Frankie

Of course it should have been talked about. If it was - after all you only have that liars word for it. However, the article was written for one reason. It's sensationalist, not all the facts are released, the writing alleges that he'd be the first catholic to play for Rangers until the end of the main story and he doesn't even mention why he didn't sign leaving it to the reader to infer the main reason was his background. Also how would be be a high profile catholic to sign for the club when he was 13? I don't consider myself unreasonable nor stupid and that's what I take from the article. It suits the agenda of a man and a paper who want to make Rangers and their fans look bad at every opportunity.

I don't think so and neither do the vast majority of Rangers fans at the moment thankfully.

Erm, he suggests in the article he would have been the fist catholic to play for Rangers. Not true in the slightest - not even close. "Lennon's background was always going to be a factor and the move never went through." That suggests the move never happened because of his religion. No other reason is given and that's the inference the reader is to make. If his religion wasn't an issue why even mention it in the first place?

http://www.gersnet.info/fmrangers/newmain/190806.html Firstly I'll start by defining the word hypocrite: Webster's Dictionary has the following: I wouldn't normally waste my or your time by talking about Celtic or one of their players but considering this 'man' is going to be all over the papers for the next few days I think it's only fair we see this wolf without the sheep's clothing. Firstly we'll discuss Lennon's disgraceful claims in Saturday's Daily Record (as proven liar Hugh Keevins did previously a few weeks back) that Rangers didn't sign him in the early 80s as he was a catholic. This simply isn't true and is heresay of the highest order. I'd imagine if this was the case Rangers would not even have asked Lennon over from NI. Why waste time and money if the school-boy signing wasn't to happen because of his religion. Interestingly, Rangers signed John Spencer in 1984 and he was also a catholic. Before that Rangers had dozens of catholic players since our inception in 1872. Certainly seems to counter the Record's claims of signing policies and the like. I'd suggest that Lennon wasn't signed simply because he wasn't good enough. Nothing else. The same article quotes Lennon as saying his father "expressed his grave reservations about me ever signing for Rangers, not least because it could place my personal safety, and that of the rest of my family, at risk from the actions of extremists". Perhaps there is some truth in this statement as I can recall Mo Johnston and Neil McCann both having trouble from such people. Not Rangers fans of course, but Celtic fans who took umbrage when they signed for Scotland's most successful club. Indeed, Johnston has had to make his life away from this country due to the same 'extremists' Lennon's father talks about. Moreover, Lennon himself had trouble from his own fans a few years back - his father self-imposing an exile on himself from Parkhead due to the treatment his son got for his defensive style of play. Do we see a pattern here? Going back to the definition above we read about false pretending and acting. Lennon does a great job of this. Time after time we read sympathising articles from his many similar friends in the Scottish media about how he is the victim of sectarianism and abuse during his time in Scotland. Now, I've no doubt the guy does suffer from the occassional bit of such behaviour and no-one should be subjected to this. Ask Ian Ferguson. Or Mo Johnston. Or Neil McCann. Or maybe wee Lenny should take the advice given to Ian Ferguson by his friend and greatest supporter Martin O'Neill when he was asked about the terrible sectarian taunts Ian Ferguson used to receive from Celtic fans: "He's man enough to ignore it". Speaking of sectarian behaviour and abuse Lennon has been guilty of the very same - strange from a man who abhors it and admits his life has been negatively affected by it? It's been that bad he took it upon himself to call the Rangers bench and fans 'Dirty Orange Bastards' during a heated Old Firm game in November 2004. During the same game he spat on a Rangers scarf right in front of the Copland Road stand. Not that you'll read anything about that in his book I'm sure. Certainly he (or his club) have never shown any regret for his behaviour that day. Indeed, the following year, Celtic made this man their captain. A great role model I'm sure. The following year he was found guilty of threatening behaviour towards officials after another defeat at Ibrox. Some Old Firm (well Rangers) players have actually been convicted of similar behaviour in the past. Not the eternal 'victim' though. Earlier this season we all read the stories about Lennon's cheating with various different women and how he was again guilty of threatening behaviour towards one of his various pregnant girlfriends. Now, some newspapers should never be believed at face value. However, Lennon (and his club) have never denied these stories so I think given the usual urgent PR responses from Celtic when a negative story does appear in the press (it does happen now and again I hear) didn't occur in this case, we can safely assume the stories are true. All of this article so far paints a very different picture from the one you'll read in this weekend's papers. Indeed, one which fits the earlier definition perfectly. Let's not be timid here. Neil Lennon is the worst kind of person one could ever meet. More than half of Glasgow doesn't like the man. More than half of Scotland detests the man. Everywhere he goes he brings the worst out in people. That's NOT, I repeat NOT, because Neil Lennon is a catholic. That's NOT because Neil Lennon is even a Celtic player. It's because Neil Lennon is a cheat. Neil Lennon is a liar. Neil Lennon is a hypocrite who is the very bigot he complains about so often. The same goes for every newspaper and journalist who gives this man (and I use the term loosely) the platform to air his hypocritical views.

I'll be there on Saturday Cammy so give me a shout if you need a hand...

Check this thread out... http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9200

Yeah, Bob broke his leg just as he looked as if he might make it into the first team on merit. With so many strikers now at the club, this loan move will be his first step out of Rangers permanently.. Good luck! PS: Apparantly Dany N'Guessan could also be joining him.

More competition for places. No doubt Bardsley is a decent, young player so should be a good battle between him, Hutton and hopefully Lowing for the right back jersey.

It's racing cycle presented to Rangers by the French club Saint-Etienne when the teams met in the European Cup in 1975.

Game highlights here: Yep, he took the goals very well. Malta are hardly the world's best team but it's good to see Sebo get his international career off to a similar start as Boydy. Now, to seem them play for the best team in blue...

We have a special relationship just like the USA and UK... Suck is most definitely the 'special' one...

I can understand you're thinking but it's a bit too offensive for my liking. I can't see the formation changing this weekend although I'd imagine Boyd will play as the striker while Prso may be accommodated elsewhere either on the left for Adam or just behind Boyd for Buffel. I'd also consider recalling Gavin Rae for one of the midfield roles. His energy and industry might help the spine of the team as he can support both the defence and the attack more than Hemdani.

Well can you tell me what he's been doing wrong this season? Defensively he's been our most sound player this term. Offensively, he's been less effective and his distribution has to improve but generally he's done OK and has arguably been our best defender. Would you say Svensson, J-Rod and Smith should be dropped as well since they've not done any better? I remember the away Villareal game of last year. Hutton started slowly and gave the ball away too easily a few times in the first 20mins. After that he settled into a game and basically kept Riquelme quiet enough that he was eventually subbed. That's what he's capable of and that's what PLG obviously sees in him. The slight inconsistency he suffers from is worrying but understandable given his overall lack of experience and that fact he's not had a real proper run of over 15 games to fully settle into the side and regain his confidence. So far this season he's done pretty well. Not outstanding but enough to keep his place and be given the chance to develop further. Now if you can show me why he's been so poor (so far you haven't) then I might concede a bit of ground. The criticism he's received just for the odd misplaced pass is not merited and I think as a support, we'd be better served backing him instead of waiting on his next error just to say 'I told you so'!

Every single one of our players was painfully average last season under a painfully average manager. Hutton, at least had a bit of an excuse, returning from that horror leg break in late October to a team which was already awful. I certainly agree he didn't have a great season last year due to niggling injuries and an overall lack of consistency and fitness but he was still only 21 years old. Yes, he's hardly the world's best right back either but he's as much right to get a chance under PLG as any other player who was there before PLG started and showed an element of potential. His form before his leg break was very good and I remember lots of praise at the time. I think given our shortage in that area Hutton not only deserves our ongoing support but the chance to regain that impressive form of 2004/05. I think the continual criticism of Hutton is incredibly harsh and over the last 2 or 3 games he's done pretty well and so IS on the side on merit. And I know I'm not the only one who thinks that.

Well, I don't think any of the other players have been better than him. Svensson certainly hasn't; J-Rod was partly to blame for yesterday's goal and wee Stevie Smith wasn't as effective yesterday as he has been previously. Hutton certainly hasn't been outstanding by any manner of means and like all of our defenders his distribution has been woeful at times. At the same time though he certainly hasn't deserved the abuse from some quarters either. I'm quite happy with him at right back at the moment and the more games he plays the quicker he can regain the form he had when we first broke into the side. Then he looked fitter, stronger, more confident and won a few MoM awards. If he doesn't progress as he should then I'll be the first person to ask for PLG to drop him but so far he has done anything to warrant that.

I'm too crap for golfing... But I'll keep trying. Need some much needed practice ahead of my stag weekend to De Vere Slaley Hall 2 weeks on Friday...

Good news... I won't be going through though as I'm golfing.

Yep, no doubts about it. The first 2 games we played pretty well and although we were poor yesterday we only lost because of a defensive mishap between 2 layers new to each other. We have to improve for the visit of Hearts and I've no doubts we will.

Oh I wouldn't dream of doing that... It applies to the online community as a whole - not this site...

Let's get one thing straight - to drop 4 points in 3 games against 3 poor teams isn't good enough. It never has been and never should be. However, let's stop being so fickle here by slagging almost every player and the new coaching staff before they've even started what we all should have known would be a long term job. Yes, we obviously have a few main concerns. 1. We're still too lightweight in the spine of our team and have struggled so far when confronted with physical players - especially in our defence. 2. The new 4-2-3-1 system appears to have it's drawbacks when teams are ultra-defensive or the offensive midfield players not as effective as they can be. 3. We still resort to too many aimless long balls instead of retaining possession and being patient. In saying that, all of these concerns can be fixed. In all 3 games we had enough decent chances to win them easily enough. Moreover, although the centre of defence has been very nervous and lightweight, time has to be granted for new relationships to develop. Of course, we should still be beating Dundee Utd and Dunfermline while this gelling occurs. Of course, we should have enough strength and belief to cope with their threats. Of course, the fans should expect more even this early. But, at the same time, of course, the new players and coaching staff should expect our backing and patience while the new team and system develops. To start slagging off almost every player this early is ludicrious and embarrassing. Every player that played yesterday has the game to do well for us and we should support them with faith. Yes, I'm as frustrated as the next man by the poor results and the concerns above. But I also realised this was never going to happen overnight and the quicker some of our fans appreciate this the better for us all. It's not the end of the world though and I fully expect us to recover from this shaky start. We're never the brightest of starters in the SPL and these dropped points might be a good thing just to show the new coaching staff and the new players that Scottish football isn't as easy to win as it might appear from the outside.

I'd argue that Hutton has been our best defender in the last 2 games... People just need to be patient while the team gels. Unfortunately we should still be capable of winning games against Utd and the Pars while this happens. All of the players can do better.

Smashing - can't wait to see this.

Yes, it's true... Fortunately the RSA are taking some positive action with regard to this important issue. Dunfermline aren't the only team at the ham though - Dundee Utd, Killie and 'Well all do similar tricks.

If he signs today he'll provide much needed depth on the left wing.

Best for all concerned... That frees up around £20K per week in wages and if, as expected, Fanfan alos leaves this week, we have some decent money in terms of wages for one or 2 new defenders. It's coming together slowly but surely.