calscot

I remember there used to be a Lada Samara... Only worrying thing is that in the postponed OF game, we'll have lost a couple of first choices while they may have 1 first choice back plus 3 new ones.

I think we have to be realistic about the debt, you can't lambaste SDM for letting the debt spiral out of control and then knock him for taking a quick 9M for a player that cost nothing. I'm not a great fan of SDM and have criticised him many times while others were defending him. However, recently he brought in a top, young, European manager whom everyone thought would find great success, then acted swiftly in removing him when things went pear-shaped. He then astutely brought back an improved Walter Smith who turned the team around immediately and then funded him with 12M in the summer. You have to give praise where it is due. Now that 12M was spent after a loss and so has to be paid back somehow or we can't spend again.

I don't think Novo's finishing is good enough for him to play up front. Ironically he tends to score when he gets a wicked deflection.

Oh yeah, and I forgot - no massive injury crisis!

Walter is back and found, we have a fantastic training facility instead of a public park, with top medical suite too with hydrotherapy, instead of a cooler full of ice. He'll find he has double the wages to spend, but that value for money is less. He'll find he can pick up good players at the end of their contracts for free or near the end of their contracts for cheap. He's found his spending budget has topped �£14M in one year. He'll find he's been able to get the best depth of squad he's ever had at Rangers. He'll find himself with a �£9M player and a $5.5M player in his team - more than he had before. He'll find he can buy a player for �£1M and sell him 6 months later for �£3M. He'll find he has a squad with many Scots, with quite a few young promising guys who are playing well right now, rather than an old squad of foreigners. He'll find a much better and bigger 5 star stadium with an average of 49k fans rather than the 43k of before. All in all, I think he'll be pretty happy, considering he's 4pts ahead of a much stronger Celtic side; still in Europe after Christmas after a making a decent fist of the CL - and not getting gubbed like before, bar once; in the semi final of the League Cup against a beleaguered, managerless Hearts side with Celtic already out; and just having completed a 6-0 thrashing in the Scottish Cup with his reserve team which also included a 16 year old who shows fantastic potential.

Great point about Laudrup, Johny. If Buffel played half as well as Laudrup, the fans would love him and he'd be a hero. The cold, stark fact is, he basically been pants for most of his time at Ibrox, and most fans are not blind to it. The same goes for Sebo and many others. If Sebo had played as well in his first 6 months as Novo, Boyd, McCulloch, Cousin, Darcheville, or Naismith, he'd still be here. To further put Buffel out of the picture has been his desire to leave, then turning down a move because it wasn't a big enough team, then getting injured for a year, all before he'd played a single game for a new manager. So add all that on top of his poor reputation, it's not surprising he's not in Walter's thoughts. Smith would also be out of sight out of mind if we already had a Hutton on the right in the team. However we're crying out for a left back, so he'll be back in the team as soon as he's fit.

I agree with Johnny. A couple of good touches against one of the worst teams in Scotland doesn't really say much. If you're going to give anyone a chance from last night's performance, it's got to be Gow. He showed far more promise than Buffel and put in a shift. His other advantage over the Belgian is that we haven't seen him look like he can't be bothered. Buffel is a talented player but has not been value for money in the slightest and probably cost us about �£2M by not signing for the German team that came in for him. His year of injury just rubs it in about how poor value he's been. He needs to perform exceptionally well and put in shift after shift before he'll make it up to most bears. However, how can he even dream of earning a place in front of about 20 players who have put far more effort into the cause? Could you really pick him before the likes of Novo who puts in and enthusiastic 100% every time he gets on the pitch? I'd also much rather have Boyd on, who some say is lazy, but on average he's been industrious compared to Buffel and scored a barrel load of goals to boot. I really doubt there's extra to pay if Tam plays a few more games as people have been saying that for his last three games and it should therefore have kicked in by now. I think that WS sees what we've seen, and he has no place in his team for slackers, which is probably why Boyd is not a first pick although he puts in enough to get on the subs bench. It's easy to say, "give soandso a chance" but when we're fighting four competition fronts we can afford to take the risk with those who could end up being passengers. Hence why he got the chance in an easy cup game that was already won.

If he gets a regular game...

I think with regards to foreign managers, Eck and Walter have set the model for a good Scotland manager. I'd like us to continue in that vein. You just have to look at PLG at Rangers to see how big a risk a foreign manager is, and even Advocaat ultimately failed while not playing many Scots at all. Scotland is pretty much a provincial country which requires extensive local knowledge to manage. Therefore only foreigner who has managed or played in Scotland should get a look in.

I like your "A" list and "B" list analogy, I see it akin to "A" and "B" list celebrities. Souness was definitely the only one in that catagory in the short list. Or, if he's a "B" list then the others are "C". I wouldn't put Moyes in the "A" list: he's less of a record than Allardyce and the latter has shown he can't easily transfer his skills. You need a guy who for a start has actually been more successful than Moyes and secondly has been so for at least a few clubs.

Souness has the best CV by a mile - Best player history; as a manager - 3 major Championships and 6 major trophies from 4 different clubs got to the European cup quarter final. Top 3 finish in a top league for 4 clubs and top 6 finish for 5. Managed 7 top division clubs. Was actually the 6th best manager of all time for Newcastle, out of 23 - and a lot better than Allerdyce or Gullit. Apart from Rangers and Liverpool, he was pretty much average or better for all clubs he managed, with no disasters. At Rangers he was fantastic and even at Liverpool he still managed to win their only trophy in about a 10 year spell. Now which manager can come even in the same ballpark to that CV? Unfortunately though, he has too big an ego and upsets most players, also thought to lack in tactical nous. That's what counts against him - Scotland have flourished by having a sense of togetherness about them, Souness would smash that up like a bull in a China shop. Mark McGhee has a good record of doing well with Championship teams but not quite qualifying for the EPL - bit like Berti Vogts was for Scotland. We need someone who can actually qualify. He's also known for having too big an ego so if we're going to have someone like that then it's far better to have a more successful one in Souness. Tommy Burns, the joker in the pack - his shortlisting is a total joke. He's the Celtic equivalent of John Grieg for success as an OF manager, and although I admire the great Rangers player, I wouldn't want him as Scotland manager. If his current job is anything to go by then surely Durrant has an equal shout... That just leaves Burley. Not exactly Mr Successful unless you count 11 games for Hearts. He did bring Ipswich up to the EPL, finish quite highly and then do well in the UEFA cup, but after that, got relegated. Again has a record of losing the playoffs with two different teams. We really need someone who can win those as it's our best chance of qualifying for any finals. So basically, Burley is the best of a poor bunch, if you discount Souness for his ego. But then who is there that really fits the bill outside Eck, Walter and Sir Alex? George Graham is one but either doesn't want it or doesn't have a look-in due to being out the game so long... Apart from them all the other Scottish managers are too young or haven't been successful yet, which rules out Moyes, Davis, Calderwood, Levein etc. Strachan has an ok record but wouldn't take the job. So from a country famous for managers, we don't really have a really decent one available... So Burley will have to do. Here's hoping he can carry on the good work from our last two managers and let's get right behind him.

One thing about Hutton: did he win a meddle when we last won the league? I don't think he did, so could he be wanting to wait till the summer as he's a great chance of winning a couple of medals first? Let's face it, he's got little chance at Spurs. He might also fancy his chances of getting to the latter stages of a European competition - he'll be cup tied with Tottenham. Just a thought, no point in leaving the Old Firm before you've won something...

I'm in the one team, one country camp and I've always thought that Scots supporting English teams has been detrimental to the Scottish League. I've known quite a few Scots who watched the premiership on Sky but did not have Setanta - so no wonder Sky don't need to pay good money for the SPL. (However I think it's backfired on them and the gap in the market for the SPL has turned Setanta into a huge competitor for Sky.) Those who support an English team, how do you put up with your fellow fans slagging off Scottish football and Rangers at every opportunity? Most English fans are so up their arses about the EPL that they just can't help themselves - even just after a Scottish team beats an English one! In all of Europe, only the English predominantly slag off Scottish football, so if you're after a second team, I'd say it's best to choose a different country to find one, if you are Scottish. BTW I live in England and put up with it all the time; sometimes it's just banter, but most of the time it's mainly them being supercilious.

Larsen is my preferred choice of those three.

He has a pretty good scoring record (better than Cousin's) and could be pretty good for us. I'd be pretty happy if he signed.

Seems like a step down to me; could he be another player that who thinks he can use Rangers as a stepping stone then fades into anonymity? Tell you something, if you think the atmosphere at Ibrox is quiet these days, you should try Craven Cottage: it's like a library or cinema.

You can't sell a first team player for �£3M and then bring in a fringe player for �£3.5M... It just doesn't add up except maybe with age.

That's really interesting, Frankie. Do you have more details or a link?

Nobody like Chewin the fat or Still Game? Only an excuse? How about Father Ted? Or not my favourite but surely Britain's fave, Little Britain? Then there's Trigger Happy, Ali G and Borat.

I like Boyd and I like 4-4-2 but I'm still find the clamour for both a bit strange. Our present system and team picks seem to be the most successful for years and in December we were playing the best football we have for a long while. But what you can't deny is that with the current strategy we can play well and win and we can play badly and still win which suggest the current set up is pretty adaptable. We still need improvement as we're 4 points behind where Celtic were last year and I thought they were one of the worse championship teams I've seen. We definitely need more creativity in the middle of the park, some better finishing and ironically the defence is far too prone to lapses with the left back position particularly weak. I think some of our lack of penetration in the last game and a half could partly be down to the absence of Hutton, which makes you wonder if we really should sell him at this crucial point in the season. With him reinstated and Smith back from injury, we might start looking like a decent team. I'm still not sure why Naismith and Burke swapped sides as that just didn't pay off at all and before hooking Naismith at half time surely they should have swapped around half way through the first half? With the game in the balance, it also confusing that Boyd didn't replace Cousin for the last 10 minutes as the latter hardly looked like scoring. There must be behind the scenes reasons as to why Boyd can't even get a few minutes with a substitution left. Our problem with the central midfield is that unless Fergie and/or Hemdani have a good game, we are easily overrun by lesser players. Both of these two were pretty poor against ICT in my opinion, and when you add that to the ineffectiveness of our wingers playing on the wrong side, means it was down to Adam to provide all the attacking options. He seems to have the infuriating character where he can't trap a ball one minute and puts in a great shot the next. He goes from the sublime to the ridiculous in the blink of an eye with a lot of mediocrity in between. We basically had a five man midfield in the first half, none of whom did themselves credit, and as they were playing against another determined and organised five man midfield, it's not surprising we watched a turgid game which was short on chances. The ball was stuck in midfield and the game couldn't flow at all. Fair play to Walter for changing to a 4-4-2 in the second half which changed the game in our favour, but with most of the team off form, it still wasn't pretty or comfortable viewing. The two subs were the standouts for me - Novo and Darcheville, both of whom seemed to put a lot more effort into the game than anyone in front of the back five. Perhaps they should get a start in the next SPL game as they deserve it. The defence looked reasonably solid but still have terrible lapses and apart from a couple of forays forward by Whittaker, offered almost nothing in attack. MacGregor was pretty blameless in this regard and almost had an assist himself. So a dire underperformed game where we got the points, not too bad. Hopefully a couple of midfielders will turn up for the next SPL game and it will be a different story; however, other teams will have watched ICT and maybe guess that a 4-5-1 formation is the ideal solution to our 4-3-3...

PS The number of penalties we've had turned down this season has been shocking. I remember it was at least one a game at the start of the season including in Europe. The hand-ball goal from Barcelona just shows how bad some other decisions are and I really think Rangers more than anyone would benefit from TV replay decisions like in Rugby.

I find there are more good American comedies than British which is strange from a country that seems to come across as having no sense of humour. I think you might find that most US comedies we enjoy have a lot of Jewish input - the Jewish sense of humour is similar to the British. Other great American shows are Scrubs, South Park and Family Guy, and I also quite like 3rd Rock to a lesser extent. British ones are harder to find, but I loved Red Dwarf, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy wasn't bad, the first series of both Game On and Coupling were good and 2 Pints wasn't too bad.

I think the loyal 49,000 repeat customers and the 55M turnover would initially attract them, however, the 27M of debt and the 19M mortgage coupled with the 3 year profit forecast of: 8M loss, 4M loss, break even; might put them off. No serious investor who wants to make money would touch any football club. The only such person to make good money was Fergus McCann.

I think Spurs fans probably pay at least 50%-100% more for their seat. Also it's the tv money that now counts down there more than the gate money. The English are paying far more than the Scots and many Scots are paying good money for the EPL too. Instead of comparing how much we pay you have to look at income instead. Rangers a putting out a pretty decent product for the money they take in. The reason the value for money might not look so good when costing per head is lower number of people interested in the product. Basically we are paying a premium for a niche product.

If you based it solely on CV's, Souness would win by a mile.