Super_Ally

I do agree with you overall. I'm just wondering what level of punishment will Smith deem appropriate and will he (perhaps subconsciously) allow Boogie's importance to the team (particularly in view of a lack of quality replacements and the upcoming opposition and competition) cloud his judgement of this? Might he think a one game suspension and fine is appropriate? Who can say. And if he does, who can also say that Smith is not correct. Is returning late from international duty worse than drinking til the wee hours (albeit Burley made an arse of the situation) then petulant gestures broadcast around the globe bringing the club into more disrepute? I don't really know. Boogie's actions could arguably have cost us more, well particularly on the field. We fortunately won without him. However, McGregor and Ferguson's actions were the antithesis of everything that it is to be a Ranger and shamed the club across the continent at least. I cant make my mind up on that. Both show a gross lack of respect to the club and the manager.

Game not long on. COmmentator said Scotland is looking for his first EPL goal. I know the season is still young(ish) but he was prolific in the Championship. 21 last year. Is it a case of a one-season wonder, or is he one of those strier's who romps the championship but struggles in the EPL? Trying to think of a better example than Kevin Phillips as he had some EPL success, but you get what I mean. There are some guys who tear up the Championship bit struggle in the top league. Is that because, when they are in the championship, they are playing with the best players, but in the EPL they are comparatively the weaker players? (If you follow that? ). Or does it just take something more in the EPL? You always hear scoring goals is the hardest thing to do and if you are prolific at one level you will score goals anywhere.

I think you are right, but when you are struggling for quality, it can look like a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. You can't accuse Smith of being weak, what other manager would have suspended his no. 1 goalkeeper and club captain at a crucial stage of the season when winning that league was probably needed to save his own job? Sure it turned out we had decent cover, but that's in hindsight, no one could have known it was going to work out so well before hand. It is easier to show that strength of character against comparatively weak opposition. To do so in Europe when potential progression means so much to the continued survival of our club.... can we afford to do that?

In Genoa - Inter game. Finished 5-0. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLdAQVbgu9s]YouTube - GENOA vs INTER 0-5 - DEJAN STANKOVIC GOAL DA CENTROCAMPO - SERIE A 8�°GIORNATA 17/10/09[/ame]

I think Bougherra will have "served his time". We're not strong enough to drop him atm. As I said in the other thread we had Alexander and Edu to come in for the Scotland pair. McCulloch for Boogie in Europe? Not saying it's right, just being a realist. Regards the win at all costs. I tried to qualify that statement. I don't mean the Celtic version of win at all costs with constant diving, complaining when people dive against you, hypocrisy, cheating, manipulation of the press, officials and deaths of former employees. I mean that winning is more important than everything else. I would be happier if we won every game but never played well again, than if we played well but were ultimately unsuccesful. Of course good performances tend towards good results. But as Derek McInnes will testify, that is not always the case. All i'm trying to say is that winning is all important. Discussions of whether or not we did it with pretty football are only important if the result is achieved. If we get beat the first consideration is not the performance, it is the result. Contrary to what many who spend too much time watching sky would like to believe there is absolutely no remit for Smith to play nice passing football. Sure he'll appear to give consideration to this argument in the press, but frankly unless we are winning the manner of the performance just doesn't come into it. It is a very, very distant second. Do you honestly think Smith comes under any pressure from his bosses (the board) when the football doesn't look great, or when matches and trophies aren't being won?

Like Andy Steel says, I don't think we can afford to drop him. With McGregor and Ferguson there were decent replacements, with Boogie there is not. I think that might be taken into consideration in deciding his punishment, not taht Smith will admit that.

Apparently McGeady had a worse one even later, but no link for that as of yet. Will have to wait for BBC highlights later today.

Injury time miss from McDonald.

Fraser's vid was removed so I couldn't see it. But found another: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPsBe4O38vI]YouTube - Liverpool vs Sunderland balloon goal[/ame] Ps. Get it up you Liverpool.

Rangers Hibs Celtic I like the look of that. :spl:

Just 2 points for me. Hibs and Rangers wins. Also overestimated the Rangers result. But I made my prediction when I thought Boogie and Mendes were available. :devil:

Ha ha. It's not defence of Walter. There is no defence for being outplayed by St. Johnstone. Just an honest admission from me that I prefer winning at any costs (well within rules ) to any every consideration of the game.

A famous sports’ quote, mistakenly accredited to legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, but one of my favourites. It defines my stance on sporting endeavour. I admit it. I am everything that is “wrong” with the modern Rangers fan. I spent the 90 minutes of today’s match berating the team for not being able to do the basics competently. As you may expect from my opening gambit, my patience only began to wear thin after we meekly surrendered the lead. My ire only subsided once Papac, one of the few to earn his wages today, secured a vital victory. Allied to the fact that Celtic only managed a goalless draw at home to Motherwell, today’s victory allowed us to return to the summit of the SPL. With that permutation of results I went from resembling eye-ore to a grinning Cheshire cat. I’ve always been obsessed with competition, with victory. I remember in primary 4 my teacher had us compete in a maths game in which each time you answered a question right you got to take a pace forward and the winner was the one who got to the end of the ladder first. I had to win at that, I loved competing with and beating my class mates. Growing up as one of four brothers, even eating dinner was competitive. It was like a monkey’s tea party and it didn’t matter if you ended up wearing half your dinner, because if you cleared your plate first you got first choice of desserts and hence the biggest portion. Much like my attitude to supporting Rangers. It doesn’t matter how we get there, so long as we are the ones parading the trophies at the end of the season. My dad has a favourite story of playing beach cricket on holiday and how we almost managed to make the game interesting as accusations of cheating led to my brothers and I wielding the bat and stumps like weapons in a cross between the Ashes and the UFC, but I think you get the picture now; I like winning. There is an argument that this short-sighted thinking is what holds us back. I am not convinced. There is plenty that holds us back, playing in the SPL for starters. My enjoying being top dogs pales into insignificance in comparison to the real issues. We have the likes of Cammy and MF, perhaps rightly, arguing that it was better in their day (sorry guys ). No doubt if you spoke to their elders they would chastise these two whipper-snappers for the very same thing. The fans are right in that we are nowhere near the quality of the team that went to Barcelona, or the legendary Nine in a Row team. I often hear how the quality is declining on a yearly basis. Nonsense. Was the team that Smith took to Manchester in his first full year back in charge worse than the team of the previous two years? No. However, there is an obvious decline to this point from 10 or 15 years ago. What went before, though, should not prevent us from enjoying the present. Admittedly, it is difficult to enjoy performances such as today, when we were dominated by a team assembled for a fraction of the cost, but I will enjoy any casual glance of the league table reading Rangers in first place. “You can only beat what is put in front of you”, as that old maxim goes. In this two-horse race, in respect of a full league campaign, that means not only winning the Old Firm games, but collecting more points in the rest of the fixtures than Celtic do. Whilst I may be accused of having a parochial view, it must be remembered we can only challenge ourselves on a grander stage by being top dogs in Scotland. And one thing Walter Smith brings is domestic dominance. Just a few short weeks ago Celtic travelled to the South Side with talk of an insurmountable 7-point lead at the top of the league. Predictably Smith sent them home with a confidence sapping dent to their title challenge. Smith’s teams may not play with the attacking freedom of Guardiola’s Barcelona or a classic Brazil team, but they are not short of many other qualities befitting the status of Champions. Already this season we have shown we are capable of winning after suffering a setback. Something I was never confident of under his recent predecessors. Vitally, like all great sides who end the gruelling league season with the title, this current Rangers team know how to win when they are not playing well. Admittedly we have demonstrated that far too often for the fans liking, but it is an essential quality of a team wishing to challenge for top honours in a 30-odd game season. No team can complete a full set of league fixtures without throwing in the odd poor performance. It is the teams who manage to turn no points into 1 or 1 point into 3 when suffering this drop-off in their level that will emerge victorious. I opened this piece by saying that I am everything that is “wrong” with Rangers fans at present. But I make no apologies for that. There are some fans that cannot and will not let go of the ideal. The idea that on paper we are far superior to our opposition and so we should demonstrate our superiority in every encounter. Whilst they should be applauded for their stance, realists will acknowledge that sport never works out like that. I am happy that we will demonstrate our superiority come the end of the season, as shown by a brief glance at the league table and the trophy count. Of course better performances and demonstrations of silky football would be preferable. But winning is the ultimate aim. Everything else is secondary. Winning in football is an absolute. The team with the most goals takes the points. I have never been a fan of subjective sports such as gymnastics or diving where the winner is decided by no absolute criteria, but merely opinion. The minute real sports are judged on aesthetics and how pretty you look whilst playing the game is the minute that pure sporting competition dies. I have no desire to watch a game where the winner is subjective. The arbiters of our game show a worrying inconsistency in officiating contests that deal in a relative black and white. Would you expect parity with our rivals if suddenly there were rewards for artistic interpretation? In real veneration of Vince Lombardi; “show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser”. As long as we are winning, the debate over the quality of football should continue. It is only when we are no longer emerging victorious that debate becomes redundant and discussion of the real issue (“why aren’t we winning”) would emerge. Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing!

The aim of the game in CL football is to win your home games and pick up something elsewhere to qualify. But of course we lost to Sevilla and hence need something more elsewhere. Though Sevilla could well win in Stuttgart too. However, if we have serious aspirations of the last 16, 6 points would really put us is the driving seat. 4 would not be a disaster, but I would ve looking for 6 points.

They really should communicate with the club about the difficulties of long haul flights and how it affects their immediate match performance. Mentally as well as physically. As opposed to just ignoring the club, turning up days late and saying my flight was delayed.

Always seems to be a problem with African players. Not for us, but for British clubs in general. No O2 masts on that continent? :fish:

You're quite right Ian. Though I'd rather they were in poor form when we meet them.

Lost at home 2-1 to the team in 6th last night, after having taken the league.

Got up part way through soccer am today and they were doing some tug of war challenge with guys from the forces. Helen Chamberlain opened peice by saying how Soccer AM supported all our troops wherever they are. Might be worth informing them of this? :devil:

I don't follow the connection between the main thread of the story and the nonsense in the last 3 paragraphs. If Boogie wants to leave, and he may feel he can get a good premiership club after a season in the CL and the WC, it will have fuck all to do with a wee disciplinary measure. Seems a bit odd that the club have said nothing regarding this yet i've seen rumours for the past 2 or 3 days.

Which one? :devil:

That Rangers fans might show a bit of patience with a player returning from a long injury lay off. Wasn't a dig at you, more our impatient crowd.

I believe Ricksen got done twice as well as Novo.

Quite agree mate. He had big boots to fill, even if Hutton's best form was relatively short lived, but he's more than done a job for me.

Are they taking ths piss? They get a soft decision that goes in their favour. (edit: i.e. the initial 1 game ban rather than the 3 it should be). But that's not enough for them, they use a frivolous appeal to ensure Loovens is available for a game where they are struggling for defenders. Then rather than extending the ban for this frivolous appeal, that took months to be heard (again to suit them) the ban is merely upheld. And now they are complaining.