rosshleach

the CL money is paid out to teams in different tranches - i think its a certain amount for being in the group stage, with extras for points gained in the group (i.e. more for a win, a bit less for a draw) - this is consistent across all qualifying teams, so there are big incentives to win matches. then there is extra money for each UEFA member country, which is calculated by market (tv viewing audience/population) size. so if celtic dont make the group stages we are guaranteed all the money from the scottish pot as the only team from this member country.

Mols. Never seen another player with his style of play. Anywhere. Sad how he couldnt regain his prior form after the injury, but was still good to see him make a contribution before he left. A guy who really enjoyed playing for us and who has great memories. Negri was good, but didnt do anything after his fall from grace except pick up his wages. Seemed to be similar in style to McCoist without the consistency or longevity.

fair enough if Wilson wants to leave, but what is annoying me right now is that the club is being put in the position of selling players for a knock-down price when handing out a few contract extensions 18 months ago would have stopped this situation. Okay things were a bit worse money wise back then, but what is the point of wilfully putting yourself in the position of losing players for less than their reasonable market value? Maybe Wilson was always keen on going once interest was there, but if he had 3 years on his contract then he would be going for more £££ But maybe Liverpool wouldnt have wanted him then, who knows. Likewise Thomson going for £2m and Boyd for nothing. I am pretty sure new contracts for those two 18 months ago, or even a year ago for Thomson, would have ensured they were still at Ibrox. Murray Park is paying dividends, but the club seem happy to take a lower dividend than they could actually get if some sensible forward planning was in place.

I think in general the scouting, and perhaps more directly Smith's eye for a player has always been good. From time to time a mistake is made, but i consider Smith's judgement better than Advocaat, McLeish and certainly Le Guen. Advocaat had an open chequebook, and some of his signings under pressure (e.g. Gayle) were apalling, so for every Numan and Van Bronckhorst there were probably 3 useless signings. In the past we had the resources to bring in good players, and despite difficult circumstances recently, Smith was able to identify and buy Cuellar and Bougherra for relative buttons. In our predicament the bigger issue is the quality of coaching (and this applies across all of Scottish football). We have produced quite a few youth players who made the first team, some of which were good enough (like Hutton), others who failed to make the grade for various reasons (like Burke and Adam). The thing is, all these good foreign players come from somewhere, some club dedicates time and effort into moulding the players into top professionals. We have been at Murray Park for 10 years, which was apparently part of the foresight that the big leagues would get richer, leaving us behind even more, so instead of buying the Laudrup's, Gascoigne's and Albertz's of this world, we had to produce our own. Plus, the 1990s was a crap era for Scottish players coming through and the building of the training ground was a reaction to this. Pre-Souness Rangers was a great club founded on developing good players, and tapping into the Scottish market. In the current world we live in Rangers will only become a club of playing significance on the Euro stage again if it starts producing more players from the youth team of a good enough standard, and secondly if we can hold on to them for long enough (a la Alan Hutton). On one level this is happening - our goalie is top drawer and came through the ranks. We have Wilson and Fleck too - although one seems keen to leave, and the other needs to fulfil his early potential. But stil there is a gap in the level of technique required to mingle at the top table - look at the new look Germany team as a prime example of a 10 year cycle coming to fruition. The current state the club is in means that we cannot find the right balance between youth and experience, to allow these guys to come through at the right pace. In the first Smith era it seemed like the young players simply stopped coming through at the right standard, so too much focus went on bringing in imports. Ideally, for me, our team should be 75% Scottish players (probably a mix of our own youth, and purchases from other Scottish/English clubs), and a handful of good foreigners in the Cuellar/ALbertz mould to fill in the gaps. When this runs correctly, the age balance is right too - not a 40 year old playing in defence with a 17 year old (and thats no criticism of Weir who is a great ambassador for our club). Unfortunately, until the club is on an even keel we wont be able to manage the squad in a stable way, and are always prone to losing players to richer fields. Much like the German example, the Barcelona team may have some expensive imports, but the heartbeat of that side is home grown, the key players and the philosophy is home grown, and that is what is sadly lacking in our team right now.

"It's been a long time coming because it dragged on a little bit. I think the move has been in pipeline for the whole of the summer pretty much. "I first heard there was an interest from Middlesbrough before I set off on holiday. When I got back for pre-season with Rangers, the manager told me the clubs had agreed a fee, but it was down to me if I'd like to move." So in fact this has probably been a done deal since May sometime. Good luck to Thomson I cant say a bad word against the guy, he did his best when he was fit, played very well at times, and had a great record against Celtic. However, I am sick of the mess that the club is in - letting players get to the last year of their contract and then selling them on at a knock-down price is not how to maximise the products of the £14m training ground, and a scouting network to identify cheap players of a good quality like Bougherra/Cuellar. I know we all want, and the squad definitely needs, new signings. But when we fail to hold on to good quality players who come through the ranks (like Hutton - who didnt want to leave), punt at the first opportunity good players who were well scouted (Cuellar), and those in charge of affairs get caught up in years of financial mismanagement, we will never make any progress. I cant remember a particularly stable period for any Rangers squad in about 10 years. Okay, the last two years have been built upon the same group of players, but at any time a few of them could have been sold off. Every season its chop and change, chop and change, with the average quality of players declining rapidly. Thats partly a failing of youth development too, but when someone like Alan Hutton comes along, the club is happy to punt them.

i concur. i got my hands on one - never worn, tags on, in its original bag (i had the same as a kid) here: http://www.classicfootballshirts.co.uk/Other-UK-Clubs-Scottish-Clubs-Rangers/c76_77_166/index.html

quality player, but i do recall him hardly kicking a ball for us in his last season. i think he had an injury for a while but he either wasnt motivated to come back, or didnt want to risk getting injured again before his summer move so he hardly played? i do remember a lot of fans being annoyed with his attitude towards the end of his time with us. could have remembered it wrong, but either way thats life i suppose. he didnt get into life at gers like Numan or others from the Dutch contingent.

if Thomson had scored it would have been an identikit of the goal Ian Mccall scored against hibs (i think...) in the souness era. Peach of a strike: 5 mins 15 secs McGregor - 6 Whittaker - 7 Weir - 7 Bougherra - 8 Papac - 5 Davis - 7 McCulloch - 6 Thomson - 8 Lafferty - 6 Boyd - 5 Miller - 7

i have a lot of time for big eck. did the job with dignity (unlike a certain counterpart across the city), delivered trophies, and we got some special memories along the way. Helicopter Sunday is something i will never forget - what a moment!! his handling of the difficult cost cutting aspects was mixed, some of the players who graced the jersey were awful. i think he would probably admit that he learned a few things along the way and would do things differently now. Smith has handled the recent situation a lot better. Eck was a very good Scotland manager too, and his current job is going really well. i think with more stable resources he could have done even more for Gers. O'Neill is somehow put on a pedastal by the press down south even though at both Celtic and Villa he had plenty money to spend. Big Eck has a comparable record with a lot less resources and club stability (both Gers money woes and Brum's takeover/relegation woes).

a lot of celtic fans are confident of winning on Sunday, but i cannot see why. if anything the lack of a match for us this weekend has got them closer in points terms, and a lot closer in false hope. some simple facts: 1) we are at home 2) we are unbeaten in the league at home 3) they cant string any results together 4) they are rubbish at the back most of all - 5) look at the contrast in OF experience between the two teams. We have loads of Old Firm experience across the pitch, and will probably start with 7 Scots who know what it is all about, and Davis too. Bougherra, Papac and Novo (who would be in left mid for me) classify as foreigners who know what its all about too, and who have performed in OF games. One of the few benefits of no transfers is a consistent squad selection and collective experience of winning big games. Celtic? Boruc, McGeady and Brown have good experience of the fixture, but the rest of them dont. Im sure Keane will be up for it, and has played in plenty of big games, but the rest of them? Their pace up front may cause us problems, but Wattie just needs to ensure the midfield is working hard and Boughie is on Keane and we will be ok. I think we will have too much discipline at the back, and the ability to break down their poor defence. 3-1 Gers.

we were poor yes. in light of the goal they should have had and our overall performance, a point is ok. if we win on Sunday all will be forgotten as we will be one more game closer to the title. i think on a better pitch, with home advantage, we can get some momentum going looking forward to the OF game at the end of the month. Celtic have Aberdeen away on Saturday, which could be tough for them. I also think if Celtic had played at Fir Park tonight they would have lost comfortably.

Rooney any time. Owen is the worst European Footballer of the Year ever. He got it for 2 matches in a year with no big tournaments in the Summer. Technically inept compared to other players who have won this award.

Excellent original post. I agree completely. It seems Mowbray is trying a championship manager type spree, with a pretty small budget, and with no inclination of the real world situation that it takes time for players to settle, and even then good players can fail at the OF clubs due to the pressures of being a Rangers or Celtic player. Crucially, he is intent, for whatever reason, to rip up the ready made team structure he inherited. This was a core of a side who won 3 league titles in a row, and whom, with some minor investment, may have beat us to the league last year. It seems he has had problems behind the scenes with some players (although we cannot confirm this for sure), and his method of resolving this is to get rid of players. What reassures me most is that he is getting rid of those players who do a shift for the team (Caldwell, Robson), and replaces them with unproven players in the OF environment. Of course he will get plaudits if some of them turn out to be gems, but if these players were as good as Mowbray aspires them to be, I suspect some of them would have been snapped up by richer clubs. As others have pointed out, Celtic appear to be weaker in defence, where they were already poor; have potentially more flair in midfield, without defensive attributes; and have an extra striker. If this striker can consistently score, then they are better off. But if he is another Samaras or Fortune then things look even better for us. I can see them shipping silly points for the rest of the season, and that we get the better of them in the OF games. Most importantly, as it stands, all our players remain, and hopefully will be available to play soon. I just think that Smith is more worldy wise, and pragmatic, about winning a league title, and the balance of resolute defence, a steady, if unspectacular, midfield, with plenty of options (and goals) up front, means we should be victorious come May. Really, all we can see as a club and support is May and hopefully the league. Mowbray thinks he can see a Champions League victory in 5 years... Maybe Mowbray thinks he can fob off losing the league by making big changes now, so the future looks better. What he forgets is that things can change at our end quickly, so once another league is hopefully won, we may have a new owner who can invest some money in strengthening us. Okay, we will probably lose Bougherra in the summer, and Weir too, but maybe Webster and a new defender can take their place. Keeping Boyd too would help. I give Mowbray 12 months before he is replaced.

interesting problem. last season we looked pretty strong, certainly compared to celtic in last old firm game, and in last 8 games or so. Owen seemed to be getting plaudits, but its gone pear shaped this season. i did notice in one match at home the other week that the players had on the fitness heart rate bands again. normally done in pre season. i suspect that someone has been complaining about this and they are trying to monitor it. either the players arent getting the reaction from the training methods anymore, or some of them cant be as arsed as before.

U know whatever system he plays 451 343(?) 352 he almost always plays the same players and they in turn just dont seem to respond to his 'tactics'. I remember when wee dick was incharge if we werent doing it right on the pitch hed make a tactically switch and change the game around. I even remember him bringing in Mciness out the blue for a special role in a match that proved to be a master stroke, thats the kind of manager we need, not someone as tactically deficient as Smith is. Yeah he had done well in his first stint as manager but times and football has changed alot since then. Actually wish PLG was still our manager, at least he was progressive! yep. good point, he also did the same with Tugay in Monaco, went 3-5-2 with him as a sweeper. worked very well.

I would also like to see the football, and the culture of the club to change (that is young players come through in a certain style a la Ajax), and there is some hope with Wilson and Fleck, but we are still far away from getting there. Money talks unfortunately. Our best team at passing the ball was the Advocaat one from his second season.

No offence but Celtic have got hee-haw to do with us. I don't want to be comparable to them. If thats all we're worth being better than Celtic then we are as well chucking it. fair enough, thats your opinion, i was just trying to make the point that despite things being bad, and in fact beyond Smith's control, and in the short term until the club sorts itself out we shouldnt be too concerned about Celtic stripping away from us. If they did have a good manager i think Celtic would have plenty to do with us, as things would be pretty dire for all Rangers fans. Plus, Celtic are our main rivals, and despite us all dreaming of being the best team in the World, our first port of call is to beat them. Judging by our euro campaigns for the last 2 seasons its all we have to look forward to right now.

He has done an excellent job to steady the ship. Should have been 2 in a row right now. Probably the best man to do the job in the current circumstances. Remarkable to get to the UEFA final with the players he had. Hit and miss with signings. Long term, we probably need a fresh approach, someone to come in and build the club up again, without solely relying on money. Still better than Mowbray, and Celtic, balance sheet apart, are even worse than we are. So there is hope still.

First up, Walter Smith has done so much for Rangers, a true legend, and is acting admirably in these difficult times. But what frustrates me is that, from time to time, he does something crazy. I also agree we are short of quality, especially so for more athletic, pacy, players who can control a game. Especially in midfield. However, tonight the starting formation was crazy, absolutely crazy. I may have seen this differently so do chip in on how you thought we lined up. For me it was (and I see now that i have posted that the editing has moved my formation....): McGregor Lee M Weir Wilson Whittaker Papac Davis Thomson Lafferty Miller Boyd Now I dont know what you would describe that as? A "fu*kingmess" formation? It was like a back 3, with 2 full backs in front, a sort of 3 man midfield, Miller wide right, with Boyd isolated in the middle. So, we shoot ourselves in the foot, by letting Stuttgart gaim momentum in possessin as no one knew what they were doing in our team. Miller was practically playing as a right back for the first 20 mins. Only once we go a goal down we then go more like a 4-4-2. We did improve a bit before half time because of this. Then, he shifts Lafferty to the right, and we have Thomson sort of tucked in on the left. A guy with little pace. Again, I agree we have little quality (McG, Weir in his pomp, Wilson, Davis apart) but when the team is badly organised too, its double trouble. Its like the bad old days of Gothenburg and Strasbourg, with far weaker players and less prospect for improvement.