gandhisflip

That's an old article guys by the way ;-)

Thank fuck were out of the Europa league or that schedule would be even worse. :-)

Diouf is a good tidy footballer - keeps possession well, makes space and can cross/pass. I think he's an asset against most SPL teams but we need to play pace around him as he ain't got much. I wouldn't start him in my best 11 (Weiss/wylde wide and jelly/naisy up front) so i suppose that says something.

We are very short of pace throughout the side so I'd be looking to sign 2 or 3 quick guys - whether up front , midfield or defence. I also think as a rule we should be looking at the central and eastern European markets. As big Martina said the other day regards tennis these players have the hunger and drive to succeed having not been Mollycoddled an paid huge sums of money from 18/19, which British players less often have. Exame big Jelavic who seems like he'd run through walls for us.

It's th business model we have to pursue as a club. My ideal wage structure would be 5/6 internationals/first team stars on our top wage - say 20k per week. This would currently include the likes of Jelavic, Boogie, Davis, McGregor and Naisy. That's roughly 6mill per season. Next level we would have 5 or 6 seasoned first teamers who'd been with us a while (e.g Whittaker) at 10-15k. Roughly 4mill per annum. Finally we'd have recent buys from the Spl and youths (10-12 players) on 2-9k per week (the likes of a Broadfoot or Alexander when we signed them and Ness, Wylde, Hutton). This would average around another 4m. With staff costs this would see the wage budget no more than 18m for a squad of 22. Even in a non CL season that is manageable an should allow for some annual investment in team. Even if it's only 2-3m in a bad year + any sales.

Positive news but can everyone please put their cocks back in? Im about to eat my dinner.

Don't you love the irony of the Celtic fans who make Diouf out to be public enemy no 1 whilst glorifying the child murdering PIRA in many of their chants?

Ps - I should say I'm 32 and been going to ibrox since I was 6

My whole thought process in all of this - is that this would be my finest championship or double on all my time supporting rangers. How sweet would it be? Come on gers - give me a better feeling that fioerentin!

Djorou? Senderos? I appreciate they were bought in from other clubs (like Bartley) but still progressed from the youth teams up.

There's a couple of Scottish bars in Paris - ones called the highlander I think and there is another that all the Scotland fans drink in before the international games. Can't remember the name but search on the web under real radio Paris. They broadcast from there before the McFadden 1-0 game.

Millsy - like i said in my post i'd be delighted if we won the league playing like this and sneaking 1-0 wins. I just said i can't see it.

It's actually got the substitutions checklist on there. 1. Don't bring on any subs until 70mins. 2. If possible make the oncoming subs stand at the side of the pitch for 5mins while you point at clipboard. 3. Don't ever make the full compliment of substitutions even if you have players running on empty and a small squad./ 4. Even if 4-0 up youth players should only be blooded as a last resort.

Didnt make the game today but listened to it on the radio and have watched some highlights. Can't believe we didnt start with at least one of Wylde aand/or Weiss. At home to Killie. Also can't believe we didn't rotate more players. It's clear that the likes of Davis and Bougherra are very tired (mentally?) having played pretty constant football for the past 3 seasons. Edu is bang out of form - why not start Hutton? Diouf seemed to be too far away from Jelvic the whole game - so no wingers and effectively one up front at home to a Killie team shorn of its best players? If we win the league i will bow down to Smith's judgement but i can't see it with these negative selections and set-ups.

I opened this thread hoping to hear the Sun had gone out of business or something. Oh well.

The guy has been playing non-stop football (apart from his 2-3mths injured) for over 3 seasons now. 60games+ with us per season, World Cup, African Nations Cup. He looks like he has lost his edge (like Davis) but hasn't become a poor player overnight.

It was a clear foul on Papac - he should have cleared it before then however. Well done tonight lads - hopefully the confidence boost we need. PSV are beatable too. Healy to start with Jelavic up front??

Agree with some of what you say CB. I said to a couple of guys after the Sporting game that this is becoming reminiscent of the 10 in a row year when he also announced his departure prior to the season end. I think it was again a mistake to announce this. Interestingly you mention player motivation. Isn't it more likely that the players see the club as a busted flush though more so than Smith himself? We're patently unable to offer competitive contracts, have the tax issue hanging over us and are liable to only have 10/11 first team players come the summer. Is it any surprise that with a lack of any direction from the club and no real expectation of contract extensions that some players are lacking motivation? That fault lies squarely with Murray and the bankers.

Things must be easier in your black and white world. Read the post again - I'm attributing blame to both parties but saying that the bulk of the blame lies in the cost cutting. Look at the recent Kris Commons situation, he's gone on to score in both OF games for them, but despite an almost identical turnover to Celtic we weren't able to offer him the "going" rate.

Fudgie - i'll give you Lafferty and Beattie (as well as plenty of others) but no manager is 100% successful in their signing policy. (Look at Celtic - they've got 4 or 5 decent signings there but they've made about 15 in the last year or so). Weir, Cuellar, Bougherra, Davis, Miller have all proven to be excellent signings. The likes of Naismith and Whittaker have produced in spells. As i've said i'm not your traditional blind Walter defender but we've had to struggle on with the same group for the best part of 4yrs. Rather than being able to add the odd couple of players and improve we've been cutting further and further back. It's why the team are really lacking in freshness and ideas at the moment IMO.

I understand people are hurting given our recent OF displays but i don't think enough fans appreciate how tough it is to keep going at the same high level while your resources are being chopped and we're suffering from complete lack of leadership from top to bottom. We need to all dig deep and build our confidence again for the next OF game. I think it's time for Ness and also Fleck and Hutton to be regular starters as we need some fresh legs and minds. Rest the likes of Weir, Bougherra, Davis and even Whittaker where we can. If we could pull off the league this year it would be Smith's best achievement yet given the Tims have bought a whole new team (youngish players as well) while we stumble on with the same old faces.

Thomson won 6 out of 7 OF games he played in. Says it all really.

Agree with the last post - he's like a different player now compared to some of his performances in the past for us. I've defended him on here recently but yesterday was feeble. I would genuinely go with Ness and Hutton in midfield for us at the minute.

The performance yesterday was absolutely woeful, and the failure to send on Weiss for Naisy was baffling. That being said I thought I would share my thoughts on where we are given the criticism that Walter Smith is shouldering. While I've never been a Walter-lover I have fully appreciated what he has done for our club over his long spells with us. Yes he has his faults and his tactics can be infuriating at times - but they've been more frustrating for the green hordes over the years as he has racked up trophy after trophy. Looking at him yesterday it appears the strain of constantly down-sizing while trying to keep us afloat is beginning to tell and I think we need to point the fingers of blame squarely at the door of Murray and Lloyds for the way in which the club has been run down. We've now been relying on the same core of players to keep putting in big performances in big games season after season (e.g. McGregor, Weir, Bougherra, Davis). Is it any wonder that most of them are now showing the strain? In the 3.5yrs Smith has been back most of these guys must have played 170-200 games (Weir, Davis etc). Mentally that must be absolutely knackering knowing that there aren't many other big game players to bail you out. We've had to sell key players every season. First it was the likes of Hutton and Cuellar, then Ferguson, Mendes Thomson, Boyd and now Miller. Kevin Thomson may be injured now but he was usually a colossus in OF games for us - i think we won 7 out of 8 OF games he played in. The one defeat coming in last years meaningless league tie. He was to us in OF games what Kayal is to them now. Physical, strong in the tackle, quick passing..... Miller since he came back scored 7 out of 12 of Rangers OF league goals against Celtic. To remove this from our side for 400k is nothing short of a scandal on behalf of the club management. We've now lost the 2 top goalscorers in the league over the last 3 seasons for less than £400k. We've also had to play Davie Weir a year we normally wouldn't have and im afraid its now showing. With a couple of players out of our small squad at the weekend Smith had few options, factor in the Europa League game on Thursday night (60hrs before the OF game) and it's understandable that we weren't 100%. What is lacking from us now though is pace up front and bite in midfield and that was all too apparent yesterday. Some of the blame for that can be apportioned to Smith's door but he's been boxing with an arm behind his back this season. Even given all of that we still have this league in our own hands - win every game between now and the end of the season and we win the league. Gather 3 more points than the taigs between now and the end of the season - we win the league. Smith and McCoist need to learn and adapt tactics against the Tims in their remaining games. Our best chance in the cup game next week is to go at them rather than invite them on. We don't have the defence to play a solid 4-5-1 anymore. Heads up and lets get stuck in for the next 3 months. But let's remember where the bulk of this blame lies - David Murray and Lloyds Banking Group. -

I'll be there with my old man. A couple of rows back from usual - CR5