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Regarding Walter Smith, I suppose you have to weigh up if playing attractive football and not making progress in the CL, is better than playing negative football and making the UEFA Cup final. Difficult one. There seemed to be a Largs football philosophy at the time championing quite a negative style 4-5-1. I think Smith's style in Europe at times was ridiculously defensive, but if he had employed better counter attack methods it would have been more palatable.

 

Personally. if I were a rangers fan I would have been accepting of Smith's later tactics in Europe as they produced results. And I don't mind watching busses being parked, if one team is attacking.

He had two acceptable reigns in Europe. Our performances and results in the 90's under him were terrible. Getting beat 3-0 by Gotenburg for example. He was good domestically but not up to it in Europe.

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He had two acceptable reigns in Europe. Our performances and results in the 90's under him were terrible. Getting beat 3-0 by Gotenburg for example. He was good domestically but not up to it in Europe.

 

The UEFA cup run saw some of the most sleep-inducing football that has ever been seen. Three goals in nine games says it all. The excitement came as they progressed from round to round.

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The UEFA cup run saw some of the most sleep-inducing football that has ever been seen. Three goals in nine games says it all. The excitement came as they progressed from round to round.

Our current record is what...3 wins in the last 23? Embarrassing. I'm all for parking the bus against teams of vastly superior resources a la Barca but we made no attempt to compete in the final.

 

For us in 07/08 see Greece in Euro 2004. Admirable but essentially lottery levels of fortune.

 

It was refreshing to see Strachan's Scotland actually have a go at Germany. I've never been his greatest fan but its refreshing to see a Scottish side not living in eternal fear. That was against the best team in the world.

 

I think our run in 07/08 was hugely dependent on Carlos Cuellar, who ironically has since been shown to be very average in the grand scheme of things.

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Our current record is what...3 wins in the last 23? Embarrassing. I'm all for parking the bus against teams of vastly superior resources a la Barca but we made no attempt to compete in the final.

 

For us in 07/08 see Greece in Euro 2004. Admirable but essentially lottery levels of fortune.

 

It was refreshing to see Strachan's Scotland actually have a go at Germany. I've never been his greatest fan but its refreshing to see a Scottish side not living in eternal fear. That was against the best team in the world.

 

I think our run in 07/08 was hugely dependent on Carlos Cuellar, who ironically has since been shown to be very average in the grand scheme of things.

 

I do think that Cellar was a little unlucky in getting shunted out to right back. He never really shone and kind of drifted away. Age and injuries finished him off. He was outstanding for Rangers.

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The UEFA cup run saw some of the most sleep-inducing football that has ever been seen. Three goals in nine games says it all. The excitement came as they progressed from round to round.

 

I would be happy with another UEFA cup run of the same ilk ASAP. Sure as hell beats what we've got.

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Ally McCoist: Rangers reign will end one day.

 

RANGERS manager Ally McCoist has revealed that there will come a time when he can no longer deal with the constant pressure which he has been under since he replaced Walter Smith as manager of Rangers in the summer of 2011.

 

Should he have any say in the matter, the decision to stand down will not be taken before he can lead the club into the top tier of Scottish football but he admits that the choice may be taken from him by the people in charge at Ibrox.

 

Following yet another week of off-field drama and revelations which further damaged Rangers’ reputation, McCoist admitted that a point will be reached when he will realise that he must make that break for his own sake and that of his family.

 

“There is absolutely no doubt that time will come,” he said. “One hundred per cent it will come. I cannot give you a timescale, but I can tell you right now it will come. I might not get the opportunity to let it come, by the way!”

 

Whenever he may leave, though, McCoist stressed that his departure will not be as a result of him tiring of the task.

 

“Not at all: not in that respect,” he said. “Everybody has got a cut-off point, there is no doubt about that. But there is so much work to get done and I want to continue with that.

 

“The work here will never be finished. There will always be something else to do. You will have to win a game then have to win something else.

 

“Our main job, from our point of view, is to get back to where we feel we belong and that is in the top flight competing and challenging. We have got a long way to go before we are nearly there.”

 

McCoist, though, does not fret about the fact he may not be allowed to choose the timing of his exit.

 

“There are lots of reasons it could get taken away from you,” he said. “Football is a results business. I genuinely don’t worry about it at all. What will be will be. This place has been interesting enough.”

 

Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon each lasted four seasons as manager of Celtic before deciding that they had had enough of the relentless demands of life in charge of one of the Glasgow giants. Interestingly, McCoist is now in his fourth season as the main man at Rangers.

 

“I understand exactly what Gordon and Neil have said and do say,” he said. “There is absolutely no doubt, no doubt at all, that managing Celtic and Rangers is at a different level, an absolutely different level, in terms of the intensity and focus that are on you 24/7.

 

“I even include some of the big clubs in England. Obviously, there are far bigger clubs which have had European success and play in the Champions League. That is not the point I am trying to make. It is the spotlight you are under here, definitely.

 

“I know it’s crazy but it actually has flown in in many ways. But, when you think of what has happened in those four years, I can’t believe I am saying that. You would think it would be in your memory and stay with you for a long time.”

 

Many observers of the Ibrox soap opera will undoubtedly be intrigued to discover that McCoist has kept a journal during his time in office.

 

“That diary is up there in the safe,” he said. “I actually have a look at it now and again and don’t believe it!”

 

Rangers last won a cup in 2010/11 and, on Tuesday, they play host to early Premiership pace-setters Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the last 16 of the League Cup, having been beaten 3-0 at Ibrox by the Highland side in the quarter-final of the competition two years ago.

 

Last season Dundee United beat them 3-1 at the same venue in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup and McCoist is keenly aware that the fear factor which the old stadium once possessed is no longer there. He intends to reinstate it before he departs.

 

“I think if we can make Ibrox a feared place it would be a massive step for everybody,” he said. “Obviously, in years gone by it was a feared place.

 

“Talk to people who have come here and they would say that, for the first 15-20 minutes, they would have the fear.

 

“We have not got that at the minute and a lot of that is down to what has happened to us in the last few years.

 

“If we can build that up again and get somewhere near being a feared team at our own stadium that would be a big step for us.”

 

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl-lower-divisions/ally-mccoist-rangers-reign-will-end-one-day-1-3541142

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Many observers of the Ibrox soap opera will undoubtedly be intrigued to discover that McCoist has kept a journal during his time in office.

 

“That diary is up there in the safe,” he said. “I actually have a look at it now and again and don’t believe it!”

 

Could be another decent earner (book), especially if he can avoid a longterm NDA.

 

Then again, he may prefer that a war of words doesn't begin.

This may even be 'a warning shot' of sorts.

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