Bill

This game has started exactly as St Johnstone would have wanted.

Looks like exactly the right team selection but the bench looks weak if we need to bolster midfield to defend a slender lead.

It's good to feel modern and relevant.

I agree strongly with your sentiments. Contrary opinion seems to stem from using a measure of "success" and "progress" that's rapidly becoming outdated and irrelevant, or even counterproductive. The football enterprise in general and the elite end of it in particular has become increasingly dislocated from the fans who created it. The sport is directed by people for whom fans are an inconvenient condition of generating turnover. Yet there seems to be no shortage of fans who still think success lies in embracing the madness ever closer. For me, the future lies in an entirely different paradigm and in time I believe more will see it too. The sad fact is I no longer have much interest in football. If it wasn't for Rangers I doubt I would watch another football match. I put far greater value on supporting Rangers than climbing UEFA's greasy pole.

Of all people, Rangers fans know only too well the price of reaching beyond the length of our arm. Can't believe you asked the question.

All of which is fine and aspirational ... and certainly sounds good. Except it isn't attainable and the price of trying is higher than anyone is prepared to pay. Look around you, those are tired old propositions that fly in the face of the reality around us. If those are really your conditions for supporting Rangers - playing in a better league, CL regulars, up with the ESL group - then there will be very little enjoyment ahead. It's one thing to dream but when you wake up it's best to stop dreaming.

Heard you the first time ? The better path is to enjoy your club simply because it’s your club, whatever league it plays in. Because what I think you’re defining as progress and success is, in fact, unattainable. It’s now all but impossible to compete for the big prizes. That’s a closed shop. Either rethink what success means or commit to failure. Unless things change (and they won’t), success for us will be trophies at home and occasional opportunities to test ourselves against others in the same situation abroad. Enjoy.

Apparently there’s a long queue who would love the chance to buy a season ticket if anyone isn’t happy to renew their own.

All the evidence suggests that sustainable success in football is the exclusive preserve of the top dozen or so clubs from only five countries, funded by debt or private wealth and underpinned by preferential access to lucrative tournaments. For everyone else, a seat at the top table is almost always accompanied by rapid financial collapse and a prolonged spell in obscurity. One thing our own troubles have brought home to me is that football is rigged in almost every way, inside and out, and that the temptation of riches and success is, in fact, an impossible dream, designed only to provide a platform for very few to parade on. So, progress? Success? In my opinion, We already have huge success and reassuringly few prawn sandwiches involved. I think there’s a better path and it doesn’t involve sacrificing everything to take it.

Good news! You can still pay the tenner even after we're allowed back in the stadium.

I get all of that except the bit at the centre. What is "progress" and exactly how does it make us "better". What's our objective - to win the CL six times in a row ... or once ... or just to qualify for CL group stages ... or to with the SPFL title ... or just to avoid a repetition of the last ten years? Is it to have a better stadium, or to play better opposition or play in a more prestigious league? How do we measure progress? If progress means getting £120m in TV money every year but to succeed on the park we still have to run at a loss and lifelong fans are priced out of watching their team ... is that still progress?

As important as healthy finances are to our security and development and as important as entertaining football is to our match day enjoyment, there is another factor that has always been more important and it's what has always sustained us through periods when no trophies were won and even financial ruin. I'm not sure what the best name is for it but it's essentially what you feel walking to the stadium and when sitting at Ibrox waiting for the teams to appear. I know it has something to do with belonging and sharing and a sense of pride at who we are and all who went before to make that 150 years of continuity. Someone once summed it up as "we are the people". I know it has almost nothing to do with the size of the club's income or how much we spend on players or what league we play in. Winning is better than losing of course but, win or lose, rich or poor, it seems to me there's always something more. Do Norwich or Southampton fans feel better than we do about our club because they play in the EPL and bank squillions every year? I doubt it. As a portly commentator keeps saying, it's all about The Rangers.

I guess I'm the only one then ..........

Rangers 4 St Johnstone 0 FGS - Kent

I could back the idea of a British League or cross border cup competitions if I thought it would make Rangers a significantly better club to support and the business of being a Rangers supporter a more enjoyable experience. But as appealing as the idea of stepping up to a "bigger" arena might seem at first glance, I honestly can't think of anything we would gain from it.

That's slick, really slick. The transformation from the way Rangers used to interact with the support tells me a lot about the kind of people we have running the club now. The truth is we're only now starting to do things the way many others have been doing it for years. It used to be so amateur and we got used to it being like that. On the park and off it, we seem to be going places.

I recently received an email from Rangers, asking for personal information so that MyGers points could be allocated to my Rangers number. Does anyone know if this is actually a bona fide email?

I'd need to watch it again but I remember thinking at the time that Simpson showed a lot of composure and a very impressive turn of speed. You always keep a close eye on new signings and I thought he did quite well for a first start. What I especially liked was his ability to pass the ball forward. Looks like a decent sighting but with his experience you'd be surprised if he wasn't. The problem last night wasn't occasional starters Itten or Simpson, it was disappointing performances from some established players such as Kamara, Barisic, Tavernier. These things happen but if it happens again on Sunday then we could have a very flat end to the season.

Perhaps he meant they played LIKE a second string. Which wouldn't be too far off the mark since Bassey and Patterson were a big improvement on Barisic and Tavernier, the midfield was transformed when Arfield and Aribo came on, and Simpson, Wright and Itten were arguably the best of the rest.

Can’t see it being true.

What a difference Arfield and Aribo made.

When was the last time you saw so many hopeless attempts to put a cross into the opposition box?

Would it be too disloyal to point out that was 45 minutes of unmitigated garbage from Rangers. Seriously, Itten, Barisic, Tavernier, Kamara and Hagi have been passengers. Too many changes and apparently far too little in the way of a plan how to win this game. I'm actually quite shocked by what I've seen. Enough of the experimenting - get Kent, Arfield and Aribo on the park asap and tell Patterson to do some stretches.

That's nice but mutiny should still be punished. I think a 20 point deduction at the start of next season and banned from UEFA competition for a year should send the right message.

These clubs clearly run their affairs on the basis of ever-increasing turnover and have hit the buffers under the current league system. This ESL really must be stopped somehow, we’re jeopardising football to bail out profligacy