ian1964

It's very quiet on here today,so for anyone that is interested I thought I'd start a match thread on Wednesdays world cup qualifier. My team: Alexander Hutton Caldwell Berra Whittaker Commons Brown Fletcher McCormack Miller Norway 1-2 Scotland

Cheap at half the price

Cheers BD,that's mine ordered

Scotland and Rangers under-21 midfielder Andrew Shinnie is bracing himself for what he believes will be a defining season in his professional career. The 20-year-old Aberdonian has been on the fringes of Walter Smith's first team for the past few seasons, but he believes he is now at an age where he needs to be playing regularly. Currently on Scotland under-21 duty with Billy Stark's squad at Dunblane Hydro, the player is desperate to build on the experience he gained when out on loan at Dens Park in the latter half of last term. advertisement Breaking through at either half of the Old Firm - and staying there - is notoriously difficult but Shinnie has been encouraged by the lack of transfer activity at Ibrox this summer. "The fact that as a club we haven't signed anyone yet this summer is encouraging for some of the younger lads in the squad. "I am sure that if there are injuries and suspensions as the season goes on, there will be a wee chance to get in," he said. "It's a big season and I need to kick on and try and get involved. "The experience that I had with Dundee was great last season and it felt good to get a run of first-team, competitive games. "You never know if you can cut it in anyone's first-team until those questions are asked of you and I enjoyed the experience." Stark's under-21 squad are enjoying a three-day training camp as they begin preparations for the forthcoming European Championship qualifiers. There are no proper games arranged, but the team will play a couple of closed-door bounce matches. The under-21s face Austria next month in their first qualifying match and after being part of the team that missed out on the Championships by only a point last time around, Shinnie is desperate to play a part in this one. "It is always nice to have involvement at international level," he said. "The next few days will give us all a chance to get to know one another because there are a few new faces and hopefully we'll then go into the qualifiers in a positive frame of mind."

Rangers and Northern Ireland youngster Andrew Little was deployed as a defender by Walter Smith at Portsmouth, but the 20-year-old still regards himself as a striker. Little has been called into the Northern Ireland squad that will face Israel on Wednesday night and it is up front he believes he will be jostling for a position. "I enjoy playing as a striker and that is ideally where I would like to play in the future," he said. "In recent times I have been playing up front for Northern Ireland and at the under-age levels. "I made my senior debut as a forward against Poland. I definitely feel I have something to offer as a striker and hopefully I can show that to the Northern Ireland coaching staff this week. advertisement "I was a little surprised to be named in the squad, but it is a boost for me at a time when things are going well at Rangers. "I went with the first-team squad to Germany in pre-season as well as the Emirates Cup, but made my first start against Portsmouth. "Some people may find it strange that I play in two different positions, but I am happy to play anywhere I'm needed. "I've played at the back a lot for Rangers' reserve team and I think if I am going to become a regular in the squad at the moment it will be at the back because of a injuries, but they still see me as a striker." Little admits that despite his preference over playing positions, just being involved with the Ibrox top team has delighted him. "Maybe somewhere down the line a decision will have to be made as to whether I am a striker or defender but, at the minute, I'm just loving my football," he said. "For this week, I will do everything possible to impress the international staff and if I get a chance against Israel, hopefully I'll show what I can do in front of goal." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/display.var.2524792.0.0.php

BARRY FERGUSON won't watch Scotland in action against Norway on Wednesday night. But he hopes they get a result that will keep their World Cup dream alive. Ferguson's decision to blank the game in Oslo is not based on any over-hang from the Boozegate chaos that caused his international career to come to a dramatic end. It is just a ritual he has of never watching games. advertisement "I won't watch the game, but I never watch games on TV to be honest," he smiled. "Look, I've got a lot of pals in the team and I hope they win. "James McFadden went away from down here last week and I wished him all the best. "I hope the team wins and gets a result to keep them going. "My bitterness is not towards any of the team in the set-up, just with the way the SFA dealt with things." And what of his relationship with George Burley, the man who is trying to steer Scotland to South Africa and take the nation to a major tournament for the first time since the 1998 World Cup in France. "I never had a problem with the manager," Ferguson went on. "I was straight with him, and we were fine. "People have suggested he wanted me out and the Cameron House thing was the excuse he wanted. But I never sensed any problems so I don't think that was the case. "It might come home to me that it's all over in terms of Scotland seeing that it's the first game since what happened in March. "But I hope they win the game, you want your country to do well." What upset Ferguson, though, was the accusation that he ducked out of international duty at times, faking injuries to avoid playing. He said: "That really annoyed me. I was totally committed to my country, there was NEVER one squad I pulled out of because of something that was not genuine. "It got thrown at me that I didn't want to play for Scotland and that Rangers was all that mattered. "That is a lot of rubbish, there were games when I took jags and tablets to play through injuries for my country."

EXCLUSIVE by Darrell King in Birmingham BARRY FERGUSON today speaks for the first time about his Scotland Boozegate shame - and his fury at the way the SFA ended his international career. The former Rangers captain, now at Birmingham after a �£1million summer move, has kept his own counsel on events at Cameron House back in March when he stayed up all night in the bar drinking with team-mate Allan McGregor. But Ferguson has spoken exclusively to SportTimes writer Darrell King and, in Part One of a series that will run in our pages this week, he reveals: His anger at the way the SFA informed him he was banned for life. Why he wants Scotland to beat Norway this Wednesday night in Oslo to keep the World Cup dream alive. His feelings towards George Burley and the rest of the international hierarchy. Here's the first of our exclusive articles: THIS time was unquestionably the most difficult two hours of Barry Ferguson's life. In a Murray Park office alongside shell-shocked team-mate Allan McGregor - with Martin Bain, the Rangers chief executive, his right-hand man Andrew Dickson, and Players' Union head Fraser Wishart all for company - the details of his fine and suspension from the club he had just disgraced were being laid out in cold, hard facts. Ferguson's head was all over the place. Just a few hours earlier he had reported to Rangers' training ground for the first time since the now infamous Scotland Boozegate controversy had exploded and turned his world upside down. Fatally - and if he could turn back time this is one of many things he would reverse - he had walked past Walter Smith's office that Friday morning. It should have been his first port of call, he should have sought his manager and apologised for his conduct. But he didn't. And he was paying the price for that lack of respect to the man he held - and still holds - in the utmost regard. There was no grey area with what was happening. Ferguson had shamed Rangers. For that, Smith had decreed, he was going to face severe punishment. The now infamous Cameron House drinking session with close pal McGregor that had become public to the Iceland World Cup qualifier at Hampden, Smith could accept. He didn't like it one little bit, but these things happen - and will no doubt happen again sometime, somewhere - such is the way with football players. But the images of the captain of Rangers making V-sign gestures at photographers - along with McGregor on the bench at the National Stadium - was something that saw Smith explode with rage. Head bowed, he was taking his medicine. Then, the fax machine in the corner of the office began to whirr. A sheet of paper appeared, a carbon copy of the press statement the SFA were about to release to the world. Ferguson was being informed by fax that his international career was also over. And that, more than anything else, is something that the now Birmingham City player still struggles to get his head around. "Listen, I was totally in the wrong with what happened at the hotel, I would never sit for a second and try to dress that up in any way or try to make a case for what went on that night with the drinking," he says, relaxed in the hotel grounds of the luxurious hotel close to Birmingham that is his temporary home until a permanent abode can be found. "If I could go back and change things I would, of course I would. I should have gone to bed, and I should never have made the V-signs - when I see the pictures of that I feel so stupid. I looked like a daft idiot and I should have known better. But it was an error, a bad call. "I let myself down, my family down, my country down and I let Walter Smith, Rangers and the supporters down. "That's something I'll need to live with and it does still hurt me. I should have gone to bed, that's the bottom line. "But I made a mistake and people do that - I am a human being, not a robot and I made a costly mistake. "The thing that rankles with me now is the way the SFA handled the entire situation - for me it was a joke. "I had played for Scotland 45 times, I had captained my country for years - and they sent a fax to Murray Park saying that I would never play for my country again. It was just the same statement they put out, that was it! "That just astonished me. The machine starts to ring, and in comes a fax from Hampden for my attention telling me that I would no longer be picked, and neither would Allan. "The people in the room just looked at each other in total disbelief - is that how something like that should be handled? "No-one has ever spoken to me from the Scotland set-up. Not the manager, the chief executive, a PR guy, anyone. "I was driving back into Murray Park after being sent home for a few hours and I heard on the radio that the SFA were going to ban me for life. "I was in such a whirl that I wasn't taking anything in -then a fax arrives and that was it over ... no phone call, no anything. That, for me, sums the SFA up. They don't know how to handle anything properly." Rangers were also seriously unhappy with the way the governing body handled the whole episode. The thought inside the club was that they piggy-backed' onto their punishment when it should all have been dealt with swiftly at the time, and that the players should have been banished from the squad instantly which would have avoided the subsequent media frenzy that ensued, and prompted the V-sign gestures. "Maybe that was the case, I don't know and the SFA would need to answer that," said Ferguson. "The whole thing was a bit of a farce to be honest. First of all we were to leave Cameron House, then some of the players went to the manager and said they didn't want that, and the next thing we were told to stay. "The manager then said we would be subs, and then two days later we were banned for life and they said it was down to what had happened at the game on the bench with the V-signs. "Fair enough, if they think sending a fax to tell you it's all over is the right thing to do, then that's up to them. "What I would say is that Rangers handled the thing the right way. We sat face to face, I took my punishment and it was done properly. "I wasn't happy, of course I wasn't, but I knew why the club had acted the way they did and I just had to go away and try to deal with it. "But the SFA? That was a shambles for me. Then I hear a few days later Gordon Smith saying on the radio the door might not be closed, we could still play and all that sort of stuff. "That sums it up for me, the left hand never knows what the right hand is doing in that place." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/display.var.2524783.0.0.php

Who are they supporting.............???? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBadHa6EHF8]YouTube - celtic fans in Eastlands (man city v celtic)[/ame]

Indeed it is the MOPE way...........win anyway we can.......PATHETIC shower of cretins

Jeez..........I just had another visit to the Arsenal forums......the MOPES that are on there trying to be friends ??????, and obviously none of them can go on the forum without bad mouthing Rangers.....unbelievable they chunts, '' don't read too much into your result against the huns, we are by far the better team and GS gifted them the SPL '', they are getting worse, feckin MOPE bassas

1..The Scottish league has the standard of our Championship at best (Div 2 in old money) 2..We already made Rangers look silly and they are Scottish champions 3..We are currently ranked 4th in Europe, Celtic do not even appear in the top 20 (Glasgow Rangers are 19th) 4..We have Cesc Fabregas, they have Barry Robson ? 5..We have Arshavin, they have Samaras 6..We Have Wenger, they have Mowbray, he looks like David Pleat and can not even get a job at a mid-table English Premiership club 7..We play a nice passing game, they hoof it more than Liverpool 8..Last season in the CL Celtic lost to Aalborg BK ??? 9..Celtic's CL record is very poor, 9 times out of 10 they are out before Christmas. 10..Arsene knows, but big jock knew... http://www.fansonline.net/arsenal/article.php?id=423

Agreed,it's all about the money

http://imageevent.com/wertp/emirates2009

What!!!!!!, go wash your mouth out young man,his name should never be mentioned again on this forum.............:devil:

Me thinks Boyd will be away at the first decent offer

Oh how Barry Ferguson would shine in a team that had lots of movement from players around him

You mean we played football ? , as I said we will see how we approach the bead & butter games in the SPL

Why ?................what about the coefficency

I'm asking you guys. That's what I'm thinking,let's not get too excited by '' friendlies '',let's see how we perform in the SPL & CL, not trying to put a downer on what seems to have been a good performance tonight against an EPL team full of big money buys, and having not seen the game I am just interested in why all of a sudden we are playing at a level that we haven't for years, maybe it was just a daft question

What exactly has changed though,I mean we have the same players ?.

Cheers Craig. It takes about 5 minutes to load a page on here nevr mind watch it ,very poor connection mate,hence I need your updates

C'mon Craig.....why has your commentery stopped ?,what's the score now ?,still 1-1?

That'll be the MOPES going to win the treble & CL !!.........the C****c way ??

EVERTON are ready to gamble on Rangers hothead John Fleck. The midfielder, 17, has fallen out with boss Walter Smith and was dropped into the reserves. Fleck will cost �£3million and is also a target for Wigan http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2571655/Everton-eye-Gers-ace.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Football

I Like it,pretty smart IMO