Jump to content

 

 

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'history'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Main Forums
    • Rangers Chat
    • General Football Chat
    • Bluenose Lounge
    • Forum Support and Feedback

Calendars

  • Community Calendar

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Location


Interests


Occupation


Favourite Rangers Player


Twitter


Facebook


Skype

  1. Wigan's players are to personally refund Latics fans who bought tickets at the DW Stadium for the 9-1 hammering at Tottenham on Sunday. Wigan took a large following to White Hart Lane for the defeat, the second heaviest in Premier League history. "We feel that as a group of players we badly let down our supporters yesterday," said Wigan captain Mario Melchiot via the official club website. "This is a gesture we have to make and pay them back for their loyalty." Wigan are the first team to concede nine goals in a Premier League match since Manchester United beat Ipswich 9-0 at Old Trafford in 1995. The Latics have conceded 13 goals in their previous two matches and now sit only three places and three points above the relegation zone with a goal difference of -17. 606: DEBATE These results come along every now and again, it happens, it's just not nice when it's your turn dependabledennis "There is not a lot else to say, just that as a group of professionals we were embarrassed by the way we performed, we feel it was below our standards and this (the refund) is something we feel we owe to the fans," admitted Melchiot. "Now we have to draw a line under the game, focus completely on training this week and bounce back on Saturday. "We are professionals, we will take it on the chin and move on but it's important that we do not take our supporters for granted." Striker Jermain Defoe did most of the damage for Spurs, scoring five goals in the club's highest top-flight win. Peter Crouch, Aaron Lennon and Niko Krancjar also scored and the unfortunate Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland scored an own goal. Paul Scharner scored the Latics' goal. The club has confirmed that every supporter who bought a ticket from the DW Stadium for the game on Saturday should contact the ticket office and a full refund will be offered to them. Refunds must be claimed on or before Friday 4th December 2009. "The players have asked me not to release details of the amount [they will be repaying] but they wanted to make the gesture," Wigan's head of media and publications Ed Jones told BBC Radio 5 live. "Maybe it would have been different if it was a home game," he admitted. "It was a shock to the system, they're professionals and they've been through a bit of a humiliation. "The club is a small, family-run institution, we're all in it together and it has not been pleasant." Wigan return to action when they host Sunderland this weekend. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/8374893.stm
  2. Can anyone please tell me in idiot's terms the potted history of the ill feeling directed towards the RST. I'm finding it hard to get to grips with the reasons as to why we can't all get united when our Club needs us.
  3. This is the list of the top 350+ soccer clubs in the world compiled by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics in Bonn, Germany. This is the list the soccer world goes by & it's updated monthly. - Club World Rankings - Top 350 Check our world club ranking on a month to month basis. How the Club World Ranking is made - explanation of what the ranking is based on.
  4. I hope I'm lucky enough never to hear about this EPL bollocks again.... or the mythical Atlantic League, the United League of Planets, or any other fictional nonsense. Why is it we can't just face up to what we are and where we are, and deal with it. It's nothing to do with what state the SPL is in, it's about facing simple facts about ourselves and dealing with them. For 137 years, Rangers have carved out their place in football by playing in Scotland and it's really not such a bad place we've made. Personally, I'd like to see us all stop looking over the fence in envy and rebuild our own house. Rangers are a bigger shambles than Scottish football right now and it's almost entirely of our own making. We need to sort out an abundance of problems at home before we even think about anything outwith the club's own doors. A well run Rangers should be helping to lift the Scottish game, not the other way round. If we are brutally honest, we've made a complete bodge of things these last 20 years or so. The most successful club in the country's history stopped producing it's own talent, it turned its back on huge areas of its heritage, it divided and alienated large chunks of its support, and ended up a debt-ridden mess delivering garbage on the park. Worst of all has been a virtual loss of what was once a clear and cherished identity. A definitive lesson in fact, in how to turn success into failure. Gazza, Laudrup nor NIAR make up for what has been done to Rangers. Trying to run away from our own mistakes is perhaps the best way to make sure we never turn round and address them. For me, moving to play in the EPL would put the last nail in the coffin of the club I grew up with. I want to see us accept we play in the Scottish leagues and get on with rebuilding Rangers before we worry about who we play each week or how much TV money we earn. If we're the best club in Scotland we will earn our CL money more often than not, we'll again attract and produce he best young talent in the country and, most importantly, we'll rediscover self-respect.
  5. Published Date: 15 November 2009 THE EXPECTATION is that it won't be long now, possibly only a matter of weeks depending on the number of times Walter Smith and the opposition combine to offer him the on-field opportunities. But, all things being equal, few would bet against Kris Boyd leapfrogging Henrik Larsson at the summit of the all-time SPL scoring charts. As the league restarts following the international hiatus, the Rangers player recommences his quest for a pl ADVERTISEMENT ace in the history books. Bettering Larsson's tally will fool no-one into regarding him the better player, says Billy Dodds, but it would safeguard for posterity Boyd's credentials as a goalscorer. Dodds is ranked ninth in the standings himself and says that Boyd and Larsson cannot be compared when it comes to their all-round ability but the one area where the Scot does measure up is when it comes to the instinctive finishing of chances in the domestic domain. "Boydy is an out and out goal-scorer who does work hard to try to add other aspects to his game but Larsson could do everything," says Dodds. "He had awareness, pace, the ability to bring others into play, he could get in behind the defence and was a natural goalscorer. He had the lot but there are not too many like that, especially playing in the SPL." Which is why he thinks it would be such an achievement if Boyd were to surpass the tally of 158 goals accumulated by the Swede in his 186 SPL outings (the 16 goals from his first season with Celtic don't count as they were scored in the old Premier Division). Already, Boyd has played 275 games, so the ratio will not be equal to the player who finished top scorer in the league in five of the six years he competed in the SPL. The only year Larsson failed to better the rest was in 1999/2000 when he missed eight months with a double leg break. But Boyd himself has been a model of consistency in that respect. Three times in the past four seasons he has taken the plaudits as top goal scorer. His self-imposed Scotland exile means he is fresh for the fight and, just ten goals from equalling Larsson, he will be rubbing his hands given the next sequence of matches. First up it's Kilmarnock next weekend. The club where he learned his trade and earned 63 of his SPL goals. Since leaving them, though, he has found them just as helpful in his ascent up the SPL charts, netting 13 goals in 13 league meetings against them. "We know all about him and what he can do and how to get close to him. But knowing that does not make him any easier to play against," concedes his former boss at Rugby Park, Jim Jefferies. "Even although we know what to expect he still manages to get the ball in the net. He has still done us a fair few times but we're not alone, he has done most teams in the SPL a fair few times." In fact, the striker can look at six of the matches Rangers face between now and the end of the year with some relish. Between them the teams involved have accounted for more than half his SPL tally, with Dundee United and Motherwell in particular surely sick of his penalty box interventions. Of the clubs lined up to play Rangers between now and the turn of the year, only Hibernian and St Johnstone have thus far prevented Boyd rattling in a tally above double figures against them. "There is no doubt what Kris is all about," says Jefferies. "He knows himself that he is no Larsson. He was an exceptional player and brought so much more to the table than Kris does but the one area where you could argue that he is equal to Larsson is scoring goals. He loves scoring goals and has that bit of selfishness and luck that the most prolific strikers have but it is not all down to luck. The more chances he gets, the more goals he gets. He gets a bad press but, maybe a bit like Ally McCoist, Kris gets himself into the positions to score and he takes his chances. You could see that in him at a young age and at training he was always shooting from all over. He just wanted to score goals and when he is taking that into matches and winning his team points you can't argue with that. What makes him better than most is his technique. He has great technique in front of goal. "He can hit it first time, and you can see that by how many goals he scores on the half volley or volley, and sometimes to get that chance he is having to adjust his position at the last minute and he is very good at that. Which means he can convert a chance so quickly and gives defenders very little time to get close to him or get a tackle in." Describing him as a great lad, the other thing Dodds and Jefferies agree on is how keen Boyd will be to supersede the former Celtic player at the peak of the all-time scorers list. "We all know that all the very best strikers love to claim everything, whether they got the last touch or not, and the best ones always want to finish top of the scoring charts," explains Jefferies. "Bettering Larsson would not make him a better player than him but that won't matter. Strikers thrive on confidence and this would be brilliant for Kris's confidence." "Larsson was a class act," stresses Dodds, "but these days, look at the other strikers in the SPL, when it comes to getting goals time and time again, Boydy is in a league of his own. What people don't realise is that he is a very thoughtful lad and he works very hard to improve on other areas of his game and if you compare the player he is now to the player Rangers bought, he has improved. He will never be the complete striker but he scores goals that win games and that's what Boydy loves. He will be desperate to get this record and get his name in the history books but, if he does, it will be a long time before anyone can beat it. In fact, I'm not sure anyone will. It is such a tremendous target." http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Moira-Gordon-Boyd-is-no.5825490.jp
  6. The Return Of The Rant Itââ?¬â?¢s been a while since I last vented my frustration on you poor souls, so this is long overdue! The reasons for the lack of rantings are many and varied, starting a new career which is eating into my time, lack of new and meaningful Rangers related topics (I know, more of that later) and a general malaise in what is happening in and around our club. So enough of the excuses and on with the ranting, but where to start! Our esteemed Chairman has gone AWOL and taken Boogie with him and the bank appear to be pulling the (purse) strings within Ibrox. Iââ?¬â?¢ll leave you to decide if the two are related. This disturbing turn of events have been predicted for a while from those described as ââ?¬Ë?doom-mongersââ?¬â?¢ but it appears that SDM has taken us to the brink and we are in serious financial trouble and in freefall. Tomorrow sees our latest financial results published and theyââ?¬â?¢ll make for interesting reading. It is predicated that the debt will have risen to over the Ã?£30M mark (again) and with little or no sign of this improving. This financial meltdown has gotten the hopes of a takeover heightened but there appears to be no-one willing to show their cards and place a firm offer to SDM for Rangers. The recent ââ?¬Ë?riot in Romaniaââ?¬â?¢ and inconsistent form, especially in Europe and the continued speculation of whether further staff cuts (including players and management) donââ?¬â?¢t exactly make Rangers attractive to potential buyers. However, the recent happenings must have finally opened the eyes of even the most ardent SDM supporters. He has overseen the most irresponsible overspending in our entire history and has taken us to the brink and into the hands of the bank ââ?¬â?? we are at their mercy. Despite SDMââ?¬â?¢s and the banks protestations, there are likely to be wholesale changes at Ibrox come January if a buyer doesnââ?¬â?¢t come forward. This will mean players sold and not replaced and the enforced promotion of young players (not necessarily a bad thing if managed correctly) and a change in the management of the club (again, not necessarily a bad thing). All this at a time where our bitterest rivals are struggling on the pitch and at a time where even a half-decent Rangers team would have had the title all but wrapped up. Tony Mowbry has a worse record than John Barnes and are still 2 points clear of us in the title race (we do have a game in hand). Our recent form has rightly raised concerns and the usual excuses of injuries and suspensions have been trotted out. Neither explains the lack of basic footballing ability constantly displayed by our players. We have decent players, that is unquestionable, but they appear to be unable to consistently turn in acceptable performances. This leads to the question of whether they are being coached properly. If all of the above is overtly depressing, have some sympathy for your author, I am sitting here typing this listening to The Smiths and Joy Division and with tomorrow being the day we hear about finances, UEFA sanctions and the EPL decision, the mood isnââ?¬â?¢t going to lighten any time soon. In the dark and distant days of the early to mid eighties, I used to think that there was never a dull moment following Rangers and despite the lack of success and decent players, I always believed that there was light at the end of the tunnel. In retrospect, I believe that this was youthful exuberance and the naivety of youth ââ?¬â?? no matter what it was, the sleeping giant that was The Rangers were awakened and we went to dominate domestically for over a decade. Maybe itââ?¬â?¢s my age, but there is little or no optimism when looking at the future of The Rangers unless we can convince the EPL to adopt us and attract substantial financial investment. Without this, and being resigned to a life in the SPL, The Rangers that we know and love will continue on a road to ruin and will be the death of The Rangers. No One Likes Us? At times it certainly feels this way and at the moment its open season on Rangers and especially us, the fans. The Scottish media who are never slow in putting the boot in, are having a field day with the off-field issues and the ââ?¬Ë?riot in Romaniaââ?¬â?¢. UEFA will have their say tomorrow. Domestically we have to suffer sectarian abuse on a weekly basis with no mention of this in the unbiased media. It even appears that the weather is conspiring against us with the postponement of the game at Tannidice due to a pitch that was no worse at half-time than it was a kick-off. Sitting in the Fair Play Stand watching the officials run round the pitch with a ball under their arms (which was never used to test the surface), watching the DUFC subââ?¬â?¢s deliberately kicking balls into puddles in both halves of the pitch whilst the officials were out, then kicking water at their backs, you just knew that the game was being cancelled. On leaving Tannidice, you couldnââ?¬â?¢t fail to notice the ire emanating from the Rangers support, at last the sleeping giant had awoken. Like a wounded animal, the Rangers support can only take so much ââ?¬Ë?pokingââ?¬â?¢ before it bites back. It appears the recent happenings have finally witnessed a snarling, biting response for the Rangers fans. Lets make sure we direct our ire in the right direction as people will start to take notice, and long may it continue. So given this, wasnââ?¬â?¢t it heartening to hear and see the welcome Hamburg SV had prepared for the Tims? You know, The Tims who are loved by every club they play against? Who have ââ?¬Ë?specialââ?¬â?¢ relationships all over Europe? I just wonder if the Hamburg boys would loan us their display for The Piggery on January 3rd? After all Rangers allowed Celtc to set up a display last season, surely John Reid will return the favour (if h isnââ?¬â?¢t too busy insulting us as a way to deflect from his own troubles). More power to the HSV fans who, with a quick search of Youtube, a fantastic fan-base who add colour and noise to every ground they visit. Some Poor Monkey Has A Tony Mowbry Heid The Blue Order are rightly praised for their continued contribution to the atmosphere at Ibrox and have been behind some memorable displays, banners and songs. Recently, probably due to the lack of support they receive from the rest of the ground on match-days whilst trying to get the singing going, they have resorted some old school (or should it be skool?) classics like ââ?¬Ë?Frank McGarvieââ?¬â?¢s wife is off ill reputeââ?¬â?¢, ââ?¬Ë?Jorge Cadette and his hair like spaghettiââ?¬â?¢, ââ?¬Ë?If I had the wings of a sparrow (if I had the arse of a crow, Iââ?¬â?¢d fly over parkhead tomorrow and shite on the barstewards below)ââ?¬â?¢. However, surely nothing can beat The Blue Orders homage to the new Celtc manager. Some Poor Monkey Has Got A Tony Mowbry Heid must rank amongst the funniest footballing songs ever. Lest We Forget Iââ?¬â?¢d like to finish on a serious note and take this opportunity to pay tribute to all those brave servicemen and woman who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and also to all those who have served ââ?¬â?? we will NEVER forget. Cammy F
  7. A seven-year old boy was at the center of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to Aiden McGeady who the child and judge believe isn't capable of beating anybody.
  8. Hi guys, I know that most, if not all, of you probably wont be too interested in this but I thought i'd post it on and see what happens!! ****************************************************************************************** Nomination: Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia Category: Scottish Pipe Band of the Year Congratulations on being nominated in the Scottish Pipe Band of the Year category at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2009. The aim of these Awards is to highlight Scotland's wonderful traditional music in all its forms and to create a high profile opportunity which will bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media & public attention. The voting process begins on Monday 2nd November and finishes on Friday 20th November so please encourage people to vote. It not only helps you but spreads the word about Scottish traditional music in general. This information is embargoed until 2nd November so all press activity happens at one time. People can vote (from 2nd November) by visiting http://www.handsupfortrad.co.uk/tradmusicawards/ and clicking on the voting link. Voting Forms can also be downloaded from the site. ****************************************************************************************** If you could spare a few minuets to vote for my band Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band it would be greatly appreciated! http://www.boghallandbathgate.com That's our website if you fancy a gander or to find out more about the band and its history! Thanks guys. PP
  9. In the aftermath of Bucharest, Spiers, Gibbons and Smith in particular used their columns to vent their disgust of the Rangers support. Since Speirs friendship with Matt McGlone flourished a number of years ago, you could find it easy to conclude it has affected Britneyââ?¬â?¢s utterings, and he is reduced at times to write his articles as if he was a contributor to a Celtic fanzine. You canââ?¬â?¢t help wonder during their flat share if Matt was injecting him with somethingââ?¬Â¦Ã¢â?¬Â¦ for instance Spiers in todayââ?¬â?¢s article trots out his fairly new slur on us calling our fans ââ?¬Å?a white underclass ââ?¬Å? Gibbons meanwhile penned an article entitled ââ?¬Å?An open letter to Martin Bain, excuser of Rangers serial troublemakersââ?¬Â in which he mentions incidents going back to Newcastle in 1969! and comments ââ?¬Å?are succeeding generations of your travelling supporters afflicted with a congenital disorder that compels them, at semi-regular intervals, to inflict mayhem on stadiums and towns they visit throughout Europe?ââ?¬Â As for Smith, despite no reports of sectarian behaviour at Wednesdays match she brings the sectarian slur into her column in todayââ?¬â?¢s News of the World, ââ?¬Å?Could it be that the sectarian element fosters a mentality that will always be hell-bent on trouble? We know that where you have sectarianism, you will find thuggery.ââ?¬Â Having spoken to 4 individuals (including a member of Rangers security) who were at the game, the scenes whilst disturbing could not be described as the battle of Bucharest or a riot in any shape or form. Still hyperbole of the negative sort from these 3 journos when discussing the behaviour of Rangers fans is not unusual. With their opinions there for all to see in this weeks papers, what will the three amigos report regarding todayââ?¬â?¢s pre-meditated disruption of the minutes silence at Falkirk? Will Spiers berate Celtics grey green and white underclass/ their trailer trash republicans? Will Gibbons write an open letter to Peter Lawell reminding him of decades of anti-British hatred from their support?(going back longer than 1969 Mr Gibbons if you know your history) and will Anna Smith explore the racist and sectarian elements of her beloved hoops fans? Lets wait and see but be prepared for a long waitââ?¬Â¦Ã¢â?¬Â¦Ã¢â?¬Â¦Ã¢â?¬Â¦Ã¢â?¬Â¦Ã¢â?¬Â¦Ã¢â?¬Â¦.
  10. THESE Rangers thugs just don't get it, do they? Knuckle-trailing morons who attach themselves like scum to decent footie fans are too thick to understand. So I'll explain it simply, just in case any of them can read: If you are a thug and you follow Rangers for a European football clash, the cops are lying in wait. Because your reputation goes before you, in a shameful catalogue of yobbery that few other football clubs have ever been able to surpass. So, the baton-wielding cops are armed and ready with CS gas, and anything they need to beat the s**t out of you. That's how it is. It's not up for debate. It's up to you to deal with it. If you so much as step off the pavement, chances are you will be bludgeoned by some burly policeman who has already made up his mind that you're a waster. What part of that little scenario is difficult to understand? Honest to God. I watched these scenes unfold during the match in Bucharest and I could not believe what I was seeing. The neds who rampaged through Manchester in 2008, tearing up the city, haven't even been dealt with in court yet, and here we go again. Could it be that the sectarian element fosters a mentality that will always be hell-bent on trouble? And I'm sure all the true Rangers fans watching at home, and the decent supporters standing terrified in case they were drawn into a full- scale riot, must be wondering what the hell they can do to shake off these eejits. Every proper Rangers fan I know, who wants to be able to go along to a match and support their team, must be pig sick of the mindless animals who are dragging them into the gutter. Because make no mistake about it. The image of Rangers abroad is in tatters because of these cave dwellers. Long before the Battle of Bucharest, true Rangers fans were treated like lepers when they travelled because of numbskulls latching onto them. They are not fans. You and I know that. Anyone who goes to a football match anywhere in the world looking for a fight is not a fan, he is a thug. But maybe someone can tell me this: Why do there seem to be more thugs attached to Rangers than many other football clubs? Every time I criticise Rangers I get hate mail. The truth is, I have plenty of Gers friends, and I was willing them on to win against Unirea. But it's time Rangers looked inside themselves and asked just why trouble follows them everywhere they go. Because either Rangers are the most persecuted club in the world, or they just attract a bigger hooligan element than anyone else. The sickening scenes we have witnessed in recent years from Spain to Manchester would suggest this is not about persecution. It is about sheer thuggery. So instead of Rangers supremo Martin Bain prattling on about too few turnstiles being open, he should look at why his club is plagued by this despicable baggage. Could it be that the sectarian element fosters a mentality that will always be hell-bent on trouble? We know that where you have sectarianism, you will find thuggery. At Celtic you have morons who still insist on singing IRA songs, when the fact is you could probably write their knowledge of Irish history on the back of a fag packet. They are thugs, not fans. And it's the same for the idiots singing No Surrender - as we could clearly hear during the match in Bucharest. If Rangers are trying to find the yobs dragging them down, then they will find them among these rancid ranks. It's time everyone attached to Rangers stopped blaming everyone else and asked themselves if they are doing enough. That includes supporters' clubs who run buses and deal with tickets, up to the bosses in the Rangers boardroom. Because this great club means a lot to many good people, and it is in a big enough mess without UEFA banning them from Euro tournaments. Agree? Disagree? Scroll down to leave your comments Sadly, for the club and genuine fans, if UEFA decided to do that tomorrow, Rangers wouldn't have a leg to stand on. ANNA SMITH http://www.gersnetonline.co.uk/vb/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=3
  11. IAN DURRANT claims Walter Smith stands on the brink of pulling off his greatest achievement with Rangers. The Ibrox coach has given a rare insight into his gaffer's defiant state of mind as he tackles the club's crippling financial crisis. He predicts history will one day portray Smith as the saviour of Rangers - in the same way Fergus McCann was credited with hauling Celtic back from the verge of ruin in the summer of 1994. Durrant's position as Smith's sidekick in the stand has given him a unique insight into what makes the nine-in-a-row boss tick. He describes the 61-year-old as a man on a mission, hellbent on steering the debt-ridden club through the rockiest times in its 135-year history. Durrant said: "Fifteen years ago, Fergus McCann and all the Celtic boys rallied round and saved their club. Walter's on a mission to save Rangers. And if he's at the helm, Rangers will succeed, it's as simple as that. "In a perfect world I think he could have stepped aside two seasons ago after reaching the UEFA Cup Final. Or even last season, when he won the double, if things had gone to plan afterwards. "I thought at the end of last season, after winning the double and getting the league back - which was the most important thing - that would have been the time to bow out. "But he said to us he had unfinished business and now everyone knows what that was. The club's financial situation has given him that spark again. He's got a motivation now to prove we can get through this. "I look at his desire and the fact is, he doesn't need this. He chose to come back when we weren't as strong financially as we had been, so he had to juggle things about. "He brought in Davie Weir, who has been unbelievable, then Ugo Ehiogu and they steadied the ship. It's been a constant battle ever since, though Walter's never complained. "He will hand the club over - whether it's to Coisty, Kenny McDowall and myself or someone else - and it will still be in place. "Getting us through the next six months will be his greatest achievement. And he will do it, because his desire to succeed will take him there. He's a Rangers fan and it's his club." Smith's contract expires in January, along with that of his No2 Ally McCoist, and there have been suggestions that pressure from the bankers could mean the pair are not offered a new deal or will be asked to take a pay cut. Durrant believes that would be a bigger own goal and costlier blunder than anything seen during the global banking crisis. He said: "If anyone tried to move Walter out, they'd be making a big mistake. "I'm not saying no one else could do it, but it's an unsteady ship and slowly but surely the weight on us has been lifted in the past two weeks. You can see a difference in the whole club. "The one thing about the gaffer is he gets the right reaction from players." As Rangers' money problems piled up, Donald Muir from Lloyds Banking Group was crowbarred on to the Rangers board. It was the first visible sign drastic changes were going on behind the scenes and rumours and counter-rumours began to fly around the Ibrox club. To make matters worse, results started to suffer, culminating in back-to-back 4-1 home thrashings in the Champions League by Spanish cracks Sevilla and Romanian minnows Unirea Urziceni. Smith had seen enough and called a crisis council with his trusted coaching staff then his players. Then he went public with a bombshell statement after a league match with Hibs to say the bankers were running Rangers - and all hell broke loose! Lloyds, then Rangers, issued statements saying Smith had got it completely wrong and the club was still in charge of its affairs. But Durrant believes, as far as what was happening on the pitch was concerned, no one can dispute that Smith got it totally right. He said: "The gaffer had to ask the players for one final push and the boys took a lot of belief from him. It's not a nice position when there's talk of redundancies. It leaves a stale feeling. "You know there are other people at the club who rely on you. People who have been working here for a long time could lose their jobs. "Football isn't their job but they are affected by what happens on the park. We know there's a recession on but we have to get on with it. It's the same with the gaffer. "Obviously, he's the manager of Rangers but he's also a supporter and he was hurting. There were times when he was low - we've all been low. "You want to get on with your job and play the game, but everything that was happening with the club was making the front page of the papers rather than the back. That got to him a bit. "You can hear the tone of his voice change and you know he's hurting. But he sees Coisty, myself and Kenny as a younger group and he sees us being bubbly round about him and he gets a lift from it. He's surrounded himself by good indians. "He'd never come in and let you see him at rock bottom though, he's too proud a man to do that. But since he said his thing about the bank, and it's come out in the open, there's been a freshness about the place. "For two or three weeks the staff were tip-toeing on egg shells and we didn't know what was happening. We were all hearing the banks were going to pull the plug and it creates a bit of uncertainty. "I'm not making excuses for the Sevilla or Unirea games, but there was uncertainty which may have affected the players. "I hope it didn't because that's what we're here to deal with, so we sat down and talked about it. "We weren't playing well and yet we knew we had a good group of players - guys who had bent over backwards for us the previous season by winning a double. "Walter just wondered aloud if that uncertainty was causing problems and since then I think we've played our best stuff of the season against Hibs, Dundee United and Unirea. They were great open games." Durrant has seen the pressure mount on the other side of Glasgow too as Tony Mowbray has come under the microscope in his new job at Celtic. At times, Mowbray has questioned the quality of his players and given them an ultimatum to shape up or ship out. That's an approach Durrant never expects to see from Smith. He added: "It's the hardest job in the world. I've known Celtic boys from years ago and we all know it's the same pressure as being at Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. "You have to win every game. Every minute now, you're being scrutinised. Walter never criticises the players publicly. He takes the responsibility, he's old school that way. In football, you always say 'get the dressing room on your side' and he has that. "He has one last piece of unfinished business and I'll be damned if he doesn't do it." http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/scottish/scottish_sport/587228/Legend-reveals-how-Ibrox-boss-is-suffering-through-clubs-crisis.html
  12. ...and so must you! As have most decent football fans, I watched the stadium trouble at half-time on Wednesday with a mixture of concern and anger. The Rangers away support having problems abroad is nothing new and I immediately thought the worst. Supporters arguing with stewards, fights breaking out, CS gas being used and seats being thrown - all signs of serious problems. But where does the fault lie and what was the real issue? Do Rangers deserve to be charged or should UEFA look a bit closer to home before dishing the dirt? First of all I think it is important to acknowledge that a tiny minority of Rangers supporters are our own worst enemy. No matter the provocation, arguing with non-English speaking stewards/police on foreign shores isn't going to improve a situation in the short-term. To that end, the dozen or so fans who let their tempers get the better of them should be criticised and investigated by the appropriate authorities. However, it appears that the true story of what happened is more complicated than a few fans brawling with over-zealous stewards. As we can see in the email thread below from 'Tannochside Bear' once again the infrastructure and organisation for the safety of the thousands of travelling fans is nothing short of diabolical and completely unacceptable. TB's experience seems to be a common one from reading the forums and speaking to friends/family who were at the game. As such, while the few who contributed to the trouble need to be punished for their part, there are other more important questions to consider by the relevant parties such as Rangers FC, Strathclyde Police, UEFA, the Foreign Office and the Scottish First Minister: 1. Why is the safety of our fans and citizens constantly compromised when visiting other countries for football matches? 2. What pressure can our home authorities bring to UEFA and countries like Romania and Spain (to name but two) to ensure our supporters are well looked after when abroad? 3. How best can these supporters be policed to stop heavy drinking and other questionable activities which can contribute to trouble? 4. At what point will Rangers FC do more to examine all three of these issues above given the ongoing and consistent problems of recent years? Bland statements after the fact are doing no good whatsoever. May I suggest that every Rangers fan concerned about travelling to away matches abroad write to the club, UEFA, their local MP and the First Minister asking them to take up the baton on our behalf. Please don't quote from this article (or other emails) but write your own in a polite, objective fashion to receive the same courtesy back. Rangers supporters have a proud history of representing their club and country in a friendly manner all over the world. We have the right to do so in a safe environment in conjunction with good policing, sensible stewarding and risk-free stadia. All relevant authorities should be doing their utmost to provide that. Contact First Minister: scottish.ministers@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Contact UEFA: info@uefa.com Contact Foreign Office: msu.correspondence@fco.gov.uk Contact Rangers FC: webmail@rangers.co.uk Contact Rangers Supporters Assembly: assembly@thebluenose.co.uk
  13. After all, you would think, following the most turbulent week experienced at Ibrox since Mo Johnston turned up in a blue jersey 20 years ago, that the club was on its uppers and the bailiffs at the door. In fact Rangers' debt ââ?¬â?? even allowing for the absence of current trading figures ââ?¬â?? is only a fraction of their turnover. A large fraction, to be sure ââ?¬â?? somewhere between a third to a half of annual revenue ââ?¬â?? but where does that put the club? The answer is, on the one hand, well behind Celtic, whose near-elimination of the need for an overdraft suddenly looks a lot less like penny pinching and much more like prudent fiscal stewardship, as I am sure nobody will make a point of saying at the Parkhead annual general meeting today. Celtic might be a little more sombre about this season's home record, which was dented yet again on Wednesday, this time by Hearts. That would be Hearts who, like Kilmarnock ââ?¬â?? just to pluck another example from the SPL ââ?¬â?? are in hock to the tune of multiples of their turnover, something like three or four times what they can earn in a year. In fact, the last figures available for Hearts show that the Tynecastle club was Ã?£30.47 million in debt ââ?¬â?? and that was after a debt-for-equity transfer agreement with its parent company, UBIG, worth Ã?£22 million. Mind you, Vladimir Romanov was basically rearranging the piles of money he owed to himself, as Sir David Murray used to do at Ibrox when Rangers were much, much deeper in the red than they are now. Which brings us back to the basic question ââ?¬â?? why have Lloyds waded into a situation which invites exactly the sort of adverse publicity ââ?¬â?? reaction from angry supporters ââ?¬â?? that sober-sided financial institutions traditionally shun? Well, you and I are partly responsible, assuming that we are both UK taxpayers. We own 43 per cent of the bank, which has cost us a tidy Ã?£17 billion. Lloyds has actually repaid Ã?£3 billion, but may need another Ã?£25 billion, which would involve a rights issue ââ?¬â?? the same wheeze Murray used to reduce Rangers' debt when it went stratospheric a few years ago. Why does Lloyds need more money? To keep it out of the government's toxic debt insurance scheme. Wot's dat, you ask. It's a plan to make the biggest banks identify their stinky loans, so that a safety net can be set up in case all the bad debt falls due at once, causing another economic crisis, exactly like the one we just had. And why does Lloyds not want to be insured against its rubbish debts? At this stage, I must turn the issue over to our esteemed colleagues on the business pages ââ?¬â?? or Bremner, Bird & Fortune. But the upshot is that Lloyds' banking hit-teams have been crawling over the accounts of everybody who owes them a rusty penny. Rangers, as I say, are not particularly culpable in this respect, but nor are the very many businesses who have been shell-shocked by the bank's urgency to claw back whatever cash in hand might be available and hawk off anything else that might raise a quid or two. One Scottish newspaper this week asked if Rangers have breached the terms of the club's banking covenants. A leading Scottish entrepreneur provided this column with the answer when he said: "The bank has come into hundreds ââ?¬â?? maybe thousands ââ?¬â?? of boardrooms, looked at the books, ripped up the existing covenants and slapped down new pieces of paper with very tough demands on them. It's not just Rangers." No, it's not. Murray's stake in Rangers is operated through Murray International Holdings. Four years ago, MIH funded its biggest ever period of growth with bank loans of over Ã?£500 million ââ?¬â?? but, hey, turnover was Ã?£600 million and the good times were rolling. At the last publicly available count, MIH owed Ã?£751 million, ââ?¬â?? some observers believe the next figures will be even higher ââ?¬â?? but the turnover was down and the profit negligible. So what are the options for Rangers now? A prospective owner (or owners) could buy Murray out and service the debt ââ?¬â?? or even increase it, as the Glazers have done at Manchester United. Or the new owner could acquire Murray's stock and pay off the overdraft. There are other options, too, but whatever happens, there is a complex web of relationships to unravel ââ?¬â?? Lloyds own a stake in MIH, for example. As for who runs the club, the bank is, of course, correct to say that it is not in the business of conducting the day-to-day affairs of the business it funds. But hard-nosed interrogations about business plans, turnover and cash flow have become routine in boardrooms, as have heated exchanges with the bank's representatives about how companies are supposed to conduct their business under such pressure. Rangers have not been an exception. If you doubt that, consider the utterances of another bloke called Johnston who arrived at Ibrox with a fanfare last month. Alastair Johnston, the new chairman, said: "I want to give the current management team new contracts. That is not reliant on outside finance." Then he added: "We are not run and operated by the bank but we do rely on the bank for finance. If Rangers were run by the bank, I would not be here." Uh, OK. Which leaves us with one other keynote statement from the incoming chairman, one in which he set out how the club would identify a suitable buyer. I leave you to judge it for yourself. "Rangers are going to do this in the manner you would expect of ââ?¬â?? Rangers; subtly and with class and without putting ourselves up for sale. I'm not interested in bottom feeders." How Smith managed the news One reads that Walter Smith has been, according to your pundit of choice, ââ?¬Å?embarrassedââ?¬â?¢Ã¢â?¬â?¢, ââ?¬Å?incensedââ?¬â?¢Ã¢â?¬â?¢ or ââ?¬Å?humiliatedââ?¬â?¢Ã¢â?¬â?¢ by Lloyds Bank issuing a statement to say that they do not run Rangers, after the Ibrox manager declared on Saturday that they did. Well, Walter might have been all of those things, but surely that was last week, when Unirea thumped Rangers 4-1 in what, by common consent, was the worst European result in the clubââ?¬â?¢s history. You remember ââ?¬â?? the Champions League game after which the incandescent punters roaming the streets outside the stadium jostled to deliver their verdicts to the TV news cameras. Much of the footage, being couched in terms of extreme profanity, could not be used. However, the gist of what was salvageable was clear enough ââ?¬â?? ââ?¬Å?Smith must go! Now!ââ?¬Â Four days later the manager issued his state of the nation address about the plight of the club, taking care to issue separate briefings to Sunday newspapers, the dailies and the broadcast media. At once the phone-ins and online chat rooms were deluged with messages of support from Rangers fans standing four-square with the gaffer. I do not know whether this qualifies him for the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism, but for services to the entertainment industry one might suggest another accolade. Arise, Sir Walter! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/scottishpremier/rangers/6463025/Rangers-debt-is-only-a-fraction-of-their-turnover-so-why-is-there-all-this-fuss.html
  14. Just wondered if the caused more trouble than they were worth. Given the fact that the team were playing crap and we had just suffered another humilating defeat at the hands of a bunch of also rans that will be etched in the History of the club , you have to ask your self if the wily old fox was being as coy as ever. And for what its worth i dont think he would have made such a remark without the blessing of certain board members. He successfully managed to deflect all the heat and critisism that was going his way but at a heavy cost to the club. We have been racked over the coals since his outburst and he has slipped away scot free.... again. Now the farore has died down not alot if anything has happened or changed as a result of his comments. The media have printed thousand of articles on the subject without any tangable evidence and we have been met with a wall of silence from the club. so we are none the wiser. We will have to wait till the transfer window for the full impact of the banks involvement in the board room. Dare say that there will be a few out the door come january but i think we knew this would allways be the case. in the end it was much ado about nothing.
  15. As well as the main site, we've also redesigned the Rangers Archive part of Gersnet. Essentially this is an online museum where you can view a range of information and statistics about the club - from fascinating articles about our strip's history to every single result and team-sheet from 1872-2009! In the archive, you can also find all of Gersnet's past articles from the last few years in one searchable library. Visit the archive now! http://www.therangersarchive.co.uk
  16. From the Sun RANGERS legend Andy Goram last night opened his heart on Fergus McCann's sensational bid to sign him for CELTIC. Goram - whose explosive new book The Goalie: My Story is serialised in the Scottish Sun this week - was left staggered by the Canadian tycoon's attempt to lure him to the Hoops a decade ago. And he told SunSport: "The truth is it could never have happened, no matter how much that eccentric little Canadian might have wanted it to. "I just could NOT have done it. "McCann was willing to take the flak and sign me for Celtic because I'd left Rangers and was an affordable, experienced option for him. "But me a Celtic player? Don't think so." The then Parkhead supremo's secret approach for Goram was made to football agent Bill McMurdo who had brokered Mo Johnston's history-making move to Rangers a decade earlier. Then McMurdo helped make ex-Hoops star Johnston Gers' first high-profile Catholic signing but he knew Goram to Celtic was always a non-starter. McMurdo confessed: "I have to say that at first I thought Fergus was winding me up. "But I sound found out that he was deadly serious. He saw Goram as a free agent with vast experience who could add to what Celtic had at the time. "Look, Andy was free - and for Fergus that meant the price was right! He asked me to put it to Goram and I did as I was instructed to but I always knew what the answer was going to be. "Andy ended up a Motherwell player soon after that and no one ever knew about Fergus' move - until now. "Johnston to Rangers was a deal no one will ever forget. "I think we can safely say that Goram to Celtic would have been in the same category. "Whilst there was a way to make the deal with Maurice work I don't think Celtic fans could ever have accepted Andy. He broke their hearts too many times." Advertisement Goram has watched current Gers star Kenny Miller play on both sides of the divide. But in his hard-hitting new autobiography he insists it's a move he could NEVER have contemplated. He stressed: "I am a Rangers man, and in my eyes Rangers men don't play for Celtic. "Did I hate Celtic when we played them? Yes, of course I did. "I ran out of the tunnel detesting the sight of them, and even now I hate it when I see Rangers players cuddling Celtic players. "Kenny's decision was his to make but it is something that I simply could not have done. "In the same way that you can never picture say Peter Grant in a Rangers shirt I think it is hard to see me in a Celtic jersey." A TRUE legend
  17. Following on from Cammy's couple of posts this week, I watched us struggle 3 points against Sj johnstone today and it sprang my mind back to a short 15 years ago. Just where are Rangers? I started attending Ibrox on a regular basis from 1994 as a young 15 yr old and witnessed an amazing team with a great win mentality including the immense talent of Brian Laudrup. One thing about that side until 1998 was the unrreal level of grit and belief and determination to win a game. There was seldom a lacklusture performance. We struggled in Europe - (for reasons that are worthy of another thread / discussion) but in the SPL Rangers were FEARED!!!!! Everyteam can to Ibrox and played 10 behind the ball (which is ironic because the fans used to slag that and repsected a side that came to play us) and we would win, then on the road we were still 'The Rangers'. Yet these days I have never witnesses so many SPL team going to Ibrox not only setting out with an attacking formation but believeing they can get a result. Personally for me - Rangers FC are sleeping! We are in sleeping mode! Whether that is down to the managers, players, directors, board, stadium, fans or a combination - how knows - but something isnt right when we play a CL game and we cant sell it out!!!!!!!! I was thinking earlier today about David Gold leaving Birmingham and trying to buy West Ham, what if he bought Rangers! Would that be the biggest investmant in history? If Rangers and Celtic got a move away from the SPL then the revenue we could pull would be ridiculous!!!! And would swing us into a new level! Something has to happen soon! We are tippoe-ing along too much and too many fans are getting frustrated!!! Rangers should go to St Johnstone and come away with a performance that was never in doubt! Nobody would say no to a 2-1 win but to scrape it and play like juniors is not acceptable! I remember just 10 years ago going to St Johnstone and winning 7-0 when Guivarch made his mark! Compare that to us now!!!
  18. I don't know if anyone is interested in history/politics, but here's some painful reading for romantically inclined lefties such as myself. This does seem plausible enough: Trotsky has always been something of an icon for the intelligentsia, and it is not hard to see why. He fitted the perception that dissenting intellectuals like to have of themselves. Highly cultured, locked in struggle with a repressive establishment, a gifted writer who was also a man of action, he seemed to embody the ideal of truth speaking to power. The manner of his death solidified this perception, which has shaped accounts of his life ever since. Trotsky was a charismatic leader whose appeal extended across the political spectrum. When Trotsky was on the run from Stalin, H L Mencken offered to give him his own library (Trotsky refused because he did not want to be indebted to a reactionary). The Bishop of Birmingham signed a petition on Trotsky's behalf, and he was invited to become rector of Edinburgh University. Maynard Keynes tried to secure asylum for him in England, a campaign supported even by the power-worshipping Stalin-lover Beatrice Webb. Literary notables like Lionel Trilling, Edmund Wilson and Mary McCarthy joined the chorus of adulation. A hero-martyr in the cause of humanity, Trotsky deserved the support of every right-thinking person. This has never been a terribly plausible view of the man who welcomed the ruthless crushing of the Kronstadt workers and sailors when they demanded a more pluralist system of government in 1921, and who defended the systematic use of terror against opponents of the Soviet state until his dying day. Introducing a system of hostage-taking in the Civil War and consistently supporting the trial and execution of dissidents (Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries, liberal Kadets, nationalists and others), Trotsky never hesitated to endorse repression against those who stood in the way of communist power. This much has long been clear, but the full extent of Trotsky's role in building Soviet totalitarianism has not been detailed - until now. Rigorously researched, covering Trotsky's education and upbringing, his life as an �©migr�© before the revolution, his time as a military leader, his losing battle with Stalin, his women, his life as an exile and his assassination, Robert Service's new biography discloses a man very different from the one celebrated by bien pensants. The author of distinguished biographies of Lenin and Stalin, Service is eminently qualified to set Trotsky in his historical context. Here Service surpasses himself, and produces a life that is genuinely revelatory. Trotsky's lifelong effort to distance himself from his Jewish background - 'The workers are dearer to me than all the Jews,' Service reports him saying - is carefully and sensitively examined. There is an interesting discussion of Trotsky's attempt to fashion a distinctive philosophical position for himself (despite having a commendably unorthodox interest in Freud, he was no more successful than Lenin in this regard). The book is rich in telling detail. The young Trotsky liked to dominate the independent-minded women revolutionaries in his circle, and to this end studied carefully Schopenhauer's The Art of Controversy, a guide to debating tricks. Trotsky was 'an intellectual bully', Service writes, who 'relished wounding his opponents'. None of this is flattering to Trotsky, but Service is always scrupulously balanced. The result is a powerfully demystifying biography of one of the most heavily mythologised figures of twentieth-century history. Western historians have largely accepted Trotsky's self-serving account of his opposition to Stalin's policies and methods, but the differences between the two leaders were more limited than has been commonly believed. Trotsky favoured moving quickly to central planning and collective farming, and shared Stalin's view of the need to isolate the kulaks (richer peasants). Far from being more liberal than Stalin, during the New Economic Policy (NEP) he blamed Stalin for sheltering Menshevik economists. It was Trotsky who pushed ahead with the 'militarisation of labour', which imposed army-style discipline and punishment on Soviet workers. Hailed as an apostle of cultural freedom because of his interest in the arts, Trotsky believed as much as Stalin did that culture must be assessed (and policed) in terms of its political correctness. Trotsky's influential essay Literature and Revolution, Service writes, 'was essentially a work of political reductionism. When all is said and done, it was Trotsky who laid down the philosophical foundations for cultural Stalinism.' It is often claimed that Trotsky's superiority was in his analysis of the European situation. In fact his views on international affairs were far-fetched in the extreme. It is true that he grasped the threat posed by Nazism more clearly than Stalin. Even so, he shared Stalin's vulgar-Marxist interpretation of Hitler as a 'tool of German finance-capital', never acknowledging the high levels of mass support Hitler had achieved among the German working class. Right up to his assassination in August 1940, Trotsky believed Europe was on the brink of proletarian revolution. When Nazi power was at its height he was still talking seriously of a revolt of German workers against Hitler and claiming that Finnish peasants would welcome Stalin as their liberator. Trotsky may have seen the Nazi danger, but if his analysis of events had been accepted Nazi Germany would never have been defeated. Throughout the catastrophes of the 1930s he was consistently hostile to liberal democracy. In October 1939 he was praising the Comintern for remaining neutral in the European war. In July 1940 he wrote that the Trotskyite Fourth International should join the Comintern, refuse to support Britain against Germany and oppose American entry into the conflict. What was needed was 'a people's referendum on the war', which would reveal to American workers 'the futility of their democracy'. There is something ludicrous in the spectacle of Trotsky scorning the futility of democracy at a time when Hitler had almost extinguished it in Europe. But it is of a piece with an entire life of self-deception. As Service writes, Trotsky 'had matchless self-righteousness'. In The Revolution Betrayed (written in 1936) he admitted that the Soviet Union was like Hitler's Germany, a totalitarian state. He never admitted any responsibility for bringing the Soviet version of totalitarianism into being. But along with Lenin he had created the system that Stalin inherited and used for ends with which Trotsky generally sympathised. Inhumanly ruthless in his dealings with non-Bolsheviks and at the same time thoroughly inept in his relations with Stalin, Trotsky was too vain and self-deceiving to merit the status of tragic hero accorded him by Western admirers. Undoubtedly he was courageous, and it can hardly be denied that he was a key player in some of the formative conflicts of the last century. But in the end it is impossible to see him as other than an absurd figure, a fantasist seeking to found a paradise who helped build a hell on earth. Had Trotsky prevailed in his struggle with Stalin, would the world today be in better shape - or would it actually be worse? It is a question Robert Service does not answer. But he has given us the best biography of Trotsky to date, and there seems little reason why anyone should write another. http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/gray_10_09.html
  19. The Sun backs the Conservatives......... -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sun Says: Labour�s lost it Published: Today TWELVE years ago, Britain was crying out for change from a divided, exhausted Government. Today we are there again. In 1997, "New" Labour, shorn of its destructive hard-Left doctrines and with an energetic and charismatic leader, seemed the answer. Tony Blair said things could only get better, and few doubted him. But did they get better? Well, you could point to investment in schools and shorter hospital waiting lists and say yes, some things did - a little. You need Flash Player 8 or higher to view video content with the ROO Flash Player. Click here to download and install it. But the real story of the Labour years is one of under-achievement, rank failure and a vast expansion of wasteful government interference in everyone's lives. Nobody can doubt the dedication of Gordon Brown - or the love and loyalty of his wife Sarah, who delivered a moving plea on his behalf yesterday. But nor can they disguise the failures of Labour in Government over the last 12 years, many of them embarrassingly laid bare by the PM's own words yesterday. Britain feels broken . . . and the Government is out of excuses. Blair took office with bulging coffers, an invincible majority and weak opposition, and he and Gordon Brown could have worked miracles. But they FAILED on law and order, their mantra "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" becoming a national joke. Knife murders are soaring. Smirking criminals routinely walk free in the name of political correctness, while decent people live in a virtual police state of snooping cameras and petty officials empowered to spy and to punish. Labour FAILED on schools. Yes, facilities improved - but four in 10 kids leave those shiny classrooms still unable to read, write or add up properly. We are plummeting down international league tables for maths and literacy, but every year "grade inflation" ensures record GCSE and A-level passes to fuel Government propaganda. Labour FAILED on health - spending billions on clipboard-ticking target managers instead of on frontline care. Labour FAILED on immigration, opening our borders without any regard to the consequences. Illegal migrants and bogus asylum seekers poured in. Labour FAILED the children they claimed to have made their priority. After 12 years of Blair and Brown, Britain is officially the WORST country in the developed world in which to grow up. Most disgracefully of all, Labour FAILED our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, leaving them to die through chronic under-funding and the shambolic leadership of dismal Defence Secretaries like Bob Ainsworth. As our forces in two war zones suffered, the scale of Government waste at home was mind-boggling and tragic: Billions blown employing a useless layer of public service middle-managers like those who condemned Baby P to die. Billions more spent, insanely, making benefits more lucrative than a pay cheque - creating a huge, idle underclass for whom work is a dirty word. And all along the Government has had one overriding concern: Itself. Blair and Brown's puerile feud has long been a cancer at the heart of New Labour, their divisions often paralysing the country. Labour's driving ambition has not been to improve Britain. It has been to retain power at all costs - with no lie judged too great in its ruthless and relentless self-promotion. They promised a referendum on Europe. They claimed they had ended "boom and bust". They tried to con the public with promises of endless investment, when they knew they would have to cut. At the 2005 election, we and our readers believed Labour had many failings but gave them one last chance over a lacklustre Tory party. They have had that chance and failed. That is a fact Gordon Brown cannot escape, for all his rhetoric yesterday - his rewriting of history, his absurd caricature of the "heartless" Tories, his tired promises to solve problems he has had 12 years to solve. Britain needs a brave and wise Government to restore our self-respect, our natural entrepreneurship and the will of every family to improve its lot through its own efforts, without depending on handouts. We need a Government that will cut the red tape strangling businesses, that will make affordable tax cuts to stimulate growth, that will reform wasteful public services. We need a Government with a genuine will to win the war in Afghanistan and the commitment to give our forces whatever they need to do it. This will not be a Government that merely talks the talk, as Labour has. It will ACT. We hope, and pray, that the next Government will have the guts and the determination to do these things. And we believe David Cameron should lead it. Between now and the election Cameron's Conservatives must earn voters' trust by setting out their promising policies in detail. If elected, Cameron must use the same energy and determination with which he reinvigorated the Tory Party to breathe new life into Britain. That means genuine, radical change to encourage self-improvers, not wasting time on internal party wrangling or pandering to the forces of political correctness. It also means an honesty and transparency of Government that we have not seen for years. We are still a great people and, put to the test, will respond to the challenges we face. The Sun believes - and prays - that the Conservative leadership can put the great back into Great Britain. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2661063/The-Sun-Says-Labours-lost-it.html
  20. When I turned on ESPN this Saturday, the first Rangers game broadcast by the American Network that puts Sky�s coverage to shame, I was shocked and pleased in equal measure by the starting line up Smith had chosen to tackle Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. Since Smith and his management team have returned to the club I have at times been frustrated by his unwillingness to utilise his full squad. It can be argued that at the end of the 2007/8 season as we battled on four fronts to win silverware that had Smith been willing to utilise the full benefit of his large squad we may not have come up just short in our assault on the title. I may be being a little unfair Walter and his deputies as hitherto before unseen backlog of fixtures is what ultimately cost us the league crown. However, it still stands that at times he has been reticent to rotate his squad and gain the benefits of fringe players who are fresh, fully fit and eager to contribute. So as posters in the main forum will have noted, prior to kick off, I was pleased to note the changes made from what was an excellent point earned in Germany. Kris Boyd, who prior to this weekend�s game had a scoring record of more than a goal a game against his former employers, returned to the starting line up as a toiling Kenny Miller made way. Davie Weir returned to the first XI and with Bougherra suspended it was vital our captain was fit with few other options for the centre-back position. I had assumed the veteran defenders experience would coach McCulloch through another game in his new defensive role. In came Fleck and Novo as Thomson and Rothen dropped to the bench. There could be little complaints about the formation and line up the manager had selected for this latest fixture. A willingness to freshen up the first team and attacking intent in abundance. We had pace and trickery in wide areas from Fleck, Novo and Naismith. Mendes was partnered in the centre by the diminutive Ulsterman Steve Davis, moved in from the right flank where he is able to have more influence on proceedings. With Scotland�s deadliest marksman feeding off this supply on-loan Celtic keeper Mark Brown must have been expecting a far more difficult afternoon than he endured. However, as the draw in Stuttgart highlighted, defying popular opinion of so called experts and bookmakers, football is played out on the field not on paper. Despite the supposed gulf in class, despite the abundance of attacking quality available to Rangers, we rarely troubled the Kilmarnock goal. Yesterday was not a game for the neutrals. Had I not such a deep emotional attachment to my football team, I might not have been watching until fulltime. It was the kind of contest where you would not open your curtains had it been played out in your back garden. Time and again I have argued from the position of football fanatic, not customer. I am not terribly interested in the so-called product so long as positive results are being obtained. Where that argument falls short and where those who wish to be entertained as well victorious are hard to argue against is after a fixture like Saturday�s. A poor performance married with a poor result that saw Celtic usurp our position atop the league table. Fortunately with fixtures against Aberdeen and Celtic next up on league duty we have ample opportunity to make amends and return to our rightful position at the summit. Before that of course we have a Co-op cup fixture with Queen of the South and our first Home Champions League game against La Liga cracks Sevilla. A worrying trend in an inability to motivate ourselves from the first whistle has continued into the new season. Away in Germany we can be forgiven for having to survive a first half onslaught. Stuttgart, as the home team, were under pressure to take maximum points as results achieved at home so often determine the outcome of the Champions League group stage. The German outfit are also blessed with greater financial clout and therefore individual star quality. At half time Smith was able to galvanise his team and they produced a second half performance worthy of the Rangers to take an excellent point on the road. There are no excuses for not being able to take the game to a vastly inferior Kilmarnock team. Much like we have managed to do on our European travels under Smith and McCoist, Killie managed to produce a team performance to outfox a team with greater resources and quality. Like we have shown in our march to Manchester, a good team ethic can defeat superior opposition. We, therefore, no better than anyone that approaching any fixture with the right mental attitude is vital if we are to avoid dropping silly points as we mount our title challenge. I put last week�s drab draw with Motherwell down as a one off. It is rare any team can complete a perfect season. Rangers have managed it just once in our history. But if we have serious ambitions of retaining our league title and extending our world record to 53 titles we cannot afford to put together a string of dropped points. I had hoped the 0-0 draw at Fir Park would serve as sufficient motivation to approach our league fixtures with the correct mindset. It was disappointing therefore that we would again drop points in the very next fixture. Last weekend we were fortunate that our errors were not punished by Celtic as they could not take advantage of our slip up. We were not likely to get away with it two weeks running. Perhaps this weekend�s disappointment was a result of a Champions League hangover. If that is the case it is a worrying scenario for the season ahead with a minimum of 5 more Champions League fixtures to be negotiated. We are all aware of the importance of competing at Europe�s top table. This summer�s transfer window was a bit of non-event as far as Rangers were concerned. Imagine the disaster that may have unfolded had we not guaranteed Champions League participation. Star players such as Bougherra and Davis may no longer be plying their trade at Ibrox. We therefore understand the importance of ensuring we retain our league title and are entered into the draw in Monaco next summer. It is essential then that Walter Smith gets this first half malaise drilled out of our players. Queen of the South are up next at Palmerston this midweek and I expect them to be on the end of a Rangers backlash. There are many players with a lot to prove ahead of vital fixtures with Aberdeen and Sevilla. Kris Boyd, Pedro Mendes and Kenny Miller have flattered to deceive so far this season. They are all seasoned and experience pro�s and their performances should be helping guys like John Fleck and a now injury free Steven Naismith to settle into the team. I am unsure as to whether we should stick with Miller and Boyd and hope that what should be a formality of a fixture will allow them to play their way into form, or drop them to the bench and hope that that serves as the motivation to find their form from the first whistle.
  21. Tottenham skipper Robbie Keane is a shock transfer target for Scottish giants Celtic - with a multi-million deal planned for the next window. Tony Mowbray's club are planning the sensational raid for Republic of Ireland hero Keane and hope to pull off one of the moves of the season in the New Year. Keane only went back to White Hart Lane from Liverpool at the beginning of 2009 but he could be on his travels again if the Parkhead club can pull off this massive coup. Celtic have already started the ball rolling and would buy Keane and pick up his wages in one of the biggest coups of their illustrious history - a move that works on many levels. Keane is 29 and would cost around �£7 million if Celtic bought him - so Spurs would look for that kind of cash in a straight deal or as part of an exchange. The Irishman is in the Spurs starting line-up just now but may be available down the line as Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch look like being their first-choice pairing. Keane has been squeezed out of the central positions in the last couple of games and that does not suit him. The arrival of Nico Kranjcar and the eventual return of Luka Modric would see him under pressure to play at all. Spurs took Keane back from Liverpool where he was unhappy at the lack of action and now history could repeat itself at White Hart Lane - with Celtic hoping it does. The major snag for Celtic will be paying Keane's wages, but their wealthy Irish backers would dig deep for such a popular capture and a player who would help them domestically and in Europe. Celtic supremo Dermot Desmond found the funds for namesake Roy Keane and would be willing to fork out to land Keane in one of the largest signings in recent times for the famous outfit. Mowbray also thinks Keane would light up his team with the kind of lively and thoughtful attacking he likes to play - it could be a master stroke to see off Rangers in the SPL title race. Celtic's interest in Keane could see Spurs revive a bid for their Scotland midfielder Scott Brown, who is a confirmed Harry Redknapp favourite. Brown was valued at �£12 million in the last window, a price tag that put off Redknapp and his money men because they would not meet the valuation. http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Celtic-target-Tottenham-s-Robbie-Keane-article154495.html
  22. It's the rosey cheeks that makes you wonder.
  23. I was reading Andy's responses in the 'feel ashamed about your support' thread, and it reminded me of Pericles in the Peloponnesian wars. I thought a bit more about it and there are a number of interesting parralels. So I thought I'd reconstruct that war for us gersnetters, with the dominant opinions getting to play leading roles. I'm not sure how many people know their classical military history, and about the Peloponnesian wars (the Athenian empire versus Sparta and her allies) but I've tried to pad it out enough to be a something worth reading even if you haven't heard anything about it. Anyway, here goes: Andy’s approach to the media is like Pericles’ stance towards the Spartans in the Peloponnesian wars. Pericles persuaded the Rangers supp... sorry, Athenian people that there was no point in fighting the celtic-minded-Spartans. Although the Spartans had control of the media, sorry, land, with their vast, incomparable hoplite army, they could do no lasting damage to Athenian power because Athens was self sustaining. When the Spartans marched into the countryside in Attica, all the Athenians had to do was to retreat behind their walled city, with walled links to the harbour, and count on their incontestable domination of the seas to provide all they needed. The Spartans could huff and puff, and destroy the countryside all they liked, but in doing so they could win no lasting tactical advantage, and could not ultimately touch Athenian power. As evidence he pointed to the last all out battle with the Spartans – the Spartans won the battle, but ended with lots of dead Spartiates and no significant gain, as no-one in the ancient world could take a walled city. Likewise, Andy_Steel as Pericles, realises that all this huffing and puffing from salaried-dullards in the media might be aggravating, it doesn’t do any tangible harm. If you maintain a sense of self-sufficiency without provoking them further, they are going to realise eventually that all their vitriol and big words don’t make a blind bit of difference, and that life will go on irrespective of their petty little crusade. I think Andy represents the best version of this most moderate course – take it on the chin, because in the end it just doesn’t matter. I think he also represents the majority of Rangers supporters, even if they haven’t thought about it. However, things didn’t turn out well for Pericles even though the principle ancient writers thought he was right. Eventually he was ousted by radical conservatives, played in our Gersnet reconstruction by maineflyer, and Norris Cole, and the Vanguard Bear sort. While the Spartans didn’t win any tactical advantage, they did win in other ways as they ravaged the Attic countryside. The Athenians had to look on as their honour was disparaged by mocking Spartans, and as it progressed on for years, Pericles found it harder and harder to suppress the radically conservative Athenians who were not willing to cower behind the walls and suffer dishonour. The backbone of Athens, and the life of the polis, was the hoplite landowners, who loved their land, and hated seeing it ravaged. They reasoned that the Athenian democracy was the greatest of the polis and it was unseemly for them to hide behind their walls. They pointed to Pericles’ policy and said it wasn’t working, as year on year, the Spartans came back and ravaged the countryside. The conservative element played this up and eventually the dominant opinion in Athens changed, no longer willing to stay Pericles’ course, and they went on the attack. They actually done well at first and gained a few significant victories, but their reactionary temperament, and fury, made them ill suited to preserving power. The confidence won by their victories kept them going on the attack in ill-considered regions (like Egypt) and they overstepped their bounds. I think any all out attack on the media from these more radically conservative elements, if their statements and their wording are anything to go by, will go on this way because, although their anger is justified, anger is rarely an astute place to wage war from. They eventually pissed off too many people, and all support for Athens crumbled and they lost the war. So who’s right? Well, both are clearly partly right. Pericles was mostly correct in his assessment that the Spartans could not win the war if they pursued his course, and that Athenian power was untouched by their harsh words and farm-burning, just as Andy is right that Rangers wont be better or worse off for petty media attacks because ultimately we are self-sufficient. But Andy will find it harder and harder to encourage fellow Rangers fans to pursue this moderate course, not because he isn’t correct in his understanding, but because it’s hard to endure dishonour. The longer the media keeps provoking, the more likely they are to draw out the ultra-conservative element, and in doing so win the war. That said, the ultra-conservative element, when they went on the attack, looked like they could seriously win the war, and Athens regained a sense of its identity. If they hadn’t overstretched, they may very well have won the war. Likewise, if Rangers on mass started attacking the media, we would soon see its vulnerabilities (ie: its need to make money) and would probably see a change in attitude. This would be no tactical advantage, but it would be good for morale and identity, which, the conservatives know is important. So what’s the answer? The final characters to be introduced are the Frankie/Bluedell contingent. They don’t get to be contemporaries of the Peloponnesian wars like Andy and Norris, but get to play Yale neoconservative scholar Donald Kagan. He agreed most fundamentally with Pericles, but his one criticism was that a purely defensive policy never works. Although he was intellectually right that just ignoring the Spartans attacks would mean they would lose nothing, he had no plan to actually win the war. With Athenian power at sea, he could’ve launched raids all over the Spartan territory, and made them think twice about ravaging the Attic countryside. But because he was interested in peace, and maintaining Athenian high-ground, and not giving the Spartans what they wanted, he essentially invited them on to keep making more and more attacks. If he had chosen, as a wise and moderate sort of first-among-equals to have an offensive policy that was fair, thought out, and, above all, not reactionary and angry, he might well have won the war without augmenting his fundamental principle that the Spartans, if ignored, couldn’t do anything to them. I think Frankie/Bluedell advocate this moderate approach to response – they agree with Andy that it doesn’t actually matter a fuck one way or the other what the media say, but, like Norris and the radical conservatives they realise that these sort of attacks, especially over sustained periods of time, have effects on solidarity, morale and confidence. If we had a, Murray-down policy of contesting only the grossest of mistruths, without becoming petted-lipped reactionaries towards anything bad said about us, we might remind them that we have a big stick too, and though we’re not interested in petty wars, and prefer a moderate approach, we do have some sort of response, and aren’t going to take shite. So there we go.
  24. Guys: Hope you all received and enjoyed your all-new weekly email newsletter. If anyone has any ideas for that, or wants to contribute to its content, please let me know. You can view it here: http://www.gersnetonline.co.uk/newsletters/newsletter210809.html We're also hoping to redesign the main Gersnet site over the coming weeks as well. Anyone with relevant expertise interested in contributing to that, please give me a shout! Remember, Gersnet is your site/forum and we'll always try our best to accommodate your ideas, suggestions and feedback. We're especially interested in people who want to write the odd article and we have a private forum for those who want to share ideas with each other. As well as get the editing 'hairdryer' treatment from our peers! In addition, our Rangers Archive is still an excellent source of reference for everything to with our club. However, again it is only as good as the content within it, so we're always looking for new items pertaining to our club's magnificent history. If anyone fancies being part of the team that looks after that section of the site, please let me know. You can view the archive here: http://www.therangersarchive.co.uk Finally, please feel free to pm myself or the other admin if you think you have something to offer the site beyond the usual very welcome generic posting. We look forward to hearing from you! Cheers, The Gersnet Team! :spl:
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.