calscot

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Funny thing is that an Osasuna player would interest the fans far more than other players being linked. It's not too surprising that we'd feel this way when he's playing for a La Liga team who've done reasonably well recently including a good European run where they were better than us. We find it hard to rate SPL players who play for teams that we expect to beat week in and out, unless they show they are really special - which no-one has this season. Fletcher is the best of an underwhelming lot. Premiership players are notoriously overpriced and as many of our fans see the players we are after quite often, and the fact they are never the top players, makes our hearts sink. And most of the players we get linked with are playing for relegation candidates which does little to encourage us. Championship players are by definition second rate and so we rarely get excited unless they are young and promising. So while we can't expect to buy from Barca or Real Madrid, players from the likes of Osasuna still make us sit up and take notice. Especially since we signed Cuellar. To me, those are the kind of teams we should be scouting as UEFA cup type teams in other countries should be mostly within our budget for transfer and wages.

Haven't Celtic just built their own training centre a la Murray Park?

At the risk of pedantry, Laudrup usually played on the right and so would be up against Papac or Smith...

I think this shows that Walter has no worries about playing young players - his aversion seems to be introducing our own youngsters. His record for young players since he came back is: Adopted MacGregor as No 1 keeper - he's not that young but young for a keeper and passed over for more experienced players by two previous managers. Adopted Hutton as No1 right back. He was about 21 at the time and was given the position and improved dramatically since. Signed and played Broadfoot. Gave Stevie Smith some games after he recovered from injury. Bought Whittaker and has played him often. Gave Burke a chance, even though he didn't take it. Gave Adam a good run in the team including important European games. Bought Thomson and he's now a first choice player. Brought in Davis and made him an integral part of the team. Bought Naismith and played him quite often. Kris Boyd is still reasonably young and has been used quite often. That's a whole team and a very young one at that. The thing is that they all seem to be 21 or over and it's difficult for young Rangers players to wait that long before their chance and at the same time, their peers are playing first team football for an SPL team. I think it shows our youngsters need to go out on loan more often. The ironic thing is that while we're after a Motherwell younster, they are playing at least 5 previous Rangers youths which they got for next to nothing: Smith, MacLean, Malcolm, Hughs, McCormack.

Spot on. Most people just don't think he's good enough, who he is means that we're more up front about saying it compared to someone we like, say Sebo. We know Sebo isn't quite good enough but we're not usually so harsh about him as we like him so much. We're not overly harsh about Miller but we don't see any need to sugar coat it. If he comes, we'll just have to hope we're all wrong or that Walter can improve him dramatically.

That's a sad but true point. In fact we'll soon be struggling to compete with top Championship sides since if they've just been relegated they get about 16M parachute payment on top of decent sponsorship and TV money. They reckon the Championship is set to be the 4th richest league in Europe after the Premiership, Bundesliga and La Liga, even topping the Serie A. They will average about 3M each from TV with the top teams presumably getting about 5M compared to less than 2M for the OF. The top teams will average lower attendances than the OF but charge more at the gate. Our overall turnover is more at the moment but they are catching up fast, especially when you exclude the Euro money which is why we have to do well every year.

I really can't understand why Mileson pulled the plug, as surely he'd know what would happen to them. People think he's been nice by funding them out of his pocket but for me he's been as kind as someone who agrees to give you a free lift from New York to Los Angeles, paying for all your food, drink and accommodation along the way. Then, when your almost there, he changes his mind and dumps you out in Death Valley with no water, where you die of thirst. Kind indeed. You'd think that if he's close to death himself then money is nothing to him and why would he want to be remembered as the guy who killed his local club? You'd think he'd have had a more graceful exit strategy where he puts in enough money to keep them going but downsizes them into a sustainable club. I think it shows why this kind of sugar daddy funding should be against the rules and there should be a wage cap at 50% of turnover as well as a debt cap of also about 50% of turnover. I've said before that this kind of unsustainable funding is akin to drugs in sport, where you gain an unfair advantage over competitors who are not prepared to take the same dangerous risks. There are better clubs than Gretna who have been financially prudent and in doing so, have been denied promotion by a club which put itself out of business with its spending. I think that's grossly unfair. Mileson has shown himself to be a self serving charlatan and I hope he's forever remembered as such. I also agree that we should be reducing the number of teams in the leagues and a pyramid system would work best. I recently saw a program which showed that with so many teams leaving the Highland league, the competition was being undermined. Teams promoted to the SFL were also struggling to pay the costs of traveling while also losing much revenue from big local derbies. However, the more teams the SFL have under their umbrella, the more clout they have with the SFA.

Fletcher doesn't yet really look that great to me. Certainly not worth 3M in my book. He's of the same level as Whittaker and Naismith who haven't enhanced the team yet. Brown was supposed to be a great player and look what's happened to him. And there's Riordan too. Thomson seems to be the exception but he's still only good rather than great.

I think when Cousin and JCD are fit, motivated and on form they are pretty good players and a class above KM. However, those three attributes are rarely there at the same time for either player. That arguably makes KM more usable. I don't really want KM but I would concede the point.

With the midfield hopefully having less walking wounded, I can see Whittaker being settled into the right back role. I can also see Walter looking for a right winger as we only really have Davis and Novo for that position - apart from Whittaker, and Beasley on the wrong side.

I agree, it could be good for the visiting team and good for the OF for the guests to play both teams without us play each other. It would be interesting to compare the results too. Imagine Barcelona playing Rangers one day and then Celtic a few days later... They wouldn't get a better preseason test, although maybe that's not what they want as the games would end up being highly competitive.

I think Adam is one of those infuriating players that does something great one minute and something gash the next. If he could work on his weak points and not have so many lapses in a game then he'd at least be a decent squad player - and he's the only one that can take a consistently decent free kick.

Since the turn of the year he's looked like the most uncomfortable player on the ball - especially in Europe. Most of his passes either went astray or to whoever was in goal at the time. I think that is a result of him panicking when he's closed down quickly. Ferguson has had a very poor season by his own standards, but still looked far more composed on the ball and was far better at retaining possession and finding a team-mate - albeit sideways or backwards.

Agree with 1 to 4. Well put.

Was Hemdani not once the POTY because he was the most consistently adequate out of an extremely bad lot?

Am I the only one who doesn't understand this? They seem to be saying: Smith spend 11M last season. SDM says he'll have the same to spend. That means he'll have 3M???? Seems to me, SDM is saying he'll have 11M.

We play Celtic 4-6 times a season - and there's a chance we could meet in the latter stages of the UEFA cup. There's no need to introduce even more games between the two sides. Even Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea must be getting bored of playing each other.

True, the money is gross and there are many additional costs to add. We still made bugger all when we got to the last 16 in the CL. Besides, without the Euro money, we make a multi million pound loss... Then there's the payments for Hutton - they are usually phased and he and his agent take a big cut. Our debt from last year using a simplistic view, started at 16M before we spent a net 10.5M - over 26M debt is too high to sustain over a long period and needs to be reduced to a more manageable level when possible. So I'm hoping we can spend about a net 10M in the summer while reducing our debt to under 20M. I think SDM has got his appetite back after watching us go for the quadruple and also sees the potential income from a good European season. He should see that we need to speculate to accumulate and the league is also even more important next season. We're still rebuilding and it's obvious that decent investment in the playing squad is necessary right now. We've basically had a windfall from the Hutton sale as well as from Sebo, and we have to reinvest every penny on players. I think all income from player sales should be put into Walter's budget as a well run club should be able to take care of its finances without selling players.

A total wage cap of 50% of turnover would not only keep more clubs in business but would also be a lot fairer. Overspending is a bit like using drugs in sport - you have an unfair advantage over your competitors who don't want to take the same risks to their (financial) health.

That's a sad but true point... Even Hutton was criticised for his crossing ability. Davis is probably about the best of a very bad lot. Aberdeen and Dundee Utd gave our defence loads of problems with their crosses - why can't we match them in this area?

Turning down a new contract offer from Rangers and signing for another club on a Bosman doesn't suggest he didn't want to go... Spending �£1.5M on a transfer as well as �£25k a week on wages is a lot of money just to give a guy another chance...

I thought McCulloch played excellent for us at the beginning of the season but he's faded badly and now lacks the touch and decent shots he had at first.

PS If you really want a player who plays for the shirt then we don't need a new striker - just play Novo every week. That wee man knows a thing or two about commitment. If the likes of Boyd, Cousin and Buffel showed Novo's commitment, then we wouldn't ever be arguing about them. If Lovenkrands had Novo's heart, then he'd have still been here and a first choice player.

Lovenkrands playing for the shirt? I can't even see it a little bit. Lovenkrands was pretty poor for us for a long time while showing flashes of potential. To me he was poor because he lacked commitment and professionalism. He never looked motivated and was often a waste of a shirt. As I recall he was signed as a winger as that's where he normally played in Denmark but he somehow complained that he wasn't being played a striker - a position I really can't see him in. As a winger he struggled to beat a man or get a decent cross in. He also was poor at tracking back and tacking or winning the ball. In his last season at the club he seemed to improve in back to the walls games, playing in the centre in a counter-attacking formation, using his pace rather than skill to get onto a ball punted forward. His finishing was a bit like Novo's - very erratic and like the Spaniard his best goals had an element of luck about them or just came of his foot just right that one time. The annoying thing about him is that we put up with his inconsistency for years, and when he did start to play a bit - well enough to be offered a new contract after almost being discarded the season before, he buggered off on a free. I'm sorry but if that's playing for the shirt then I'm in a surreal, alternative topsy turvy world. Anyway, if he's so good, why are Shalke desperate to get rid of him?