Bill

Winning the league last season would lack sparkle if it wasn’t for this kind of hysterical meltdown among the great unwashed

Some of us always have one to hand.

Malmö 0 - 1 Rangers FGS - Goldson

Lol

You clearly haven't heard him commentate of a rugby match then.

If he could cross a ball, Bassey would have romped this. But he can't. So it's obviously Scott Wright this time.

You there! Silence at the back.

Has anyone actually done that? Or are you simply ranting for the sake of it?

This is the third time in my life as a Rangers supporter that a long barren period has finally come to an end and we start a new campaign in the slightly unfamiliar role of champions. The older I get, the more I understand how important it is to relish these moments and, given a decade of destruction and recovery since administration, this one is going to be beyond special.

It's clearly beyond the reach of some but there's actually a serious issue here and it isn't whether footballers make indulge in virtue signals before a game. The worry for me is the ease with which cancel culture is introduced to the debate. It seems completely fair that fans choose to agree with Tavernier's request, just as it should be equally fair to disagree with him. Instead we have calls for dissenters to be removed from their seats and banned from Ibrox for life. And to justify it they are labelled as "racists" - now where have we seen that trick played out before? Frankly, I find it sickening that fellow fans can be so keen to brand as racists people they don't know and have never spoken to. Personally, I don't care what the players do before they start playing but I absolutely resent the attempt by some to create a compliance culture that dictates what fans can think or say and advocates banning people from Ibrox who don't share the opinions of their particular hive. The arrogance of this is staggering. If the players are genuinely sincere in their views then I doubt they will be upset by some fans expressing their opinions but, regardless, it is surely far more important that fans feel free to say and do what they want within the law without the ridiculous threat of being branded a racist. So much is going well at our club, let's not spoil it by acting like petty tyrants.

The issue for me isn’t booing (because that’s just not going to happen), the issue is a certain kind of fan who exudes sanctimony and takes it upon himself to go out hunting with a sharpened race card. Surely that’s a far bigger threat to unity than anyone who might feel inclined to boo.

So we’ve gone from let’s not boo to anyone who boo’s is a racist. This sanctimonious shit is out of hand. What happened to live and let live? When did the thought police take over.?

Is there a preferred arrangement for allowing someone to use your ST seat. With distances often significant, how do you handle the practicalities?

Be honest, how long is it since you looked forward to a new season so much?

Hopefully he’s on track this time. Just wish he’d had the operation sooner. I still see him as a vital ingredient

This fantastic news. It shows us a preview of how the Lowland League can be used to deliver a conveyor belt of talent.

FOR FUXXAKE GERSNET

That IS a surprise

"What will be will be" could be construed either way but I think as a club we can't be dependent on anyone playing every minute of every game, which necessarily means being able to keep on winning if and when Goldson leaves or is unavailable.

A word of caution always seems appropriate when facing a new season. Otherwise, expectations driven by a truly incredible last season can quickly turn to disappointment. For example, I believe it's extremely unlikely we will ever see another invincible season, or go on setting defensive records, or stroll to the league title by 25 points. In my experience, football doesn't serve up those luxuries very often. With our main rival in some disarray, we start as clear favourites and I believe we will prevail again this season but it wouldn't surprise me to find our points total falls short of 102. Whatever happens, success or failure will be judged next May, not on Saturday or the next few weeks.

I imagine many yahoos entered the summer break bitterly disappointed but confident of a swift return to dominance. An uninspiring pre-season, followed by two awful performances in Europe will have swept away any notion of that. Their mood is going to get as dark as only sudden and total collapse can bring and I look forward to Walfrid’s empire tearing itself apart in a festival of blame and denial.

By "gritty" do you mean leg-breaking thugs?

Rangers 2 - 0 Livingston FGS - Sakala

Justified or not, the word I'm getting from friends in Sweden is there's only pessimism about Malmo's chances against Rangers. Hopefully they're right.

I'll be surprised if Middleton, Jones, Barker, Edmundson and Hastie don't all go this summer. We seem to be arriving at the stage where homegrown youngsters such as Patterson and Kelly will be preferred to previously-acquired squad players and that has to be a big step forward. This is the benefit of a universal coaching set up - youngsters graduating to the first team with years of familiarity with first team playing systems. I believe we are starting to see the future.