lanarkshire_bear

On Saturday we also attacked more often down the right flank than the left, meaning Barisic was operating more defensively. Understandably, he hasn't developed the same understanding with Kent as Tav and Candeias have. Once we get a more settled team, we'll see the best from him.

I've just checked and the BBC website does still say "Ex-celtic coach".

That's true mate. "I Fought The Law" was based on the lead singers experience trying to get pocket money from his Barrister father before being sent to boarding school.

Listening to Adrian Durham earlier; he said he watched the full game and his opinion was that the performance of the Rangers players verged on unprofessional. Can't really disagree with that.

Was that not Gullane Sands mate?

That was the first time in years that we stood toe-to-toe with that mob, and but for two moments of piss-poor defending and some incredibly bad finishing, we would have beat them or at least got the draw. I can see what Murty is trying to achieve and while I'm as gutted as any other Bear at the result, this match showed us where we need to strengthen and the fact there was no strength in depth due to injuries. I mean, look at the bench Murty had available. Other than Cummings, who was at his disposal who could have changed the game? Rodgers had Armstrong, a Scotland International, and three class loan players in Musonda (Chelsea), Roberts (Man City) and of course Edouard (PSG ffs!) who came on and won it for them.

Apart from Cummings we had no-one on the bench who would have made a difference, especially in midfield. Both Windass after the goal and Goss went missing. Then we lose Bates and Cardoso costs us a terrible goal. I don't think we bottled it but it exposed exactly where we need to improve.

Another thing that bothers me. Imagine you're an MLS fan in the US. You're researching a new player who has signed from us and you click on the Rangers Observer. Way to go to make us look like petty, snide, small-minded arseholes to one of the largest football markets on the planet. We should be publicly disowning that shite and stick to wishing DW all the best at his new club.

One for the Stephen Hawkins Loyal ?

It's the public face of the club and should be managed professionally. A typo is a mistake, getting the details of the game wrong is a fuck-up.

They're still smarting at the fact their dream team drew 0-0 with us at Ibrox :) For what it's worth, I'd report what you saw to someone at the club because it's just another unjustified dig at us. Our problem - if you can call it that - is we're not desparate to be pals with everybody. Nor do would we delude ourselves that 6 and 7 nil batterings in Europe are ok, as long as Messi talks about the brilliant atmosphere in the ground. I can only speak for myself, but when I was there no-one cared what team I supported. Only one barman had anything to say, but that was due to the poor behaviour of the Rangers fans he claimed he had experienced. If I recall correctly, we took more away supporters to the Nou Camp that last match than any other European team, plus the thousands of Bears having fun in the city itself. A few Bears pee up an alley or sing loudly and it gets reported like it's the worst thing to happen since the civil war, yet the place is full of suspciously young prostitutes who have obviously been trafficked there yet the police drive past like these girls are invisible. Anyway, I took the time to explain to the boy (he was Turkish) the difference between Rangers and celtic, and I'm pleased to say he changed his tune.

There's plenty of sports bars on / just off Las Ramblas once you get about half-way down. There weren't any pubs for Bears, but if they are showing Sky Sports I never had any problems getting any bar to show the Rangers games.

FM2005 - Attacking Midfielder Hakan Yakin for £600k as he was transfer listed. Front two of Jose Sosa (about £2M if I recall correctly) and Nikola Zigic (about £1.5M). Best attacking combo I've ever had. Could play attacking football against the likes of Real, Barca, Man Utd and AC Milan with no fears. The only thing that annoyed me was that after winning the CL 5 times running, I still wasn't the No 1 team in Europe! I was always around 7 or 8 being told "the bookies expect you to be there or thereabouts" :)

Non-story. He was never worth a million in the last year of his contract. If Hearts would rather let him go for nothing then let him sign for us at a reduced but fair offer in the circumstances, then that says more about how they are run by spite and emotion.

"lumbering French international centre-back Jean-Alain Boumsong"

McKay wasn't going to sign a new contract (and we knew that when Warburton was here so we had to punt him when we did to maximise his dwindling value) so how he is treated after that isn't a concern of mine. I don't see how this one can realistically be used to criticise Caixinha. I agree the jury is still out on him and he needs to produce the goods immediately but given the piss poor attitude and performances of the set of players he inherited, if I discovered he was actually breaching their human rights Guantanamo style I'd be cheering him on.

When Pedro wins us the league you won't be able to get near the Erskine Bridge for Celtic supporters. There will need to be a ticket machine dispensing numbers like the end bit in Beetlejuice :)

I can't help but think Lionbrand have missed a trick here...

How come they were so dominant during WW1? What were all the other teams doing at that time............

I'm fed up with either midfielders who don't go forward enough or gamble at the right times. I'm also fed up with strikers who don't maintain any positional sense, or have to drop deep because they're not getting any support or service so that when we do get the ball forward, there's no one there. If Pena is a number 10 who can take the ball into feet while being pressurised, hold it up, bring others into play in the final third, make late runs into the box and get ahead of the strikers when required and finish with his head and his feet, then he's exactly what we need. If not, then we're no further forward as a team. Until we see him play, we won't know.

He's dined out on the goal he scored against them in the Old Firm Semi and has hardly kicked a ball since. The manager wants players with heart and a bit of steel in them - I'm sorry to say that for me, McKay has none of these. In any case he refused to sign a new contract but instead of punting him last year, we righly waited until the new manager came in to assess the squad and there was always the chance that McKay would sign a new contract. However Pedro doesn't see a place for him and he didn't sign a new contract so good riddance and I'm sure the £500k (if that's actually true) will come in handy.

I've said this before on here - if we had a decent team on the park that was challenging for honours none of this would be a concern. We're in limbo at the moment and it leads to all of this navel gazing (no offence to anyone). A Rangers team that challenges for the title, wins a cup and puts a decent run in Europe will satisfy most of us I reckon. For me that's the main worry. Can any manager turn the current rabble into a team that is at least hard to beat (given the lack of funds), so we can then consolidate and build from that? Is the board going to get the next appointment spot on? Threads like this one show just how important the next manager/dof/head coach is to both the immediate and long term future of the club as a competitive entity. The problem I have is, like many on here, I've no trust in the board to actually get this right but at the same time there's feck all I can do about that. Frustrating doesn't begin to cover it. Also, being able to buy a top without getting girned at would be a bonus!

Let's be honest, would any of this really matter if the team was producing the goods on the park and the club was operating on a demonstrably sound financial basis?

To be fair, they could just make it up and we'd still never know

You're making some really fair points. I've never understood why the Independence debate gets some people so hot under the collar on here, to the extent that fellow Bears are scum if they vote SNP. Even if the objections are based on the economic / defence / foreign affairs / whatever issues then fair enough, but it still doesn't make someone who disagrees with you scum. I feel anethema towards anyone who votes Tory, but I don't think they are scum. Here's a thought. The SNP would, in my opinion, fragment into pieces if it ever achieved its stated aim. At the moment, it's actually many different interest groups united under one banner. Those that lean towards the right would no longer need to pretend to like those who lean towards the left. Some would drift towards Labour, some Tory, some whatever. However, the existing "Catholic vote" would now be very much in the minority. An independent Scotland would still have the Queen as the head of state, which is important to many, we would just stop having legislation made for us by Westminster. What remains of the "Protestant" vote in Scotland, allied with the now majority non-religious vote overall, would arguably mean an end to say, Catholic Schools, Catholic domination of certain councils etc...