ian1964

Israeli striker Tomer Hemed could be Ally McCoist’s first signing of the summer. The 24-year-old is available on a Bosman having decided to end his time at Maccabi Haifa. Gers scout John Brown has been impressed with the forward after twice running the rule over him in recent weeks. McCoist could now swoop to add the striker to his attacking ranks for the new campaign. Maccabi president Jacob Shachar said: “We know Tomer is going to leave. He has an offer abroad. We have made him an offer to stay, but I don’t think he will.” Another name on the Gers radar is Lyon star John Mensah. A fee of around Ã?£1m may be needed to lure the defender from France. The 28-year-old was on loan at Sunderland last season and his agent, Fabien Piveteau, has said Ibrox could be the Ghana World Cup star’s next destination. “Rangers have expressed an interest in John,” claimed Piveteau, “but we are looking at other offers and taking into consideration the price tag before making a move.” Meanwhile, Kenyan internationalist Victor Wanyama has also been linked with a move to the Scottish champions. The 19-year-old, the brother of Inter Milan star McDonald Mariga, is in Belgium with Germinal Beerschot and has been watched by Hannover and Newcastle. Diouf wants to stay with Gers El-Hadji Diouf could be set to stay at Rangers next season.The player said: “As for my future at Rangers, things are looking good. “Blackburn staying up was one of the main factors. Hopefully it will be sorted as soon. I’m 100% for it.” Rangers have been told they will have to stump up to keep on-loan Don Ricky Foster. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/editor-s-picks/israeli-striker-on-ally-mccoist-s-radar-1.1103453

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_two

Craig Whyte will adopt a “business as usual” approach despite being at the centre of an Ibrox civil war. The new Rangers owner is determined to press ahead and continue with his sweeping changes as the fallout rages on from his decision to axe chairman Alastair Johnston and director Paul Murray, and suspend chief executive Martin Bain and finance director Donald McIntyre, on Monday night. Whyte is scheduled to meet new boss Ally McCoist later this week to finalise plans for squad strengthening – and also hopes to have more new board appointments confirmed shortly. Fears that his lack of experience in running a football club, especially with Bain now stood down from all day-to-day affairs, could derail plans at a crucial time were today shot down by sources close to the new owner. “It is business as usual. He has a team around him who are more than capable of dealing with contracts, financial matters and any other immediate business,” the source told SportTimes. “The suggestion Craig Whyte is a one-man band is a myth. There are several highly skilled people around him, and he also has people advising him on key football issues. “This was always going to come to a head with directors that he simply had to remove in order to move forward. None of this will derail him, he is planning to meet the manager later this week to finalise what Ally McCoist wants to do, and is continuing discussions to make key appointments.” One of those will be a new chief executive, with former Hearts commerical director and QPR MD Ali Russell believed to be a front-runner, as Bain will leave his post once contractual matters are resolved. McIntyre will also go, with a new head of finance also being sought. Whyte was said to be ‘undisturbed’ by fresh statements made by Johnston and Murray this morning that raise fresh doubts over his long-term plans and financing. He will send a document to all 26,000 club shareholders before a deadline of June 6 explaining the background to his takeover, the financial commitments and other crucial details. When asked if some of the points raised by Johnston – specifically on what funds will be given to McCoist – had any foundation the source added: “Throughout this entire transaction, Craig Whyte has continued to feel that no matter the assurances given, it would never be enough for some people who just didn’t want him to buy the club. “What is being lost somewhat is that this was a transaction between Craig Whyte, Sir David Murray and the bank. Those parties were all satisfied by what they have seen, and what Craig has provided. “So far he has spoken to Ally McCoist on a couple of occasions and pledged his backing financially. He has conducted an interview on the club’s own media channel in which he said the pledge was to invest Ã?£25million over five years in the squad, with a commitment that could be front-loaded after discussions with the manager.” http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/editor-s-picks/business-as-usual-at-ibrox-1.1103444

If he had been offered a decent contract in the first place,which his displays deserved,then he would have still been here. I don't know one single player who if was in his position wouldn't have done the same.To just not want him back for the reason you give is silly as you know he is a player who gives 100% .I wouldn't want him back if I didn't think he could do a job for the Rangers,I happen to think he would,so for me the only problem I would have with him returning would be financial.

IIRC he didn't ask for more money while he was here,but was only offered a one year extension and wanted longer,correct me if I'm wrong with this??. If I'm correct then I don't see his salary being a problem,I don't know how much Bursaspor would want for him?. I do think McCoist would be interested in bringing him back,so you never know.Would I want him back?,why not,he has proved he can be a great striker for Rangers and we will need another striker in. Again it all depends on how much this move would cost us.

JOHN MENSAH claims he is a summer target for new Rangers boss Ally McCoist. The experienced defender has just finished a controversial second loan spell at Sunderland and is due to return to Lyon this summer. Mensah, who would cost around Ã?£1 million, is attracting interest from Greece but is tempted by a possible move to Scotland and a crack at the Champions League. "It is true that Rangers have expressed interest in John, but we are looking at other offers and taking into consideration the price tag before making a move," Fabien Piveteau, the player's agent, revealed. "We have to sit with John's former club-Lyon for a better deal for both parties, for now, we are just considering some factors before taking the next plan of action.“ The 28-year-old had an injury-hit time at the Stadium of Light and also made unwanted headlines when he was involved in a dressing room bust-up with Nedhum Onuoha after a defeat against Wolves earlier this month. Ã?¬ John Mensah claims he is a summer target for new Rangers boss Ally McCoist Ã?® That saw Sunderland boss Steve Bruce decide not to take up the option to buy Mensah. Rangers are currently looking to add to their central defensive options with captain Davie Weir still to agree an extension and Madjid Bougherra entering the final year of his deal. Rangers hope to kick-start their transfer activity when McCoist returns from America later this week. Out-of-contract Scotland star James McFadden is on his radar, along with Blackpool winger Jason Puncheon and the Dundee United pairing of Craig Conway and David Goodwillie. McCoist also hopes to try and thrash out a deal to keep on-loan Aberdeen defender Ricky Foster and would be keen to take fellow defender Kyle Bartley back from Arsenal. Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/248705/Ally-McCoist-keen-on-John-MensahAlly-McCoist-keen-on-John-MensahAlly-McCoist-keen-on-John-Mensah#ixzz1NLxcMgVs STV running with this as well http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/rangers/252074-rangers-in-for-ghana-defender-john-mensah/

Rangers Chase John Mensah Revelations emanating from the corridors of Black Stars captain, John Mensah points to the fact that reigning Scottish league leaders Rangers are pursuing the strongman. The Scottish giants have expressed keen interest in the Ghana captain and indications are that Mensah is considering all the options. Rangers, the newly-crowned SPL champions, after emerging tops with 93 points and beating rivals Celtic with just a point, want to fortify the squad ahead of next season's Champions League, hence the interest in the Black Stars skipper. 'It is true that Rangers have expressed interest in John, but we are looking at other offers and taking into consideration the price tag before making a move,' Fabien Piveteau, the player's agent said in an interview. According to the agent, a top-notch Greece side has also expressed interest in the defender. 'We have to sit with John's former club-Lyon for a better deal for both parties, for now, we are just considering some factors before taking the next plan of action,' Fabien added. Steve Bruce rested Mensah in their last game against relegated West Ham when the Black Cats snatched a 3-0 away win. The decision to rest the libero was to allow him enough rest for the Black Stars assignments in the next few days. Mensah is expected home from his UK base tomorrow for the Michael Essien peace match involving African XI and World XI. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/soccer/artikel.php?ID=208905

http://leggoland2.blogspot.com/2011/05/now-whyte-chases-spin-king-exclusive.html

I also think McCoist would be interested in bringing Miller back

EVEN before Craig Whyte removed him from the board on Monday evening, Alastair Johnston had a deep-seated suspicion about the new owner of Rangers. We can only guess how he is feeling now. There must have been considerable animus in the air the other night. Johnston, we can only assume, must have been furious. It was no surprise that Johnston spoke yesterday. As far as valedictory speeches go, though, his was a let-down. This was his chance to go nuclear in his war against Whyte, his opportunity to put meat on the bones of all those things he has been hinting at for a while now, all these comments he's made about Whyte maybe not being the right person to take Rangers forward, all that questioning of his motivation and his money. If Johnston had damaging information about Whyte, yesterday, in the hour of the former chairman's humiliation, was the time to produce it in one heavyweight interview. But he produced nothing bar more of the same. The same old generalisations expressed in the manner of the drama queen. "He needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk," said Johnston. Funny, that. Some would argue that, when Whyte gave Lloyds Banking Group �£18m, that was a fairly clear signal that he wasn't just a mouth almighty. We'll all see soon enough how he meets his promise of significant investment in the transfer market, but the �£18m has already changed hands. It's done. Lloyds are virtually off Rangers' back. But Johnston seems to give Whyte no credit for that, which is odd because, until Whyte turned up, that's all Johnston seemed to be banging on about - the debt, the bank and the damage done. Rangers people will recall that when Johnston took over as chairman his stated ambition was to find an owner for the club. He spoke about it at length. He wanted to rid Rangers of debt by finding somebody among his fabulously-wealthy milieu who would buy the thing from Sir David Murray. Johnston found nobody. His great contribution to the ownership debate has been to try and scupper things. If he has had substantial misgivings about Whyte, he has not really elaborated on them. If he sees something hair-raising in Whyte's plan for the club he has not said what it is. Who's talking the talk and walking the walk in this story? All he said is that he wonders if Whyte has the money he says he has, while ignoring the fact that Whyte has already handed over �£18m to get Rangers out of the financial pit that they were in. Johnston saw trouble in the Whyte proposal and yet he was apparently content with the flim-flam of Paul Murray's "bid". And yesterday we heard some pearlers from him. You could almost hear the cattiness in his voice when he spoke (yet again, just in case we missed it before) of his lifelong devotion to Rangers. He said he was a Rangers fan - "a real one". That's presumably a snide go at Whyte, who he may see as not a real fan at all, certainly not as real as Al. But then who is? Johnston has, more than once, called himself the club's "number one fan". So there you go, all you people spending your hard-earned money on season tickets and programmes and DVDs and jerseys and hats and scarves and flags, the man in America who pays for nothing says his devotion is greater. He says that the fans "need to remain vigilant and continue to exert pressure on Mr Whyte to support the club financially as he has publicly committed to do". Here's a question for Al. Does he think the Rangers fans are thick? If Whyte doesn't invest the money he has said he will invest, does Al think the fans won't notice? Does he reckon the average Bear will be sitting at Ibrox watching Davie Weir playing into his mid-40s and thinking "I know Whyte hasn't kept one of his promises, but I can't remember what it is"? "As far as I'm concerned," said Johnston, "the next time we see a photograph of him (Whyte] holding up the SPL trophy, let us all hope - especially me - that he has earned the right to do it." "Especially me." The number one fan, remember. Johnston reckons it's not what Whyte says that is the key thing, it's what he does. And with that insightful piece of analysis, he was gone. By Tom English http://sport.scotsman.com/rangersfc/Tom-English-Selfstyled-No1-fan.6773941.jp?articlepage=2

BITTER acrimony broke out at Rangers yesterday as the new regime dismantled the old board with the removal of the chairman and a director, and the suspension of the chief executive and another director. Alastair Johnston, who has openly questioned new owner Craig Whyte's plans for the club, was ousted after delaying his departure, and last night he responded by warning Whyte he will watch the venture capitalist's every step from now on, and challenged the new owner to "walk the walk and not just talk the talk". On a day of major ructions at Ibrox, it has emerged that chief executive Martin Bain and finance director Donald McIntyre have been suspended from their posts, pending an internal inquiry. The nature of the inquiry is not yet known. Another director, Paul Murray, was unsurprisingly removed just weeks after launching a counter-bid for Rangers at a late stage in the takeover. Johnston had been asked to tender his resignation by Whyte during a board meeting on Monday. When Johnston refused he was removed. "It was anticipated that I would be stepping down, in fact I thought I would be stepping down earlier but the board felt I should stay on until the takeover process had settled down," he said last night. "I was asked to resign but I said no as a matter of principle. I can't walk away from an assignment which I was asked to undertake." Johnston has clearly been riled by photographs of Whyte holding the Scottish Premier League trophy, won by the club just nine days into the new owner's reign. The deposed chairman said: "I'm not going to make any comment with respect to the current circumstances at the current time, except that I will say - as a lifelong Rangers fan and a real one - that the 26,000 other shareholders in Rangers, as well as the hundreds of thousands of other supporters need to remain vigilant and continue to exert pressure on Mr Whyte to support the club financially as he has publicly committed to do. "As far as I'm concerned, the next time we see a photograph of him holding up the SPL trophy, let us all hope - especially me - that he has earned the right to do it." Johnston had expressed doubts about Whyte during the protracted takeover of Sir David Murray's majority shareholding and put his name to a statement from the independent board committee, publicly revealing a shared scepticism over the new owner's ability to fund his pledges for Rangers. Johnston had indicated previously that he would step down at the end of the season. This was later delayed with the agreement of Whyte, pending the disclosure of more details about the buy-out to shareholders. This information is due on or before 6 June but Whyte has nevertheless acted to sever Johnston's ties to the club prior to the submittal of this circular. "I think the biggest force for change at Rangers is for Mr Whyte to appreciate that there are thousands of fans who are going to police his activities," added Johnston. "Not what he says, but what he does." Some fans will not shed a tear over the new board's actions in regard to Bain, whose relationship with the Ibrox support has often been strained. His suspension, pending an internal inquiry, could bring to an end the Ibrox career of one of the club's most high-profile officials of recent years. Both Bain and McIntyre were told to stay away from Ibrox during a board meeting on Monday. They remain on the board at this stage but have been suspended on full pay. Bain is currently in the United States on a charity white-water rafting expedition with Walter Smith and Ally McCoist, between whom the managerial reins have recently passed. Reports published online yesterday speculated on the reasons behind Bain's sudden suspension, but lawyers acting on the chief executive's behalf contacted newsdesks in the afternoon to alert them that the claims were being treated as "grossly defamatory". Yesterday's events will heighten speculation linking Ali Russell to the club. The former deputy managing director of Queens Park Rangers, who was commercial director at Hearts and head of marketing at the Scottish Rugby Union, was present in the Ibrox directors' box for Whyte's first game in charge, against Hearts, and is said to be close to the new owner. Whyte has already made one new appointment at the club, immediately bringing on board his business partner Phil Betts when the takeover was completed. Further appointments to strengthen the board are expected to be made in the next two to three weeks. Directors John Greig, John McClelland and Dave King will remain on the board for the time being. Club legend Greig and former chairman McClelland, the vice-chairman of the influential European Club Association, were present in the room to hear Johnston and Murray being instructed to resign via a conference call. The news of Johnston and Murray's departure was confirmed in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday morning. "The board announces that on 23 May 2011 Alastair Johnston and Paul Murray were removed as directors of the Rangers Football Club PLC," read the statement. "The directors of the Rangers Football Club PLC accept responsibility for this announcement." Rangers also announced yesterday that Cairn Financial Advisers LLP PLUS has been appointed as corporate adviser to the company with immediate effect. Asked to expand on the reasons for the departures and suspensions, a source close to Whyte said: "Craig Whyte has no comment to make on what is an internal matter." http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport/Ructions-at-Rangers-as-old.6773931.jp?articlepage=2

KENNY MILLER has refused to rule out a sensational return to Ibrox this summer - for a THIRD time. The Scotland skipper admitted: I miss Rangers. Miller, 31, quit Gers in January after Bursaspor offered him a staggering deal worth �£50,000 a week, but his family haven't settled. Miller said: "Things can change in football and if opportunities arise you have to look at them. I said that for the last year and a half at Rangers. You never know what's around the corner. "If something popped up out of the woodwork then you have to look at it. "There is no point in dwelling on anything when there is no decision to be made. As things stand I have two years left at Bursaspor. "Obviously you hear about things being said back home. "I don't think it will happen, although you never know. "I loved my two and a half years at Rangers in my second spell. "I was placed in a position in January where I only had one option - and that was to go. "I saw them lifting the League Cup and while I was delighted for the lads it was hard watching it. "I felt I was such a big part of it in the last year and if I'm honest I have missed it. "I missed working with the gaffer, I also missed working with Coisty, Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant every day. "I missed playing with the lads at Ibrpx. To have those special days at the end of the season when you are going for a title is something else. "The last day of the Turkish season was on the same day as Rangers' last league game at Kilmarnock and within five minutes of kick-off it was all over. "All I was thinking about then was what the party was going to be like. "It was another medal and it meant so much to the club. "You do miss it. I wouldn't be human if I didn't feel that." Miller knows things could now be different for him had he stayed at Gers with new owner Craig Whyte now handing bigger and better deals to the SPL champions' star men. He added: "You never know, it might not have changed anything. I don't see too much happening so far yet, nothing much has changed. "Whether it might have changed I'm not sure. It would drive you crazy if you started thinking about things like that. "I do miss being there, but at the time I felt I had no choice but to go." Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/3599239/Miller-I-miss-Gers-so-much.html#ixzz1NJa03Ny8

Welcome to gersnet mate. I'm not really advocating Burke to return,but it does make me wonder if he could still do a job for us??,so I guess I'm saying if the price,wages, is right maybe worth a shout. Although I'd rather have Weiss but that goes without saying

Bain now to sue Whyte,according to the Record http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/695/bain.jpg/ and Miller wants to come home

I enjoyed it mate. It really is tough for these guys when they are so young and their whole world is turned upside down when they are told they are not wanted. Jordan Mcmillan has one year left on his Rangers contract,so it's make or break for him.I see Chris Burke is a free agent now!!

I think AJ should just keep his mouth shut,I don't know why he is coming out telling us fans to be wary??,we have been wary for years now as to whether we are going to die as a club while he has been on the board. CW has taken over and has made promises to take us forward,we can do nothing now but hope he does just that.SDM allowed CW to take over the Rangers so he must see something in him, I'm just glad Murray has gone and now let's look forward to a new era and new people in charge.

BBC2 21:00

3-0 now,ah well.

1-0 roi.......................

Just kicked off for any bored fitba junkies:grin:

Nothing to see here,sweep sweep

TIDMRFC Rangers Football Club P.L.C. (the "Company") Change of adviser The board announces that Cairn Financial Advisers LLP has been appointed PLUS Corporate Adviser to the Company with immediate effect. The Directors of The Rangers Football Club P.L.C. accept responsibility for this announcement. END (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 24, 2011 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT) http://www.plus-sx.com/newsItem.html;jsessionid=E225B348117D25B714DE70508DF05A69?newsId=1200999 http://www.cairnfin.com/

I agree. CW seems to be having a clear out,which can only be good. Still uneasy with it all the same

Champions Rangers party at Ibrox http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/13406674.stm :spl::spl::spl:

The worrying thing for me is we still don't know anything about CW???. It is a wee bit uncomfortable with me just now.