Danny

We didn't have the Internet in 1983 I imagine if our dark days that decade had been captured online, I daresay they'd have been pretty lemming like in their nature.

As I said in my posts, a major concern I have is Ally's 2 assistants. I'd have given my right arm for an experienced winner like Ray Wilkins to help Ally. Instead he has 2 guys who really, imho, aren't worthy of their positions yet. They've been promoted by default. So basically instead of a trusty old dog like Wilkins to aid him, he has to rely on 2 guys who basically are as new to this as he is. It's not an ideal situation, and I just hope it defies critics like me and clicks into gear as soon as possible.

I thought they had decent ownership? EDIT: Ah, they're Carson Yeung, that arrested chap. No wonder they're in trouble.

That's fair enough. Problem is none of us really want to be sitting here and saying 'yes, we've lost the league, we can now judge he was a failure'. The (at times irrational) kneejerk reactions is because people see a regime that's had a poor start, and get concerned that it will lead to a loss of the league. Some don't want to wait till we've lost before judging. They'd rather prevent that from happening. As for panicking, I'll be majorly concerned if we're not in the group stage, because that will cost us millions in revenue. But the way we've played so far this season, I can't see much evidence that we can make the group stage.

Indeed, I have been thinking back to this myself. It took him a few months then he really got to grips with the squad. And then became a force to be reckoned with. But that said he had a shitload of new players to gel. Ally doesn't have that luxury. He's basically working with the same squad that's been going for 4 years. Which is fine when we're talking about a great squad full of class players. But we don't have that. We have some top players like Naismith (albeit he's been poor so far this term), Jelavic (struggling with poor service), McGregor and Davis but far too many average players and below average players. I'd have compared the 2 regimes more explicitly had Ally made like 5 or 6 signings which went straight into the first team.

I've kept fairly quiet during our start to the season. It's been quite deliberate. I wanted to get at least a couple of competitive matches in before I made any sweeping comments. First off, fair play to those who are now starting to show concern - I had certain feelings that some people (no one in particular) might stick blindly behind the team and manager saying we'd get there and give them time. So kudos for rightly showing some worry given the fare we've been privileged to witness. There's a tsunami of observations about this season I could make but I'm not going to go that far. I'll try and keep it reasonably brief. Walter Smith, domestically (and even in Europe at times) worked absolute miracles with a truly dire squad. I said it at the time, many of us, previously myself included, took this marquee manager for granted. He was a much better manager than we could actually afford, and it was only for his love of the club that we resigned him, at which point he fixed the PLG shambles and made us champions. Ally has hit the nail on the head - it's like taking the microphone from Sinatra. In his case, he's struggling to hold it, never mind sing into it. He's on his own with frankly a very poor assistant staff, and he seems to be trying to copy Walter as much as he can, but without having the managerial knowledge yet to do it properly. His judgement has been off key so far - no one can fathom the Whittaker episode, many are disappointed to see Weir continue as playing staff, and while we can praise the fiscal responsibility the club is now showing in the transfer market, it's meant Ally's missed out on a shitload of decent new players and the squad has essentially remained more or less as it was last year. I don't want to be too hard on Ally or the squad, but neither factor is having a positive influence on the first team at the moment. From a million dire individual displays on the pitch, to Ally's confusing refusal to sub on Wylde or even Healy last night and insistence on playing the likes of Edu, nothing much is really happening in this regime which gives room for optimism. I don't want to make any crass judgements that Ally won't turn it around, and that the squad won't start playing, but the signs in every match bar maybe Blackpool have been that this squad is running on empty and Ally doesn't really have any fresh ideas to give it oxygen.

Unfortunately in the preseason matches and our first competitive one, reliability of defence has been conspicuous by its absence.

It is, he has pretty much stated that. Problem is no one's interested in him. Because, after all these years, it's evident that he's not good enough for that level.

Agreed on the wingers notion - Figo and C Ron did it too for Portugal. But in our case it wasn't done periodically throughout a game to bamboozle a defence, it was a selection choice from the start.

Disappointing, although Ally obviously believes we have to hold onto every defender we have. But Bougherra's heart is not in it at all, and he's not going to excel on the pitch as a result.

Craig, you seem to be obsessively defending your opinion more than anyone else even when no one is looking at you.

Not about martyrdom, it's about consistency, and there's been a real absence of it recently.

Mainly because everyone had a go at me and Gav for having an opinion on preseason, then made claims that they'd only worry if we started negatively against Hearts. Yet the posts I'm reading seem to be inconsistent with that. But if people REALLY want me to post a loudmouthed opinionated diatribe on the Hearts game, I will.

Fixed now.

Inter are extremely poor and are under a new manager. I'd expect a draw there.

I think the biggest problem was that he was rendered slightly impotent by not being able to use momentum. As any winger will tell you, if they're playing on the wing of their oriented foot, they will happily run at defenders, aim for the byline, and swing a cross in. He wasn't able to do that, and ended up looking more like DaMarcus Beasley - getting into dangerous territory but cutting back and either passing back to midfield or losing the ball entirely. Far too early to judge him, especially if being played out of position. But the early signs aren't especially promising.

Poor guy - hankering for a move to the riches and prestige of the EPL, and has to make do with Qatar. Thought it's being claimed we've rejected the offer. As an aside, did anyone else notice how utterly depressed he looked coming out the tunnel?

I really do want to provide some opinion on our first match but I'm still going to hold back for now and see how the next 2 or 3 games go. Dunno if I'll be able to resist opinion after the Malmo tie though...

Davis was outstanding, easy MOTM. Edu was actually reasonable, slightly better than last season. McGregor made a few crucial stops. A nod to Naismith for taking his goal well and being so heavily involved too - but it was frustrating seeing him in CM so often. One or two glaring misses as well.

In the end he was hugely mediocre. tbh his attitude was actually decent and he didn't end up in any major trouble, but he just wasn't that great a player.

Of course, not like them to hijack a Rangers signing...

No, I was suggesting those who had made claims preseason that they'd only start worrying after the first match should it go negatively were 'talking out of their arses'. I made that very clear, given I was replying to Gav's post which explicitly expressed this. So, no Craig, no nonsense here. No, because I have not fully analysed myself how I feel the first match went. So it would be innaccurate to judge it negatively or positively. It's a new regime after all, hard to judge after just one competitive game. Even if it had been a great result. Others have also not provided their opinion. Have we all just become strange after the first match Wee bit contradictory my good chum. I was making an assumption based on past posts, which you agree is a potent strategy. But one you then criticise. Odd. Fine by me. Got a long way to go before we win the league, I refuse to even think that far ahead.

I took from your rant that you were discussing the Hearts game? I didn't see a mention of any preseason games?

I'm not sure the BBC has an agenda, any more than STV do. But certain individuals within both organisations will have biases and that will affect how they report and what they report. As a whole, I wouldn't say any organisation is anti or pro Rangers, but there will be certain employees who will be.

I never said you were concerned, but then I never professed to be encouraged or concerned myself either. You made that up for yourself.