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RANGERS fan George Letham has reluctantly agreed to give the Ibrox board a short extension to repay the £1million loan that was due last week. The wealthy supporter stepped in to lend his boyhood heroes the seven-figure sum earlier this year as chief executive Graham Wallace was forced to seek a quick fix to the Gers' cash crisis. As part of the agreement, Rangers were scheduled to give Letham his money back by the close of business on Friday, but after the Light Blues announced plans to raise around £4m in a share option last week, the prospect of him receiving his money appeared bleak. SportTimes understands Letham held full and frank discussions with Wallace on Saturday and agreed to a short extension to allow the under-fire board more time to come up with the money. With cash reserves running low at Ibrox, a refusal from Letham would have left Wallace and his fellow-directors with a huge financial headache. But after stepping up to the plate to help Rangers in their hour of need in March, the lifelong Light Blue was not prepared to pull the rug from under the board's feet at this time. The full extent of the Gers' financial plight was laid bare in a statement to the Stock Exchange last week when the board admitted that the future of Rangers International Football Club plc would be 'uncertain' if all 19 million of the new shares were not snapped up by existing investors in the coming weeks. Any funds that are raised will be used to pay off Letham's £1m loan and the £500,000 deal that was agreed with Sandy Easdale, both of which were secured against the Albion car park and Edmiston House. The Ibrox board originally clinched a deal with major shareholders Laxey Partners but that move came under huge criticism from supporters after it was revealed the Hedge Fund would collect £150,000 in interest payments for the short-term loan. Rangers had a cash balance of just £4.2m at June 30 this year, but with £2.7m of that unavailable as use for working capital, the board have been forced to issue more shares in a bid to repay Letham and Easdale and provide much-needed money for the coming weeks. With the financial picture once again bleak at Ibrox, boss Ally McCoist was unable to make any last-minute moves to bolster his squad before the transfer window closed last night. The Gers' two most valuable assets, Lee Wallace and Lewis Macleod, remain at the club, but seven players have gone out on loan - Barrie McKay (Raith Rovers), Calum Gallacher (Cowdenbeath), Danny Stoney (Stranraer), Luca Gasparotto (Airdrie), Robbie Crawford (Morton), Tom Walsh (Stenhousemuir) and Craig Halkett (Clyde). http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/letham-gives-rangers-extra-time-to-repay-1million-loan-178673n.25212709

ST JOHNSTONE are reeling after being handed a €18,000 (£14,230) fine after a fan waved a Palestinian flag, while Legia Warsaw have been hit by a UEFA charge over a banner attacking the governing body and Celtic The Polish side fielded an ineligible player in the final minutes of their 2-0 win over the Glasgow side at Murrayfield. Uefa awarded Celtic a 3-0 win, allowing them to progress on away goals to the play-off round, where they lost to NK Maribor. Fans of the Polish champions displayed a large image of a pig imposed on a Uefa badge and the slogan “Because Football Doesn’t Matter, Money Does.” The banner, surrounded by lit flares, was shown before Legia’s Europa League play-off victory against Aktobe of Kazakhstan last Thursday. Uefa rules prohibit messages of a political and ideological nature being displayed in any football stadium. Uefa said its disciplinary panel will judge the case on Thursday and potential sanctions could be applied when Legia open their Europa League group campaign at home to Belgian side Lokeren on 18 September. After Uefa’s ruling on the Celtic game, the Court of Arbitration for Sport denied Legia’s urgent appeal to be reinstated. It has still to consider the club’s request for compensation from Uefa for lost earnings. St Johnstone were charged after a fan displayed a Palestinian flag at one of their Europa League games. The Uefa match delegate spotted the banner being waved in the east stand during the 2-1 defeat by Spartak Trnava at McDiarmid Park. A St Johnstone spokesman said: “We have been told by Uefa that we’ve been fined €18,000 for the display of a Palestinian flag and pro-Palestine chanting at our game with Spartak Trnava. “We’ve asked them for a written judgement on this and are waiting for it to arrive. “Obviously it’s disappointing that this has happened but we need to see what the actual case is before commenting further.” The fine was handed out by the same Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee which will hear Legia’s case this week. Irish side Dundalk have already indicated they intend to challenge an identical €18,000 fine after Palestinian flags were shown at their Europa League tie against Croatians Hajduk Split. Reports in Ireland claimed Dundalk were stunned by the severity of the fine and have sought advice from the Football Association of Ireland over an appeal. Celtic have previously been fined €50,000 (£42,000) for a huge fans’ banner depicting IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and Scots warrior William Wallace, which was shown at a home Champions League match against AC Milan last year. It is the third time in four seasons that Legia have faced Uefa punishment. The governing body responded to fans’ racist behaviour by closing a section of Legia’s stadium at a Champions League play-off last season. At a home Europa League match against Hapoel Tel Aviv three years ago, fans displayed a “Jihad Legia” banner in Arabic-style script across one end of the stadium. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/st-johnstone-and-legia-warsaw-fined-by-uefa-1-3527044

...........with no insurance and while on his phone. THE 27-year-old defender was spotted by officers on Saracen Street in Glasgow's Possilpark area. RANGERS player Bilel Moshni has been fined more than £400 after he was caught driving with no insurance and while on his phone. The 27-year-old defender was spotted by officers on Saracen Street in Glasgow's Possilpark area. When police did a background check, on October 15, last year it was found that he had no insurance to drive the car. French-born Moshni pled guilty yesterday (mon) at Glasgow's Justice of the Peace Court to driving without insurance and while on is mobile phone. He was fined a total of £405 with 28 days to pay, and handed six penalty points. A plea of not guilty to a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, by pretending to police that he didn't live in the UK and was visiting the country for a catering course, was accepted by prosecutors. Moshni was not present when the case called at the court but was represented by defence lawyer Martin Black. The court heard that Moshni was seen driving and speaking on a mobile telephone. The car he was caught while carrying out the offences was owned by Kilmarnock Football Club. Mr Black said that Moshni had borrowed the car from Kilmarnock player Ismael Bouzid - who was on trial with Rangers this summer. He said his client thought he was covered to drive the car. Mr Black added: "It was nothing nefarious, it was simply an administrative oversight." Moshni has played for French teams CO Les Ulis, Mende, US Saint-Georges and Sainte-Genevieve Sports. He signed a two-year-deal with Rangers in July last year after a four week trial with the club. Moshni made his debut for Rangers at Ibrox in September last year in a 5-1 win over Arbroath. Last month he was sent off during a match against Derby County for headbutting striker Chris Martin and subsequently given a two match ban from the SFA for the first two competitive fixtures of the season. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/rangers-player-bilel-moshni-fined-4145296?

Looks like 3.6 million shares were traded today or rather transferred , could this be in part payement for either outstanding loan

Bill Leckie; Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If they don’t heed those words as the vultures circle Ibrox once again, then hell mend them. First time their club went to the wall, they manned the barricades to protect it from a big, nasty outside world. For that, no matter what other thoughts you have on the matter, their loyalty surely deserves to be applauded. But now? Two-and-a-half years on? If, despite being given a second chance to repair the horrendous mistakes of the past, a club with this level of support goes into administration AGAIN? Sorry, but if it was me I wouldn’t give them another penny. On Saturday, once more, thousands turned up brandishing red cards to express their unhappiness at the way the love of their lives is being mismanaged. And, once more, those responsible for the mismanagement laughed up their sleeves at the pointlessness of the protest. Because to brandish those red cards, you have to pay your money to get inside the stadium. Which hands yet more cash to the people you’re protesting at so they can go ahead and waste it. Listen, what do I know? They’re not my club and the one I do follow has never been to the heights Rangers have reached to suffer such a humiliating, disorientating fall. I’m just someone looking in and wondering how the hell, in all good conscience, Bluenoses can carry on regardless if and when the accountants take over the asylum once more. Actually, don’t answer that. It’s not a can of worms that’s worth opening, this We-Are-The-People, Rangers-Till-I-Die, stick-your-fingers-in-your-ears-and-sing-Follow-Follow mindset. So, for what it’s worth, let me instead pass on my suggestion for what they should do if their club re-enters the abyss. Sod it. Turn their backs on it. Give it, as a man on the other side of Glasgow once said, not one more thin dime. And instead, invest in the future of Scottish clubs who DO run their affairs honestly and who DO have respect for those who click the turnstiles. Go and back your old skipper Barry Ferguson as he tries to make things happen at Clyde. Go and see what another ex-player in Gary Bollan’s doing with Airdrie. If you’re from Fife, go and watch East Fife or Cowdenbeath. If you’re in Angus, hand your tenner to Arbroath or Brechin, Forfar or Montrose. If you donÂ’t want to give up your wee jaunt over from Northern Ireland, get off the ferry and stroll up to Stair Park. There’s been a school of thought among some these last couple of years that Rangers being forced to do the grand tour of the colonies meant the lower divisions should have been grateful for the gate receipts and the TV handouts. For me, this always got it the wrong way round. It was those inside Ibrox should have been thankful that they were in still in business and ABLE to head for Elgin and Berwick and Stranraer. Now, as fresh financial catastrophe looms, I’d put it to Rangers fans that they could do far more good for far more people if they stopped pouring money into what has long since ceased to be “their” club and started drip-feeding it to those who genuinely are the game’s lifeblood. Why? I’ll give you three good reasons. One, those halfwits in your directors’ box shouldn’t be trusted with the remote for the telly, never mind your wages. Two, that 30,000-odd of you spread among the country’s 20-odd part-time clubs would not only create better atmospheres but also help to cement football in communities for the long term. And three? You might just get to relax and enjoy the game, rather than always being angry and stressed about it. Watching Ayr United play Stenhousemuir might just extend your life. The alternative to this is a simple one. Stand your ground and, by your very presence, condone the halfwits in the directors’ box. Two-and-a-half years on from that first administration and the liquidation that followed, these halfwits need to scramble together £4million in a matter of days to keep their heads above water. To achieve this, they may need to flog their saleable players before the transfer window closes, which will hamper your hopes of promotion back to the top flight. If they don’t raise the money, they stand to suffer a 25-point deduction as punishment for a second spell in administration, all but ending those promotion hopes. How, with the wages they pay and the crowds they attract and the sheer intimidatory force of their name that is a two-goal start against far smaller opposition, can this possibly be? How the lumping hell can the people running a club the size of Rangers be handed the chance they were to start again, to build sensibly, to tool up for their return to where they want to be, and yet fail so utterly miserably? How? The clue is in the word halfwits. So maybe I’ve got this all the wrong way round. And it’s those Ibrox directors who should be sent to the outposts of the footballing empire instead. Maybe Graham Wallace and the Easdales and whoever else is a player in this embarrassing saga are the ones who need to go out into the real world and see how real football people operate. Trust me, if a month shadowing the treasurer at Albion Rovers didn’t shame them into living within their means, liquidation’s too good for them.

...........but who should be holding the knife.. Mike Ashley or Dave King?. WITH Rangers back on the brink KEITH says the time has come for the Ibrox board to pick a saviour before it's too late - and it's a straight choice between two men. There may only be enough money in the vault to keep them breathing until the end of next month and that’s with the help of the Elastoplast treatment the current board is attempting to apply in the shape of a £4million share issue. The truth is this business is broken again and if those in charge of it are not running around the Blue Room with their underpants on their heads they should be because the time has come for complete and all-out panic. Even if they can somehow scramble enough spare cash to repay £1.5m worth of emergency loans to George Letham and Sandy Easdale and to cover the next wage bill at the end of this month their gravy train is clattering towards the end of the line. The smart money says they’ll just about avoid the horrors and ignominy of administration by the skin of their teeth until, at some point in October, they press the big red button at an AGM and pass a resolution on the urgent release of even more new shares. At which point the game will change for good. Have YOUR say: 15 key questions on the financial situation at Rangers As things stand this morning, two men are currently jostling for position as this club’s potential saviours. There are others tapping their toes on the sidelines and some of them are making all the right noises but the fact remains the duo at the front and centre of this dance are Mike Ashley and Dave King. One of them plans to make as much money out of the club as he possibly can. The other insists he wants to gift it £30m. You’d think it would be a straightforward choice but then this is Rangers we are dealing with – a club that abandoned good logic and sound reason when it disappeared through Craig Whyte’s looking glass. My information is that both Ashley and King were asked (perhaps even pleaded with) to underwrite the latest begging-bowl approach to the city of London. Both declined but for different reasons. And yet, intriguingly, both remain sitting at the table with a stake in the game at this late stage. Ashley’s motivation is simple. He smells an earner. On the one hand he has to keep Rangers alive – and away from the clutches of administrators – in order to protect a retail contract that was generously handed to him by Charles Green and which has since been described by those who have seen its content as a licence to print money. Green’s generosity with other people’s cash knows no bounds. He was so delighted to take Ashley’s £1m he invited this crafty Cockney to name his terms on a seven-year shirt deal which is worth its weight in gold. To Ashley’s Sports Direct, that is. Even Craig Mather, who subsequently replaced Green in the role of CEO and seemed not to have the first idea of what he was doing there, was bright enough to identify the flaws in this particular arrangement. “It’s the worst, most one-sided commercial contract I’ve ever seen,”was how he described it to Walter Smith’s board. Rangers have tried hard to find a way out of it but Ashley’s lawyers left them no wriggle room. Reluctantly, the current chief executive Graham Wallace has branded it “unbreakable”. No wonder then that Ashley is ready and willing to shore this thing up as, if Rangers were to be tipped back under, the first thing to be ripped up would be this deal which still has five years left to run. The numbers involved, although unclear, will run into millions of pounds a year. Put it this way this revenue stream is so important to Ashley that just last week he saw the value in fuelling up his private helicopter and sending it to Greenock to collect Sandy Easdale from a bus depot and flying him down south for an urgent face-to-face talks. This pair have formed something of an alliance in recent weeks and months and if Ashley is to push for control of Rangers he will do so with Easdale’s full backing. His problem is the SFA jurisdiction which, because of his position at St James’ Park, forbids him from owning more than 10 per cent of a Scottish club. Couple of likely lads that they are, Ashley and Easdale may yet attempt to circumnavigate this in some way but certainly not by doing something as blatant as underwriting this latest share issue. My information is King was also asked to pony up £4m after being approached by the club’s nomad Daniel Stewart. His initial response was to ask if they were being serious as it is King’s belief four million quid will not touch the sides of the problems faced by this basket case of a football club. Those close to King maintain that – despite an extended period of silence from his South African bunker – he remains deadly serious about pumping as much as £30m into Ibrox. In fact they suspect he is now closer than ever to getting his way and obliterating a chunk of his children’s inheritance as the Rangers saga enters this next crucial phase. But, even so, King declined to put his name to the share issue because his requests for information about the true state of the club’s financial health were turned down by Stewart. He was told any such disclosures would be a breach of stock market regulations. King was then stunned to learn that a third party – another who was approached and asked to underwrite the issue – was given full sight of the documents he had asked to see. That third party, by the way, having looked under the hood, ran for the hills with £4m wedged in his pocket. It is now King’s view he was been deliberately blocked by the Rangers board from getting involved although the truth of the matter is the current regime is split down the middle. In fact, CEO Wallace is very much on King’s side. He has clashed personally with Ashley over that ridiculously onerous retail deal and has grave concerns about the diligence in allowing him to carve himself another even bigger portion of the Rangers pie. It’s just a pity for King that Wallace is effectively powerless and at the head of a PLC board which doesn’t have the authority to chose its own underwear never mind decide when the time has come to place pants on heads. King will have to find a way of convincing Big Sandy his is the only way out of this gathering crisis and his money will have to do the talking if he is to win the argument. Easdale is the man who continues to call the shots on the inside as a result of his alliances with Green’s people in Blue Pitch Holdings and Margarita Holdings. And he sees Ashley as some sort of kindred spirit, albeit a far more wealthy and successful one. And while all this infighting is going on auditors from Deloitte are now just weeks away from signing off on the latest accounts which must be completed by no later than the end of this month. With season tickets down and cash running out they will have little choice to confirm in writing what the rest of us already know to be true. Rangers are on a life support machine and life-saving surgery is required. The only question now is a simple one: Who do they want holding the knife? http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/keith-jackson-rangers-need-life-saving-4142492

CELTIC last night suffered a major transfer window blow as their £2.2 million deal for Stefan Scepovic collapsed. The highly-rated Sporting Gijon striker, 24, had been identified as Celtic’s main transfer target and looked certain to put pen to paper on a four-year deal with the Scottish champions. But the club, who last week exited the Champions League, were left deeply disappointed when the Serbian’s representatives indicated he would not be signing and will now move elswehere, with Getafe believed to be the front-runners. Manager Ronny Deila now faces a frantic final day scramble to bring in a forward before the transfer window closes at 11pm tonight. Deila also insisted that Leigh Griffiths will not be allowed to go on loan to Hibs after the striker came off the bench to score the equaliser in his team’s 1-1 draw with Dundee. Virgil van Dijk, who had hoped for a move to England and was left out of the team yesterday, has also been told he is going nowhere. Speculation about a short-term return to Easter Road by Griffiths has grown as the closure of the transfer window neared, and was heightened on Saturday night after current Hibs front man Farid El Alagui was injured in his club’s humiliating defeat at Alloa. But Deila refused to confirm that any club had approached Celtic about the player, and said his emphasis was on adding to his squad. “I don’t know,” he said when asked about a bid for Griffiths. “I haven’t heard that, but that’s no option. Leigh Griffiths is going to stay. No players are going out. It is important to get people fit and back from injury, get the new players in and get them playing matches so we have a strong and good squad for the fantastic games we are going to have after the next 14 days.” Celtic were far more potent in attack after Griffiths had come on, and they were also a lot more vulnerable at the back without Van Dijk, going behind in the opening minute to a James McPake header. “There has been a lot of speculation and a lot of thinking for him,” Deila said of the 23-year-old defender. “He’s a very important player for us, a very good player – and we’ve told him there’s no chance he is going to leave. He’s too important to us, so there’s no chance we’ll let him go during this window. We couldn’t replace him. So he is going to stay here. Of course it’s hard for him and he’s had a lot of thinking to do. But it will not be a problem. His girlfriend is also pregnant and due soon. So he hasn’t had the right focus. He wouldn’t have been 100 per cent today – that is why he didn’t play. “He needs a couple of days to get this out of his system, get thinking positively again. He’s a player we want to have and we’d like to sign him on an even longer contract. That’s how it is. We need good players here and we need to have his kind of player if we want to get the results we need. So that is no problem. “He had, of course, wishes to get to a new stage. He is a young player and he’ll get many chances in his career. But now we need him here and he knows that and that is how it is going to be.” Deila refused to say whether he or Van Dijk had made the final decision that the Dutchman would not be in the squad at Dundee. “We talked about it,” he added. “When you are not 100 per cent at Celtic you can’t play. Then other players can do a better job and that is how it is.” Deila hinted more signings were possible before the window closes, saying the club were “working all the time to see what the options are”. He refused to say whether Amido Balde would be allowed out on loan, and declined to comment when asked if he had made or would make a bid for Dundee United’s Stuart Armstrong. “We’ll see what’s happening. On Tuesday everyone will see what the squad is.” http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/blow-for-celtic-as-stefan-scepovic-deal-collapses-1-3526698

I wouldn't disagree with much of this to be fair. BY GORDON WADDELL Gordon Waddell: Like Thelma and Louise, Rangers have arrived at their destination.. the edge of a cliff 31 August 2014 08:37 AM By Gordon Waddell GORDON reckons Rangers are at the edge of a precipice but the cash crisis hasn't stopped the club signing back-up keeper Lee Robinson in a move typical of the way the club has been run for the past few years. THEY sold their road back to the top of the game as ‘The Journey’. It would appear Rangers have arrived at a destination many financial experts predicted for them long ago. The edge of a cliff. As the directors sit there like Thelma and Louise, with the engine revving, you wonder if the question was not whether the club would end up being driven over the edge but more a matter of when the crash would occur. How else do you explain it? No sane person would surely run a business the way they’ve run theirs. It’s as if they have committed commercial suicide. An example? It didn’t make a headline. Barely registered a mention. But if you want even a tiny indication of exactly how dysfunctional Rangers are, then look no further than the signing of Lee Robinson last week. A 28-year-old back-up keeper to a 35-year-old back-up. When they already have the Scotland Under-19 No.1 AND the Scotland Under-17 No.1 on their books? Another wage? Aye, why not, eh? We’ve been splashing money needlessly for two and a half years on players we don’t need and can’t afford – another won’t kill us. Their share offering on Friday was like taking a tube of Savlon to a cremation. They’ve admitted to the stock exchange that if they don’t get at least £3m, they’re knackered. And even if they do, they’ve openly shifted the problem a couple of months further down the line. Yet still they sign players like autograph hunters? They act as if they don’t give a monkey’s. Other clubs coming back from the brink, the first thing they attacked was their cost base. Trimmed all the fat and started from the ground up. Live within your means. New club motto? Numquam Iterum. Never Again. Yet here we are, back at square one. Ally on the back pages, pleading: ‘Don’t sell my stars’. Why not? Truth is you should never have been allowed to sign most of them in the first place. This whole ‘We’re Rangers and until someone tells me otherwise, we’ll continue to behave like Rangers’ schtick? McCoist is a bright, articulate, likeable guy. I refuse to believe he’s so gullible. That he never sat there and thought ‘This can’t be right’. Who would you prefer to be in charge at Rangers? I’m not saying anything I haven’t said to him in a dozen different press conferences. I’ve asked him why they weren’t hunkering down, signing players for their level, saving cash. He always replied: “The fans deserve better.” Damn right they do. But they also deserve their club to survive after what they’ve put in over the years. In a football sense, I haven’t yet met a Rangers fan who didn’t think the club would have been better bleeding half a dozen youngsters into their line-up back on day one and developing them properly than going down the road they did. I haven’t yet met a fan who wouldn’t have put up with the odd defeat to see some genuine progress and fiscal responsibility rather than watching the likes of Richard Foster, Stevie Smith, Ian Black, Dean Shiels or Jon Daly. Or Lee Robinson. Nice lad, decent gloves – but what about Liam Kelly and Robby McCrorie, two of the highest-rated teenagers in their position in Scotland? Every other club in the country is giving youth a chance and reaping the rewards. Not The Rangers. Sorry lads. Can’t trust you, even on the bench. No time to have faith in you. Other diddy clubs might get away with playing teenagers. They may even excel. Hell, look at Conor McGrandles – 82 senior games by the age of 18 and a £1million move from Falkirk to Norwich. Rangers are too good for that, though. Listen, the dysfunctional management of the club’s affairs runs a million miles deeper than the team. These are just examples of how a total breakdown in management manifests itself in public. What goes on behind closed doors or up marble staircases? We may never know. But the fact they’re putting out the begging bowl in such a humiliating manner suggests none of it is good. And then we have the ever-hovering presence of Dave King . King has been criticised for his silence but don’t let anyone kid you that he hasn’t been waiting for this exact moment. The lowest ebb. The final wheezing breaths of a regime someone as long in the tooth as he is always thought would arrive. Sure, he’s a Rangers fan. Sure, his intentions for the club will be more honourable than the current incumbents. But spare me the idea his timing suggests anything other than his own benefit being served too. In the meantime, the Rangers fans are once again left with what they call Morton’s Fork – two choices, both undesirable. Take up the share option, keep a shambolic regime functioning a little longer. Or not a penny more. Flush them out and suffer the consequences. I don’t envy them their decision.

by Andrew Smith BY THE end of the current campaign, Celtic will have a record of four competitive victories in the Champions League group stages across the past seven years. They had a fifth win in 2008-9, but that came in their final game when they were already condemned to prop up the section. The club, then, are hardly heavyweights in the most glamorous European domain. They aren’t even light middleweights. The furore engendered by the 1-0 home defeat against Maribor in midweek that meant Celtic will have contested the Champions League only three times in seven years was, as the club’s chief executive Peter Lawwell said the other day, not “rational” but “reactive to a bad, bad result”. Yet, Celtic themselves are partly responsible for the fact the fans will flog them for failure in the qualifying stages of the Champions League since they continually set themselves up as “one of the best-run clubs” in the universe. A club so spectacularly well-run would not flop against (in Legia Warsaw and Maribor) not one but two clubs boasting a fraction of Celtic’s budget, it is legitimate to contend. Even with a new manager, as Celtic have in the yet-to-convince Ronny Deila. Not so, Lawwell contended. “It happened to Gordon [strachan], 5-0 [away to Artmedia Bratislava], happened to Lenny [Neil Lennon], with Utrecht, Braga and Sion, and it happened to Martin [O’Neill] , in Basel, and we never threw the towel in. We said ‘these things happen’; it is transition. It is happening to [Louis] van Gaal [at Manchester United], it happened to David Moyes. It is transition. In big clubs, it takes time. So that is wrong what you are saying.” Celtic’s strategy isn’t wrong. It doesn’t require a complete rethink. But they must do the right things correctly, and that is where questions are entitled to be asked. Overall, they have signed a bad crop of players in the past two years, and been too sluggish to replace the players they have cashed in handsomely on. It is not a matter of being done in by downsizing, however easy that line is to trot out. If Serbian striker Stefan Scepovic succeeds in filling the No.9 hole that has existed since the departure of Gary Hooper last season, then Celtic will have made £2.2 million work for them better than the near £6m they forked out in the previous two windows on Teemu Pukki, Amido Balde and Leigh Griffiths, three forwards Deila patently doesn’t trust. Celtic require to show a little more humility about the element of luck that determines whether their policies end up appearing visionary or vacuous. Lawwell at least offered up that the other day. “I hope you don’t think we are being immodest but when you are the target of the criticism [we have had], you have to defend yourself. And it’s not just us that are saying we are one of the best-run clubs in Britain and Europe… are we not that? “It is difficult. With the uncertainties, the risk. We don’t think we are God’s gift, we don’t think the strategy is flawless. Of course it is flawed, because it is football, and it is chance. Karagandy last year, they hit the bar. Callum [McGregor’s shot the other night] might have not hit the bar. In football you have to prepare for that and not think you are fallible, and prepare for being fallible. Which I think we have done. “Economically, we are far stronger than Elfsborg, Helsingborg, Karagandy, far stronger than Legia, far stronger than Reykjavik and Maribor. Far stronger. But these things happen. Far stronger than Inverness. But these things happen. If it was done on economics purely, then we should be in the Champions League every year. But there is a football element, a sporting element If we are in it three years out of five, we are doing well. We should be beating Maribor.” There is a tedious attempt to put Celtic’s recent struggles down to the absence of a Rangers in the top flight. Yet, Celtic now have a £10m reserve when, with the Ibrox club as top-flight rivals, they are in debt. Lawwell, though, doesn’t downplay the squeeze on finances caused by the disappearance of the rivalry, offset by nearly £30m player sales inside the past 15 months. “When Rangers went down, we took £100 off the season tickets. So that is £4m [down] for two years. The Rangers games bring in at least another £3m. The fact that there is a perception among our supporters that there is no competition and you are going to win anyway, and so you don’t go to the game, means you could have lost £10m a year, quite easily, on the back of Rangers going down. How we have coped is seeing that ahead and the strategy over that ten, 11-year period, has seen us successful on the park and stable off it, as Hearts and Rangers have gone bust. And yet we are still getting it [in the neck].” Deila might consider himself fortunate that he is not getting it more, with grumbles over his failure to convert a 1-1 draw away to Maribor into a home result that took his team through to the group stages. The Norwegian was willing to defend his tactics, which seemed higgelty-piggelty, for the fact he opened up in the second half when Celtic only needed to contain. “We were too passive in the first half and would have lost if we had kept going that way,” Deila said. “We need more offensive power and controlled the game and looked more of a threat with Kris [Commons]. And then they scored.” Deila has not seen new signing Scepovic in the flesh and said he has no reason to do so because of the trust he has in John Park’s scouting department, which has been “pretty successful” over four or five years. The manager is placing great store in the Serbian being the target man required, and the signing must work for him as Celtic go into a Europa League campaign against Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb and Astra. Against the Austrians, Croatians and Romanians, none of who can match Celtic’s £32m football wage bill, he must show the team is progressing. Deila admits it is not acceptable for Celtic to lose in Champions League qualifiers to far more modestly financed opponents, but appealed for judgments on him to be reserved for now. If he wants a crumb of comfort, no new Celtic manager since Billy McNeill in 1979 has made any impact in their first tilt at European competition with the club. And, not coincidentally, McNeill had been in the job for a season when his first campaign arrived, after Celtic missed out on Europe in predecessor Jock Stein’s final campaign. “If we meet those teams [Legia and Maribor] next year and we lose like we did against Legia then I have to take the criticism. But it’s very unfair right now because a lot of things have happened, it’s coming straight into something and we’ve been losing players. “It has been tough, a tough ten weeks. I can assure you of that. It has been much tougher than I thought it would be. You can’t ever know what you are going into this job – you have to experience it. But I am enjoying it. I am in pain also sometimes. But you always have to have in your mind that you have to bounce back, that you have to find a way out of it. “We need time to get the squad back into the same order that it’s been in before. Consistency – you can see Van Gaal is buying the whole of Europe and isn’t winning so many games either. It takes time. Previous managers have come in here as well and not been the best in the first year but they have been allowed time to build his ideas and structure. Next year when I sit here – judge me and harshly if I haven’t done the things. This year the most important thing is to win the league and we want to do well in the cups too. To get the triple would be fantastic. “I want to use all the matches in Europe to see how good we are and develop through that. I hope we go through. Next year I hope we can go into the Champions League group stages and go into the qualifiers thinking: We look stronger, this is going to happen.” And if it doesn’t happen next year, the name calling won’t just be against Lawwell from the small cluster of malcontents that will gather at the front door. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/andrew-smith-celtic-need-to-show-more-humility-1-3526234

RANGERS boss Ally McCoist is hoping his squad can remain intact after new fears were raised over the future of the Ibrox club. The troubled Glasgow giants announced yesterday that they need to raise at least £3million from a new share offering later this year. That shock admission led to speculation that Gers stars like Lewis Macleod and Lee Wallace could be sold to generate much-needed cash. Light Blues left-back Wallace has been linked with a move to English Championship club Brighton during the summer. However, McCoist has not been told he has to offload anyone and is hoping the transfer window closes on Monday night without his top players leaving. He said: "I'm happy with the squad I've got. In an ideal world, we'd have tweaked it a wee bit here and there but we have a good pool of players. We have strengthened up front and at the back. "Like every other manager and coach in the country, I would like to add a little bit here and there. "But if we don't have the opportunity to do that then I'm delighted with the boys I've got. "I haven't been told people have to go before people come in. Without stating the obvious, in the current climate I don't see much incoming activity at the moment." However, McCoist accepted the financial uncertainty at Rangers could result in rival clubs making knockdown bids for his leading players in the coming days. He said ahead of today's match with Queen of the South: "I would obviously hope as a manager that bids would be turned down. "I'm happy with my squad and I don't want to see it being depleted. "But I do know what's involved in football and I know that sometimes people make decisions that can alter your squad. That's part and parcel of football. "I could understand if clubs felt we may have to sell players, but I would hope that no bids come in for any of the players. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." He added: "If we did lose someone we'd just have to regroup and get on with it. "As I say, I'm not expecting to lose anyone. I'm expecting to go with the squad we've got and hopefully that's the case. "You obviously look at the squad and would like to add in one or two departments to make us stronger. "But the whole thing is a very slow process. We are absolutely miles away from where we want to be, but at the same time we are definitely stronger than we were a year or two years ago. Hopefully we will continue to grow in strength. "I spoke with Graham this morning and met him earlier this week. " There haven't been any budget talks as such but we have spoken about players and the squad. He didn't say that we had to sell. "I could let this get me down if I allowed it to. But I'm looking forward to a good game against a really good team. "That's how you keep yourself positive and focused because this will be a real game." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangers-boss-mccoist-in-transfer-plea-to-board-178352n.25188235

http://sport.stv.tv/football/video/3755311980001/? I have to say, i may not be his biggest fan but i support him here completely. The press in this country are an absolute disgrace. Ally gives them all the sound bites they want, all the time and interviews and when he asks for a little bit back they can't afford him it. Well played Ally, well played.

'Consequences of Rangers going is revenues are down. We've filled that gap by selling players' http://www.celticfc.tv/freeview?video=1778 Oh really Peter?, I thought you said you don't need Rangers? Celtic don't need Rangers, says Peter Lawwell By Chris McLaughlin Senior Football Reporter, BBC Scotland Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell insists his club "don't need Rangers" to flourish financially. Rangers are awaiting the verdict of a long-running tax case that could place the future of the Ibrox club in doubt. But Lawwell says the eventuality of their Old Firm rivals going bust "would have no material effect on Celtic". "We look after ourselves," Lawwell told BBC Scotland. "We don't rely on any other club. We are in a decent position, we're very strong." http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/17013512

I would encourage anyone not already a member to join now The below will be being emailed to all members shortly. We encourage all Rangers Fans world wide to now participate in at http://www.rangersfirst.org'>http://www.rangersfirst.org We are the People and this is our time. Dear members > > As you will have gathered the Club issued an Open Offer today regarding the issue of 19,864,918 new Ordinary Shares in Rangers International Football Club PLC. > > The full details of that issue can be found here: > > http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exch ... d=12066370 > > We would ask that you have a read of it all. > > Rangers First was set up to collectively buy as many shares in the PLC as it could, with the hope of at least reaching 5% ownership which in a PLC is significant as it would allow Rangers First to hold any PLC board to account via the calling of a General meeting. > > Rangers First can confirm that it has already written to both Graham Wallace and the NOMAD (Daniel Stewart & Company PLC, who has confirmed reciept) that it is in a position to “invest beyond our pro-rated pre-emption rights” and that Rangers First would “wish to be added to any Excess Application Facility for the purchase of additional shares” > > Upon reflection on todays statement the Rangers First steering group has concluded that it is most appropriate to continue on our policy of buying shares and will as we indicated in our letter seek to take up as many as possible. > > However as is made clear in the Clubs own statement there are severe risks if this share issue is not taken up and this will not be the last share issue and so we presume these same risks will also attach as concerns to the further share offers to follow. Rangers First is set up as a democratic organisation and so the Steering Group wish to put the democratic process into action and have our members confirm by vote that they are happy for Rangers First Steering Group to continue its share purchase policy and take up as many shares as it can in this share issue. > > All members will be sent a vote in the next few hours which will be open over the weekend. > > This is another chance for Rangers Fans to take a significant stake and have significantly more influence at our Club. From the statement this will be the first of a number of equity raises so now is the time to sign up, get you family, home and abroad signed up, get those you go to and watch the game with signed…..get every Bear you have ever known to sign up to Rangers First > > http://www.rangersfirst.org Please consider taking out a Life membership of Rangers First for £500 (this can be passed to your children one day) or joining for a monthly fee of as little as £5 per month (U16 free) Selling all the 1872 life membership would raise enough for Rangers First to buy over 5% of the Club and reach our Stage 1 > > > We are the People and this is our Time!

..........but we want the 'right kind' of partner on board. THE need for a sponsor has never been greater, with clubs missing out on Celtic's Champions League cash bonus, but Iain Blair says that the powers that be won't be rushed into making a decision. Iain Blair of the SPFL SCOTLAND’S top clubs may have waved goodbye to a cash bonanza because of Celtic’s exit from the Champions League but SPFL chief Iain Blair says the season isn’t a write-off. Every Scottish Premiership club would have picked up £100,000 from UEFA had Celtic not crashed out to Maribor on Tuesday night. And with finances stretched, Blair admitted there was still no sign of a sponsor for our domestic league or the League Cup. He said: “We’re talking to people who are interested in the title and the cup sponsorship. Will it be this season? I can’t say. “We’d like there to be and we’re working towards that but I can’t say there will definitely be a sponsor this year. “People tend to have longer-term plans for their budgeted spend for sponsorship. “We only got to grips with it this time last year and although people think that’s a long time, with this kind of expenditure companies plan significantly in advance.” The news will not please club chairmen, especially with Blair insisting sponsorship had to be “the right kind”. So what type would the SPFL reject? He said: “We want someone who shares our values and ambitions. “It’s not simply a case of looking for someone who wants to publicise something, we want someone to partner us. “We need someone we’re comfortable working with. The guys are working on it as we speak and I’m confident we’ll get there.” Blair refused to adopt a pessimistic view after Celtic’s Euro flop, even though club bean counters will be putting away their calculators. He said: “Celtic can still progress in the Europa League and that could even help our co-efficient. So let’s not write the season off completely.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/spfl-chief-still-no-sign-4122017

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=12066370

Yet another Sinky got wrong Just got a move to Norwich City that could net Falkirk £1 million. I watched him play in the same youth team as Darren Ramsay and Charlie Telfer for a couple of years, where as he may not have been the standout he wouldn't have been a candidate for release in my opinion. Gary Oliver who recently scored for Hearts, Lewis Spence and Lewis Martin who are now regulars at Dunfermline also played in the same team on occasions although they are a year younger.

http://davidfarrellfaz.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/louis-reaches-high-with-diamonds/ I realise that the Rangers link is tenuous, so apologies to admin if it is in the wrong section of the board. Never the less, it is an interesting take on how a player views the different methods of training. The highlighted part certainly gave me a chuckle, although I'm sure that a few of our more enlightened posters will be shaking their heads in dismay.

From Richard Wilson: HMRC granted leave to appeal upper tier tribunal decision at the Court of Session. "We are pleased that the Upper Tribunal has given HMRC leave to appeal to the Court of Session," said a spokesman. "We continue to believe that schemes using Employee Benefit Trusts to avoid income tax and NICs do not work.'

With Boyd and Clark working so well together - where will Miller fit in? Will we possibly see a 4-3-3 with Boyd in the middle of a front 3?

THE Ibrox side face Inverness in round two and have been told the winner will go straight into the hat for round three as one of the eight seeded sides. THE SPFL are braced for a backlash after it emerged Rangers could end up being seeded after today’s League Cup last 16 draw – despite the club being ranked 23rd. The Ibrox side face Inverness Caledonian Thistle in round two and have been told the winner will go straight into the hat for round three of the competition as one of the eight seeded sides. Aug 27, 2014 10:08 By Gavin Berry, Michael Gannon 3 Comments THE Ibrox side face Inverness in round two and have been told the winner will go straight into the hat for round three as one of the eight seeded sides. 19 Shares Share Tweet +1 Email SNS Group Rangers will be seeded if they beat ICT THE SPFL are braced for a backlash after it emerged Rangers could end up being seeded after today’s League Cup last 16 draw – despite the club being ranked 23rd. The Ibrox side face Inverness Caledonian Thistle in round two and have been told the winner will go straight into the hat for round three of the competition as one of the eight seeded sides. Do Rangers deserve to be seeded in the Third Round of the League Cup? YES NO The SPFL say they had to make the move as Gers are a round behind other clubs due to Ibrox being out of use during the Commonwealth Games. If they see off Caley, Rangers would avoid the big guns while the eighth-ranked side would get a tougher tie. But the SPFL insist their hands are tied ahead of today’s draw. Operations chief Anton Fagan said: “This was done to ensure the smooth running of the tournament.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/spfl-risk-fan-backlash-rangers-4114100

ET Says a few truths in there and a bit more dignity from some quarters is very much missing. Maybe we should one day also consider him for a scouting role in Scotland, as he does the reasonable thing and scans the Junior football folk.

http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/7532-lee-signs-season-long-deal