Leppardized2001

This about somes up the current situation, with point 4 the main one for me. The way I see it, Peter Lawell over at Celtic and Martin Bain at Rangers hold the same positions, so would assume both have similar remits. Now while Lawell seems to have turned Celtic around financially, Bain has along with Murray dragged Rangers into the mire. Lawell has made Celtic a 'global' brand, helped by successful pre season tours and the signing of Nakamura who has done it for them off the pitch as well as on it. Why can't we do similar? Don't want to compare the Japanese market to the US one, but we have one of their top international players in DeMarcus Beasley. We have one of their star up and coming players in Edu. Why aren't we making more of these players to tap into the American market?? Instead neither gets played, neither gets utilised in a marketing capacity and we waste yet another great opportunity to promote our 'brand'. Transfer wise we are also a disaster. We pay over inflated fees, over inflated wages and then release players on frees or pay off their contracts so meaning that our transfer income is always a defecit, even though it looks like we're making money from deals. I mean look at the Boyd deal, sure we might get �£4million for him. But Kilmarnock are due 20% of that, so that's �£800,000 away already. And I would assume that we would still owe the majority of the fee for Lafferty. So basically the sale of Boyd pays for the purchase of Lafferty. Doesn't really make sense now does it. Add in Velicka, �£1 million, hardly played and will probably leave on loan or a free. McCulloch, �£2.5 million, available on a free. Darchville, came on a free, left on a free but made so much in wages in his 18 months at Rangers that he could take a substational pay cut. The only players we are liable to get rid off are the only ones vaguely worth keeping, the likes of Mendes, Davis, Ferguson, Bougerra, McGregor, Boyd etc. Smith has brought so much dross to the club we are stuck with a whole lot of dead wood. And my biggest fear is that if we do sell the likes of the players I mentioned above, who do we replace them with? Run of the mill SPL players so turning us into a run of the mill SPL team? Get set for a bumpy ride fellow bears...this wasn't the start to 2009 I envisaged

The thing is Pete, until his horrific injury Mols was pretty prolific for us. I know, as a whole, he wasn't prolific throughout the course of his career ( injury withstanding ) but who knows what he could have been like? But I digress. As Craig says, this isn't about Kris Boyd, this is about Rangers basically being forced to sell their assets due to mismanagement. The assets being the players. Sad, but true.

I know that Birmingham are in for Boydy, but it doesn't mean he's a cert to go there. The big man's a bit of a home boy, remember a while back when he moved to Glasgow and got homesick and moved back in with his mum in Tarbolten. He's now settled in Ayr, 2 kids, one no long started school...big upheavel to uproot all that and head south. Unless the money offered to him is crazy money I can't see him going. Me being positive I suppose lol. On the other hand, I expect the likes of Mendes, Bougherra, Davis to be off.

He'll move big Kirkadinho up front and have wee Nacho at right back. Or something along those lines.

What may determine McGregors transfer value is if Shay Given leaves Newcastle Utd. That will set a price/market value for one of the top keepers in the Premiership and so allow teams to better guage McGregors value. And if Craig Gordon was worth �£9million then �£7.5 million for McGregor doesn't seem to unrealistic.

Read it in at least one of the papers today Pete. Was at work so must have been the Star or News of World. Not great 'source' I know, but going on previous and seeing how we seem to be eager to get rid of 'dead wood' it is a scenario I can see unfolding.

Well �£12 million for Wayne Bridge...you're having a laugh!!! And then Defoe and Bellamy on his shopping list too. If I was pumping millions into Man City i'd be looking for better than that

Whats annoying me about this story is that although McCulloch cost us �£2.5 million-ish around 18 months ago it would appear from reports that he'd be available on a free just to get him off the wage bill!!! The financial mismanagement at the club we love is truly astonishing. Fair enough we make big profits on the likes of Hutton, Cuellar etc but we seem to be pissing that money and more away on giving folk free transfers or paying off their contracts.

also sounds like a lot of our European games last season

Think off the field problems are contributing to his poor displays.

Be difficult for him Gribz, seeing as Walter will probably play him at left back or central defence

Well when you play 2 centre backs in your full back positions on a constant basis ( Broadfoot and Papac) , so totally knocking the confidence of the one out and out full back you currently have ( Steven Whittaker). When you send a centre back on loan to play in the English Championship ( Andy Websterbut then play a guy in his position you originally played at left midfield ( Lee McCulloch) When you get in on loan a young, exciting talent from La Liga ( Aaron ) who could fill your left side problem but continually keep him in the reserves. When you fill said left side problem with a striker ( Kyle Lafferty) Am sure I could think of a good few others. Walter, dear dear Walter. It is almost December and you STILL have not a clue about what your best side is!!! I mean come on!! Playing players out of position, square pegs in round holes sure isn't the answer!! These problems should have been ironed out in the summer instead of signing numerous strikers. And to be honest I can see us only dropping more points and Celtic pulling away. And as I said in another post, they are FAR from being a decent side. So Walter, go now. You have no vision, no team in mind, no clue and i'm sorry but I have no patience left.

Hows Webster getting on down south? Alot of paper talk this week about him coming back in January after his loan spell ends.

Well after watching Celtics performance in Europe on Tuesday night one of my first thoughts after i'd finished laughing was how the hell we were four points behind them in the league. To be honest, the only player from their team i'd want is McGeady, and thats for the sole reason he is blatantly better than any left midfield option we have. Bar him i'd have no one from their team. On paper, i'd say our squad was stronger than theirs. So how come yet again we are chasing them in the league? Is it poor management? Is it poor team spirit? Is it 'lack of heart'? Is it all 3 and more??

Just want to reiterate the common view...if you're going to play Lafferty then play him up front in his natural position. I don't know if Walter is playing him out there to develop him as a player. But the guy is 23 (??), a full internationalist and cost upwards of �£3 million. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and criticise him until he gets a run of half a dozen games upfront. But that's unlikely to happen while we have Boyd, Miller, Darcheville, Velicka, Novo etc seemingly ahead of him in the queue for the position (s).

number of away wins they've had in Europe

The thing is, Beasley is the only proper genuine left winger that we have and as far as i'm concerened we're playing to many players out of positions as it is. He was out for a long time so not long back from injury and I do hope he gets his chance in the next few weeks because we are crying out for some decent penetration ( ooo errrr ) down the left and Lafferty isn't the answer. In fact playing him out left seems to be nulling his effectiveness as a striker at the moment. As for the young lad Aaron i'd be amazed if he's still at Ibrox after January. Surely there is no way Valencia are going to be happy that he's never featured in the first team and been stuck in the reserves the whole time he has been here. He'd have developed more as a player staying in Spain.

Well I was thinking of it before then..so there was thinking the only reason he was omitted from squad was because he must have been injured. Cracking wee player...and can play few positions too. Him and Boydy up front for Scotland :fish:

Well see Ross McCormacks scored another 2 goals for Cardiff City today, think that makes him top scorer in the Championship. Would like to see him get into the Scotland squad ahead of the likes of Iweulmo and Morrison.

McLeish took the gamble that he could keep Birmingham in the Premiership or failing that he'd have a good enough squad at his disposal to get them out the Championship first time of asking. Which although it is only early days in the season he has a realistic chance of doing. Probably also felt that he'd taken Scotland as far as he could, that he couldn't face another 18 months going through a qualifying campaign and that he wanted back to day to day club management. Wouldn't call it possible career suicide.

As of end of September 2008, Kris Boyd - Caps 14, Goals 7 Kenny Miller - Caps 40, Goals 11 James McFadden - Caps 41, Goals 13 Garry O'Connor - Caps 15, Goals 4 A goal every other game for Scotland, and most of those 14 appearances from the bench. Hmmmm who to bring on to get you goals...it's a toughie. George it's over to you. I know, we'll go for an untried 30 year old journeyman. OOOOOOOOO wrong answer!!!! And his Scotland squad for the Norway game - GK Craig Gordon 31 December 1982 (1982-12-31) (age 25) 35 0 Sunderland GK David Marshall 5 March 1985 (1985-03-05) (age 23) 2 0 Norwich City GK Allan McGregor 31 January 1982 (1982-01-31) (age 26) 2 0 Rangers DF Graham Alexander 10 October 1971 (1971-10-10) (age 37) 36 0 Burnley DF Darren Barr 17 March 1985 (1985-03-17) (age 23) 1 0 Falkirk DF Christophe Berra 31 January 1985 (1985-01-31) (age 23) 2 0 Heart of Midlothian DF Kirk Broadfoot 8 August 1984 (1984-08-08) (age 24) 2 1 Rangers DF Gary Caldwell 12 April 1982 (1982-04-12) (age 26) 30 2 Celtic DF Jamie McAllister 26 April 1978 (1978-04-26) (age 30) 1 0 Bristol City DF Gary Naysmith 16 November 1978 (1978-11-16) (age 29) 44 1 Sheffield United DF David Weir 10 May 1970 (1970-05-10) (age 38) 63 1 Rangers MF Scott Brown 25 June 1985 (1985-06-25) (age 23) 13 0 Celtic MF Darren Fletcher 1 February 1984 (1984-02-01) (age 24) 40 4 Manchester United MF Paul Hartley 19 October 1976 (1976-10-19) (age 31) 21 1 Celtic MF James Morrison 25 May 1986 (1986-05-25) (age 22) 3 0 West Bromwich Albion MF Barry Robson 7 November 1978 (1978-11-07) (age 29) 6 1 Celtic FW Kris Boyd 18 August 1983 (1983-08-18) (age 25) 15 7 Rangers FW David Clarkson 10 September 1985 (1985-09-10) (age 23) 1 1 Motherwell FW Steven Fletcher 26 March 1987 (1987-03-26) (age 21) 2 0 Hibernian FW Chris Iwelumo 1 August 1978 (1978-08-01) (age 30) 1 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers FW Shaun Maloney 24 January 1983 (1983-01-24) (age 25) 14 1 Celtic FW James McFadden 14 April 1983 (1983-04-14) (age 25) 41 13 Birmingham City Hate to say it but this is turning into the Berti era MK 2 when we were handing out caps to anyone. I mean having Graham Alexander and David Weir still in there at their age. Please no!!! And having Iwelumo and Jamie McAllister in there at the age of 30 for first time. NOOOO!!!!!

Was definitely a coupon busting weekend!!!

The one thing Cuellar has showed is ambition. Ambition to improve himself in arguably the best league in the world, doing so by joining an ambitious club with a chairman willing to back his manager, and achieving his ultimate ambition of playing for his country. And I have absolutely no problem with that at all. Is something that seems to be sadly lacking from the higher echelons of Ibrox and Murray Park at the moment. What I will say that calling him genuinely world class is a bit premature. Yes, he had an outstanding season in the SPL and was far and away our best player last season. However, he wasn't picked up by the big clubs in Spain when he left Osasuna for us, and again he hasn't been picked up by them this time. Is there a reason for this? I don't know. He has proved himself in the SPL and in one European campaign for us but he'd need to get into Spanish team and be brilliant for Villa to be considered world class. We have done not bad business quadrupling our money in a year, and surely that was what our policy of signing young and up and coming players was all about? Is something we need to see more now that we are blatantly a selling club! I will however wish him all the best as I would like to see a big name export from the SPL do well down in the EPL, and would hope that we had a future fee percentage penned into the deal. Of the last few big money deals from Scotland to England none has exactly excelled. Van Bronckhorst flattered to deceive at Arsenal, Boumsong was a disaster at Newcastle and Cuellars new team mate Stilian Petrov has struggled at Villa. Is to early to judge Hutton yet. Him being successful down there reflects well on us.

The days of Stephen Hughes and Bob Malcolm were better than this :fish: ooo and no forgetting Hamed Namouchi. Sorry, but if I didn't laugh i'd cry :uzi:

My missus knows better than to bother me when the footy is on, even more so after results like tonights.