Super_Ally

Fraser had the right idea with this thread. The moaning minnies like BD and Gazza pipe down, the rest of us wanna enjoy the build up to another huge champions league night.

Right you are: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1085275/Smith-fury-linesman-Rangers-left-flagging.html

It doesn't look the best turn out, but I thought I'd wait and see if it was standard or not before saying that. I'm kind of waiting for the RST to do something of substance and that is worthwhile again. Maybe UCB will help in that respect.

Is Murphy the one Smith publicly slated when he screwed us in another match, also brining up a previous missed offside of McDonald?

Is that a fairly standard turnout for a RST AGM? Is it open to all members to attend? Agree with Norris, targeting the BBC is a good start imo.

Whilst you are quite right it was actually Rangers fan (on FF) using that and other jibes that stimulated this.

Ah, the Copland are gonna turn up tonight are they? :fish:

Stop reminding people. I wanna win.

Too right gisa. I understand where Gazza is coming from, but that'll soon change once the CL music sounds and possibly even before.

In an ideal world I guess all teams would just go out and attack each other. Everyone playing like Brazil. The reality is though, that sometimes playing a more cautious game and looking to hit on the counter will yield a better result. And at the end of the day the manager's job is to get the best result for his team.

Not had a proper look at it yet. Will get it moved.

Aye, i've already said i'm not exactly confident. Sevilla might not be a glamour name, but they're a fucking good football side. And our form is rank. Having said that, our home form, particularly recently, is much better than I expected. Though it would be nice if a few from the draw column could have been big name scalps in the win column.

I dunno mate. Last 5 years in Europe apparently:

Football doesn't always go to the form book. I'm not overly confident. A narrow loss/draw for me. But a win is not outwith the bounds of possibility.

Should we just train on the Ibrox car park?

With another enthralling Champions League encounter upon us I have spent my free time scouring the internet for debate and discussion of the upcoming European midweek. Instead of joining the excited chattering over the expensive talents of Sevilla against whom we are about to test ourselves, I have been greeted by a thunder of grumbling and groaning over an anticipated anti-climax. No doubt our appalling league form has contributed to the lack of enthusiasm for the forthcoming fixture. Not only are we struggling for goals and victories, but our pot 1 opponents are in excellent form having taken maximum points in each of their fixtures throughout September. Whilst we have managed just a solitary victory over Division 1 Queen of the South, Sevilla have swept aside all in their path with only Real Zaragoza managing to breach their goal. Even if were hitting top gear, only the most blinkered of fan would not admit that it will be a tough fixture. However, previous such matches have been greeted with fear and hope in equal measure. Too often I have read comments of fans who would not attend the game even on a complimentary ticket as they will not suffer the indignity of watching their team play for a nil-nil draw. Apparently, the only games of football in which you should follow their team are against inferior opposition where attacking with reckless abandon is the order of the day. Perhaps a greater interest in the “sweet science” of boxing may prove enlightening to such fans. Their preference for football would be akin to two pub drunks flailing away, swinging hay makers and taking as much damage as they might be able to inflict. Students of the “gentleman’s sport” will more keenly appreciate the need for a great defence is as important as a great offence. Come out swinging against a superior opponent and your night could be over in the opening rounds. Despite its brutality, boxing is a thinking man’s sport and time and again Walter Smith and his Rangers team have shown an ability to soak up the opponent’s early pressure before delivering a knockout blow in the Championship Rounds. Success in prizefighting, or indeed any other sport, is achieved through maximising your strengths, minimising your weaknesses and taking advantage of your opponents. In much the same way any football manager must look to maximise the qualities of his squad, play to its strengths and look to exploit any deficiencies in your opposition. With the quality of opposition dispatched on the way to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final it would be a little unfair to dismiss that run as merely luck. As such, Walter Smith had struck on a winning formula for that squad. Suggestions this pre-season were that Smith may utilise a more attacking outlook this season and certainly that has been the intention of setting out in a 4-3-3 formation, even if it has not yet been perfected. I do not expect an expansive attacking game from Rangers on Tuesday. I expect Smith to set out with the game plan that maximises our chances of obtaining a positive result. Building a game plan on defensive solidity and playing for 0-0 draw is not the same thing. Defence may be attack’s unfancied sibling. A dirty word in the corridors and changing rooms of the Nou Camp. It does not grab the headlines and the column inches in the same way that offensive prowess can. However, it is every bit as important if a positive result is to be achieved. Defending is not a crime. But playing with no sense of attacking ambition is!

Le Tissier? Really. Jebus christ. Lay off the booze/smack/glue Billy. Now I know Le Tissier is perhaps not a legend in the way some other players are. Mainly because he stayed with Southampton for hsi career and didn't get the caps he deserved, but he pretty much single handedly kept them from being relegated for a number of years and his goals alone could fill a top 20 EPL goals programme. In fact just went "youtubing": [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSsdfe4Z69g]YouTube - Le Tissier Top Ten Goals[/ame]

I've never said the players did not contribute. I just usually see that arguement trotted out as a way of deflecting blame from the man who ultimately carries the can. As i've pointed out, his professionalism is in question too. Do as I say, not as I do? How bad do you let things get before making a change?

:box: Watch what your saying!

Shroomz, why the need to tarnish the name of a Rangers legend and a Scottish football legend with such comparisons. (Aimed at the commentator not you). Compare their current dross to their "legends".

I don't think it's all PLG's fault. I'm just not a subscribed member of the blind faith loyal. I.e. Believing he would come good when there was little to suggest he would. The PLG experiment did not look like it would work for a number of reasons. And plenty of them were down to the man himself.

I'm making no argument here. I was merely pointing out why your point about Smith was ill thought out. Of course people who have previously built up some sort of good "credit" get a little extra time. People have considered they have earnt it or that there is a better chance of them coming good. I'm not saying the thinking is correct necessarily, but it's easy to understand why people think like that. You claimed he was forward thinking. I merely provided one example of where he is not. Whether or not other people were also unprofessional is hardly defence of PLG being negligent of his duties. PLG's time at Rangers is similar to Burleys at Scotland is the point I was making. In that context what they have done elsewhere is irrelevant. PLG lost his dressing room, alienated key players and showed very poor man management. He also showed a poor ability to deal with the media. And then there's the results. I think the parallels are clear. I have airbrushed nothing. There were other contributing factors. PLG was ultimately as culpable in his own downfall though. Poor man management, poor media relations, poor results for starters. No one was going to back Ferguson. Murray was happy to back PLG if the Frenchman was happy to stay. Before we go on the warpath declaring it was all everyone elses fault lets at least acknowledge the fact that he didn't have the stomach to stay.

His ideas weren't that new. People talk about fitness under PLG. Yet he wasn't "forward thinking" enough to employ a specialist sports scientist for example. Someone who previously attained unrivalled success tends to get a bit of breathing space yes. What's so unusual about that? PLG did little/nothing to be deserving of time. Players are rightly lambasted for not properly preparing themselves. I.e By applying themselves on the training field. Yet PLG gets off scot-free (a bucket load of unintentional irony in that term) for being one of the most ill prepared employees at the club. Suggests a lack of professionalism there. A lot of parrallel's could be drawn between PLG's errors and those of the current bumbling fool leading the national team. You'll notice earlier in the thread I commended PLG on his class and dignity as a person. But I draw the line when we start blaming everyone else connected with the club for his failure. To draw a footballing parrallel, Mourinho was rightly praised for not being afraid to make changes early in a game if it wasn't working. Also it must not be forgotten that PLG left because he didn't have the stomach to stay and fight. Murray was happy to stand by him against Ferguson if the Frenchman wanted to stay.

PLG demonstrated more than enough failings in 6 months that are glossed over/ignored/not addressed whilst we seek to scapegoat Barry Ferguson, Kris Boyd, Alex McLeish, the fans and any other number of people.

Think that can apply to sport as well. So 6 months is plenty.