12 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

You have to suspect that European champions Portugal haven't included Alves in even a preliminary squad just for the sake of sentimentality.  I would still like to see how he could perform in a Gerrard team with another good quality CB beside him.

No doubt brother. This cat has too much experience to just cast off. Give him a chance.

1 hour ago, craig said:

Every effort WAS made to keep him.  He was offered more than any youth had been offered before.

 

As colinstein says, we couldn't match Chelsea's offer, it really is that simple.  The lad gets 22k a week next season.... we barely pay that for seasoned pro's and certainly not 17 yr old kids.  We can't compete with that.

 

Complain about the inequity of football leagues and the richer nations continually getting richer - but don't try and lay the blame for Gilmour leaving on the club - they did everything they could to keep him - he had been the crown jewels for a number of years.

 

Interestingly, his wee brother Harvery just won the Schools Scottish Cup with Grange Academy.  Harvey is on the books at Killie.

You know what chaps my ass about that kid though?

Billy Gilmour: ‘Scott Brown would have bullied me if I had stayed at Rangers’

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/billy-gilmour-scott-brown-would-have-bullied-me-if-i-had-stayed-at-rangers-1-4746787

What kind of candy ass comment is that?   "Heee would have boooweed meeee"  As if this clown Brown is Ray Lewis or something. Better off in London kid...the dress selection is better.

So they docked their pay, suspended them and are potentially releasing both? Sounds like a cost-saving measure more than a corrective action to me.

Moves such as this make no sense. "Collegiate atmosphere?" What sort of hogshit logic is that? Antiquated at best. 

On 6/8/2018 at 04:26, TheUKCrazyhorse said:

Easy to say with hindsight, but I can't help wondering if Stevie G had been in charge when Gilmour was here - instead of Caixinha - if his presence would've been enough to persuade Billy to stay here.

The club and Rangers fans will rue the day that kid left. Every effort should have been made to retain him. I mean EVERY effort. Bad business...very bad business.

On 6/8/2018 at 04:51, buster. said:

Why bump this back up the board ?

 

Thread has run it's course and could do with being locked.

Sorry, just commenting on a topic.

18 hours ago, der Berliner said:

 

Maybe they simply value quality and experience more than we do ... Murty inclusive? The character assassination that goes on with some Rangers players amazes me time and again.

Yeah...I have noticed that. It seems many Rangers fans let their passion chokehold their logic. There is one thing about sport which is uniform, take a good player and put him in an unsound scheme and he will look very poor. Meh...

-Very interesting take on things with this lottery system. Is this unique in football? 

1 hour ago, pete said:

Hopefully we can keep the better players and they are not sucked away like Gilmour.

Man...what a lamentable affair that is. That kid is going to be a beast. Oh well, he will come back here >30 like Rooney did with Everton.

2 hours ago, buster. said:

Alves started tonights 3-0 WC build-up friendly win against Algeria and was subed after 57 minutes.

The old legs slow everyone. I think it's pretty amazing that they chose him in the first place. Is Portugal lacking young talent?

Some people's kids ehh? Poor guy just wants to go to church. Sad man.

Sorry, let me see if I am getting this correct. There was an organization formed by Rangers fans with the intention of gaining a financial foothold in the club.

 If all funds were to go toward share purchase wouldn't those projects be commensurate with the percentage of ownership?

Do they have a mission statement/statement of purpose (Club 1872)? If so, then this should have been outlined in that mission statement. If it was then specific allocations should be clarified.

 I absolutely love the Goldson signing. Ejaria is a mixed bag and is definitely a young, work in progress. This kid is big and STRONG. He has deceptive speed at the top end and distributes the ball well. He has good vision and plays head up ball.

However, he appears at times to show a low work rate and is a bit of a 'goonie bird', in that he seems like a boy in a man's body with his loping running style and lack of agility.

We shall see...hopefully.

OE

Why would they (Rangers) want to restrict access? A sale is a sale correct?

Quote

 

I'm down.

35 minutes ago, 917 said:

The problem with ‘living within our means’ is that it means we will never catch Celtic. They keep getting Champions League cash while we keep getting nothing. Unless there is up front investment, it will never be an even playing field - something which is happening in more and more European leagues (one team dominance).

 

However there is one way we could make up the gap, by buying cheap and selling big. Imagine we had taken that alleged £12million for Morelos? That probably equates to a full seasons ticket money & half of a retail deal.

 

However, signing any players from England is not going to achieve this, because their sell on value immediately goes down by playing in the SPFL. We seemed to be doing this last year by signing Cardoso & Morelos, maybe even Pena & Herrera, however we shouldn’t abandon the model just because Caixinha was rubbish! Yet look at one he did sign for about 1millon - Candeias. Arguably the best player in the league last season. But if he had been playing down south, he’d cost about 10million (maybe 5 in the championship) we should be signing players from Serbia & Sweden. 11 players of Candeias standard & we wouldn’t be far behind, or too skint. But we just won’t get that value in the English leagues. Yet that seems to be the market Gerrard knows..

True, we won't get that much value in the English leagues. This is one of those things where you must cede some ground. Gerrard knows Liverpool and the EPL. That is his experience base and he is working intelligently by incorporating his network and his known environment. As time goes on his experience and scope will broaden as his interrelations do.  From a strictly managerial birdseye I can start to see his m.o. and I  agree with it.

Caixinha attempted to reinvent the wheel by incorporating players and tactics which were entirely foreign to a majority 'Scottish' trained squad. He failed because his tactics and techniques were incongruent with his talent base AT his price point. If you examine Gerrard's acquisitions and targets, these are either players who are intimate with the Scottish game or have the physical and mental attributes to adjust to it while meeting stringent cost restrictions. 

This is logical human resourcing.

1 hour ago, craig said:

Andy Newport reporting that a 3 million fee with Brighton has been agreed and that we are now in talks with Goldson.  No medical arranged yet and it could be next week before the deal is concluded.

 

Some Brighton fans reckon he could do a "Van Dijk" in Scotland - if he can then that would be an excellent signing.  I read the thread on the Brighton fans forum and whilst many were saying that he was their 3rd or 4th best CB I didn't really see one post that said he wasn't a good player.  The only concern for me from reading that thread (aside from his heart surgery) would be that he isn't particularly physical.  A ball-playing, quick and mobile CB is what I read a fair bit of.  That would suit me !

A player's level of physicality may be a result of the system which he was utilized in. The statistics for this cat don't lie (6'3" 190lbs). He is a big dude (same height and ~weight as Van Dijk) who has the tools to bang if needed.

I am stoked about this guy.

On 6/3/2018 at 06:57, Bluedell said:

However that's an average season ticket price of £400

Damn...that's cheap!

Is this possible in the modern game given the 24/7 requirements of a manager? Especially at a place like Ibrox? If he were at some small outfit like one of those Irish clubs with seating for a family of five...but Rangers? 

Plus the conditioning has to be factored. He is not gonna get up an hour early, go jog with the dog and be in top-flight form.

18 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

He's still just 25 which in terms of the current transfer market prices would appear to be acceptable value if he's as good as some appear to think he is. I'm presuming Mark Allen and Stevie G know what they're doing with our limited resources and especially so Stevie. His managerial credentials are on the line.

 

 

The team needs continuity and a core to build upon. This guy is young and everyone says he is pretty legit.

I don't know about this Morrison dude. Thirty-two and coming off an Achilles injury seems pretty dicey to me. This guy blows another tire and its curtains. Especially for a club with little wiggle room in funds seems like a big gamble. BTW...everybody keeps talking about a tight budget. What kind of number are we lookin at?

3 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

Welcome to the forum. I'm born and bred Scottish and lived all my life in Scotland till coming to Oklahoma a little over 6 years ago now.

 

MLS is getting slowly better and will probably continue to do so but it can't be compared to the likes of Scottish football where clubs are over a century old and have had entire families supporting them for generations.

I agree with you on MLS. They are getting better. However, they missed the train withme.  Very cool, an immigrant...my GG parents emigrated from Scotland in the 20's. We need more European immigrants. Especially Scots!

30 minutes ago, pete said:

Welcome to the website mate. I hope you enjoy. Good to have people supporting our club as a choice and not because they were born into it. This is imo the best website for real discussion. I think we have a few British military on board and 26th of foot is or has been military I think. Unless I am totally wrong.

Thank you Pete. I hope I didn't come off as too forward but I figured I would preemptively answer the two questions I assumed would be raised. I am nowhere near as knowledgeable as most if not all of the posters on here but I do love to watch the games and I support the club the best I can.

 I think he would do well in Scotland. Homeboy wins games. He saved Everton's ass and like another guy said he did well in Sunderland. Aren't those guys down playing in the church leagues now? It seems to me at times that the EPL wants to be something it's not...Spain.

I never formally introduced myself. That was rude and I apologize. 

 I am an American Rangers fan. As an American Rangers fan, whenever I refer to my team in my home country they either think I am talking about the baseball team (Texas Rangers), or the hockey team (NY Rangers).

I tell them, "no, it's a soccer team...they are from Glasgow, Scotland"

"You don't like MLS?"

"No" I reply, and pause because I know what is coming, but I hope that they will ask me about the team...they don't.

"Why?"

"Because it's dogshit."

That is when the subject changes and we move on with our days.

I have been a Rangers fan since I was stationed in Okinawa in 06. I am career USAF.

Now, with all of the issues, I like them more than at any other time. The whole remaking yourself thing that really resonates with me. I love that about them. No quit.

My nick:  Malangsob, is Thai for cockroach. I picked it up during a TDY (Temporary Duty) in Thailand. I got drunk one night as one is apt to do in Thailand and I ate one...or maybe two, on a bet. I just remember a Thai squealing "malang sob!"...it stuck...along with a leg that I pulled out of my teeth the next morning.

So yeah...Go Rangers baby!

2 hours ago, colinstein said:

there's a non denominational primary in that competition

They have my support.

Addiction is a vicious dog. The problem with addiction as with most abhorrent behavior are triggers. For athletes, as with anyone, many of those triggers are rooted in their vocation. This is why so many continue to fail at recovery while still playing. Therefore, it would be a risky proposition inviting him back because only HE knows what stimulates his need to use. Or, maybe he does not. It's a gamble.