jcb

I think it was againgst Arbroath in 89-90.Began to feel sorry for him as you said it was relentless.

With no guarantee of Champions League football and the money that it brings in the near future then surely we should be looking to bring through more of our own youngsters.No one is saying we will be producing 5 or 6 players every season but the ones who make it should be of a higher standard which should enable us to make a healthy profit when they leave us thus generating much needed income.

Not a dig at you as I an aware of your involvement with the youth's, but that's the sort of mindset, so prevalent in the Scottish game, which assumes that older is better. It would need a huge name, with big balls, who came in and had root and branch reform as there would be murder from the stands if progress wasn't immediate. That is the problem we face as a support.Is success in the short term more important than putting in place a structure that could benefit us long term,Would we show the patience required if we had a couple of poor seasons.I realise that right now money is everything but feel we are too short sighted when what is required is a radical change in how our club is run with emphasis on a sustainable and progressive model.

Ajax73,Marseille92&Valencia99.All three teams played football the way it should be played.The

If he had stayed injury free Stevie Smith would be a international left back and worth at least the same as Alan Hutton. Good attitude and will not let you down.

Hard to disagree with anything you say but i would still like to see us adopt a more continental approach in which we combine education (perhaps have onsite facilities)with emphasis on diet &alcohol intake as well as academic studies.With regard to your comments on attitude i once congratulated a player on his performance as he was being substituted after he scored two late goals he replied " big players score big goals in big games" it was a under 19 game v Dundee United,he is no longer with us.

The highlighted ones aren't worth a fortune to us though which kinda defeats the purpose. We're supposed to make a killing on them. While Hutton,McGregor&Wilson all have the ability to be top quality players why is it that Ajax produce more players like this and on a more consistant basis.What do they do that we don"t. Stay away from drink?They get started very young over there while our wee ones are on the PS3,X Box,Bebo etc. I dare say they will put in a lot of extra practice as well.I do think the drinking culture is one of the biggest drawbacks and lack of facilities IMO. The drinking culture is part of it but the Germans have a similar attitude to drink. They still manage to produce many high quality players at a young age. Their WC squad has an average age of 24. I agree with what you said above regarding what the Dutch do regarding technique etc.If all else fails in this country it's just 'Get the baw up the fucking park' Lionel Messi is a perfect example to where we do go wrong,nothing much to him but a genius with the ball,it's a never say die attitude and big strong players we seem to look for here.As said on other threads Messi wouldn't have made the grade in Scotland which says it all really. Agreed,Once heard a coach scream at a 14 year old central defender who had lost posession of the ball just outside his own box"Never lose it there again"which led to him taking no time to control the ball or look for a pass out of defence for the remainder of the game.

The highlighted ones aren't worth a fortune to us though which kinda defeats the purpose. We're supposed to make a killing on them. While Hutton,McGregor&Wilson all have the ability to be top quality players why is it that Ajax produce more players like this and on a more consistant basis.What do they do that we don"t. Ajax have been doing it for ages; we've only started doing it recently. With potential first teamers like Fleck, Wylde, Shinnie, Ness, Campbell and Perry all coming through, as well as a reluctance to spend big, I can see us becoming a much more homegrown side in future years. Of the players you mention i believe that 5 of them have a chance of playing first team football on a regular basis in the next 1-2 years but is this due to their ability or more the current financial mess we are in,I would like to believe it was the former.

For 700k It would be a decent signing and as for playing John Fleck wide left NO.Fleck has always played either as the second striker or in behind the front two,play him there,show some patience and we could have a special player in a year or two.

The highlighted ones aren't worth a fortune to us though which kinda defeats the purpose. We're supposed to make a killing on them. While Hutton,McGregor&Wilson all have the ability to be top quality players why is it that Ajax produce more players like this and on a more consistant basis.What do they do that we don"t.

Sad but true. I agree but feel we should be leading the way in youth development,Teams at all levels full of players with touch,technique,game awereness,vision&passion should be achievable through a proper structure being put in place.Dundee United last year appointed a 23 year old (Iain Cathro)to revamp their entire youth set up as he was producing a far higher quality of player than the clubs own set up while Celtic i believe are combining education with coaching through a link up with a nearby school.

For those of us who take a interest in our youth set up todays edition of the New York Times has a excellent article on the Ajax academy in their magazine section.Due to the financial restrictions we now find ourselves in i feel this is something we should be concentrating a lot more on and would be interested to hear what others think.

The EPL Ones are announced on the 17th on June mate, im sure last years SPL's were a few days later than that. Cheers mate Just out of interest, has there ever been an OF on an opening day? Can't remember there being one myself Season 75-76,beat them 2-1 at Ibrox(Derek Johnstone&Cutty Young) First ever game in the premier league.

Agree 100%,was a class player from day one.Spoke to him a few years ago when he was coaching Rangers under 12s, really nice guy who wanted his team to play fast attacking football.

Kevin TED McMinn.Scored from a corner(v Dumbarton) and then with his next effort kicked the flag.

Goram,Jardine,Numan,Gough,McKinnon,Baxter,Henderson,Gascoigne,D Johnstone,Souness,Laudrup.Subs Woods,Greig,Durrant,Hateley,W Johnston.

We bought Arteta for £6m and sold him for £2.5m Imagine getting the next Arteta though Fair point but signing players of this calibre in tandem with deveoping our own young players is the best way for the club to progress in my opinion.

Rangers should be looking to sign players in their early to mid-twenties who are still ambitious and would provide the club with a decent transfer fee(VanBronckhorst,Arteta,Cuellar)rather than waste over £2million a season on a 31 year old diva looking for one last payday.

Shinnie has the ability to play first team football next season but needs to impose himself more in games and be more vocal when looking for the ball.Of the others mentioned i think that Jamie Ness is the most talented and would hope to see him get a few starts.

Seen both players and would pick laudrup simply because he was more consistent.

Surprised at Kinniburgh being released as he reminded me of Stevie Smith when he first played.

Last penalty at Parkhead was August 2000(Billy Dodds)in 6-2 defeat.Since then Celtic have been awarded four at Ibrox Thompson Maloney& McGeady scored while Klos saved from Larsson.

Lafferty for me,Convinced he will play a major role in the future.

Re Minnbear,Bud sat on the ball v Celtic league cup final 1970 (1-0 Derek Johnstone)

October 1971 v Motherwell 4-0, same day Partick beat Celtic 4-1 in the league cup final.