calscot

I think I'd agree with that team with Hemdani and Rae in the mystery squares. It's not ideal but the best we've got fit till we bring new players in. Eight Scots though - and you know how well Walter did with the three foreigner rule...

Will they give us the money back if they don't pay compensation for the next manager? After all that's what Taylor said they needed the money for...

Sounds like he wants to move to Hollywood and hang out with the stars... Bet he buys a house in Beverly Hills.

Do you think we'll soon see a new slimline version? He won't want to take a ribbing from the players...

It doesn't sound right to me either. He served his notice and quit his job at Hearts under UEFA rules.

Whittaker does seem to impress a lot of the time although he does get stuck up the park a bit. I think Anderson would be over priced by Aberdeen, and we could get a better player for less money elsewhere. He's a good player but you know how greedy Scottish clubs are when we come calling.

While many of the players have no been shown to pass muster, many of them could easily fit in a decent team, decently coached. You don't need a squad of Laudrups to win the league, you need three or four really good players and then the rest of a decent standard that can perform consistently well as a unit. We have may players that could fit into the latter category with proper coaching and man management. What we do need are those three or four top players plus on or two more reliable players in key positions. We plainly can't afford a whole new squad as we can't cancel the contracts of the present guys even if we could bring in a team for free on the same wages. So players like MacGregor may not wow you but he will suffice for the near future along with players like Smith, Burke, Fergie, Hemdani, Clement, Prso and Boyd. Players like Hutton, Adam, Rae, Murray, Novo from Eck's era, while nothing special can still do a job as a squad player under Smith especially as they all at least try on pitch. Players who need to prove their worth are the Le Guen imports of Letizi, Svensson, Papac, Sionko, N'Diaye and Sebo and you can add Buffel to that list which is one where a lot of the recent money has gone. Then an assessment needs to be made on our younger players in the reserve team: Ponroy, N'Gessan, Furman, Stanger, Carcary, Davidson, Lennon and Lowing and see if any are good enough to be given the chance. I'm not sure where Klos fits into things but I suspect it is SDM and Bain he has fallen out with and so there looks to be no way back. I think we are stuck with our most recent foreign buys till the summer so we have to wait and see what our management and coaching staff can do with them. Perhaps we can loan them out to put them in the shop window. The one I'd like to see developed is Clement, and you only have to remember how Gatusso turned out after a few years with Walter...

I think Wattie could turn it around without any change in personnel - like Brewster at Dundee Utd. The atmosphere will completely change with the good players happier and the poorer performing ones in fear of the chop. I think Wattie is such a good manager as he "speaks softly while carrying a big stick" whereas Le Guen seemed more petulant, huffy and bullying. Eck just seemed like a pushover. I would bet that Smith has far more power given to him over the players than any previous manager bar Struth. He is certainly never going to get the sack over a power struggle with a player. Even if he doesn't turn it around I can see the chairman backing him to the hilt for the full three years of his contract.

The question is does Souness want to be manager or chairman or director of football, etc? He could be Chairman of Wolves and Scotland manager, and we could see Wolves turned into a team of Scottish internationals.

I think 5M would easily be affordable and with this emergency borrowing another 3M would be very plausible. Eck had 8M after the sale of Boumsong and used it to win the league although ironically we were top of the league with the French defender in the team.

Is Clement still injured? I've missed this news what with everything else happening.

They are saying they need the money due to having to pay compensation for the new manager. So what happens if Rangers pay a load and they then appoint someone like Burns without a fee? They will be a bunch of con-merchants. Or does it mean that Burns has been ruled out and they are after the likes of Moyes?

At the moment we need another Berg and he is a fair enough candidate.

I think we may see Walter go for sure things, ie players where it's what you see is what you get. They won't exactly be outstanding or have much potential to become overly outstanding but they should be reliably of a level to compete in the SPL. IE not stars but no chance of being duds.

Completely agree with you, he doesn't have the right leadership skills and it's a bit like trying to make a leader out of a petulant kid - despite his age. Rae doesn't have what it takes either in my eyes.

I see what you're saying but I think although he did offer glimpses that he could be decent he never actually achieved that status. And to be fair to his critics, we've had a pretty poor bunch of Centre backs and at times Rod only looked the best of a bad lot. At every point we've wished for a new defender that was a class above what we had and who would drag one of our mediocre players up a level while dominating the defence themselves. We now doing that with Svensson but that doesn't mean we think he's any good. What we really need (and have needed for a few years) is TWO experienced centre backs of very high quality.

I suppose, when it comes to an offer for anything you should always reject the first one as people usually come in lower than they are prepared to pay and if they refuse to budge the original offer is usually still on the table. You then need to strengthen your position by getting other parties interested.

I think KD is going to be crucial in developing our 20 - 24 year olds and we may see more of them achieve their potential as a result.

If we're being offered 4M for Bazza we should bite their fingers off. If Wattie does get 8M to spend imagine what he could buy for 12M... Our former captain is definitely not a 4M player for us.

He'll be remembered alright just as much as Ostenstaad et al... For being crap.

Walter didn't quite have a cast iron 18 month contract, there was a clause meaning he had no job security after November. They could let him go with no compensation if he didn't qualify for Euro 2008 which is really an unrealistic target. So he really had nine months left, compared to a new three year contract with obviously more money. His job also looks pretty secure at Rangers as SDM can't afford another sacking to make his reputation fall further. The SFA have been totally unjustified for their actions and should have allowed a man that saved their jobs to leave with a bit of dignity instead of dragging him through the courts and the gutter press. Rangers were happy to pay compensation but only a reasonable amount and not the 1M demanded by the SFA. Taylor needs to go now, he was incompetent when it came to sacking Bertie and now is incompetent about letting go the man who saved his job. The SFA is rotten to the core and only WS painted over that by his incredible turnaround of the team. Rangers have not been completely innocent but the SFA have been nothing short of disgusting.

I don't think Murray can afford not to spend this time. It's time to raid the emergency funds as we are a shambles at the moment. Augmenting the team for a good run in the UEFA cup could bring us quite a few million back in earnings and qualification for the CL is imperative. If we don't spend now and lurch from crisis to crisis, then Murray will look like a fool and he knows it. Besides, I don't think Smith would have come and risked his newly re-invigorated reputation without substantial funds.

I think it's another case of Scottish clubs being too greedy and cutting off their nose to spite their face in the meantime. You have to ask yourself why we have so much trouble buying less that world class players in Scotland while clubs complain of lack of funds. It's not Rangers who are causing Scottish money to spend abroad weakening the whole of the association. When we sell great young players like Stevie MacLean, we accept reasonable amounts and in this case about £200k.

50p? £10M? We need to find out what kind of sum is being banded about.

Do you think he's ditched the cardy...?