ian1964

Calm your nerves

Good job your no playing the day then.......................:boogie:

No nerves here mate. Excitement and pride,but no nerves.

CRAIG WHYTE faces his first big test as Rangers owner in the next 48 hours - as Bursaspor launch a bid for Allan McGregor. Sport of the World can reveal the Turks have leaped ahead of Spurs in the race for the keeper. A high-powered Bursaspor delegation will jet in to Glasgow tomorrow, keen to seal a speedy �£4million deal for the Scotland star. The Turks plan to meet Ibrox representatives, believed to include chief executive Martin Bain, within the next 24 hours after waiting impatiently for weeks to start negotiations. Bursa originally reached an agreement to hold talks last month, but Gers opted not to discuss any sale during the title run-in. Now that delay could prove to be Bursaspor's downfall, with Whyte sweeping to power and pledging to cough up to keep the fans' favourite. And Bursa's frustration could even open the door to a sensational Ibrox return for Kenny Miller. Bursaspor boss Ertugral Saglam is so determined to get his man it's believed he may consider offering unsettled striker Miller. Whyte now has to decide if he is to spend a fortune bumping up McGregor's wages to put him on a long-term six-year deal worth �£30,000-a-week. Or use Bursaspor's cash to add to the �£10m transfer kitty he has already set aside for Ally McCoist to rebuild for next season.

Ally McCoist eyeing Lee Wallace as Rangers prepare to open chequebook NEW Rangers manager Ally McCoist's first target for a big-money summer transfer bid is likely to be Hearts defender Lee Wallace. Even before he takes over the reins at Ibrox, McCoist has been looking at replacements for Sasa Papac, the Bosnian international who turned down the offer of a contract during the January transfer window and is a free agent after today's match with Kilmarnock. Papac has already been linked with possible moves to Birmingham City and Dinamo Zagreb and McCoist believes the 23-year-old Wallace, who is currently out with an ankle injury, is the ideal man to slot in at left back. Wallace, who has been capped five times, has 12 months left on his deal at Tynecastle so Hearts face a dilemma because he will greatly diminish in market value if he does not sign a new contract or move on this summer, and he would be a free agent this time next year. Rangers would need the formal approval of Hearts director Sergejus Fedotovas to speak to Wallace, but he would merely be rubber-stamping the agreement of owner Vladimir Romanov to allow a deal to proceed. It may be that, with Hearts having just announced a small profit, Romanov will feel able to keep a player recognised as a prime asset for the Tynecastle club at least until the next transfer window in January. Should he decide to cash in on Wallace now, Romanov would undoubtedly drive a hard bargain, not least because it is one of the Old Firm who are buying. It is well-known that McCoist plans to sign Dundee United's Craig Conway on a free transfer, but he hopes to persuade new owner Craig Whyte to stump up the likely seven figure sum that Wallace will cost. Hearts are anxious to secure deals with several players who are out of contract or whose contracts must be extended after today's final match against Dundee United. Janos Balogh, Ismael Bouzid, Ruben Palazuelos and Rudi Skacel are all in this category and manager Jim Jefferies said yesterday the club would be talking to their agents this week. Jefferies also spoke to Fedotovas during the week regarding his own signing targets. "He deals with agents of players out of contract," said Jefferies. "Any targets we've got, he has that information. Everything was put on hold until we finished third, so it's a case of trying to get to these players before other clubs. The targets we have will have options to go elsewhere." http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Ally-McCoist-eyeing-Lee-Wallace.6768442.jp

No mate,I won't be through to the club,I just said it sounded like a plan,however I will stick to my original plan,down to the local for an all day sesh

I put this in the football chat,but think it deserves to be in here. 1:55 and onwards. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0112zbr/Off_the_Ball_14_05_2011/

1:55 and onwards http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0112zbr/Off_the_Ball_14_05_2011/

Security at tomorrow's Scottish Premier League title deciders involving Celtic and Rangers is to be, in the words of Strathclyde Police, "as big an operation as we have ever mounted". More than 1,000 officers will be deployed across the region. There will be a "ring of steel" around Celtic Park and at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock. If this is to be the face of Scottish football, it is a deeply depressing prospect. No less depressing is the view that we are witnessing the surfacing of anti-Catholicism endemic across all walks of Scottish life. While sectarian violence and boorish behaviour are to be deplored, it is deeply inaccurate and inflammatory to suggest this is but one manifestation of more widespread hatred and intolerance of Catholics. The vast majority of Scots simply do not recognise their country in this caricature. Others may well see it as an attempt to deflect attention from the need for club officials to take responsibility. But such is the extremity of thinking behind the assertion this is a problem for which all non-Catholics shoulder some blame, even attempts at reasoned denial are denounced as evidence of the depth of prejudice. Denial becomes evidence for the prosecution - maybe Celtic chairman John Reid hasn't quite left his Communist days behind. Certainly, we must be vigilant in seeking to repel, isolate and eradicate sectarianism, but this is a symptom of wider social problems like the culture of drug and alcohol abuse and violence fed and fuelled at football grounds. Celtic cannot shrug off their responsibilities. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/opinion/Leader-Celtic-also-have-a.6767978.jp

Unbelievably Celtic intend to play the song Something Inside So Strong at Parkhead tomorrow. The song has been hijacked and became a favourite with IRA prisoners in the H-Blocks, and subsequently with a section of Celtic fans. Indeed, the former commanding officer of the PIRA prisoners in the Maze prison Brendan ââ?¬Å?Bikââ?¬Â McFarlane performs a version of it with the band he formed upon his release. t is also popular with other republican bands. McFarlane is himself a sectarian mass-murderer - he was jailed for life for a bomb attack on a Protestant bar, survivors escaping the bar were then fired upon, as the murderers escaped they then machne-gunned a taxi rank composed of women and children. Five people died (three men and two women). Itââ?¬â?¢s almost beyond belief that Celtic FC would allow this. Borrowed from another forum.

http://leggoland2.blogspot.com/2011/05/mccoist-whyte-summit-exclusive.html

C****c FC,never defeated always cheated,since 1888

I'm wondering if this has been the mHedias' aim all along with their campaign??.

1-0 Blackburn

By Glenn Gibbons Were WH Auden still around to take a poet's view of present-day Scotland, he might well be inclined to make an amendment to Funeral Blues, the elegiac verse now probably his most famous work through John Hannah's moving recital in Four Weddings And A Funeral. To the lines, "Stop all the clocks/Cut off the telephone," the old romantic might have been sufficiently soured to add, "Close down the websites/The game is dead". When, as manager of Celtic, he cursed the proliferation of newspaper hotlines and radio phone-ins, Gordon Strachan was ridiculed in some quarters for painting a picture of those filling the airwaves and columns as low-browed, semi-literate knuckle-draggers with a can of Kestrel lager in their hands and a "devil dug" at their feet. By comparison, many of the numbskulls currently bombarding internet forums with extremely virulent strains of malice make Strachan's depictions look like leading figures of The Enlightenment. While it would be patently absurd to argue that every poster in cyberspace is a half-witted monster, no amount of relatively innocent wind-up sarcasm between more civilised fans can possibly counter-balance the kind of viciousness that has led to the delinquency witnessed at Tynecastle on Wednesday. On the morning after the attack on Neil Lennon, the first post on The Scotsman's thread expressed an untypically articulate, blessedly balanced plea for an end to the outrageous behaviour and highlighted contributory factors to the insanity among several parties, including, naturally, both halves of the Old Firm. Within no time, the same person was back on, noting that the "debate" had descended into the mire even quicker than he or she had anticipated, ending his short condemnation with, "I'm outta here". Curiously, the lifetime of these electronic outlets for every cretin in the country has coincided with the years of deterioration in the standard of Scottish football, possibly even towards demise in its traditional form. But, as the level of performance has declined, media coverage has expanded and supporters' hostility intensified. It is infinitely depressing that so much rage can be generated over a game that isn't worth the breath. At least some of the inflammatory language and dangerous prejudices can be stifled through the simple expedient of disabling the vehicles on which they are conveyed. Newspapers could start by closing forums that don't even bring any revenue. And before anyone starts howling about the denial of freedom of speech, he or she should bone up on the difference between blunt speaking and criminal incitement. As has been said often enough before, nobody, for example, has the right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theatre. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/football/Glenn-Gibbons-Fan-forums-are.6768062.jp Aye,right ye are Gibbons,you mHdeia chunts would love that eh?,CLOWN.

Kicking off now,if Manure win they win the league

A TERRIFIED mum today told how she has been forced to flee her home after coming under siege when her address was wrongly linked to the man accused of attacking Celtic manager Neil Lennon. Jackie Wilson has received more than 2000 threatening phone calls in the last two days along with hate mail after a Celtic fan posted her full Stenhouse address and telephone number online. Police have confirmed she is not linked to John Wilson who has appeared in court charged with assaulting Lennon during the match at Tynecastle on Wednesday night and remanded in custody. But Miss Wilson, 35, said the calls and abuse against her and her two daughters was continuing including threats to "rape", "bomb", and "cut your throats". Bizarrely, pranksters have also sent several unordered pizzas and takeaways to the property. Police have now offered the family safehouse accommodation and they are monitoring all calls made and packages sent to the property. They have also set up a panic button in case the family is attacked and are performing hourly patrols in the Stenhouse area. Today the tearful mum-of-two said they were packing up to leave the area. She has already sent her 12-year-old daughter, Becky, to stay with friends, and the family don't stay at the house at night. Sitting next to her 18-year-old daughter Cherisse, the phone rang constantly as Miss Wilson told of her ordeal. She said: "We've had all manner of threatening calls, with people saying they're coming to slash our throats, coming to bomb us, coming to rape us and coming to get us. Then we've had people call to congratulate John Wilson and offer to take him for a pint. "The phone has been running off the hook since 10am on Thursday and we've easily had over 2000 calls. We have a life, my kid has to go to school, but careless thugs are disrupting everything. Some cars come by, stop, and look in at us. "Whoever did this has cost me my job. I was doing promotions for a nightclub that's due to open in two weeks, but my boss said they don't want to be dragged into all this. I've had to send Becky away to friends. This behaviour is devastating and disgusting. My dad and brother are both called John Wilson, but they have no connection to this John Wilson." Cherisse added: "I've had Facebook messages and 50 people I don't know have tried to add me as a friend. I keep posting messages to say John Wilson does not live at our address." Miss Wilson, who grew up in Broomhouse, said police had offered them safe temporary accommodation. She said she felt they might have no choice but to go into hiding. She said: "This whole thing is disgusting. It's diabolical that people could react this way to something on the football pitch. It's meant to be a game, not violent and ugly. We've been dragged into this for no reason, my kids are scared. We can't sleep and are staying with friends at night. No doubt it'll get worse at the weekend when people get drunk. I'm not a big fan of football, but I am a Hearts fan. "We're getting out of here because of this. We're living in a private rented flat, and now we're looking for something out of this area. But they won't stop us smiling." Lothian and Borders Police said they were investigating the calls to the family. Chief Inspector Kevin Greig said: "There have been numerous calls to this address since Wednesday night, and it is causing a considerable amount of anxiety to the residents. "It is a criminal offence to intimidate, threaten or harass an individual, and we will robustly pursue anyone identified as being involved. We would remind people that a man has been charged and appeared in court in connection with the assault." http://news.scotsman.com/news/Family-driven-out-by-Neil.6768163.jp?articlepage=2

The_Bhoy_Kristov 12 May 2011, 10:30 PM Post #1766 Member Avatar Ghost CSC Group: Members Favourite all-time player Paul McStay I'd love to say that the Huns will slip up on Sunday but i can't see it, i think Kilmarnock will probably be lubing themselves up for the inevitable Hun love-in. However, as many others have said tonight, the title they'll undoubtedly win is a tainted and tarnished one after everything that has happened this season. Whatever happens, we shall rebuild and then conquer next season. I am absolutely confident of that. Neil Lennon has brought pride and passion back to our club and most of all, the thunder. Here's to the future of Celtic Football Club under Neil Lennon. 12 May 2011, 10:55 PM Post #1771 Member Avatar First team training Group: Members They want it badly. The most tainted piece of silver in Scotland. Hopefully they'll want it too badly and they'll just be ever so slightly off key. If ever a goalie could do with the game of his life and a clean sheet. Big_dave_greenock_1888 12 May 2011, 10:57 PM Post #1773 Member Avatar Celtic To The Core Group: Snr. Member If there is a god he would make sure we'll be holding that title aloft on Sunday Not over yet Glasgow Road 12 May 2011, 03:17 PM Post #1745 Member Avatar Everyone's Fantasy Football first pick Group: Members The thought of the evil poisonous scum who are behind this torrent of hate, bombs, bullets, attacks etc jumping about with glee if the huns win on Sunday is turning my stomach, so I am focusing on us and us alone. We, as a side have came a long long way in 12 months. We, as a support have came a long long way in 12 months. We, as a club on whole have come a long way, the whole persona of the club and everything about has changed for the better, yes granted we may not end up being champions on Sunday, but we are all champions in my eyes. Just over a year ago I sat in Love St watching as the heart had been ripped out my club as we conceded 4 goals and our side wandered off the pitch with heads bowed in shame as around me fans turned on each other, that night was just as low as I've felt since Raith Rovers in 94. One year on from there and look what we have, a manager who has within him everything we have wanted in these last few seasons, heart, passion, drive, determination, guts in abundance,but for me away from bringing back the thunder and all the outside chaos Neil Lennon has transformed our side as a unit, he has galvanised a solid and unbreakable rapport between players/staff/fans that had been missing in the last few seasons, he has brought in classy and hard working determined players that we as a club haven't seen for a while, and a platform has been built for this young side to go on and be a strong successful unit for years to come. So to all the doom and gloomers who are harping on about how we have 'blown' it and 'thrown' it away, sit back for a minute and just think of a year ago and the Love St situation, if you told me that night that one year on we will be going into the last game of the season playing for the title and having just had the most entering season of football for years then I would have burst with joy, at this minute I am bursting with pride, we have come a long way and the future is looking good. Lets go there on Sunday and raise the roof, in my eyes the team and management have had a tremendous season and have given me my Celtic back. Thank you Lenny, here is to the future inkworks 12 May 2011, 03:50 PM Post #1748 Member Avatar Getting noticed in the reserves Group: Members Favourite all-time player Alan Thompson I think Rangers will win the league. I was gutted after the ICT game but I've come to accept it now. I love being a Celtic fan and I am so proud of our manager and players this year. I hope Parkhead is jumping on Sunday no matter which way it goes. We should show those huns that we don't give a toss about them and that we love our team no matter what. ETA: I think we'll walk the league next season shugmc 12 May 2011, 04:12 PM Post #1749 Member Avatar Return of the Thin White Duke Group: Snr. Member If the huns scrape it on the last day*, after everything that's happened, f*ck them. They'd better enjoy it. It'll be their last for a while. Neil Lennon's still in a job. That's a victory in itself. One Neil Lennon. Munich Tim 12 May 2011, 04:24 PM Post #1753 Member Avatar Where there is Hooper, there is hope... Group: Snr. Member Favourite all-time player Lothar Matth�¤us I've asked my dad not to go to Rugby Park on Sunday...just in case the unlikely happens and they do lose the title. I'd fear for his safety. Jarvis 12 May 2011, 12:06 PM Post #1724 Member Avatar Hun YouTube montage fail Group: Snr. Member they can stick their title up their arse henrikisgod 12 May 2011, 12:28 PM Post #1739 Member Avatar Club Captain Group: Snr. Member Favourite all-time player henrik larsson If the huns are happy with a league tainted by death threats and violence then its simply a measure of how shallow they are and how it's glory at any cost for them A final twist in the tale would be fantastic but it's more in hope than expectation Show the animals what a true supporter is on Sunday Scream at the top of your lungs at the end of the game, regardless of how results have gone Celebrate our managers courage & our players ability Celebrate the fact that we as a support do it for the love of our club not for the reflected glory the tarnished baubles of Scottish Football offer Celtic are all about love, the huns are simply a reaction to us Josecuervo 12 May 2011, 07:01 AM Post #1710 Member Avatar First-team starter Group: Members Favourite all-time player Bobbbbyyyy Evans Even if we dont I will be a bit gutted, but sill hold my head high. If it takes all the shampooe that has went on this year to stop us wining the league, then they can have it tbh. henriks4heid 12 May 2011, 07:04 AM Post #1712 Member Avatar GIRFUY Group: Snr. Member Favourite all-time player Sony Walkman if there is any justice we will win this league Henrik The King 11 May 2011, 10:38 PM Post #1683 Member Avatar Older than dirt Group: Snr. Member If there is any justice in this world we will somehow end up winning the league. It's the bare-minimum Lenny deserves for the disgusting behaviour he has been subjected to since he arrived in Scotland. Quiet Assasin 11 May 2011, 11:34 PM Post #1693 Member Avatar Gallant Pioneer Group: Snr. Member Favourite all-time player Chris Sutton Don't think it's going to happen for us, but I think tonight's incident firmly puts everything in perspective. I'm proud of the way that Lennon and this club have stood up against everything this season. We're treated like shampooe and hated. Our manager is wrongly vilified and stands firm in the face of the most grave adversity. If we do win the league it will be a special, special moment. If not, I still feel like Celtic have won. Thanks Neil

briano Today, 8:23 AM Post #1923 Member Avatar Occasional Substitute Group: Members Favourite all-time player jorge cadette I'd love us to win this title, but conversely if we dont I wont be as upset as i have in the past, The progress thats been made this season has been incredible, to be still in the race on the last day after all that has gone on this season is a phenomenal achievement, if the Huns win it it is TAINTED, and i'll console myself in the knowledge that it will be there last for a long time, God bless you Neil for bringing back the thunder celticchampions Today, 8:26 AM Post #1924 Member Avatar . Group: Snr. Member Was gutted after Inverness. I'm over it now, what will be, will be. If the huns canter it on sunday ICGAF, I'll still be in paradise singing for the bhoys, roll on the Lennon Cup Final. junglebob62 Yesterday, 10:50 PM Post #1901 Member Avatar junglebob62 Group: Members if we win this i dont think i could hold back the tears , for all lenny has gone through this year i :pray: that we can do it for him , id walk out of cp as happy as i was the day we stopped them winning ten Gonga Yesterday, 10:53 PM Post #1902 Member Avatar NIUBI Group: Snr. Member Think this would be the sweetest moment of my Celtic supporting life if we were to win this. In fact, if I had the choice between winning in Seville in 2003, or taking the title tomorrow, I would take the league tomorrow. Whatever the outcome, what a effing man Neil Lennon is. delbhoy88 Yesterday, 11:17 PM Post #1910 Member Avatar Getting noticed in the reserves Group: Members If there is any justice in this world i ( neil lennon ) will be holding the league trophy aloft. caigiebhoys brother Yesterday, 11:25 PM Post #1911 Member Avatar First team training Group: Members I just hope the excitement lasts the whole game on sunday. I dont want us finishing our rendition of YNWA at kick off to hear the huns have just went one up. I think that would kill us all I've had that weird feeling in my gut all week ( maybe visit the doctor) that the huns are going to draw on sunday. I just know that whatever happens, the reception neil lennon will get in the lap of honour will take the roof off KEEP THE FAITH CiaranOG Today, 5:09 AM Post #1918 Member Avatar Hooperman CSC Group: Snr. Member Favourite all-time player Paul McStay Out strikeforce has let us down. Commons isn't too far behind them. If Hooper remained fit it might be different, but Sammy (despite his fantastic performances otherwise) hasn't scored, same regarding Murphy. That has to improve. The Huns have had Miller and Jelavic scoring for fun and we call them anti football? Flawless Yesterday, 9:59 PM Post #1884 Member Avatar Considering retirement Group: Snr. Member They'll piss it on Sunday. And we'll be second again, which is a failure. HaddyBhoy Yesterday, 10:37 PM Post #1893 Member Avatar First team training Group: Members Favourite all-time player Henrik Larsson olivertebilycsc 13 May 2011, 09:01 PM Huns will be sure to get a penalty at some stage. If it any point they are struggling they will be throwing themselves on the deck looking for one. Wailer Yesterday, 6:24 PM Post #1865 Member Avatar Soul Rebel. Group: Snr. Member I'll be happy just to win the cup now. The HUNS bombing campaign has had the effect they wanted it to do. Scum. Flynn Yesterday, 6:31 PM Post #1867 Member Avatar First name on the team-sheet Group: Members Favourite all-time player Willie Wallace Keep believing! Tension and nerves can do funny things to players. If we get our game put to bed by half time, say 2 or 3-0, and the huns are still 0-0 then our chances will improve dramatically. If we are comfortably ahead, and they are either level, or even a goal up with about 5-10 mins to go, then their nerves will be shredded. Remember how we defended deeper and deeper at Fir Park, until it became almost inevitable that Motherwell would score. The same could happen to them. They were rocking under pressure from DU in the second half. Remember 1982, when Aberdeen had to beat Rangers 4-0 and we had to lose to St Mirren at home for the dons to snatch the title? Aberdeen were 4-0 up at HT, we were 0-0, and the tension was almost unbearable. Then, after an hour, George McCluskey scored, and the dam burst. We won 3-0 in the end, but the improbable could have happened! Keep the faith!! If big Marvin Andrews can invoke the Almighty to make it happen, then so can we! olivertebilycsc Yesterday, 9:01 PM Post #1873 Member Avatar First-team starter Group: Members Huns will be sure to get a penalty at some stage. brianlara67 Yesterday, 9:06 PM Post #1876 Member Avatar First name on the team-sheet Group: Members Saw a re-run of the goals on Black Sunday on Sky Sport News. After the first one Butcher is hugging one of his assistants like he'd he just won the SPL/Scottish Cup/Champions League all rolled into one instead of his team scoring an equaliser in a meaningless game for his team. They can't hide it. No way in a million years would he have reacted like that if it were them he'd been playing. TK57 Yesterday, 10:53 AM Post #1801 Member Avatar new season, fresh hope Group: Snr. Member Favourite all-time player Bobby Murdoch Miracles only happen in the bible or in daft movies. The huns will get all the help in the world, even if its in injury time that they need it. Murphy Bhoy Yesterday, 1:24 PM Post #1809 Member Avatar Occasional Substitute Group: Members Favourite all-time player George Best What ever happens on Sunday, I'm proud of this team, it's manager and it's fans. We as a club are not simply measured by the number of trophies, we are worth more than the sum of our parts. We all know, our team plays the best football, and we all know we deserve this title, but Lennon will have more chances to win titles. I'm just glad he's turned us around and we are travelling in the right direction. McCoist will struggle to keep up next season. :grin: AC Pete Yesterday, 2:15 PM Post #1818 Member Avatar Hail Hail Group: Members Favourite all-time player Wullie Faulkner We'll win on Sunday. Support Lenny, the team and the fans. Show we're proud of the performance and we'll be back, in larger numbers and hungrier to take the title home next season. Kilmarnock won't get a point... but then, Utd. weren't going to beat the huns a few weeks ago. I digress. Sunday's about Celtic putting in a performance and the crowd showing appreciation for the bravery of the manager and players' performances (on the whole). Bittersweet Timphony Yesterday, 6:32 AM Post #1781 Member Avatar You did not desert me my brother in arms. Group: Snr. Member Do you think Kenny Shiels will send his team out to try their hardest? He seems to be from the Rangers supporting side of Northern Ireland from what I've read, but it's unclear if he supports them. He's said he likes Lennon in a few recent quotes. paulmck1888 Yesterday, 9:12 AM Post #1790 Member Avatar Celtic first, Celtic last, Celtic overall Group: Snr. Member The Killie manager was on radio this morning making positive noises, talking about winning the game.

They really are a warped, twisted,vile,bigoted,sad lot

Are there many bears go to there to watch the games Gribz?.

MOULDED by Jim McLean, mentored by Sir Alex Ferguson, made by Graeme Souness. Walter Smith's simple summation of the Rangers manager he has become. It's 8.15am in Smith's understated office in the bowels of Murray Park. The Gers boss, 63, is just 52 hours away from the nerve-shredding showdown at Kilmarnock that will decide his title fate. With the first mug of decaf coffee gulped down Smith is energised, smiling wryly as he ponders the start of his Rangers adventure back in 1986. Souness swaggered in as the new Gers player-boss from Sampdoria. With Smith riding shotgun as his No2 the ex-Liverpool skipper changed the face of Scottish football forever before he was lured to the Anfield hotseat in April 1991. The Rangers boss reflected: "I've read many accounts of the Souness Revolution and been humbled by what Graeme said about me. "But listen, NONE of the rebirth of Rangers would have happened without Souness. He was the foundation of the modern-day Rangers. "They could not have chosen a better person to change this club or lift the whole place. That's what Graeme did, he galvanised an entire club. "He brought his persona, a swagger and a different view of Rangers. That transferred to everyone within the walls of Ibrox." When Souness was asked to take over from his former Kop team-mate Kenny Dalglish he wanted Smith alongside him. Two decades on the boss who guided Gers to Nine in a Row has not a shred of regret that he said no. He stressed: "That famous bootroom at Anfield had been there with Graeme as a player. I couldn't see that I had a place in it. Graeme's combative character took him into all those clashes with the SFA but that streak makes him what he is. "I look back at those years with Graeme and they had MORE of an influence on me than my time with Jim at Tannadice. "I was taught about life at a bigger club and a winning club. Souness lived for that. "I was a Dundee United man and he was an education, he changed me as I was a Jim McLean man with a little bit of Sir Alex Ferguson thrown in." Tomorrow night, win or lose at Rugby Park, Smith will attend the Scottish Football Writers' Association dinner in Glasgow. It's 25 years since he sat at the same bash at the old Albany Hotel and heard a guest behind him whisper: "You won't believe this, I've just heard Graeme Souness is the new Rangers boss." By the end of the night their carefully-guarded secret was out, Smith was being congratulated on landing the job as his No2. Yet the fan who once travelled with grandfather Jock to watch his heroes on the Carmyle Rangers Supporters bus would walk into a club living in the past. He looks back and sighs: "When I turned up there was almost NO ONE at Ibrox. I had two laundry women, Cathy and Betty, and Laura the manager's PA. Campbell Ogilvie and his secretary were there too but on the football side of things I only had Bob Findlay the physio. They sacked the entire football department on the proviso I'd come in ahead of Graeme leaving Sampdoria. Everyone else had left the building! "This club was the pinnacle for me yet there was a tradition that the training kit was handed out to the players on Monday and not washed again until after they handed it back stiff with mud on a Friday. "I knew there and then we had to take Rangers into the modern era." Gers were in the gutter, scrabbling around needing to win their last three games just to qualify for Europe. They hadn't won the league for NINE YEARS and fans craved a sliver of hope to cling onto. Smith recalled: "We got into Europe and we had Celtic in the Glasgow Cup Final. "McCoist scored a hat-trick, we won 3-2 and I felt a wee marker was thrown down. Graeme was here, I felt that said to Celtic: 'Things are going to change at Rangers'. "This club had gone nine years in a row without winning the league and those titles were spread around Celtic, Aberdeen and Dundee United. It wasn't just Celtic dominating, other teams were ahead of us now too. "Something was wrong in this club and we had to change it." Twelve rollercoaster months later Gers were champions again. Skipper Terry Butcher powered home a towering header at Pittodrie, Souness, true to the dramatic script he would always pen, was sent off. Smith said: "People try to tell you there was a massive influx of players but there wasn't. We brought in Chris Woods, Terry Butcher and Colin West, Jimmy Nicholl on a free. "The big thing was that we got Graeme Souness the PLAYER - and he was still a magnificent midfielder at 33. "Around them we had the likes of Cammy Fraser, Dave McPherson, Stuart Munro, Derek Ferguson, Davie Cooper, Ian Durrant, Ally McCoist and Robert Fleck. "We simply got a great reaction from a bunch of boys who loved having a fantastic footballer like Souness in their team." Smith went to school in the quieter moments of that season. Intrigued by the success Souness had helped to craft at Liverpool, he constantly questioned his friend on the workings of the Anfield machine. He revealed: "Dundee United were built on a coaching basis, formations, tactics, how we could get the best out of the players we had. "Graeme's influence was from Liverpool, they bought players and placed them in their team with little instruction on what to do. "I was inquisitive about what it was like for him there as they had so much success. "I asked him what it was like to go from Middlesbrough to Anfield, what they'd told him. Turns out Ronnie Moran said to him: 'We brought you here to play where you play, so just play!' "I thought that was so loose when I had operated under Jim McLean. Liverpool had the best and at United we had compsensated brilliantly for not having the best. "I learned something there, I'd have times at Rangers where we had top-drawer players and I could follow that Liverpool philosophy. Then there were others when I could go back to my McLean teachings and compensate. "Five years working with Graeme showed me a different way to be successful. "He taught me how to have a persona and a confidence about a winning team. "He showed me another world. I was a working-class Scottish boy as was he. But he had broken out and gone to England and Italy and learned so much. "The modern Rangers couldn't have happened without him, he turned this club around. I know deep down I would not have been the manager I am without him." Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/3579950/Souness-was-saviour-of-Rangers-he-made-me-a-boss.html#ixzz1MHPPRIO8

DAVIE WEIR insists Rangers won't suffer hell on Helicopter Sunday. Six years after Celtic came a chopper at Fir Park, Gers head to Rugby Park with their title destiny in their own hands. Beat Kilmarnock and secure the championship. It's as straightforward as that. With the engine purring and the rotors spinning in anticipation of more nerve-shredding last-day drama, Weir is taking nothing for granted. The Gers skipper said: "It has happened in the past where teams have slipped up when they thought it was all wrapped up and they ended up with egg on their face. "It is important we don't allow that to happen to us. "We have the opportunity in our own hands now and that is all you can ask for, but there is still one game to go. "We just have to concentrate on the job, prepare properly and give Kilmarnock the respect they deserve. "We just have to go out and try to play as well as we can play. "You have to put yourself under pressure, that is the nature of the game. "I don't think there are any written rules for this situation. There are no guarantees. "There is nothing that can prepare you for it. Everyone is different. "The thing is when people don't expect something there is always a chance of a shock. "It is important we don't allow that to happen at the weekend." Weir could potentially be skipper of Rangers for the final time tomorrow. The veteran Gers captain turned 41 in midweek and is out of contract next month. He insists he has made NO decision on his future. Weir added: "I don't know if it will be my last game. I don't think about it like that. "If it is then so be it. I am not going to spend any time worrying about it. "I am sure the result will have an impact on my decision. "If you are successful then you will want to carry on. "If you aren't you will question yourself. I will just have to wait and see." What is for certain is Gers can secure three-in-a-row in gaffer Walter Smith's last game in charge. A win over Killie will bag the title and bring a historic campaign for Gers to a glorious end. Weir knows exactly what's at stake at Rugby Park and he insists the players are desperate to ensure their boss bows out on a high. Weir stressed: "I don't think you can put into words what Walter has done. "We have all been speaking about it for long enough now. "I think that there has been so much significance on this game that things won't actually hit home until after he has left Rangers. "Then people can take into context what Walter has done over various periods of time and during different circumstances at the club. During the nine-in-a-row era he was bringing in top players, winning trophies and battling on the European front. "He came back for a second time when Rangers were in a certain amount of disarray, had hardly won trophies and had to fight it out to finish second. "He turned Rangers around very quickly and got them winning trophies again, competing in Europe, reaching a European final and winning the league. "When you sit down and look at what he has done you can put his record up against anyone." Indeed, Weir reckons Smith is up there with the true managerial greats. He added: "Walter will go down as one of the all-time Rangers greats. There is no doubt about that. "The manager plays down his own influence on things. That is the nature of the man. "It is no coincidence what he has done in his time here and the part he has played. "He is the driving force behind the whole club and the team. "I am sure he has the same influence over other aspects of the club. "If you asked any player or member of staff they would admit he is the man who dictates what happens. Through the course of the season Walter is very straightforward and tells you like it is. "He tells you what he expects from you and the demands of the club and the support. "He has seen it all before and the players hang on his every word. "We trust what he says and we try to follow it as best we can. "He is a really great presence to have at the club and he is somebody we have been lucky to have as manager." Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/3580191/Rhythm-n-blues.html#ixzz1MHMr2wr4