calscot

I'd be more confident the other way round for all of them... but hey what do I know and I'm not a betting man... Good luck.

Don't think you've a chance in hell...

If you've access to all Sky's channels, you have BBC1 Scotland - around channel 950. Get a portable satilite dish for caravans and you'll be fine...

So what will Rangers be fined for? Surely you can't be held responsible for every nutter that enters the ground? There's next to no chance he's even a Rangers fan. People get onto pitches all the time - you can't stop them 100% of the time without putting a cordon of police three deep round the pitch...

Good point Frankie, maybe he's been told that PLG picks the team, not him, and if he's willing to tow the line, respect the manager and sign a new contract, he will have a good chance of playing if he's on form... It does make some sense not to regularly pick an unhappy player who's contract is running out and is already on the transfer list at his own request, and it doesn't help when he's mouthing off to the press.

Welcome back Jeremy, you've made a massive difference to the effectiveness of team and unleashed a Barry Ferguson of old. Hemdani has rightly been getting praise lately for doing a quiet, consistent job in midfield. However, I've always thought that despite not doing much wrong, he's not really excelling in the holding role. The young Frenchman has vindicated that opinion by putting in a tremendous display which really shored up the middle of the park, and allowed Fergie to strut his stuff and move up the field into attacking positions. Instead of trying to do two jobs, the captain had the confidence to get on with what he's good at, and we looked a much more potent force for it. It must also be said, Hemdani looked not bad in central defence and I'm glad he got the nod ahead of the mediocre Rodriguez. I'd still prefer a new, top class centre back in January to partner Papac, especially as Svensson still isn't quite there yet as he showed n a few dodgy moments against the Israelis. A new centre forward also is on my wish list as it patently obvious that Boyd is not good enough at holding up the ball and he vindicated Le Guen's skepticism of his all round ability. MacGregor in goal, Papac and a new Centre back in defence, Clement and a rejuvenated Fergusson in midfield and a big striker up front, would in my opinion, give us the solid, strong spine of a team that we need. That could easily be fleshed out with the likes of the reliable Smith, the exciting Burke, the goal machine boyd and Novo's identical twin brother as well as quite a few others who might play far better from a more solid base.

...by installing MacGregor to no.1 keeper while he plays to his recent high standards. Another clean sheet, another game without Letizi in goal. Alan didn't have much to do last night, but he never put a single foot wrong and gave a real confidence about safe hands (and feet) in the box. A faultless display. It's obvious to one and all that there are problems at Ibrox and Le Guen is "working 24hrs a day to solve them". Well I can tell you Paul, most of us know one of the answers which will be one step towards a cure, and it's up to you to show you are a man of intelligence rather than a stubborn old goat or shrinking violet. You should be able to face Letizi and tell him that you're picking a keeper who is in far better form and that the former PSG goalie will have to fight for his place in the team just like every other player. We have enough problems at Ibrox without choosing a liability over a good performer.

That theory is disproven by our performances against Hibs and Celtic. It may be part of the story but it's obviously not the whole of it.

I thought Smith was excellent too. His overlapping was just what we needed and his crosses superb. He was also very hard to beat when they attacked on the right and cut out most of the stuff there.

I'm the same, but realise it's best not give them the exposure they are craving. They did pan in when he was in an undignified position, getting his hands cuffed and then dragged off the pitch...

Novo isn't exactly fantastic but he's playing better than Sebo, Buffel and Prso right now and easily derserves to be a starter.

You're right except Zenit pay some, and probably most of Ricksen's wages already. But I'm sure there will be others leaving which will free up more wages. Hopefully we'll get a million or so for Ricksen as well. So say we have 90 grand freed on wages, the question is, should we go for three players on 30 grand a week or 6 players on 15 grand a week (presuming they are worth it)? At the moment I'd rather go for the former but you'd have to expect to pay at least 3M for these kind of players if not more. I think we are lacking the three or four star players that most teams usually have and the one superstar like Villa Real and Requelme. Even Celtic have Venegoor and Graveson as well as three or four stand outs and who can forget what a contribution Larsson made? These are the players who turn around games and lift the rest of the team. Their presence is so great that the team plays better even when the stars are injured. Barry used to be one of those players but not even close any more, Klos was too and probably still is but we don't use him, Chris Burke is another but he's still learning and usually injured. I would say the rest are actually reasonably good players but nothing really special. I think the likes of Sebo, Buffel, Novo, Boyd and Sionko would probably thrive with a few classier players around them like Laudrup, Gascoigne, pre-injury Durrant, Albertz, Numan, pre-injury Mols, De Boer, Hateley and of course Goram. Stevie Smith would improve with a proper dominant centre half like Gough or Butcher and a classy left winger like Van Bronkhurst. Players like Reyna, Ian Ferguson, Robertson, Brown, Munro, Moore, Johanson Amato and Rod Wallace looked like excellent players when put in teams with the above and of course Barry looked almost world class. I think Murray is getting a bit anal about the debt and as Craig says, all companies run more efficiently with a managable amount of debt - called gearing. If the debt is funding the generation of more income than the interest then you should use it. This is one of those times. We need to invest now to reap the benefits of the CL and of course the income that comes from being champions. Murray has badly managed the club and burnt his fingers, now he's managing it badly in the opposite way. He needs to go a middling route. And in the end I certainly don't think he'll to put a penny of his own money in free gratis...

But when has DM acually invested anything in Rangers that he can't get back out again? Every transfer budget we've previously had has come from turnover or some kind of loan. It's never been DM's own money. The only money he has invested personally is in return for shares. Besides, even if he gave us 10M to spend, how much of it could we spend on players transfer fees and how much on wages? Vennegoor of Hesselink will cost a combined 10M so that gives the money for one good player...

I've said before Man U hadn't won the league in 20 years so they were a totally different kettle of fish and could be far more patient. At the time there were about 4 or 5 teams able to win the league so winning the league every 4 or 5 years seems fine. We're in a duopoly league and so need to win the league every other year - and we didn't win it last year. Besides how long did it take Souness to turn it around? Or even Eck for that matter? How long did it take O'Neil and Strachan? If Man U was a racing car, you would be able to bring the car into the pitstop take their time and rebuild the engine and chassis. If Rangers was a racing car you'd have to do the same thing at close to top speed... However, Man U are now used to winning and in the same boat - look at the stick Fergie got last year for finishing SECOND, and that was to a team who have spent well over £200M. To my mind, if you take over a team in the league where you have pretty much 10 times the wage budget and tranfer budget than all your competitors bar one who has the same and another who has a quarter of your budget, then even as an average manager you'd expect to be able to beat everyone except Hearts where you'd expect most of the points and Celtic where you'd expect close to half the points. Look what George Burley did in 10 games on a fraction of PLG's budget... Yes the manager needs time, but he cannot excape criticism for being very poor for the first third of the season - the poorest at Rangers for over 20 years. He has obviously made BIG mistakes, HUGE, and he needs to learn from them very quickly.

PPS I bet he was loving it when at one point Rangers were reckoned to be worth about 200M. But it is he who is solely responsible for the present value of the club. BTW the book price of the club is about 80-90M when you subtract liabilities from the assets. However I think much of the real estate assets are over valued.

PS I think he'd take about 70 million which doesn't look too high when you look at the sale of Aston Villa for about 66M.

The share issue isn't a loan to Rangers FC, however presumably for some accountancy reasons MIM have loaned Murrays holding company for his Rangers shares. I believe Frankie is correct when he says Murray has payed about 70 million for Rangers. There have been several small share issues and he's bought shares off of others too. I don't know how much he, his son and his companies have made out of Rangers but over 20 years it must be in the region of 70 million, not to mention how much his profile/fame as chairman/owner has brought to his businesses.

Ok, it's agreed, the team isn't good enough - but paradoxically most of the players are getting reasonable write ups at least every few games, they're mostly internationals or have played for big clubs and won stuff, so the question is, which ones are really not good enough? Letizi - He's played for years with PSG and so been around but he's not inspired much confidence, however he doesn't seem to have been too much at fault for most of the goals and he's not responsible for the inability to create chances and score against mediocre opposition. I think the main accusation is you could aim at him is that he doesn't save us in games. He doesn't pull of the top notch saves like Goram and Klos that keep the clean sheet that allows us to grind out that 1-0 win which is necessary to win titles. I personally don't think he's good enough and certainly worse than our other options. MacGregor - We'd all like to see him play in the first team but he's not quite proven himself yet. Can he step into Goram and Klos's shoes? Time will tell but he seems like one baby we shouldn't throw out with the bath water. We've no money and so could do worse than putting him in goal instead of Letizi. Klos - No-one can accuse Der Goalie of not being good enough. No-one. The guy is a class player and has proven himself time and again with Rangers. His last run in the team coincided with us losing about 7 goals in half a season. We don't know the true story here but the fact we're pay a guy who has saved us tons of points about 30 grand a week to do nothing, is to me, highly symptomatic of what is wrong at the club. Hutton - Showed early promise, it's rumoured he has a bad attitude and has not been the same since his injury. He's played better of late receiving a bit of praise, but his passing and crossing still leave a bit to be desired. Not the worst offender in the team but he is part of a defence that is leaking soft goals and doesn't seem to be the one who's getting the tackles in or shutting down the attacks from the right. In fact Novo had to cover for him in the against Motherwell. He's SPL standard but not quite Rangers standard except maybe as back up in a better first choice team. Bardsley - another one with an attitude problem and with his commitment only short term, I can understand why patience for him would be short lived. To me he doesn't seem to be any better than Hutton appart from the odd free kick. We really need a proper right back. Papac - An international who seems pretty solid and our defence has improved since his arrival. Quite willing to go forward too but maybe that's why we can get caught on the break. Still not cured our problem of dealing with cross balls. An improvement over other central defenders we've had recently but shows no signs of being a McLiesh, Butcher, Gough or even a Moore. Svensson - A young international who's had a terrible start to his Rangers career, although his freefalling reputation has been arrested by a good display in Italy. It's either get rid time for him or develop him for the future. Rodriguez - An experienced player who to me flatters to deceive. Seems to look solid in some games but we're losing goals almost every game and I can't remember many clean sheets this season. To me he's a mediocre player who could do a good job for the likes of Aberdeen, but not up to the job at Rangers. Smith - A young player who looks to have genuine talent, he's our best defender by far but I think would look even better in a decent team. Thrives on a good relationship and understanding with a talented left midfielder and looked better with Martin in the team. Seems to be one of the players committing to the game plan. Definitely a keeper. Burke - Brilliantly talented but so fragile that we only see him for glimpses. It's always so much more exciting when he gets a lot of the ball and he's also good at tracking back and helping out the defence. I think we'd have less problems if he was fully fit most of the time. Sionko - Looked like a young Kanchelskis in his first couple of games but from then looked like a Kanchelkis close to retirement. He's now injured and it's hard to tell if he's the real deal or not. One thing is for sure, he hasn't contributed to the cause at all this season. Hemdani - Gets loads of plaudits without to me seeming to do much. If he's doing so well, why are we not dominating the midfield against the likes of Hibs and Aberdeen? To me he's maybe a squad player but no more. His plaudits are more to do with how badly the rest of team are playing rather than how good he is. We need a genuine ball winner in midfield more on the lines of Keane, or Stuart McCall. Clement - Looks to have great potential without setting the heather alight, while he's injured the jury is out. Ferguson - Supposed to be back to his best and has definitely stamped his presence on a few games. But why are we still not dominating the midfield and why isn't he scoring goals every other week like he used to? A good player to have but I think we all lie awake at night thinking about who we could have bought for 5 million quid in these cash strapped days. Rae - a reasonable player who would do well for another SPL team but doesn't seem to be getting a shout at Rangers although we seem to be crying out for a no nonsense midfielder. Not sure if he's really good enough and PLG doesn't seem to rate him but I'd like him to get more of a chance till the other players show they are worth a pick. Adam - seems to have loads of potential and has a habit of popping up and doing some great now and again but he seems a bit light weight for a first choce and would be better as a backup to a more experienced player. Martin - shows great skill and pace - very promising youngster but he's greedy and too often we have nothing to show for his darting runs and displays of ball control. He'll grow better with age but seems a poorer, less effective version of Burke who doesn’t defend at all and seems very light weight. He’s not even a left footer. I can’t see him becoming a permanent transfer and so maybe he should be replaced by a proper left midfielder. Prso – a great guy and player but really looks to be on his last legs. Has the odd great game but too often looks slow, tired and lacking in touch. Hustles and bustles but struggles to get the ball into the net and should really have more assists. To me he should become a super sub and come on when the opposing defence is tiring to give them some hassle. Boyd – Does what it says on the tin – scores goals but not much else. He’s improving his all round play but it’ll take a season to make it natural for him. He’s the leagues top scorer and we’ve won more games with him in the team. Definitely should be first on the team sheet despite his faults but needs someone big to partner him upfront. Novo – was complete pants for a year but seems to look really lively now and rediscovered his confidence and as a result his form. Our best player against Motherwell but didn’t get enough service and seems a bit out of position. If he keeps up his form he’s definitely worth a shout at least as a sub. However he’s not the kind of player I’d like to see long term at the club, I’m hoping for a bit more quality. Sebo – doesn’t do what it says on the tin and really hasn’t fitted into the team at all. Looks like he works hard but provides little except one goal and a couple of unawarded penalty claims. Looked good for Vienna so don’t know why he’s turned so bad overnight. PLG seems to think that if he keeps playing him he’ll come good but he’s part of the reason we’ve dropped points when we couldn’t afford to. Maybe he needs to get up to speed in the reserves. Buffel – a complete enigma. Obviously has shed-loads of talent but can’t finish to save himself and fades out of games far too often. A luxury we can’t afford and definitely one of the players who is just not doing it for us. My conclusions: Out: Letizi, Rodriguez, Bardsley, Rae, Sebo and Buffel are the ones who should be shipped out. Klos will be going anyway. Squad players Hutton, Svensson, Hemdani, Sionko, Adam, Prso and Novo should be used sparingly as back up, with the youngers ones being developed. Martin could perhaps be kept as a backup winger to pad out the squad for a season. First team MacGregor deserves a proper chance in goal. Papac, Smith, Ferguson, Burke, Clement and Boyd are the only others I would keep in first team. In A big, experienced centre back who can dominate the area, especially in the air and organise the defence, perhaps even be captain. A mobile right back who can defend well, cut out attacks down the right and break out quickly and deliver telling crosses or passes down the line. An experienced, strong left midfielder who can beat his man, interact with smith, deliver crosses and track back and cut out the left hand channels. A tall, strong, experienced centre forward, target man, who wins everything in the air, holds up the ball and lays it off to Boyd or a midfielder or turn and beat his man. He should be adept at flick-ons and knock backs, and knows his way to goal and can finish with aplomb. A creative midfielder/forward who plays in the middle and can link play between the midfield and attack while also strong enough to be the first one to counteract a break. He needs to have a killer pass which creates goals and be able to shoot and score from 20-25 yards as well as nip in to support the strikers for the odd tap in.

If Boyd is the "new McCoist" it might be a good idea to get in a "new Hateley" to play up front with him.

Nobody directly influenced me. It was my own decision albeit a pretty arbitrary one at the age of six. I suppose I was influenced in the fact that I only ever had two choices as everyone used to ask me "Who do you support - Rangers or Celtic?" I decided to support Rangers as I liked the sound of the name and my favourite colour was blue.

Yes inconsistency is a problem and it's very reminiscent of Hibs who turn it on one day and are anonymous the next. Most people have put Hibs' inconsistency down to having a talented but very young team. There seems to be a correlation there with Rangers at the moment. Maybe we need a couple of older heads to steady the younger ones. I always think the best teams are the ones with a good blend of youth and experience and we don't really have that at the moment at all.

If this goes through, it sounds to me like he's had clear the air talk with PLG who has probably told him that if he knuckles down and tows the line, developing his potential, he'll have the number 1 jersey in a couple of years and will be second choice in the mean time when Klos leaves at the end of the season.

He already said it was Jim Duffy so there definitely some exaggeration going on in the press.

Part of the reason we went out is that we had a "whipping boy" in the group whom everyone beat so the win against them didn't really count appart from making it a group of 4. The results between the others contrived to put us out but 3 points out of the 9 that counted was definitely not enough, we needed 4. If we'd drawn with Alkmaar it would have been interesting as the top four teams would all have had 7 points so I assume goal difference would have counted then. With a closer group you'd expect to get through with 50% the points as 60% of the teams go through. But you really need at least 7 points as you could have all five teams on 6pts but you're still not guaranteed as we've seen 4 teams could have 7 points. With 8pts or more you are definitely guaranteed to go through. With the group we have, a club like Rangers should be aiming for at least 3 wins and now we just need to win our home games to achieve that. Maccabi and Partizan are good teams on their own patch but we should be able to beat them at a full Ibrox.

I think the answer is just to use him more sparingly - he doesn't have to play every game. He's also a great guy to have on the bench and if you start him you could take him off with 30 minutes to go. At the moment, I'd keep him as sub until his fitness improves.