Danny

Not at that stage of his career though. Earlier yes, but by that point he was not the player he was at his peak. Quite some way off it. Last time he gave a world class display in Europe was probably the Porto match at Ibrox in 2005.

Slightly blue-tinted specs there - Marseille destroyed us at Ibrox until McSwegan's wonder header 20 minutes from the end. Then the tide astonishingly turned and we equalised. We didn't come close to giving them a game, we just managed to avoid being completely hammered. Then somehow scraped a draw at the end. It wasn't much different at the Vellodrome tbh. Marseille were far too good for everyone in Europe - whether we could have beaten Milan we will never know. But we couldn't beat Marseille. And neither could anyone else. Domestic match fixing aside.

I agree completely on the point about EBT - it all stems from this - whose idea was it? http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/employee-benefit-trusts.htm For anyone (such as myself) not fully clear on what it means. I understand it all relates to offshore payments made to avoid tax on big wages and transfers back in the day. It seems to be the crucial part which caused our financial meltdown.

Jelavic has done ok here, but his goal ratio in Austria was actually fairly mediocre. 25 in 70 in a league arguably worse than ours. He's also only scored twice for Croatia in 17 attempts. Maybe 'gamble' isn't the right word but he certainly did not come with a stunning track record. Hooper was more certain - he was scoring pretty regularly at a higher level than the SPL (Championship) with over 1 every 2 matches.

I have to say the it's very intriguing that not one mention has been made of our 2008 squad who made the final of the Uefa Cup. Not even a mention, never mind a claim that they're the best side in our history. I think we can probably agree that team was a long way off being one of our most illustrious teams, despite it having Cuellar and Hutton - but I find it curious that a final we lauded at the time for reaching, when our fans went mental over getting to that final...is barely even mentioned these days. At the time while I was delighted we got there, it didn't come close to the experience of 93 for me.

It was quite an impressive level of pessimism outdoing even me!

You say this, but the truth is when was the last time we were happy selling any of our players? No one wants to sell their better players, and we're always gutted to lose top performers.

We really are in the kind of market you'd expect from a first division side. Trialists, out-of-contracts, youth players. That said, we have no money, so what option do we have?

Then Chelsea are also stuttering without substance and will struggle to get anywhere. We're both in similar boats in astonishingly different seas.

Ah mad mad Mario. Boy's a nutter.

We need a RW and CMs. Plus strikers.

I'm exceptionally concerned about our fortunes at the moment. Since Naismith got injured our form has been extremely scrappy at best, thoroughly poor at worst, and downright inconsistent. Today's team was basically the strongest we have to field, with the exception of Lafferty and Naismith, and once again it struggled. Aluko hasn't made any difference, apart from impressing a few people with some pace and trickery, and none of our other players, in a creative sense, seem willing or able to step up and impact on our performances. In our last 10 matches we've only won 5. Put simply, that's not the form of a team anywhere near winning the league. Since Naismith got injured, I've kept nagging on at McCoist to find an answer, to solve the absence of such an influential player. He hasn't come close to managing it - I don't fully blame him for failing to compensate for such a loss, but he is the man charged with our fortunes and the buck stops with him. Add to that a host of top players who are completely out of form or patchy at best and this team is currently going nowhere. My only positive about how we're doing right now is the form of Bocanegra and Wallace. Healy's wasted his last 2 opportunities to shine by being too profligate, Jelavic's touch is beyond horrible, McGregor has been been adequate (made quite a few uncharacteristic howlers this season) and no more, and Davis is only performing in small patches. Edu's done 'ok' but we need better than 'ok'. Thankfully the rest of the SPL are pitifully horrendous beyond words otherwise we might not be so comfortable in second place as we are.

http://ibroxnoise.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-king-carlos.html Latest blog. An appraisal of Carlos Bocanegra, and just what a coup it was getting a player of his quality on board.

I disagree. If we knew back then the full truth about his past not a single fan would have supported his takeover.

I can't really comment on the 72 team as I wasn't around back then, but I know we beat some massive sides to win that cup. It's been said we had a harder time winning that cup than timmy did winning in 67. But in my lifetime the best Rangers side was of course the one Bluedell refers to in 92/93. It was one match/a few goals away from making the CL final.

If there really is a bit of a bidding war going on here we could possibly get 8M+ for him.

Interestingly his former side GAIS actually finished higher than the Swedish giants Gothenburg. All of whom fell well behind a certain side we lost to earlier in the season... He's a good age, and seems to be having a reasonable career - hopefully he hits the ground running with us and proves a worthy acquisition.

We're building up quite a relationship with Milan. The 2-2 friendly when Kaka scored, and now this. Very good cause too. Would have been nice to see Gullit turn out for the Rossoneri but you can't have everything.

Doesn't matter, Davis confirmed today as the formal club captain. Boca vice.

In theory as much as I love that notion, I'd rather retain him on the notion he wants to be here. He's being professional enough, and doing his job, and has never acted with the indiginity of the likes of Bougherra, for example, but it's pretty clear and widely known he would like to leave for a better league/team. I know someone on this forum actually met him the other day and he told them he wants to stay, which is nice to hear, but I wouldn't expect him to say anything else. Bottom line is I'd rather he wanted to stay, and was happy here, as opposed to not being able to leave and being stuck here. The simple difference has been his performances - last year as well as the goals he was a real piece of work up front. This season all that sparkle has gone and he's been little more than goals.

As much as Craig Burley was a cock during the St Johnstone match, he was spot on in disbelief that we were interested in such an average player. As for Jelavic...the 2 concrete offers we've received have been from average Championship sides Leicester and West Ham. Neither bid went over £6.5M. Dare I say it, he's not as in demand as we would like to believe, and no EPL outfit seems that interested at all.

All sounds quite promising but my gripe (you knew there was one) is he's supposedly primarily a left winger. We're not exactly short there!

What I meant was he's the best of a bad bunch right now. As S_A put it he's a 7/10 while the rest are about 5.

You're right, that's why I said 'imply'. The fawning over his performances is slightly OTT imo. Yes it was. We also lost to St Mirren with him in the side in the second half.

If Ally asked Davis directly I think he'd read between the lines and see Ally doesn't want him to be captain any more.