JFK-1

I believe Edmundson was the prime CB target. So this is good news in the sense that we don't need to turn to a secondary target who must have been judged to be inferior or would have been prime target.

George Edmundson has turned down a move to Portsmouth as he holds out for a move to Rangers, Football Insider has learned. As revealed by Football Insider, the League One club looked to be in pole position to sign the in-demand Oldham defender after agreeing a fee in excess of £600,000 for him last week. Edmundson was also given permission by Oldham to hold talks with the south-coast club over a potential move to Fratton Park. Ibrox source have now told Football Insider that, following much deliberation, the 21-year-old has opted to reject a switch to Portsmouth as he has his heart set on joining Rangers. This is a huge boost to Steven Gerrard’s hopes of signing a player he is convinced can make a big impact as his side look to narrow the gap on serial winners Celtic. Rangers are keen on signing on Edmundson, but have yet to agree a fee with Oldham after having several offers rejected by the League Two club already this summer. Edmundson, who has handed in a transfer request at Oldham, is nevertheless eager to make the move north of the border as he looks to continue his development following an impressive 2018-19 campaign that ended with a place in the official League Two team of the year. The ball is now in Rangers’ court to see if they can agree a deal with Oldham for one of Gerrard’s priority targets. https://www.footballinsider247.com/exclusive-major-rangers-transfer-boost-as-ace-rejects-english-club-for-ibrox-move/

Turnbull to Norwich apparently. https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/17714592.david-turnbulls-move-to-celtic-collapses/

Liverpool are in the hunt to sign Rangers teenager Josh McPake, according to the Daily Record. The newspaper claims that Steven Gerrard is a huge admirer of the 17-year-old attacker and amid interest from Liverpool and Roma, the Light Blues are keen to get him tied down to a new and improved contract. It is understood that McPake’s current deal is due to expire at the end of next season and he has already rejected one offer that was tabled to him in March. However the Daily Record adds that McPake and his representatives are willing to re-enter talks over a new three-year contract. OPINION: It is not a surprise to see Rangers so keen to get McPake to agree new terms at Ibrox as he is one of Rangers’ hottest young prospects. Last season he was one of the youth side’s best performers as he helped the Gers win the Youth Cup final against Celtic at Hampden Park. The Daily Record says that Gerrard sees a future for the young attacker in his first team, and as the Rangers boss is so good with young players, it is no surprise to see Liverpool being keen on a summer deal. McPake should not be too hard to pry away from the Scottish Premiership if enough money is offered to both him and the club. However the best option for McPake would be to stay put rather than get attracted to the shimmering lights of the Premier League. If there is a route to the first team at Ibrox then he should sign a new deal, get his head down and work towards that. At Liverpool it could be years before he even gets considered for the senior squad. https://live4liverpool.com/2019/06/lfc-news/liverpool-eye-rangers-youngster-mcpake/

I have heard him say that he expects to be at Rangers "a very long time" I feel he will likely at a bare minimum see out his contract then consider his future. Klopp is contracted at Liverpool till 2022 and he too sees out contracts.

I read another opinion which concluded that Liverpool may be thinking that if they loan Kent out for another year his value could even double. As has been pointed out they don’t need instant money so can afford to be patient.

Advocaat.

I know it's a meaningless fitness exercise but I still hope Oxford are soundly thrashed.

Get the feeling Clarke knew Killie had peaked and couldn't sustain the heights they currently occupy? Time to get out while he has a legacy there then collect a wage with Scotland while waiting for something better to come along.

And in fact thinking further on that point we need to keep Morelos for another season unless a truly eye watering offer comes in. There is no way to replace him without a sum of money way north of 10 million. Same might be said of Tav. If we don’t stop them in this upcoming season they’re really going to pull out all the stops the following season.

Hopefully this coming season. I couldn’t stand the tension of them playing for a 10th which I have no doubt would have a significant effect on our season that year.

Extremely poor game but at the end of the day I doubt anyone at Liverpool will care. If it were us would you prefer to lose an end to end classic by 4 goals to 3 or scrape a narrow win in a lackluster match? Afterwards I wouldn't care what it looked like providing our name was on the trophy. And it's not as if Liverpool have performed like this consistently. It was a rare off night perhaps compounded by a three week break since their last game. Same for Spurs. Plus if Liverpool go on to strengthen again during the close season they can be the terror of Europe and the EPL once again next season. Just one loss in the league and didn't win the title. Remarkable.

I think Liverpool deserve something from the season. They finished just one point off top spot in the league with a record points total for a second place finish and 25 points ahead of third place. Without them there would have been no title race at all. And given that Alan Shearer recently touted City as the greatest team of the premier league era Liverpool can't be far off it themselves since a single draw rather than a win going against City would have seen them crowned champions. Throw in two CL finals in succession and they have earned some sort of reward. Plus they have a Scot in their line up and our manager is a Liverpool man and one of our best players this season was a Liverpool loan with another potentially on the way. Has to be Liverpool for me even aside from the fact they are the better side all over the pitch.

So say recent reports. Newcastle fans praying it goes through.

Have to take 20 million for Morelos if it really is on offer. All alone that’s a tidy transfer budget that could help fit in the final pieces for a title run. Though in all honesty it’s hard to see anyone offering that much unless there is competition for his signature. Bit of an auction going on.

A team with not a single non Brit in the starting 11 or on the bench. Changed days. Plus when John O'Hare came on in the 67th minute to replace Gary Mills there were 5 Scots on the field.

That goes without saying but i'm pretty much taking that for granted. Euro football seems to suit us better than SPL fare and maybe that's hardly surprising since the manager wasn't familiar with SPL football but has vast experience of Euro football. The team was good enough last season to not just play in a difficult group but to be competitive in that group. So, taking it for granted that with a potentially even stronger team we can negotiate QR1 I feel that starting there is in our interests. Gives us the financial benefits which are more than welcome and two competitive games under our belt for a sterner test in QR2.

Am I the only one who thinks that starting in QR1 rather than 2 might be in our interests both financially and squad gelling/fitness wise?

Also just had a look at a Villa forum and they seem to think £10 million for Kent is agreeable.

Difficult to say if Kent is EPL level. Is John McGinn? Though I too would question the £10 million. But in the monopoly money world of the EPL who knows.

Defoe has the best goals to minutes played ratio in the league at 118 minutes per goal. The best ratio the yahoos have is Edouard on 129 minutes per goal.

I think it would have worried me and I know it worried their hordes. This is a team used to a procession towards titles with no real challenge at all the title effectively being wrapped up by the winter break. And the discussion on the pod centred around have we made progress under Gerrard? It has to be said that yes we have and that's the general view even outside our blue tinted view of it. I don't recall Warburton getting much of a budget in his SPL season but Pedro got one and got us nothing but the same third place we had occupied the previous season plus humiliated by minnows in Europe. Gerrard got a budget too but he secured an acceptable money spinning Euro run and a comfortable second place plus two dominant wins over the yahoos after having had no wins at all since our return. That has to be progress.

The league was indisputably there for the taking. Only 2 or 3 games or so where we could have taken the points made the difference the last game at the piggery being one of them. If we had won that piggery game and everything else panned out the same we would have finished on 81 points while they would have finished on 84. That close.

https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/how-scottish-premiership-clubs-qualify-15962041.amp