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............................................letizi......................................................' .......rae.....................j-rod..................svensson...................smith......... ...........................hemdani......................clement.................................. .................sionko................buffel.......................adam ......................................sebo............................................................ you will probably all agree with me with this team apart from rae

Ok i know its still early but most fans have noted we are slightly unstable and slack at the back at the moment. Personally id give it a few more games anyway to see if it improves as Im sure the guys will be working on it day in day out in training over the next few weeks. Im pretty comfortable with Smith at LB and he looks natural in the position. Hutton is ok going forward but is lacking at some defensive duties. Svensson hasnt settled (yet) but again id give it longer. However if it doesnt improve id maybe like to see us go 3 at the back if we sign an new no-nonsense centre half. This would allow us to keep the 2-3 midfield shape but stick a striker up with Prso and keep Adam aswell. Someone mentioned on another thread Dundee Utd were rocked when we had all our attacking options on the park, and i can see a lot more teams coming to ibrox flooding the defence again, so the 3-2-3-2 formation is maybe worth a looking. ______________Letizi_______________ _____J Rod____Newbie____Svensson _______Ferguson____Clement________ __Sionko_______Buffel_______Adam___ __________Prso_____Boyd___________

He is having a go at the West Ham support again. http://msnsport.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=407706&CPID=8&clid=8&lid=2&title=LAMPARD+HITS+OUT+AT+HAMMERS I dont believe for 1 minute that there was West Ham fans cheering when he broke his leg. Surely the were clapping him off the park like most players on strechers get. I also find it hard to believe some West Ham fans didnt think he was good enough, he was a great talent. But he isnt the first player to be booed by his own support and he wont be the last. Ask Craig Moore! ive heard him being booed at Ibrox when W Smith played him in midfield, then in the underground que after the game Bears were arguing amongst themselves about him.

Well Le Guen has completed his 9th signing and it doesn't look like he'll be able to bring in any more till a few leave. What does everyone think of the new team? Five will be heavily involved in the first team with one on the periphery and three youngsters. That's not bad for a layout of around �£3 million and enough for going on with. I'd presume he's got a couple of million left in this season's budget to spend in January and is being careful with the money. Our first team squad now looks like: Letizi/MacGregor Hutton/Ponroy Svensson Rodriguez Smith/Murray Ferguson/Hemdani Clement/Rae Sionko/Burke Sebo/Buffel Adam/N'Diadyi Prso/Boyd With Namouchi, Novo and perhaps Ricksen as cover. Fanfan, Andrews, Malcolm and Bernard seem to be surplus to requirements. Our weakest position now seems to be centre back so I'm not sure if Fanfan will be allowed to leave quite yet or whether there is someone lined up straightaway if he does leave. Right back also looks a bit weak but passable as long as Hutton and Ponroy both continue to improve. But otherwise the squad looks reasonably strong to me and I can see us building on it in January and next summer.

Neil Alexander (Cardiff City) Craig Gordon (Hearts) Graeme Smith (Motherwell) Graham Alexander (Preston North End) Russell Anderson (Aberdeen) Gary Caldwell (Celtic) Steven Caldwell (Sunderland) Christian Dailly (West Ham United) Jackie McNamara (Wolves) Graeme Murty (Reading) Gary Naysmith (Everton) Robbie Neilson (Hearts) Steven Pressley (Hearts) Andy Webster (Hearts) David Weir (Everton) Barry Ferguson (Rangers) Darren Fletcher (Manchester United) Paul Hartley (Hearts) Neil McCann (Hearts) Lee McCulloch (Wigan Athletic) Ian Murray (Rangers) Nigel Quashie (West Bromwich Albion) Scott Severin (Aberdeen) Gary Teale (Wigan Athletic) Chris Burke (Rangers) Kris Boyd (Rangers) Shaun Maloney (Celtic) James McFadden (Everton) Kenny Miller (Celtic) Garry O'Connor (Lokomotiv Moscow) The squad is seemingly just for a preperations session for Euro 2008 qualifiers, but still i expected to see Steve Smith in there, considering who's made it into the squad ahead of him!

Just saw this on another forum and thought that I'd post it here - a great read and shows more unbiased, fair and impartial reporting from Legget; --------------------- The Myth of Mart?s Celtic dominance To the Camelot of King Arthur and the Loch Ness Monster must be added the legend of Martin O?Neill?s dominance of Scottish football for the last five years. For as far as fables go that one is right up there with the Knights of the Round Table, not to mention auld Nessie herself. And if it continues to go unchecked then the myth will grow into a warped reality, especially for those seeming illiterates who cannot consult the record books. Not to mention those who may not be sufficiently numerate to be able to work out the mathematics of those five seasons during which Celtic and their fans were completely under the spell of the Ulsterman. Therefore, for the record, let this column state, of the 15 domestic trophies which were competed for, O?Neill?s Celtic won 7. That is precisely the same amount of silverware captured by Rangers since the summer of 2000. And before those of a Parkhead persuasion point to the 3 championships included in the O?Neill haul to just 2 taken by Rangers, let?s examine another aspect. During the 3 full seasons which saw O?Neill and McLeish in direct confrontation, Rangers won 2 titles to Celtic?s single success. In fact, in the half of the season to play out when McLeish took over at Ibrox in December 2001 ? with O?Neill having outstripped Dick Advocaat by 14 points ? Rangers beat Celtic in the semi-final of the League Cup on their way to winning that trophy, and then in the final of the Scottish Cup. Therefore, the fact of the matter is that while Celtic enjoyed greater overall silverware success under O?Neill than at any time since the Jock Stein era, they were far from being the dominant force. Indeed of the eleven trophies at stake during the O?Neill-McLeish rivalry, the Scot took 7 to the Ulsterman?s mere 3! But if the true measure of domination is to be taken as the championship ? as it must ? then O?Neill?s record of 3 titles in 5 years is exactly the same as Billy McNeill achieved between 78 and 83. Big Billy also lifted 2 Scottish Cups and a League Cup for a haul of 6 trophies, just one fewer than O?Neill, yet nobody spoke of dominance then. In his first 5 full campaigns, Jock Stein won the title every year for Celtic, while over a comparable period Walter Smith did exactly the same with Rangers. Now that is dominance and puts any outlandish claims for O?Neill and his misguided disciples firmly into the context of history. No doubt those poor souls will hark back to Seville and quote it in the manner of some Holy Grail. Let this column therefore put that into historical context too, and remind them O?Neill and Celtic actually lost. Stein never harked back to the losing 1970 European Cup Final, and neither did Scot Symon, who took Rangers to the ECWC Finals of both 1960 and 67, only to end like O?Neill, a second best loser. What O?Neill?s greatest achievement as Celtic manager seems to have been was to give the club?s supporters back a guid conceit of themselves. Though as so few appear to see themselves as Scottish as their great Lisbon Lions captain, that phrase may not strike a chord with them. Restoring self esteem to the green and white hordes was in itself a mammoth task, and for achieving it O?Neill must be congratulated. Just 2 titles in the 14 years before his arrival had left Celtic and their supporters bereft of anything except bluster. That though is a major positive side of the legacy which MON left at Parkhead. On the negative side is the fact he allowed a team to grow old together. And in building that team he switched from the traditional slick passing Celtic style to a bruising bullying brigade of big men. That those many Celtic fanatics have long romanticised about the way they like to see their team play, accepted it goes a long way to underlining my point about lack of self esteem. But it is in the darker reaches of what may have gone on within Parkhead that there must be suspicion about the legacy left by this complicated, brooding Ulsterman. One London journalist who claims a close friendship with him, and who only last week alleged he was being touted as the next England manager by senior FA sources, recently wrote that MON was a conspiracy theorist. This view did not come as a surprise to those of us who observed him at close quarters for 5 years. MON has often given the impression of a man who could spot a grassy knoll at half a mile ? even without his specs. Indeed, just before he took his leave of Glasgow, he made some strange and disturbing remarks claining there were personal vendettas against him. He certainly seemed to know all about vendettas and gave one a new lease of life with his treatment of linesman Andy Davis at the Scottish Cup Final when it looked as though he refused to shake the official?s hand at the end. Then there was his infamous BBC interview when he would not answer a straight question about whether he felt he could have an influence on sectarian behaviour by making a direct appeal to Celtic supporters. This column has always taken the view ? and it is not alone ? that MON always seemed to believe any sectarian problem was not Celtic?s fault. Perhaps that was something to do with the fact of which side of the Ulster divide MON was brought up in. But here is where the water becomes too deep to enter. In fact, down in such murky depths lurks more danger than even Nessie. And she is one of the few bigger myths in Alba than the one about MON?s dominance of Scottish football.

One thing that never changes in the Scottish game is the standard of refereeing - once again, Underhill was shocking yesterday - how he missed the kick on Sionko and only yellow carded Forlan for his elbow on Smith, only he knows. Cammy F

Dado Prso looked in fine form this afternoon as Rangers played their final match ahead of the big SPL kick off on Sunday. In a game of two halves, Rangers dominated the first 45 minutes, but the visitors came back well after the break to level the match. It marks the end of pre-season for the Ibrox club as their next match will be at Fir Park for the SPL opener. Dado Prso and Nacho Novo were reunited in attack for the first time under Paul Le Guen this afternoon and they didn't disappoint, carving out the opener after eight minutes. Lionel Letizi spotted Novo on his way down the left and the Spaniard sprinted to the corner flag before whipping in a fine cross for Prso to fire home with his second touch. Minutes earlier young defender Antoine Ponroy tested Jussi Jaaskelainen with a header but the Finnish keeper just did enough to keep the effort out. Bolton too sent out a full-strength side for the opening 45 minutes with Kevin Davies, El Hadji Diouf and Ricardo Vaz Te spearheading the frontline. But with 20 minutes gone the Light Blues sliced Allardyce's men apart again and should have doubled their lead. Makhtar N'Diaye fed Novo, who did well to beat the offside trap and he raced into the box, rounded Jaaskelainen to fire goalbound, only for Abdoulaye Faye to slide in and divert for a corner. It was another excellent move and at this stage Gers looked in complete control. The visitors created a half chance when Kevin Nolan found space to meet Quinton Fortune's corner after 26 minutes, but his half-volley fizzed wide. They then created another good opportunity, again from a flag kick and Hunt could only watch as Gavin Rae deflected his shot past the post in 34 minutes. Both sides shuffled their packs at half time but it was Bolton who started the brightest and in the 51st minute drew level through Kevin Davies. The towering striker was perfectly positioned at the back post to meet El-Hadji Diouf's cross and McGregor was helpless to stop his shot. Gavin Rae saved Gers after 67 minutes when he headed Diouf's shot off the line, before Gary Speed then sent an effort crashing off the bar. RANGERS: Letizi (McGregor 45); Ponroy (Hutton 45), Svensson (Rodriguez 72), Pierre-Fanfan, Smith (Adam 45); Namouchi (Sionko58), Rae, Clement, N'Diaye (Hemdani 72); Prso (Boyd 58), Novo (Buffel 58) BOLTON: Jaaskelainen (Al Habsi 33 (Walker 62)); Hunt, Meite (Speed 33), Faye, Fortune, Diouf, Nolan, Haim, Al Tal, Vaz Te, Davies

Nice to hear that reputations arent going to count for anything and it will be down to performance on the pitch

A letter published in The Herald - well done to the Bear who submitted this ; I'Nuremberg rally' has no place in football I write this after having read Graham Spiers' diary piece regarding his experiences in Nuremberg - especially in the Zeppelinfield which, as we all know, has notoriety in the annals of history. I am actually quite pleased Mr Spiers wrote an eloquent article describing his personal emotions when gazing out over the awesome arena and the images which must surely have flashed in to his head at that precise time. He wrote: "Zeppelinfield looks exactly the same as it did in the infamous photographs from the period, with the large concrete podium at the top of the arena from where Hitler shrieked, looking out over a 400-metre parade ground where the stormtroopers marched. "It is the most moving,and disturbing, spot in which I have found myself writing about sport." Until this last paragraph, I didn't feel the need to comment. Hopefully now after having visited the Zeppelinfield Mr Spiers will finally appreciate why so many Rangers fans, including those from the Jewish faith, found his light-hearted comments about Ibrox resembling a "Nuremberg rally," not only distasteful but downright insensitive and deeply hurtful. Mr Smith, via email ----------------------------- Cammy F