cupertinoger

Are you serious?....without Murray there would have been no Souness era no Gazza, no Laudrup... no 9 in a row no Champions league adventures....the list goes on....yes we are in a bad way right now and yes a lot of that goes down to the fact DM showered money on past managers in pursuit of European glory but he at least was big enough to admit it and sort it out...show me any major UK club that has less than 5M debt.

if we spend more than 5M net then i will be surprised... if we do get Brown at around 2.5-3M then this leaves 2M of which 1.5 still seems earmarked for McCulloch...sad to say it but I am sure WS will move for him again. then you have McDonald at around 400k, the rest will come from saving on wages (Klos, NDaiye,Rae, Prso maybe) and fees from sale of fringe players like Buffel, I would like to see a couple of experienced European quality bosman signings but it seems WS is looking more at the British market than he is at the European one

I am sure I read this week that the LA Galaxy are planning their first "Beckham" game as a showpiece against us, thats the sort of game we need....there will be plenty of media exposure and money I am sure..... I also read today that Barcelona are looking at a 2 game pre-season tour in Scotland against Dundee Utd and Hibs......WTF is that all about...they come to Scotland and dont play either of the OF....they must be running scared :Animation44:

Born and raised in Ardrossan....whit a dump... used to go to games regularly and held a season ticket for a few years, moved to Munich in 99 and then to California in 2005, I am moving back to Munich area end of April so am thinking of buying a season ticket and travelling home one weekend per month, my old man can use it for the other games....

I hate to say it but I think we will be disappointed with the transfers during the summer, I just cant see DM throwing a lot of cash around, I will be amazed if we spend more than 4M net total, remember we just announced a loss, Walter hasnt really spent anything yet (net) so there could be 2M plus the extra UEFA revenue plus any transfer fees received way I see it we will bring in Gow - Free Brown - 2.5M? McDonald - 400k McCulloch - 1.5 RB Backup Keeper We may bring in one or 2 bosman experienced type players but for me that will be it hopefully if we can make CL groups plus with reduction in wage bill with guys like Klos and Prso coming off the bill we should be able to report decent profit which we can then start to use for one or 2 bigger signings to help secure the title season after next

I think the lad has it in his head that Arsenal or Chelsea are just waiting for the right moment to offer him a contract and so he seems to be knocking back other offers from lesser clubs.... if he is really stupid enough to think that he is going to overtake Fabregas, Gilberto & Diaby or Makalele, Lampard, Ballack for any one of those central positions then he is seriously deluded... I think he will end up at a mid table club like Villa, Newcastle or Spurs. I would be amazed if he agreed to come to us, even if we could meet his personal terms

come on there is only possible candidate for best commentator

Bump Just wanted to see if anyone has any opinions....I made the mistake of posting this during half time

I think (or should I say hope) the difference next season should be that we will be bringing in players to mainly add squad depth rather than having to fill key positions, plus our defence is looking better in the last 8weeks than it has in the last 2years so I am glad we wont have to go through major surgery in that area

Buffel will be gone in the summer, Sionko I dont think has a future either, he definitely hasnt impressed much all season, Sebo has a snowballs chance in hell at becoming a first team regular....what I am surprised about is though the comments from WS and AM about his ability in training.... well they obviously dont think that his training ability can be transferred into real games N'Diaye looked the part but I guess Walter doesnt think he has it, Rae will also not be given an extension, those will be joined by Klos, Papac, Weir(I dont think we can convince him to stay another season) plus a few more....we will embark on another rebuilding process hopefully not to the same level that we have done in the last 3 seasons....

I thought Coisty was down watching Murty and not Sidwell.... I dont believe we have any chance of signing Sidwell. I believe Reading offered him a large contract which he turned down, I think he believes that one of the top 6 EPL teams will weigh in with a bid for him.... I just dont believe that its worth us shelling out 2M per year on wages for him....he is proven in the EPL but I dont remember reading that he turned it on in the big games against Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and he has no European experience either...if we want to go out and get a big name Bosman I would want to have someone who has done it in the CL or in big European games

I agree.... I thought PLG had viewed tapes of us last season so if he had then he would have seen that we were giving away cheap goals and not defending crosses.... thats the thing that baffles me...we can sign Svensson as one for the future but bring in one or 2 experienced defenders to help him and only play him sporadically....instead we end up with afirst choice of Svensson and Hemdani neither are good in the air and not exactly hard in the tackle....with Papac as back up.... as I said thats the thing that still baffles me

I would say that the PSG situation is a different story to what he had to deal with with us....PSG have a talented squad I think they needed someone like PLG to get them reorganised, but lets face it the squad he inherited here was lacking in quality and needed somone with man management skill that Walter had to get the best out of it which is what we are seeing now... I think PLG was just the wrong man at the wrong time... had he taken over a Rangers team that was top of the league and flying then we might have seen a different story....but then how many managers get punted for being top of the league and flying...(Real Madrid excluded)

as long as we dont get AZ....would hate for Shota to be the one to shoot us down.....

if the red card is upheld then I think he has to give Klos ago....maybe he could play 45min (depending on the result) bounce games arent going to sharpen him up, I guess 45min isnt either but its better than nothing.....if there was one player who I think could come in like this and turn it on then it would be Klos....the consumate pro!!

There may be a camera that caught it but if not then its the linesman v Mcgregor, I am not even sure you can plead a case without TV evidence.... If there is footage and the red card is overturned I would like to see UEFA come down on those cheats.....

Hibs(A) -Nae bother, they have been inconsistent recently... and I am sure Brown wouldnt want to upset his future employers..... :Animation44: (Just joking of course) Osasuna(H) - first real big European test....another performance like tonight and no away goals should see us through..big ask though. Celtic (A)- a cagey draw.... we cannae let them win the title in this match...do or die performance required, might be tough though after the Osasuna game Osasuna (A) - I predict a defeat here.... I just hope our first leg score is enough... will need something special Aberdeen(H) - if we beat Osasuna we will run riot, if not it could be tough.... will need Walter and Ally to gee the boys up, I still think we can beat them at home Inverness(H) - dont see an upset here....unless of course we have 2nd place in the bag and rest our big players for the next European game...

Guess so.... I wrote it during half time as on RangersTV they didnt have any halftime analysis....so I just listened to big DJ and co while I wrote it

Please refer to the following article... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6388041.stm it just goes to show how wide the gulf is in terms of the top of EPL and SPL..... Man U with 700m of debt which must require serious interest payments who knows how long that will take to pay off and if the Glazers lose interest who is likely to take over that mountain Arsenal over 300m of debt, a shiny new stadium but no doubt will take about 15 years to pay off Liverpool.. I think I read their debt was around 100m mark...and thats without any new stadium.. that will surely rise with the Stanely park stadium...If I read this report Liverpools turnover was 115m and they still lost money.... Chelsea.... who knows just how much longer Abramovich will keep his little trinket....and to be honest what would be the cost to buy if off him....would you buy a club with turnover of around 100M but still lost 80M last year.. We got carpeted for having a net debt of about 60m which was mostly held by our friends in the RBS.... the S supposed to stand for Scotland....seems they are more than willing to throw over 100M at Liverpool to fund a stadium.... just goes to show patriotism and business have no place for each other I also see no attempt by any of these clubs to cut wage bills.... the opposite it seems, ok Sky and other TV companies will shower them EVEN with more money next season but surely its not an endless pit of money.... but if things continue at their current rate then something has to give.... I am sure fans have no interest in paying more each season...especially clubs in London...how can your average 25k per year fan live and hold a season ticket in London.... also we have come in for some serious criticism over the years for our lack of youth coming into the senior squad....how many Chelsea youths have made it (JT being the exception) Liverpool....Gerrard and Carragher.... Arsenal....how many actual youths that havent been bought from other countries have made it......Man u are the only exception Sorry its a long post...its just that this continual greed by G14 p!sses me off.... I know some people think that we should be part of that elite but right now we are as far away from it as we have ever been..... anyway back to the second half action!!

net burster.....get in.....Fergie

I vote to give him a fair run also....if we can get past the Hibs, Celtic, Aberdeen matches with 6 or 7 points then I would say he should be given a run until the end of the season...we surely shouldnt blow 2nd spot...he looked decent in the matches I saw and I am sure he is also suffering in confidence like Sebo..the interviews I saw of him were that he was quite a quiet spoken lad so maybe he just needs a few games and some crunching tackles to bring him out of his shell.....I cant seriously believe PLG looked at him and just signed him for the sake of it..

I think the best thing we can do to start with is organise a tour in US or in Far East, this has the double benefit of direct revenue generation plus the added bonus of free marketing, Japan is a very good market as you have people with a reasonably high disposable income who are fanatical for any Japanese player (plus Beckham). Maybe the best thing we could do create our own Beckham.... pick one of our squad....maybe Svensson as he is probably the most decent looking one, get him married up to some girl band member...another member of Girls Aloud or the Sugar Babes...then get him tickets to all the big celebrity events... generate some media interest...maybe hire Max clifford to publicise him, have a fued start between Svensson and Walter over his partying.... get him to have a few kids with stupid names like West Kilbride or something...then send him and his wife to Japan to sell some washing powder and napppies...........and voila....watch those shirt sales and sponsorship revenues increase

For me he is just too inconsistent.....he can have one good game then 5 or so where he is invisible, and right now we dont have the squad that can carry a player like that... if no one buys him in the summer then I think we will end up paying him off or he will make the odd appearance but I dont see him having a first team future.... lets face it if Walter really thought he was the one then he wouldnt have let (the German team whos name escapes me) bid for him and accept it

Football like everything else in life (money, politics, environment) is cyclical and we are in a period of recession, due mainly to the cost incurred of that NIAR team as well as Mr Advocaat's pursuit of European success...it was all self inflicted and now we have to live with the cost of chasing the dream.... I too spent a large part of my time at Ibrox during this period and it was just an amazing ride to watch Laudrup, Gazza, Albertz and many others steamroller teams week in and out but now we have to get real, football outside the top leagues of EPL, Italy, Spain basically imploded due to spending considerably more than they earn and even the ITV digital collapse is still being felt by some lower league English teams so we are not alone. I think that both OF teams now have their houses in decent financial order, it has been painful to watch us signing dross for the last 4 years (except Prso and Boumsong of course) and even worse to watch us paying that dross to leave but I think the worst is over, our debt is now managable, we are suffering due to lack of CL money but hopefully that will be rectified next season we have a nucleus of young scottish talent which will improve in the coming seasons, I am sure Walter will get some money in the summer, he hasnt spent anything yet as we more or less offset Thompson fee with Clement, so there should be some money, I hope we can get Brown, a quality striker and an attacking LM. Back to your point though, I agree that we did reach that level of expectation, and they do say that familiarity breeds contempt but I think we are getting back on track, and while we may not win the SPL next season I fully expect us to go to the wire. My biggest hope is that we finally sort out our youth policy and get Murray Park to be what it should always have been ..................a conveyor belt of talent... I would love to see young Fleck, Lennon, Lowing, Smith and others being the foundation of the next NIAR team!!!

If I were to bet tomorrow I would put money on Kaka to score first and Inzaghi to scuff one in late on, that boy is unbelievable... IMO he has taken over from Ronaldihno as the star act in the Brazil national squad