Bill

Precious little defensive cover on the bench.

Gerrard isn’t in the business of experimenting this close to the finishing line. It will be 4-3-3 with Joe at LB

Anyone still trusting the police, perhaps out of some nostalgic notion of fair play, needs to wake up and smell the stench. In Sturgeon’s Scotland everything is deeply tainted, none more so than our highly politicised police “service”

In my ill-informed opinion, Rangers not only should but must be involved in player development. Not just with a view to producing first team players, although that would be a distinct bonus, but with a view to creating product that can generate income in both the short and (mainly) long term. I believe that can only be achieved if everyone at the club, at all levels, is part of the same integrated programme. Actually, it's the only approach that makes any sense and the current management team obviously think so too. Simply relying on a regime of loaning out players clearly isn't working, the evidence is there in the stats. That's not to say that a loan deal won't continue to be the best option for the right player in the right circumstances but we clearly need more than that. It might even be that a combination of internal coaching in a competitive setting and occasional short-term loans is the way forward, perhaps focussing on partner clubs. The Lowland League isn't the best level for us but at the moment it's the only option available and we'll have to try to progress that as best we can in the future. I definitely see this as a progressive approach by a management team with a clear vision of how to break out of our past inertia.

They might manage to be right all by themselves.

That's a very bold statement and might be better filed under "Opinions".

We do our own thing. If they don't like us, that's their choice, not our intention.

Maybe they should have approved the fucking fan zone.

Surely the advantage is being able to coach and field a team rather than send individuals to be coached by God knows who. It may well be the case that the decision to do this is a direct result of loan players returning in a worse state than when they left. If that's the case then the level of opposition is a lot less important than is being made out.

Has Connor Goldson run over someone's dog? Because he should have been on that list by any measure you like.

March boys march.

Livingston 0 Rangers 4 FGS Morelos

"Cup Weekend"? I don't know how many were engrossed by the Scottish Cup spectacle at the weekend but I suspect it wasn't many. I only found out this morning who was in the final. Just as well crowds will be banned, otherwise people might have wondered about the empty stands.

There must be a point to perennial threads like this but sometimes I struggle to see it. Twice every year - speculating on transfers we can't know anything about, providing analysis of players that's meaningless without the context of the club's recruitment plan, offering wisdom on players that counts for nothing, giving a platform for false rumours. Fair enough, it's decent soap opera but I prefer to see what Steven Gerrard says about actual recruitment.

Who thought if would be a good idea to have no proper football for ten days and then two games in four days. Far too many blank weekends due to dreary international and cup competitions.

Talking about Sheep FC, there's much talk about abandoning their proposed new stadium west of Aberdeen and building a new home a stone's throw from their existing dump.

Wasn't that grave found and improved as an initiative by Vanguardbears?

I believe clubs like Rangers have to be involved in two different and largely discreet processes. The first is to assemble a trophy-winning first team squad, almost all of whom have to be capable of fulfilling a first team role whenever called upon - no passengers. The second is to assemble a shadow squad of players, the vast majority of whom are a not expected to be first team players but who can benefit from good coaching, good club practice, etc and who can be improved with a view to trading - primarily for money but also as makeweights for inbound transfers. Not all of these will generate net income but many should. Occasionally some might actually make it into our own first team (Patterson) but most will need to find first team experience elsewhere, while generating loan income towards their cost to Rangers. It's a bit like farming on someone else's land. I don't have any figures to support it but it seems to me the loan market for players is huge and reflects a business model we've been too slow to embrace. You just have to look at the likes of Ryan Kent to see how it works. I think the current board and management team are now committed to this two-tier approach to recruitment and as supporters we should also understand that not all signings will be intended for the first team.

It's a bloody awful situation but I'm afraid there isn't currently any solution to it other than protecting your account and ignoring the idiots.

All four deserve huge credit for what's been achieved this season and there are another 2 or 3 other names that could also have been on the list. But ignoring who has had memorable moments or who played most often and focussing purely on overall influence on the season as a whole, my choice would be .... 1. Tavernier 2. Davis 3. Goldson 4. McGregor I think this season has been transformational for Tavernier. He looks like the captain, the leader, we've lacked for many years now.

I take a different position on these players. The point of developing fringe players isn't to produce candidates for our first team. It will happen from time to time of course but in general we go out and sign players we expect to turn out for the first team. In my opinion like most other big clubs, the main point of the rest is to develop and trade - a process we're only starting to implement. Talk of the likes of Kelly coming from Ross County to replace Steve Davis is just nonsense - it will never happen and if we have any ambition to improve then neither should it.

How are we going to do improve this team if we don’t replace some current starting players? And we have a lot of improving to do.

He doesn't say much about his other income streams.

I can't see anything noteworthy here. Shock horror - Rangers fans buy season tickets. Who knew?

When all said and done, micro-agression is a very small thing and I'm sure Mr Obohorf is above all that. Only the other day we were posting on here about a Mr Baresic and I'm sure neither he nor Mr Morales take any notice.