangerous game...What happens if the offers are all accepted? Do we "fix" the medicals, so they don't sign? It's a bit like a mate telling you that you are a tight b****** for not buying your round when you're up at the bar with your money out. A mate like that is either being tongue in cheek or a bit of an arse...

Either you implied that or you don't understand the implications of your own argument. You said, "We are customers and the club is as much a business as any store down your local high street." You don't seem to know that a store in a high street sells things to customers with the primary intent of making a profit. When it makes a profit, the money goes to the sole owner or shareholders - whichever is appropriate for the specific business. So what is it that you're trying to say? There, you said it again! There's where you're wrong again. Football is number one at Ibrox, but unless you want Rangers to be a pub team, the finances have to be looked after in order for the club to compete. The club is about winning trophies, not making a profit for the owner or shareholders which is why any profit is put straight back into the club to further the success on the field. I don't know when the last time was that Rangers paid a shareholder dividend... David Murray didn't even take a wage out of the club: he bought it for 6M, invested about 70M, didn't take a wage and sold it for a penny. How is that profiteering? Your point doesn't really make any sense at all, if you want to watch a team for free, go watch Sunday league. Rangers have needed finances since they turned professional over 100 years ago - you really don't seem to understand that. Without revenue the club can't compete on the pitch - the sole purpose of the revenue is to pay for the stadium, the costs of running the club and the wages of the players. What exactly is it you want? We could easily half our revenue by halving all the prices of everything but with 50% wage to turnover rate, half our expenses would be the same - we'd have no money for wages for players and would have to play amateurs like Queens Park. Is that really what you want? That may be how it is for you, but it's not the same for a supporter. When I buy milk, I buy it from any shop. If one place gets too expensive, I'll probably buy it somewhere else. Nobody is stopping you doing that especially as you are a self confessed customer and not a supporter. Supporters are different, they want success for one team and they realise that team needs money to compete. They WANT the club to spend money on players, but for the club to do that, the fans need to pay. That may be for some clubs in England, but big business is about making the owners/shareholders money, most clubs in Scotland don't do that. They are non-profit businesses with different priorities than making money - however they need to spend money to achieve their goals - which are mostly success on the pitch. On a high street there are very few people who only go to one shop, they tend to browse many of them, and could buy at a different shop every week - how many people do that with football clubs? Sorry, but your analogy just doesn't work on so many levels and it makes you sound very confused. Faith and loyalty is what supporting a football club is all about - shame you no longer experience that. Even your last statement is the opposite of reality - football would be nothing without loyalty.

PS any shareholders received a big dividend lately?

Yeah, Rangers are fleecing the fans and putting the money in the shareholders' pockets... what rubbish. Some people have no idea what being a supporter is all about - it's absolutely nothing like being high street shop customer. It's too bleedin' obvious to even start on why.

They no longer sign it, there are just made aware of it. They are bound by it whether they sign it or not.

They are obviously hoping for a better bid from somewhere else, or hope we're scared of one. If we wait them out, we may still get him when their nerves get the better of them. I don't think Belgian clubs can easily pass on that kind of money for a player who wants to leave - just like we can't either. The only way to get big money is if your player is REALLY in demand by multiple big bucks clubs.

We've at least �£7M worth of offers on the table for four players but unfortunately those bids don't look the most likely to be accepted. Looks like our budget is around �£10M unless Whyte is playing silly buggers and deliberately making offers that will be rejected to look like he's tried but it's not his fault - but I'd find that hard to believe.

We may be in the SPL, but our youngsters are mostly Scottish, so the question is, what makes them likely to be that much better than other Scottish youngsters at other team? By all accounts, Hibs have been the most successful recently at bringing through Scottish international players, but they didn't win much and who is to say, their current youngsters are better than ours? And if that's the case, how do you beat the likes of Hibs with our youngsters against theirs? Arsenal play in the EPL but they have been putting together some of the most promising (and most expensive) youngsters in the World in order to "build a team for the future" - it hasn't worked yet and they haven't won the league since they started this grand plan. But that's almost what we do anyway - Wison, Bartley, Fleck, Weiss, Lafferty, Ness, Hutton etc, except it's usually a couple at a time. If you think our team is already struggling, then do really think that swapping experienced players for kids is the way to improve. I'm all for giving youth a shot - especially if we're a few up, but first I want a squad of experienced, decent players - supplemented by youth. I don't get this "forced" bit. Walter chose his squad with the funds he had and used it. Nobody forced him to play Wilson or Ness for so many games, quite the opposite in fact. Wilson was sold and Ness was injured. Nobody forced him to sign or play Bartley and Weiss, but he was forced not to play them due to injuries again. Nobody forced him to play Lafferty and in fact the fans gave him stick for that. He played Fleck at 16 without being forced; however he's not really fulfilled his promise as of yet. Hutton, McMillan, Cole and Hemmings all had outings also when there were other options. It was more the fans that drove Adam away as well as the likes of Maurice Ross, Stevie Smith, Chris Burke, Bob Malcolm - all of whom the fans didn't see as good enough. Introducing youngsters into a high pressure, successful team like Rangers, with incredibly impatient fans is a delicate affair - trying to do an 80's Aberdeen simply won't work as Hibs have found out. Besides, Sir Alex regrets that he burned out most of that Aberdeen team. I lost the naive, misted eyes about youth when I was about 12 and saw Gordon Dalziel miss three sitters in a friendly against Spurs where we lost 1-0. I couldn't help thinking that the likes of John MacDonald would have had a hat trick and won the game. That new idea was then sealed when Souness took over and bought a load of experienced players and we started winning leagues again. We've had so many next great things in our youth ranks, even paid millions for them, but so few have actually made it. If we're going for youth I'd rather we abandoned our youth system and instead just spend five million every year in buying up the best 20 year olds in the SPL. That seems a much more efficient and promising strategy.

Didn't work for Feyenoord... Are you willing to finish something like fifth in order for us to develop youths, most of which won't make it and some that do will not sign new contracts and leave for richer clubs for pittances? People have been calling for Hemmings to get a chance, he may be a future talent but looked well out of his depth when thrown in a difficult situation against Malmo. Youth is not a panacea. You don't win anything with kids - the one mythical time it happened at Man U, they firstly had a purple patch crop of the best young players in the UK, who were in a team full of world class, experienced players and they were all at least 20 except for Phil Neville. The average age of that team was about 26-27, and if it was such a successful model, why aren't they using it now?

Two problems with this kind of stuff: 1. Too many liars who either regret sleeping with someone, want revenge or, with famous people, want publicity or money. 2. Date rape is incredibly hard to prove. Maybe it will get to the stage where footballers etc will have to carry a consent form that women need to sign before they have sex - but even then, in the heat of the moment, who will have the discipline to use it?

He wants the new challenge of working out how to spend more money... I don't think he's been excellent for us - he's been good but let us down quite often with a bad attitude and not just a few lacklustre displays.

Whit needs to have a good look at some Hutton videos...

It's also the stewards' prerogative to throw them out because they don't like the look of them, that doesn't mean it's right or that they should indulge their prerogative.

Has he some important mystical, future part to play like Gollum or something? I don't think it would be fair to other players to keep Whittaker in the team right now, and he seems like a risky player at the moment. I'd put him on the bench. Besides, the thinking time might do him good, the guy needs to sort his head out and then show that he's worth a million a year.

I don't know anything but can only make conclusions on the evidence I have. He certainly has not looked like striving for excellence throughout his career and most of his comments back that up. He always gave the impression of being more interested in money than sporting success and that has been displayed by his constant searching for a richer club than Rangers who would likely win less. The fact he went to Qatar pretty much wraps up that part of the case. Then there is his lacklustre performances for the past two seasons and his poor performances this season culminating in a less than excellent sending off. If that's someone striving for excellence then he's struggling badly. He has been disrespectful to Rangers and Rangers fans from day one. Constantly implying he's using the club as a stepping stone, constantly having his agent stir the waters for a move, his apparent poor attitude to games over the last couple of years and especially this season. Then there is the multiple AWOL offences. You might not find him disrespectful, but I do. As for work ethics - see lacklustre performances and AWOL offences. You're right that he may have been striving for those things but if that's the case, the evidence just makes him look like a bit of a failure in that regard...

I think rather than erroneously dropping him or punishing him, I think most would prefer if he had a good hard think about himself and hopefully learn some deep life lesson that vastly improves his attitude as a professional footballer. At the moment he deserves to be dropped as he's contributed less than he's detracted from the team lately. Broadfoot certainly deserves a place more than Whittaker right now.

Sure sounds like he's only interested in money - and the door to a big European club was wide open for him, but he walked away. It's been really hard to like the guy and I'm not that bothered to see him go. If he was more interested in developing better human characteristics than greed and selfishness - like striving for excellence, work ethics, respect and loyalty, I think he'd have been twice the player he is.

It's just over 10 years since we beat them 6-1 on aggreate...

These days, there is usually scenario planning and contingencies for each one. There should be worst case scenario plans for getting dumped out of Europe and the cups at the earliest opportunity and optimistic plans where we qualify for the CL and have a good run. Plus a few in between.

I think you're still missing the point that what Whittaker did was nothing to with form or even football. It was about unnecessary violence which he was rightly punished for and Rangers an all the fans suffered for it, not just for the game, not just for the European season, but the financial repercussions for the future success of the team are huge.

It's not the league that holds us back, it's our population, due to TV money becoming the main source of income. If ever it was time to make use of being British it is now - and we are denied. You just have to look at the similar fall in fortunes of clubs from countries with far larger and richer populations than ours but not big or rich enough to compete with the top five: Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. Of the smaller countries, only Portugal seem to do consistently ok. Belgium have twice the population but you don't see much from Anderlecht or Standard Liege. Our real peers are from rich countries of similar size like: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia - and compared to their best teams, Rangers have done pretty well over the last 5 years. In fact our 2011 ranking beats any of those countries and when you include bigger countries like Belgium and Holland we're still second only to PSV and sitting a place above Ajax. Panathanaikos are just above us, but again, Greece have a much larger population. To be honest, we're punching above our weight and showing what a successful club we are from such a small country. We just can't compete financially with the bigger countries and are even now being out muscled by Swansea and Cardiff, due to their "British" league status.