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Easily our biggest problem position. Even more so than right back (which is our second biggest issue). Aird should never have been dropped. He wasn't fantastic in the last game. But he was significantly better than piss poor which is what Peralta usually provides. It may well be that it's not his fault as he's out of position and that's fine. But it doesn't change the fact that we have at least one other player who looks more effective there. Aird's performance in the previous game was significantly better than anything Peralta has shown up and again when he came on yesterday he added more than the Honduran. The only good thing I remember Peralta doing was one time he chased back with an attacker and won the ball back. I get really pissed off with people bashing the likes of Little more than his performances deserve but for me it is as clear as day, we are a better team with Aird (or one of the other options) playing instead of Peralta. I wouldn't be opposed to giving Peralta a few games at right back as I'm not convinced by Faure there either. We need to stop this habit of negative team selections though. The only reason I can think Peralta gets played is he is thought to be more solid, more defensively capable than an Aird or McKay. But if you watch him his positioning is poor, he isn't strong on the ball or in the challenge and he doesn't contribute fantastically to our defensive outlook. That's a myth. He was ridiculously easily bumped off the ball in the first half. Aird simply has to start next time out on recent performances. We look a much better, more balanced, creative and incisive team.
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Good to see this - apparently the booked suite holds 500 people!
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..............to rescue Celtic and Rangers HUGH draws comparison with 40 years ago as he rubbishes suggestions that Celtic and Rangers meeting in the Scottish Cup is needed to save a season that is already dead on its feet. THEY used to be famous. Forty years ago there was one night when the pair of them played two European semi-finals in Glasgow on the same night, watched by 150,000 people. Celtic met Inter Milan in the semi-final of the European Cup and went out on penalties. If they’d made it to the final it would have been the club’s third appearance there in five years. Meanwhile, Rangers beat a Bayern Munich side containing the core of the German team that would win the World Cup in their own country two years later. The win at Ibrox took Rangers to Barcelona, where they won the European Cup Winners Cup. How the mighty have fallen. The police wouldn’t let the pair play in Glasgow on the same day in broad daylight last season. Celtic’s SPL match was moved to Sunday so Rangers’ Third Division game could take place in isolation 24 hours earlier. And an Under-17 Glasgow Cup final between the clubs at Firhill last April was marred by violence inside and outside the ground. Pathetic or what? Now there are those who say the only thing that can salvage this season in the wake of Celtic’s elimination from Europe is the prospect of the Old Firm being reunited in a Scottish Cup tie. Not presumably because it would be an epic match. But it would allow two lots of fans to release almost two years’ pent up frustration caused by them living separate existences. Dragged apart because Rangers lived beyond their means and had to be liquidated on their way to the lower orders. Now look at them. Celtic have been humiliated on the field by AC Milan, embarrassed off it by some of their own supporters. They have been reported to UEFA and will be the subject of a fourth disciplinary hearing in two years. One of their players is the subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal concerning an alleged case of indecency and sexual assault. Meanwhile, over at Ibrox, the Serious Fraud Office have been invited to investigate alleged misappropriation of club funds. And the group battling to win control of Rangers from the existing board of directors have made accusations of intimidation against some of their members. Shall I go on? Let’s just say neither club is what it once was because of a lack of statesman-like leadership, and leave it at that. And the fans should take a reality check. There are Rangers supporters, obviously not born when their team went to Barcelona and beat Moscow Dynamo in 1972, who are looking for a street party because today’s side have gone 13 league games without dropping a point. Is that not what should happen when your multi-million pound squad of full-timers face players who need time off work to play some of their matches? Then there’s Celtic being held hostage by the political activists among their support. The Green Brigade by name, Wolfie Smith and the Tooting Popular Front in appearance. I’ll ask Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell a simple question. If it’s easy enough to ban me from his ground for a year and a half for an unspecified reason, why can’t he clean up the club’s image and do the same to those with a list of ‘previous’ the length of your arm? Lawwell says the illicit banner wavers on Tuesday night showed “clear disrespect for the club”. Call me old fashioned, but why don’t the club close down the troublesome area of their ground in that case? Celtic’s ticket office could, at the push of a computer key, give you the name of every occupant of every seat in the problem area. The troublemakers are deliberately undermining their own club. They must have known from past experience the banners would automatically qualify Celtic for UEFA punishment. Hoops boss Neil Lennon says his heart sank when he saw the banners. That was just before his team capsized. The Celtic team who lost to Inter 40 years ago dusted themselves down and went on to win another championship on the way to the first Nine in a Row. The Old Firm were in rude health then. What surrounds them now is just rude. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/hugh-keevins-itll-take-more-2871417 -
PAUL MURRAY fears Charles Green is still involved in the running of Rangers. The Ibrox board hopeful met with fans in Glasgow last night ahead of the AGM on December 19 that could see Malcolm Murray, Alex Wilson and Scott Murdoch join him at the Ibrox top table if investors vote to oust the current regime. Controversial former chief executive Green left Rangers for the second time earlier this year following a short stint as a consultant, which came just weeks after he stepped down following allegations of co-operation with Craig Whyte. Murray said: "I do feel that Charles Green is involved. We went to see a shareholder last week and he told us that Charles Green had been to see him the previous day. "You have to ask the question, if Charles Green has sold his shares and is no longer involved with the club, why is he going to see shareholders to influence them to vote for the board?" He added: "There must be a risk (that Green is still involved). The 18th of December is a lock-in date, I think something will happen that day, I don't know what it is going to be but shareholding will probably move around and so on and it is a matter of public record. "There must be a risk although he said publicly he is not involved, which is why, when you hear things like last week, you feel a little bit concerned." Murray and his fellow board hopefuls met with 500 supporters at a gathering in Glasgow last night as the make-or-break shareholder summit draws nearer. Murray and businessman Jim McColl called for finance director Brian Stockbridge to resign this week, with McColl admitting the Requsitioners had lined up new chief executive Graham Wallace to be part of their team should they win at the AGM. The Gers have appointed David Somers as chairman and Norman Crighton as a non-executive director and Murray said: "We are (willing to work with three new guys). We are taking them at face value." The other main players in the saga are James and Sandy Easdale, with the Greenock businessmen holding positions on the board of Rangers International Football Club plc and Rangers Football Club Ltd. James Easdale has proxy votes over around 25% of shares in RIFC plc and Murray has called on them to lay their cards on the table. He said: "They represent 24% of the shares but the issue is - I've been asking consistently - I'd have thought they'd want to put to bed once and for all who's behind those two companies (Margarita and Blue Pitch Holdings). The fans have got lots of concerns." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/paul-murray-i-fear-green-is-involved-143889n.22822985
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Gers team: Kelly, Halkett, Gibson, Gasparotto, Sinnamon, Telfer, McKay, Murdoch, Gallagher, Dykes, Walsh Subs: McCrorie, Mills, Pascazio, Ramsay, Stoney. Twitter: @RFC_Youth 1-0 Gers. Telfer.
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Yesterday brought another picture for the Ally McCoist photo album, another shot of the Rangers manager shaking hands with a suit and declaring his support for a guy, Graham Wallace, with a “good pedigree”. Without wishing to be unkind to Mr Wallace, whose CV is, indeed, highly impressive, we can, for now, file this photograph alongside McCoist shaking hands with the Easdale boys and, before them, Craig Mather and, before him, Malcolm Murray, and before him, Charles Green, and before that, Craig Whyte. It’s quite a collection. Wallace is going to have to forgive us our scepticism for the moment because too many men with “good pedigree” have been unveiled at Rangers over the last few years only to metamorphose into an embarrassment a little while after. McCoist has endorsed all of them and hasn’t got it right yet. It now appears that he’s throwing his weight behind the current board, saying on Friday that to do anything else at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting would be tantamount to career suicide. He followed that up by saying that he wasn’t just going to vote for the current board, as opposed to the requisitioners led by Jim McColl and Paul Murray, because of his own survival instinct but that he would do so because he felt it was in the best interests of the club. That phrase – as in, “I have the best interests of the club at heart” – has been bandied about Ibrox so often in recent years that it has now become almost as big a footballing cliche as “over the moon”, “game of two halves” and “sick as a parrot”. If it was true that all these boardroom people, from David Murray onwards, had “the best interests of Rangers at heart” then they wouldn’t have become such an epic shambles, now would they? McCoist, understandably, craves calm at Ibrox. He is fabulously well-rewarded for what he does but, still, these past few years haven’t been much fun for him. Giving his imprimatur to the current board is McCoist backing what he thinks is the winning horse, a symbol of his belief that the board will not be beaten at the AGM. A belief that they have become too powerful now to back against. That the decision last week by Isle of Man-based hedge fund Laxey Partners to buy more shares and then commit their support to the board, and not the requisitioners, was a key play in the battle for Rangers and that McColl and company are close to being a busted flush. McCoist has backed a few losers in this Rangers business over the last two years, but the smart money is riding on the board winning the big AGM vote in December. Rangers people are now entitled to ask about the strategy of the requisitioners. Little has been heard from McColl of late. Malcolm Murray gave it the cringe-making “No Surrender” routine in an interview he did with a fans’ group a few weeks ago, but where is the grand plan from these people? Telling the fans that they “can win the vote at the AGM simply because they must” is not exactly a gameplan. Malcolm Murray talks enigmatically about the level of support the requisitioners have from some unhappy and nervy institutional investors but won’t say from where it comes and what it amounts to. Sections of the Rangers support are busting a gut to try to bring about change to the board – change that is needed – but, all the while, what they are seeing is millions of Rangers shares being traded on the market and, seemingly, none of them being purchased by the McColls, the Murrays, the Kings – “the people with Rangers’ best interests at heart”. If this is a war, then the requisitioners appear to be fighting it with pop guns. If they want control of the club, then McColl and King combined have more than enough money to hoover up shares and put themselves in a strong position, but they haven’t done it. They have allowed the Easdales to do it. They have allowed Laxey to do it. They have allowed the opposition to strengthen their position, while the requisitioners have sat on their hands, vowing that they have major support from institutional investors. If they do, then they are going to win a famous victory. If they don’t, given all they have said, they are heading for a humiliating defeat. Let’s be honest, Rangers could have avoided all of this stuff years ago. Whyte was allowed in the door because no Rangers man would touch the club while the big tax case hung over it. The defence was that they’d have been mad to take it over while the big tax case horror show was still in play. Instead they stood back and allowed Whyte to finish a destruction job that David Murray had started. Later, Green was allowed in the door because the Blue Knights didn’t blow him out of the water, even though they had the financial wherewithal to do so. Yes, there are serious issues surrounding the performance of Duff & Phelps throughout that period, but the fact remains that Green was allowed in the door and, by the time McColl and Walter Smith and others made their move, it was far too little, far too late. Twice bitten. No, make that three times bitten. Still there is deep unrest, still there are mystery shareholders, still there is great uncertainty about the club’s finances and its future and still there is a lot of posturing from the requisitioners and, it would seem, not a lot of real action. McColl and King have the money to go to war and to win but they haven’t. It has reached a stage now where the Rangers manager has backed the board, partly because he has to, if he knows what’s good for him, and partly because he thinks he knows which way the wind is blowing in all of this. There’s been so much noise about Rangers men being concerned about the way the club is heading and yet there is a simple truth in all of this. If they are that fearful that the place is moving towards the rocks again, why have they not used their financial muscle to change the narrative – as Fergus McCann did when Celtic were about to go under? McCann arrived at Celtic, put his money down and did the deal to save the club. He didn’t talk, he executed. McCoist – like all managers – will have had cause at times to ask his players about hunger and whether they wanted victory more than their opponents. You could ask the same of the requisitioners. Not the supporters, who fight on in various ways, but the men who are in the lucky position in life to have the wealth to do the things they truly want to do. But do they want it enough? More and more, that seems to be becoming a rhetorical question.
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Former director Paul Murray chats with CRO's Ross McAdam about the current board, the pending AGM, moving forward and fan ownership. http://www.thecoplandroad.org/2013/11/exclusive-cro-talks-with-paul-murray.html
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25023927 Fair enough if it's a football debt it should be paid but this is over a year after the event. Get it sorted once and for all!
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RANGERS’ new chief exec is a former bigwig at English Premier League giants Manchester City, The Scottish Sun can reveal. Graham Wallace was chief operating officer at the 2012 champions until March. City sources said the 52-year-old Scot, will be unveiled by Gers next week after shaking hands on the deal with chairman David Somers last Wednesday. A source said: “There was a huge response to the advert for a chief executive but Wallace’s credentials blew away all the competition.” Chartered accountant Wallace, from Dumfries, saw off rivals including Dundee chief exec Scot Gardiner, who was also interviewed. He held top finance posts at a string of entertainment giants including MTV Networks Europe, Viacom, Nickelodeon, and IMG Media. Wallace, who lives in Buckinghamshire, was chief financial officer at Man City from 2009 to November 2010, then chief operating officer. He stepped down after the arrival of new chief executive Ferran Soriano, and has been doing consultancy work in the City of London since. The City source said: “He was waiting for the next top job and this is it. His skills and experience will help build Rangers’ global reach.” Wallace’s appointment is part of the current Ibrox regime’s attempt to shore up the board before a shareholders vote on who runs the club at Rangers’ AGM next month. Investment banker Norman Crighton, 47, was announced as a director yesterday.
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Was reading elsewhere where a Bear suggested only Naismith had been a relative "success" of the players who jumped ship when the old company was liquidated. Now, dont read this wrong i'm not attempting to say they are world beaters but actually there are a few players holding their own in the premiership are there not? Naismith gets semi regular football for a decent Everton team. McGregor is performing well at Hull prior to injury. Whittaker has played in half of Norwich'e league games this year and a couple of league cup matches. Davis is captain at Southampton. Before people start jumping off the deep end and saying this player or that player is crap or e.g. Whittaker hasn't played in the other half of their league games bear in mind that it still clearly shows that he must be a better player than he is given credit for by even our own fans, opposition fans in Scotland and our media. I'm pretty sure Whittaker's goal was typical of his time in Scotland beating 2 or 3 men with a driving run before finishing well from at least 12 yards. A display of pace, athleticism and agility. Those players were part of an era of Rangers football where we competed with Celtic on a much smaller budget yet these players delivered 3iar. Yet it is still always Celtic players who get championed for £5m, £10m,£15m pound moves. Yet I can think of even fewer Celtic players from the last 4-5 years who have gone on to be successful in a better league. Maybe McGeady (don't watch much Russian football) and perhaps Wanyama will show himself to have quality in England? Hooper has struggled for goals thus far. 3iar, more of our players being competitive in tougher leagues. Yet you rarely here of our players being touted for ridiculous sums (not convinced McGeady or Wanyama went for their reputed fees). Just why are our players generally held in less high regard in Scotland even when we are more successful or our players move on to England etc and are more competitive (if not necessarily more successful) then former Celtic players down there. Does this tactic of having their media luvvies bumming up their players values really bring them more cash when it comes time to sell?
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MIke Ashley sell up and move his empire to Glasgow? Why not, says Chronicle columnist John Gibson Amid an avalanche of whacko football stories that tend to emerge during the lull in hostilites brought about by the international break, one caught my eye which would warm the cockles of a considerable number of Geordie hearts. Billed as an exclusive by the bright young internet site Winner Sports, it suggested that Mike Ashley is privately considering selling Newcastle United and moving his football empire to Glasgow Rangers. And, most important of all for Mr Cashley, it makes financial sense. The line of thought is that Ashley feels United are unable to compete with the big clubs already chasing the lucrative Champions League spots in the Premier League and wants to switch to a more level playing field. He supposedly believes it will cost at least £100m for Newcastle to compete with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham and, what is more, there is no return of investment guarantee of course. The Sports Direct founder, already flirting heavily with Rangers, is said to be shifting his attention to the Scottish Premier League after it was handed a massive boost with their share of TV money from the recent BT Sport mega Champions League rights deal. Should Rangers win promotion this season and next as expected then they will return to the Scottish Premiership for the 2015-16 season. If Ashley was to purchase Rangers he would realistically be competing with only Celtic for that lucrative Champions League spot and, despite the lack of depth in the SPL, he would still enjoy the sort of big crowds that pour into St James’ Park. A significant reward for a not so hefty investment. Ashley’s official line is, as always, that he has “no intention, desire or ambition” to sell. Oh yeah? That must be because of his popularity on Tyneside! We’ve heard about Ashley getting out before, of course, and it has proved to be a false dawn, but this makes more financial sense. He has already bought into the club and recently tried to persuade Derek Llambias that going up to Glasgow, as he did to Newcastle, would be good for his health. However, Tonto gave the Lone Ranger short shrift. Nevertheless, there is evidence of interest and there’s no harm in many Geordies hoping is there? http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/john-gibson-mike-ashleys-rangers-6311192?
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PETER Lawwell will know that such is the relationship between Celtic and Rangers that he cannot make a joke at the expense of his rivals from across the city without there being a reaction, especially a bad joke, especially a joke that plays to the galleries and is a little cringe-making for a man in his lofty position in the Scottish game. By the sounds of it, there was much talk about Rangers at the Celtic agm on Friday. A question from the floor about why so many still call them Rangers, another question about why Rangers were given their licence to play after the tumult of summer 2012 and yet another about whether Celtic’s assets were owned by the club, the inference being that Rangers’ assets are not. This one was answered by Ian Bankier, the chairman, in a way that summoned up an image of John Brown outside Ibrox and his “Show us the deeds” speech. All of this jolly japery might have gone well with some Celtic supporters but it will only have reinforced the view in the minds of their counterparts across the city that a chunk of the Celtic fanbase are obsessed with Rangers (and vice versa). When the Parkhead agm contains so many references to the blue side of Glasgow then you can see their point down Ibrox way. Obsessed? Lawwell had a chance to kill that charge stone dead when asked about the Rangers new club/old club saga. He could have said: “That’s got nothing to do with us, we are Celtic and we’re doing very well thank you very much.” Only he didn’t say that. He said that “Rory Bremner can pretend to be Tony Blair” meaning that the Rangers we see now is only imagining itself to be the Rangers of the past 140 years. It was so unnecessary and Rangers have complained, inevitably. Their support will have demanded, in thunderous union, that the complaint be lodged and Lawwell will have expected it. He’s been around too long to believe that his “wee bit of humour” defence was going to be accepted at face value among Rangers people. This stuff is toxic. The question of Rangers – new club or old – is one that gets under the skin of most fans at Ibrox and Lawwell knows it only too well. Once he said what he said he would have known what was coming next. The thing is, Lawwell is no longer just the chief executive of Celtic, he is now on the professional game board (PGB) of the Scottish FA, a double-act that makes him one of the most – if not the most – powerful man in the domestic game. When he pokes fun at Rangers’ identity he does rather call into question his role on the PGB, a body that is supposed to above such petty squabbling. A few weeks ago he said that if it ever felt compromised in an SFA vote about Rangers – he was talking specifically about Dave King’s mooted application to become a director of the club – then he would consider stepping out of the room and playing no part in proceedings. In the minds of Rangers people, his Rory Bremner gag might confirm that Lawwell will always be compromised on anything to do with Rangers and, frankly, you can see their point. There is another aspect to this, too. Lawwell wants Rangers back in the Premiership, not because he cares about what happens at Ibrox but because it would be commercially beneficial for Celtic. And when they do get back, and when Sky or BT get ready to up their investment in the Scottish game because the Old Firm derby is once again on their horizon, will Lawwell talk of Rory Bremner then? Will he say to TV partners: “Lads, put away your wallets, this is not the same Rangers, the Old Firm game is dead. They’re only an imitation act over there at Ibrox. Don’t bother giving us more money.” No, he won’t. Lawwell seems to have an adaptable view of Rangers. Depending on who is acting the question, they’re either the same Rangers or new Rangers. He seems to flip-flop between two entirely different positions. All the headlines, post agm, have been about the Rory Bremner joke, which is unfortunate, because there was a far more interesting section of the meeting on Friday, a topic that was written about by my colleague, Andrew Smith, in yesterday’s Scotsman. It was to do with the resolution that sought support for “taking all necessary steps” to make the club a living wage employer, thereby ensuring that all staff are paid at the very least £7.45 an hour instead of the minimum wage of £6.31. This resolution was shot down by the Celtic board, who said that it would cost them too much money, about £500,000. All you hear from Celtic’s top brass is how well they are doing financially on the back of Champions League success and player sales so to come the poor mouth as soon as somebody raises the issue of paying their workers an extra £1.14 an hour is a bit much. Especially since they had earlier trumpeted that no club took their responsibilities to the community more seriously than Celtic while also saying charity and fairness was in the club’s DNA. Cue video of the Brother Walfrid story. Brother Walfrid was an inspirational force for good, but as Smith pointed out yesterday: “If you know your history when it comes to Celtic… it will not be lost on you that his [Walfrid’s] vision was sold out within ten years, when the club became a plc, stopped making charity donations of any note and started paying fat dividends to directors… Walfrid later distanced himself from what the club became.” It might suit Lawwell to get himself embroiled in the Rory Bremner situation because the alternative would be that more attention might be paid to the rejection of the living wage resolution, “one of the grubbiest and divisive decisions made by a Celtic board”, according to Jeanette Findlay, chair of the Celtic Trust. Findlay has, it seems, much support from fellow fans on the issue. And that is to their credit. Their passionate arguments have been drowned out by this Rory Bremner affair. It’s sad, but this is the way of things between Celtic and Rangers. How embarrassing if the SFA have to sanction the newest member of its professional game board for an avoidable cheap shot a veritable five minutes after his appointment. Findlay, and others, would argue that the real mortification can be found elsewhere, however. http://www.scotsman.com/news/tom-english-the-way-of-things-between-celtic-and-rangers-1-3191758
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League One business makes a quick fire return to Ibrox on Saturday. After a hard fought win over Dunfermline in midweek, can The Rangers make it twelve league wins on the bounce on Saturday (15 in all competitions) against Gary Bollan's beleaguered Airdrieonians at Ibrox? Let’s look at how we might shape up. Eleven League games. Eleven Wins. Eleven Jon Daly goals. Two of those coming in the Scottish Cup fixture against Airdrie at Ibrox on Friday 1st November as Rangers swept Airdrie aside after a fairly poor first half. The big Dubliner is in lethal form and who would bet against him extending his tally on Saturday? Daly is a certainty to start. Beside him young Nicky Clarke would be my choice as a second striker, his movement and work rate on Friday was very encouraging and Daly looks to be a good foil for him. Andy Little won’t feature for a lengthy period after being hospitalised with a fractured cheek bone on Wednesday. Unlucky on the boy, let’s hope he makes a speedy recovery. In the midfield it's not such a clear picture. Kyle Hutton had a decent return to the first team after Ian Black missed the match due to a suspension picked up in last year’s cup exit to Dundee United, and he may have done enough to keep his berth. Nicky Law and Lewis Macleod will keep their places unless McCoist decides to rest one or other after a bruising encounter against The Pars but I’d be surprised if he would feel the need to do this at a time when both are playing well and giving opponents a torrid time. Peralta looks off the pace and may be rotated for David Templeton after his goal and decent form from the bench. At the back Scotland’s best full back and arguably the finest footballer at the club Lee Wallace will be on a high after receiving the call from Gordon Strachan for the up-coming International fixtures against the USA and Norway and is sure to start. Goal scoring colossus and cult figure in the making Bilel Mohsni should retain his place in central defence beside skipper Lee McCulloch and Foster seems to be a first pick despite recent poor displays. His ball retention and distribution is abysmal and is surely the weak link of this side so far this season. Sebastian Faure would be my choice at right back but McCoist is not one for tinkering with a winning side. Confidence must be sky high at the moment and if we can start games in a more positive manner, I see no reason why we can’t maintain the 100% record until Xmas. It would be a fantastic achievement regardless of the standard of league we find ourselves in. I’m going for a convincing 4-0 win, Jon Daly to get at least two of those. (Possible line up) :rf: :jig: :kh: :ib: :lm: :jd:
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Your Sunday morning thoughts on the man who needs a grievance like normal people need air. The SPFL are coming under fire from the permanently disaffected manager of celtc, Neil Lennon this weekend. The monotonous drone of the Ulsterman complaining is as much part of the landscape in Scots football as long balls, a lying media and lunatic supporters, but this time some may feel he has a point: sending his team north to Dingwall immediately after a Champions League match, in which he and his footballing troubadours carry the hopes and good wishes of all Scottish fitba fans, seems scant reward. Leaving Holland immediately after their game - unsurprisingly, given the state his club's supporters left it in - Lennon's team will have gone to bed late on Thursday morning, possibly coming in for light physio or a rubdown that afternoon, leaving only Friday for the tactical plans for the Ross County game to be discussed and players assessed. One session is not enough for any coach to form a coherent plan, but is Neilly right to have a good at the SPFL? I don't think so, since it's the TV companies who are calling the shots. And since the SPFL, which is in effect run by his boss at celtc, Mr Lawwell, signed up to the deal it's a bit rich complaining about it now. The bad luck for celtc is that this weekend is a Super Sunday in England, with first Spurs v Newcastle at lunchtime; then Sunderland v Man City; topped off with the mouth watering Man U v Arsenal clash in the evening. They don't even have space to fit in the always pleasing Swansea game, so what chance of them fitting in what is, frankly, a game which won't interest anyone outside of Celtic or Ross County fans? With FA Cup kicking off this weekend as well, there was no space on the Monday night schedule for the celtc game; and it obviously couldn't be played on Friday night. The bottom line is that the game panicked and sold a rubbish deal to Sky & BT; the only teams they are interested in are Rangers and celtc; therefore they will do as they are told and lump it. The sight of SPFL bigwigs in China this weekend crowing about another deal - £20m this time, which unless it is broken up in a hugely unfair manner means an average of £50,000 per club; one might even raise the spectre of sporting integrity here - drives home the mistake they made when signing up to Sky. The need to get the game on TV and bring in some money is seen as paramount, not just for financial reasons but also because they were terrified lest the absence of Rangers drive away coverage, revealing the rest of the game outwith four Old Firm clashes to be what it is - of no interest to TV companies. All right, if they feel that way, sod them! I might not care about Dundee United games but no doubt Dundee Utd fans do, shouldn't the SPFL be looking after them first? I might not ever look at a St Mirren game but I imagine Saints fans do; why aren't the SPFL watching out for their interests? It's all been said before, but poor old Lenny's latest whinge brings us back to where we started: small leagues and 4 games a season is killing the game, and instead of finding some medicine we are doing the equivalent of buying smack from Sky and ignoring the real issues. Lennon is right that the SPFL is out to lunch: but given who runs it and given which club it appears to be run for the exclusive benefit of, whose fault is that? The chance was there to revamp the game and instead the head burying, the claims of a bright new dawn, the willful refusal to notice the ever emptying stands and the ever diminishing quality goes on. I watched AFC Wimbledon v Coventry last night and the London club had better players than I saw watching Ross County v Inverness the week before. This is not something that fills me with joy but there's no point lying about it. Anyway, no need to run crying to the press, Neil. Just walk along the corridor to Mr Lawwell's office and get him to explain why his Professional Game Board signed up to a shit TV deal. I warn you in advance though, you won't like the answer: because when it comes to football on Sky or BT, celtc (or Scotland) doesn't count for a fart. The shoehorning in of this celtc game at Ross County is proof if ever it were needed that we are nothing more than an afterthought once the real games, the proper football, has been scheduled in. Perhaps in the future we will reject a deal which doesn't allow a certain percentage of each club's games to be played at 3 on a Saturday. Since in effect this only applies to two clubs it ought not be that difficult to manage. Perhaps the resultant coverage of other teams will spread TV money a bit more fairly, creating a more level playing field. Perhaps more fans may turn out to watch if teams play with less fear, although it may be too late already. But perhaps the people who dropped the game in the shit will have the decency to stop moaning about it when they get some on their shoes.
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Lifted from FF: From the Sun website: SFA boss in Savile twitter bust-up Beast's victim blasts Regan Exclusive By PAUL THORNTON Published: 10 hrs ago A SICKENED victim of Jimmy Savile last night slammed footie blazer Stewart Regan for comparing the Rangers saga to the scandal over the TV pervert. The SFA chief executive’s shocking Twitter gaffe came after a fan asked him about the Ibrox spat between former club supremos Craig Whyte and Charles Green. Regan, 49, bizarrely replied: “Over four decades, many people believed Jimmy Savile was a paedophile. Yet he still walked free. Actionable evidence was necessary to provide the proof. “The same is true in any democratic judicial process.” It sparked an immediate storm of online protest from stunned followers. And Caroline Moore, 54 — molested by Savile as a helpless 13-year-old — branded Regan an insensitive “idiot”. She said: “He’s a prat, an absolute idiot and should think before he says something. “Nobody would say the Savile thing is anything like the same as a row at a football club.” Wheelchair-bound Caroline, of Paisley, was attacked by Savile in 1971 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Bucks, following an operation to fuse her spine. And she is furious that Regan used the monster’s name to debate sport. Caroline added: “He’s made himself look stupid and I would imagine he’ll regret it.” Twitter users were also horrified, and one message from ‘Sharpie’ simply read: “Embarrassing.” Liz Corkhill also slammed him for “pursuing that tasteless analogy.” Former Top of the Pops host Savile was exposed as a serial sex predator following his death, aged 84, in October 2011. Last night, the SFA refused to comment on the Regan row. But it’s not the first time the footie chief has had problems with Twitter. Regan called in cops and closed his account in July 2012 after it was flooded with abusive comments. These related to his handling of league reconstruction and the financial collapse of Rangers. At the time, he said: “When you get threatening messages on Twitter and you get emails and letters that are uncomfortable, you have to listen seriously to what the police are saying.” Whyte and Green were infamously locked in a battle over the ownership of Rangers. Yorkshireman Green claimed he duped his rival to get his hands on the club. Former brewing executive Regan replaced Gordon Smith at the SFA in 2010.
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Forfar Athletic @ForfarAthletic 18m Rangers v Forfar Athletic - 16.11.13 - Match Postponed Forfar Athletic are disappointed to announce that our... http://fb.me/14XKWq0cr Forfar Athletic are disappointed to announce that our visit to Ibrox to face Rangers on Saturday November 16th has been postponed. We had been advised yesterday that it was likely to go ahead and Rangers had forwarded tickets to us for sale. However following further international calls today for Rangers players the SPFL have advised us that the game will now be postponed and re-arranged for in all probability a midweek slot in December. Tuesday or Wednesday December 3rd/4th the most likely dates. It has to be emphasised that Forfar Athletic have no complaint with the Ibrox club on this issue, as they have attempted as best they could to feed us up to the minute information as it came to hand. Similarly Forfar Athletic have attempted to keep supporters fully informed over the past week as the scenario developed. ‘Loons’ officials realise that this news will come as a disappointment to supporters, some of whom were looking to make a weekend trip to Glasgow taking in the Friday night Scotland fixture as a bonus.
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As it enters November that made me realise we are half way there to being back to the top as the clock goes. We've been in this incline for one and half years, another 18 months and we should have wrapped up the Championship title..... Fair play to Ally this season, we are romping all infront of us which we should have been doing last season but fair play even Usain Bolt is slow out of the blocks. That's quite a fast first 18 months....now we just need the off field matters sorted out (Would like to see Jim McColl do his biz) and its a case of here we come.....
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ALLY McCOIST has no issue with the SFA hosting the Scottish Cup final at Parkhead – but admits he’s ‘baffled’ by the choice of Easter Road as the Ramsdens Cup final venue. It was announced yesterday the last game in the country’s main knockout competition will be staged at Celtic’s home ground next may, with the semi-finals taking place at Ibrox. And while he feels it might have been worth waiting a little longer before making that call, the Rangers manager is content enough with that decision. He’s less settled with where the Challenge Cup decider will take place given demand for tickets is likely to significant exceed the capability to accommodate. Hibs’ stadium in Leith holds just over 20,000 fans and it could be argued the ground is a size which is reflective of the competition it will host the last tie for. Past figures suggest Gers would easily fill the stands in Leith themselves and McCoist doesn’t see why somewhere bigger couldn’t have been selected. He said: “If the Scottish Cup final can get held at Celtic Park, I’d have thought the Ramsdens Cup final could have been held at Celtic Park too. “That baffles me, to be honest. If I’m the managing director of the sponsors, I’d want it at the biggest venue. “It would have been an opportunity for coverage and revenue. That would have been more sensible to me. “They’ve decided to take the game to Edinburgh and in doing that, I would have given it to the club (Hearts) that needs the money. “I’d have given the final to a team that’s in administration and tried to help them out that way but for whatever reason the game’s at Easter Road. “We are fine about that and I don’t have a problem with it at all. For the reasons I’ve given, it’s maybe a strange decision but we’re not going to moan about it. “We’re delighted to be in a cup final and we’ll go to Edinburgh but I can understand why our fans aren’t happy about it. “I’m on their side. I want as many Rangers supporters wanting us in that cup final as humanly possible. “We’ve got 36,000 season ticket holders and I don’t think there’s any doubt we could fill wherever with our supporters.” McCoist admits he wasn’t consulted on the Ramsdens match venue, which will host that game on April 6, when it is fair to think he might have been. He’s more at ease with the Scottish Cup climax happening at Parkhead, even if he thinks it would have been worth seeing how far the Old Firm went in the tournament first. McCoist added: “There are arguments for and against it. A similar argument would be that if we were lucky enough to get to the semi-finals, we’d have a home tie. “I can understand if people aren’t happy with it and I’d certainly be happier with it if I was Neil Lennon and Peter (Lawwell). “One thing I would say is at least we know where we are. A marker has been put down and the rules have been made so we can get on with it. “Possibly it would have been better to wait and for me that would probably have been more sensible. “If ourselves or Celtic weren’t in the competition, a decision could have been made in terms of taking a home advantage away. At the same time, we are where we are.” Copyright 2013. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to http://www.rangers.co.uk http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/5431-a-baffling-decision
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Afternoon Gentlemen, Listen I'm a bit of a history nerd at times and I like my Football tactics, so I've always been fascinated with a lot of the older formations and philosophies. Are any of you, with respect, old enough to remember the above formation ? If so I'd appreciate the info. I've read a few articles online about the games that featured the 2,3,5 but they don't really tell you much other than it was engineered to be more geared towards team work instead of individual flair. I'm hoping to replicate it on the up coming Football Manager 14, but before that I'm going to need some of the roles explained to me etc etc.
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The last time I wrote a match preview I talked of the need to install a football philosophy. At that time i talked of playing like Barcelona, off playing a high defensive line and pressing the ball high up the park. I was therefore delighted when we played Stenhousemuir at Ibrox recently to see us playing a high line, indeed on several occasions Moshni could be seen urging the defense forward to the half way line. We reaped the rewards of this and ran out 8 - 0 winners with stenny never really making it out of their own half for long spells. So imagine my surprise when on Saturday i tuned into el classico to watch Barca playing classic Walter smith tactics. Everyone behind the ball, working hard to retrieve it then hitting on the break and very impressive they were. Off course Walter learned this from Italian football. Southampton are having a great start to the season playing a high pressing game and of course pep has Byern starting to play this way. I guess this just proves that the style of football it's self is perhaps less important than the team working hard, being organised and having talented players. so far this season we have been working harder and have added some talented players. Hopefully more of the same tomorrow night will see us through to our first ever Ramsdens cup final apparently at Easter Rd. I don't expect the team to vary much on what seems to be allys favored line up. :rf::jig: :ap::ib::lm: :jd: Perhaps only little/clark is debatable. Me personally i would like to see perlata at right back and temps come in at right mid to see how that goes as i think we lack some pace and width, plus foster is poor.
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A simple but effective message from this bear which I enjoyed reading earlier. http://www.therangersstandard.co.uk/index.php/articles/fan-culture/293-the-possible-dream-fan-ownership
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It's pretty safe to say we have won our second title on the way back up, and yes the road has been smoother this year compared to last. Yet I personally feel uninspired by how it is being accomplished, and I'm interested in what the consensus is. When we agreed as a support that we would rather start at the bottom than be handed some 'charity' i.e. a halfway house (did you notice the clamour of the press to praise the Rangers support for that? No I didn't either) I think we all saw an opportunity to create a football philosophy, a new ethos, away from the pressures of playing in the same league as them. OK, after a while last season, it was clear that it wasn't going to be that easy. So get the first season over and then start to see something new. No? Am I just in the wrong mood but are there any signs that we are going to accomplish any of this by the time we get back to the top? Already Ally is talking about "needing millions to do better than top six"!!! I watched our route one football to beat East Fife. I watched Nicky Law excited at the start of the season talk about how we were going to play a very high line due to our superior fitness and always be on the front foot. Nicky started on fire, scoring great goals, and then what? Ally tells him to lie a bit deeper and the rest is there to see.... If it is better than my mood is telling me then I'm open to criticism - no problem. Can anyone say hand on heart though that these won't be wasted years?
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Taken from FF Sectarian Songs that are now being targetted by the Focus group include Include - Carsons Army (We're the volunteers of the UVF) Build My Gallows (Altogether for the YCV - Described as being not the YCV of the 1916 WW but the right wing youth element of the UVF?!) Fathers Advice (**** Bobby Sands he's Deid is now being classed as sectarian) No Pope of Rome (no nuns and no priests **** yer rosery beads) Focus are filming the crowd and if you are identified and witnessed singing these songs you will be arrested for this Im not wishing to dicuss the rights and wrongs of this, to me the whole world has gone PC mad, Ive spoken to admin about how I got the information and thought it was only right I try and warn fellow Supporters. ----------------------------
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http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-ferguson-saw-scottish-fans-2528944 YOU need a thick skin to be a professional football player. If you’re going to fall to pieces when fans scream abuse at you then you’re in the wrong game. But there are occasions when lines are crossed and when behaviour becomes so disgusting it’s unacceptable. That line was crossed in Moscow the other night. It wasn’t the thickness of Yaya Toure’s skin that made him a target for the bampots in the CSKA support. It was the colour. And this is exactly the kind of incident that should get football stopped. I’m deadly serious, if UEFA have any intention of stamping racism out of the game they should hit the Russians hard and fast. Kick them out of the Champions League right now and show the world football takes a zero tolerance approach to morons who think making monkey noises at black players is just a harmless bit of fun. I take my hat off to Toure for being able to handle what was going on around him and to concentrate on playing football. If it was me I might have walked off the pitch, as Kevin Prince Boateng did last season during a friendly for AC Milan. Maybe if Toure and his Man City team-mates had done the same thing – bringing a Champions League game to a standstill – it would have forced the powers that be to hand out proper punishments. But I can’t blame the guy for dealing with it in his own way. He stayed out there, took everything they could throw at him and did not quit until the game was won and his team was heading home with three points. He left them with nothing and I have to say I really admire Toure for being so strong. The question now though is what exactly are UEFA going to do about it? They talk a lot about “fair play” and “respect” but it’s time for them to put up or shut up and to show Toure they’ve got his back. They have a chance to make a real difference. Handing out two bob fines or closing stadiums for a one-off game won’t wash. It is time for a clear message to be sent around the world there is no place in football for behaviour such as this – and I’m speaking as a guy who is not easily offended. In fact, I’m all for rival fans giving the other team pelters. I used to love walking off the Rangers bus outside Parkhead on Old Firm day. As soon as you popped your head out of the door you’d hear the Celtic fans screaming and booing. It was brilliant. I’d go so far as to say I thrived on it. The moment you walked off that bus the game head was on. There was something special about walking out into a stadium knowing 55,000 people hated your guts – but the other 5000 were standing shoulder to shoulder with you and your team-mates. It created a feeling we were all in it together and that brought the best out of me. If you’re going to s*** yourself at the thought of getting abused you’d be as well walking back to the bus. It’s a man’s game and I don’t recall any team-mate of mine quaking in his boots because they felt intimidated by any set of supporters. Yes, a few of the foreign lads might have had that “what’s going on here” look about them when they first played in an Old Firm game but for me this was just the way it was meant to be. But I remember one game when I felt a line was crossed. It happened at Ibrox shortly after the 9/11 atrocity when Claudio Reyna was at the club. Some halfwit at the front of the Celtic end made an aeroplane gesture when Claudio was over there taking a corner. That one was hard for us all to take. I had sat in the dressing room with Claudio on the day the World Trade Centre came down so I knew how devastated he was. He had friends who were in one of the towers so it hit him on a really personal level. So for some idiot to stand there, arms outstretched, trying to goad and mock him at a football game? No, that was completely unacceptable. But what was done to Toure was even more appalling. I remember 1988 when I was just nine years old and Mark Walters had signed for Rangers. I used to go and watch a lot of games back then because my brother was in the team. To this day I can still see those images in my head of bananas being thrown on to the pitch. I was a kid, I didn’t really understand what was going on. But looking back, it turns my stomach to think Scottish fans could have acted like that. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since then. If such a thing happened in a British stadium today there would be a massive outcry. You just need to see the stick Roy Hodgson has taken for telling a joke about a monkey to see how seriously the subject of race is treated. That ridiculous episode should never have got further than the dressing-room walls. Andros Townsend didn’t take offence because it wasn’t racism. It was just a bad joke. But what went on in Moscow on Wednesday night really does deserve all of our outrage. I just hope UEFA have the courage to do the right thing.
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How many truly World Class players have played for the club? Jim Baxter for one. Any others?
