Leppardized2001

Didn't take him long to consider our offer it would seem

Or we could go totally 'modern', and use the 4-2-3-1 tactic that went down a storm at the world cup. That retains you're two holding players in midfield.

Thought that myself at first then got to thinking that it's a smart move by Boydy or his agent. Let's say he scores a load down there in his first season. He'll have only one year left on his contract and clubs will be lining up to sign him. Or waits 2 seasons and he's on a bosman again. And he'll still only be 28.

I take your point, but surely we should be planning for all eventualities ie if so and so leaves and we have x budget we will go for this guy, but if the budget is y then we go for this guy. Even though funds haven't been forthcoming doesn't mean we stop scouting. In fact i'd say scouting for us was more important than ever as we can't afford to make mistakes with any potential signings.

That's probably my major concern, squad depth. Assuming that Bougherra and Wilson both go, say for a combined �£10 million, we would really need to splash that on at least 3 defenders i'd say. That would leave us with Weir and Webster as our central defence, one a guy of 40 who surely can't play every league game again and the other an injury prone player who's just had the best season of his career. Add in the fact we have no genuine cover for Whittaker and Papac if Broadfoot also goes and we could be in serious trouble. Could be. Throw into the equation that we still have no real creativity and no real width in the team and Walter doesn't have his problems to seek this close season. Can see it being a busy summer on the transfer front for us.

�£7 million for Bougherra??? Errr yes please!!! Let's not forget, 2 seasons ago he was playing for Charlton so hopefully his 'rather inflated ambitions' aren't that high. What with Andy Webster back, a player I would say was more suited to the SPL, and i'd be happy to let Bougherra go as long as some of the money was reinvested into signing another CB. Will probably all depend on what kind of World Cup he has. If he has a stormer against England we could seriously be quids in!!!

If Newcastle Utd over him their no 9 shirt he'll be off their like a flash!! Don't think anyone was given it last season as the manager thought no one deserved Alan Shearers 'mantle' but if they offered it to Boydy that would definitely tempt him. The location of such a move would also appeal to him. I also disagree about some of the comments about going to a 'smaller' club not developing him as a player. I'd just point to Steven Fletcher as an example. Went to Burnley, probably the smallest team in the league, and had a terrific season and I wouldn't be surprised if teams were sniffing about him in the close season and he'd go for a lot more now than what Burnley paid Hibs.

Aye...be like a home game for them over in Boston

back upto 16....get buying folks. This could be legendary!!!!!

Gow, Riorden and Stokes up front perhaps. Thats not a bad forward line at all.

If I was a betting man i'd be putting money on Boyd moving to Newcastle United, either in January for smallish fee or in the summer on a Bosman. Would have put my house on it if Shearer had been their manager as Shearer was Boydies hero as a kid. However it's close enough to his family up here in Ayrshire, gets him out the Old firm football goldfish bowl, gets him pretty much into the Premiership as Newcastle are romping the Championship AND get's him better wages. All round it looks the ideal move for the big man.

Exactly. Let's face it, theres no way FIFA could have a World Cup in Africa and NOT have France there.

I reckon Wilson will be following Boogie out the door in the not to distant future. The big guns of the Premiership have been following this young lad for months. I know it's early days in his first team career, so not wanting to get ahead of ourselves, but he's now jumped very much to the top half dozen of our most sellable players. Big offer in January and it could be a short Rangers career indeed.

Ach it's alright lads....we punt all the players who are out of contract at end of season and promote some young kids in their places. And then we sell Ibrox and play our home games at Murray Park. Problems solved

Scottish football is heading backwards, and Rangers and Celtics recent runs to UEFA cup finals along with Walter Smiths and Alex McLeishs tenures as Scotland managers have papered over some seriously glaring cracks. Or perhaps we're not moving backwards as such, more treading water while everyone else progress's. Is it the fact that the rest of Scottish football is dragging Rangers and Celtic down, or is it the fact that the Old Firm duopoly is to the detrement of Scottish football and in particular the SPL? What do the other teams in the SPL realistically aspire to? 3rd place in the SPL. Hell the vast majority of the teams in the SPL are just happy to finish top 6 for a little extra prize money and another game against each of the Old Firm. With 'lofty' ambitions such as that is it any wonder the SPL is in touble?? Unfortunately being the best of this bad bunch obviously doesn't cut it when it comes to playing in the European arena. Some may think we're getting paranoid and this is a knee jerk reaction to the game on Tuesday. But heres the facts people. Since the game in Lyon when we won 3-0 and we were all pretty much shocked and stunned by the results, how many games in Europe have we played? 18. And how many have we won? 2. Our record in those last 18 games is won 2, drawn 8, lost 8. So realistically why did we expect to win on Tuesday with a European record like that???

Well i'd go for - Alexander Whittaker Weir Papac Smith ( if fit??) Naismith Davis Thomson Fleck Novo Boyd

The thing is, is Walter's contract not up in January?? In theory we could dump him for nothing come then...oooooooooo. And you just have to look at the kinda guys that were applying for all the SPL jobs that were going in the summer. And they were 'diddy' teams lol. I'm sure there would be no shortage of top quality candidates for the job if it become available, both from these shores and abroad.

Smith is a tactical dinosaur, a one trick pony, and is being caught out. EVERY team we face in Europe knows we're going to line up 4-1-4-1 or 4-5-1 or whatever varient. Just because it worked in the UEFA cup campaign, boring the hell out of us and the rest of world football on the way, doesn't mean it's always going to work Walter. Therefore they all know how to attack us effectively as they can plan quite easily. On the park it gets worse. Seems to be noone in the team willing to let their voice be heard, to get into team mates and get the team going. Wheres the leader??? Hell I know he played for the other lot but what i'd give for a Roy Keane in our team. Grandad Weir has been a great servant to our club but for god sake retire him. He's no Paolo Maldini. Barry was past it but least he'd have got into those 'players' tonight. And as for Walter not signing a centre back in the summer, well hasn't that come back to bite us in the arse BIG TIME!!! We were all screaming in the summer for him to sign a centre back or two an what does he do. Not sign one. So then we have Lee McCulloch, Mr Play Everywhere and Anywhere In A Decidely Average Manner, filling in. God help us if Boogie goes to the African Nations Cup. Speaking of Weir though, and if we ARE to employ Walters favoured tactics, I think Walter has been missing a trick for monthssssssss. Boogie would make the PERFECT holding midfielder for us. Get 2 decent centre halfs in or promote young Wilson and stick Boogie in the midefield. He'd have 2 guys behind him so would have license to burst forward if needed but could also provide cover at back if required. Hell none of our midfielders look like they want to get in the box!!! Speaking of midfielders, and our only summer signing, Monseuir Rothen. What a fecking waste of wages this clown is. Did we sign him permanently or his he on loan? If he's on loan get him on the first ferry back to France. I'll admit, at the time I was quite pleased we'd signed him what with left midfield being a problem position and him being a seasoned player. But deary god he's bloody awful. All the misfits we played in that position last season contibuted more than he has. I'll be honest, I thought we we're going to sign anyone this summer but I wasn't that bothered because the players we had showed they were capable of winning a title. I thought they'd be strength in unity and continuity and we'd get better and better. Oppps, how wrong was I?? Sorry for the rambling but I just see SO much wrong with the leadership, organisation and management at our club, from the boardroom to the football pitch, and it is both annoying the hell out of me and upsetting me in equal measure. We've been beaten by a team we should be murdering. Or should we? Do we have to high an opinion of our own team? I don't know. We're top of the SPL, but is that anything to be proud of? Scottish football is slowly dying, and my greatest fear is that in it's slowly and prolonged but inevitable demise it takes our football club with it.

The SFA is a joke...between George Peat and Gordon Smith they are making a mockery of Scottish football, and that's without the aid of the walking disaster that is George Burley. Peat is an old bufoon and how the hell Smith got the chief executive job i'll never know. Was bloody useless on the tele and radio, and now he just makes an arse of himself to an even wider audience. What next, Pat Nevin for chief executive? All the good work re-establishing ourselves in the international game under Walter Smith and Alex McLeish has been undone since Burley took charge. It really is back to the Bertie Vogts era while he remains in charge with caps getting handed out willy nilly. I'm expecting one in my xmas stocking this year. I would never want Scotland to lose a game, but i'll make an exception if it means that it leads to the removal of Burley and Butcher as the management team.

Sure it's not the glamour ties, but we're probably guarenteed to sell out Ibrox for the 3 home games regardless of who we were playing so ticket money isn't the issue. For us, it's about getting points on the board, which equates to several hundrerd thousand pounds per point, and hopefully progressing to the last 16.

Just goes to show what a big difference being in with the 2nd seeds has made to our draw. Really feel we have a realistic chance of coming out that group. That Romanian lot played my local club, Ayr United, in a pre season friendly and drew 1-1. Are coached by ex Chelsea full back Dan Petrescu.

Could do with Fiorentina winning, are part of my 7 game accumulator. The 3 teams playing tonight all won, so come on the Arsenal as well lol

Have we got a good enough squad to compete at CL level ? No.

We might not be able to afford to buy Hutton back, but maybe there is scope for a year long loan deal? Spurs seem to have plenty of right backs, might be worth Walter asking the question

Well firstly i'll go only with players i've seen in my lifetime...so basically the 80s', 90's and 00's and if allowed i'll choose a Scottish player and an international one. For my Scottish player it would have to be Kenny Dalglish. Watching football as a kid I wanted to be this guy, was a truly great player for Scotland and Liverpool and as manager built one of THE great Liverpool sides. International player is a bit trickier but would probably go for Maradona, with the 1986 World Cup being the highlight. Argentina had some great players in that side but they all paled into significance beside this genius of a player to such an extent that you would have thought they were a one man team. That and taking Napoli to 2 Serie A titles ahead of the likes of AC and Inter Milan, Roma and Juventus. Went off the rails later in his career, but the Maradona of the mid 80's is, in my eyes at least, the greatest ever footballer. Is just a pity we missed out on both of them.