Yorkie Bear

It's amazing that Stevie's innocuous fist post has triggered the responses it has. I have no financial expertise so I respect the contributions of those who have. They make valid points which I am sure Stevie will cover off in his discussions. My initial reaction was in line with Stevie. I thought that a fan group owing a large share holding would be a good thing and I maybe mistakenly believed that this would be a widely held view. If what is being said that the fans owning a sizable share would deter other investors, then maybe a fans holding is not such a great idea after all. I look forward the Stevie reporting on his discussions. They may not unite all gersnetters but I'm sure I'll be better informed.

Sounds a real money spinner for those who get to the group stages. Assuming there will still be qualifying rounds for our League, this could mean 8 qualifying round games followed by 10 group stages. Don't know how the Scottish authorities would take the withdrawal of Rangers from the league cup. Maybe Celtic are trialling it this season?

Seems odd to me that they have only raised this now. A winter training camp would surely have been planned and booked months ago. Sounds like a panic response to recent results and covering their backs should they get a doing on 2/1 and need to flee quickly.

If getting knocked out of the League Cup results in the chaotic scenes of last Sunday, think what will happen if they lose to the Mighty on 2/1? They will need to escape the country so it looks like they are covering off this eventuality. Funny how it's only been raised now. You would have thought that a long planned training camp would have given rise to more notice than 1 month. Very suspicious.

or Mick Jagger taken from Aftermath album Aftermath meaning "something that results or follows from an event, especially one of a disastrous or unfortunate nature" Sounds about right

Perhaps this will be counter productive for those Celtic fans who want rid of Lennon. Had this happened when fans were in the ground, Banners and chants against the manager/board are often effective. Fighting with the police in the street is less so. You get to the situation that the club cant be seen to give in to such scenes. Lennon may well go but these demos are more likely to delay that event.

Rangers 2 - 0 Standard Liege FGS Tavernier

A difficult one as a good all round performance. No one stood out as dominating the match but for his selfless play for the team, I give it to Morelos.

Falkirk 0 Rangers 3 FGS Defoe

Rangers 1 - 0 Benfica FGS Tavernier

Between Tav, Kent and Arfield. Tav because of the threat he poses going forward and he just oozes confidence. He even managed some good defensive work yesterday. Kent because he's always a threat. Sometimes it doesn't come off but he keeps at it. He chases people down. He goes on mazy runs. He scores. He assists. He's always good to watch. Arfield is the least showy but probably the most effective and very consistent. Another one who harries, drives forward and gets into good positions. Arfield just edges it for me.

From the BBC site: "Back in August, Celtic full-back Boli Bolingoli was banned for three matches, with a further two suspended, for travelling to Spain without notifying the club before returning to play against Kilmarnock without quarantining. Similarly, eight members of the Aberdeen squad were given a suspended three-game suspension for breaching lockdown rules by visiting a bar." The anti has been well and truly upped.

Rangers 2 - 0 Aberdeen FGS Morelos

Rangers 4 - 0 Hamilton FGS Defoe

The more Lennon reacts like this, the greater seems the composure of Gerrard when dealing with the press. You see it in Gerrard's press conferences when someone dares to criticise he simply closes it down, rather than rage. Gerrard has obviously been trained well to deal with the media. The way he behaves must rile the Celtic management. Long may it continue.

SPFL ANNOUNCES LATEST CLUB CONSULTATION RESPONSES THE SPFL HAS COMPLETED ITS LATEST CONSULTATION EXERCISE WITH ALL 42 MEMBER CLUBS The SPFL has completed its latest consultation exercise with all 42 member clubs, gauging views on a range of issues related to Covid-19 and their possible effects during the current season. SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “Like everyone in the game, the board is keen to avoid the division and dispute caused when Scottish Government restrictions prompted by Covid-19 forced the curtailment of last season. “In light of the fast-changing nature of coronavirus restrictions, the board is seeking to ensure that the game is as well-prepared as it can be for any eventuality and the League is consulting regularly with all 42 member clubs. “We have already carried out one such consultation exercise this season and the second, which we have just completed, is unlikely to be the last. In the interests of transparency, we expect that we’ll continue to monitor and publish the collective views of clubs as the season develops.” Club responses included the following: - 20 clubs agreed that they would be content to give the SPFL Board at this stage in the season power to curtail the season (on a points per game basis) if a particular threshold of matches had been played by the date of curtailment; - 17 clubs agreed that they would be content to give the SPFL Board the power now to void the season if an insufficient number of matches had been played by the date of curtailment; - 12 clubs were in favour of the SPFL Board being granted broad powers to manage further Covid-19 related disruption to the season. A number of other clubs were undecided on the issue, with some suggesting that they may reconsider later in the season; - only four clubs were in favour of the SPFL Board being given the power to impose a 3-0 defeat on any club not fulfilling a fixture. A number of clubs expressed the view that the existing system, which gives the Board power to allow or refuse individual League Match postponements and to investigate the circumstances, which may result in disciplinary proceedings being commenced, allows “due process” to be followed before any sanction is imposed; - a wide range of views were expressed as to how many fixtures should be completed for a valid season to be deemed to have been completed, in the event of early curtailment; and - 19 clubs felt that it was “too early to take decisions now” and that decisions on any Covid-19 related disruption should be considered later in the season. Neil Doncaster said: “We are grateful to all those clubs who responded to the questionnaire. It is very clear from the responses that there is no consensus, let alone the necessary majorities, for any decision to be taken now about how we might draw this season to a close if it becomes impracticable to complete all fixtures as a result of Covid 19 disruption. The board continues to seek to complete every scheduled League fixture on its scheduled date, except where necessarily dislocated by cup matches, and welcomes the Scottish FA board decision to have no replays in Scottish Cup matches during the current season. “Encouragingly, the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 Strategic Framework underlines that professional football will continue to be permitted, even under Tier 4 restrictions, giving us the best possible chance of completing the season, and that remains our over-riding focus.” https://spfl.co.uk/news/spfl-announces-latest-club-consultation-response When they say XX clubs were in favour, they dont say if the rest were opposed or had no view

No wonder Jones and Edmundson have such a bad altitude.

Benfica 1 - 1 Rangers FGS Tavernier

For flying out loud, how many more partnership are we going to have.

Should give our finances a Boost.

It does make you wonder about the thought processes of some footballers. Had Rangers not found out about this, would they have turned up at training as normal without saying anything? If they test positive during their isolation, I image it's curtains for them at Rangers.

I'm not sure what to make of this. I'm a bit betwix and between.

Kilmarnock 0 - 2 Rangers FGS Morelos

Fair point. At the moment, it's unlikely that any lockdown will stop domestic competitions. It's not in Europe at the moment, even in France that has stringent lockdown rules. So it seems that the SPFL will continue but there could be a fixture pile up. The SPFL should be clearing these as soon as possible. UEFA seem more relaxed on the position of playing domestic games on European nights, so the SPFL should be rearranging cancelled games for midweek on any games on including Rangers and Celtic. If UEFA dont allow this the SPFL could have games Friday & Monday. It could be a bit tricky fitting in with Rangers and Celtic games being played on Sunday but I am sure that some postponed games could be rearranged before the end of the year. The problem may occur if games are still being postponed late in the season, when they may run out of time. The SPFL need to set down clearly what will happen in the various scenarios. They need to do this soon so that everyone is clear and we have no shenanigans like last season.

Q1 I'm suspicious of giving the SPFL board "broad powers" as that is open to interpretation and abuse. Q2 a reasonable question on what should be done on unfulfilled fixtures. The 3-0 idea is lifted from current UEFA rules and I don't think it is relevant for the present situation. More discussion is needed on this. Unless the games affect Rangers and Celtic it should not be too difficult to rearrange later on. Problem lies if it's really late in the season. Wiser heads than mine need to come up with a solution. Q3 - Q6 To avoid the fiasco of last season, a decision is needed sooner, rather than later, on what should be done in the event of the league being halted. To set the rules now will avoid any accusation of bias and of clubs at the top and bottom arguing for a policy that only suits them. The simplest, and probably fairest, solution would be have a policy to extend the season to complete the league as happened last season for most european leagues.