Hoosier Ranger

Not sure. I do know that a lot of guys that Weir played with at Evansville are still involved with soccer clubs here in the States including a guy that I used to coach with in Indianapolis. I am sure if he reached out, they would reciprocate. Davie Weir played a few hours south of where I used to live down at the University of Evansville (Indiana). One of my referee friends used to do a lot of Evansville games and they had a great rivalry with the University of St. Louis where former Fulham/US MNT striker Brian McBride played college ball. He said the battles between Weir and McBride were fantastic and well worth the price of admission. He said that in other games, the Evansville coach would move Weir up to forward when they needed an offensive punch.

Great to see Gedion on the USA squad. Jordon Morris (at Stanford University) would be a nice signing for Rangers as a striker. Speedy, athletic and has a poacher's nose for the ball. Scored for the USA senior team against Mexico earlier in the year. William Packwood is unattached right now and would be a nice free transfer. The kid has been with Birmingham City since age 14 and his dad is English so no work-visa. He is 6'3" and plays centerback and holding mid. He would be a nice fit as a Warburton type central defender.

Over 1000 Rangers fans have signed a petition demanding their club be featured in the latest FIFA console game. Leading software giant EA Sports did not include Rangers FC in the final list of teams for FIFA 16, due for release on September 22. In just 24 hours, an online petition has garnered over 1100 signatures calling on the company to rethink the "sad" decision. For the past three years the Ibrox club have been included in the 'Rest of the World' section, which currently includes the likes of Greek side Olympiakos and South Africa's Kaizer Chiefs. An EA Sports spokesman said the club had been left out of the game after failing to reach a licencing agreement with Rangers. He said: “We can confirm that we did not reach a licensing agreement with Rangers and they are not in FIFA 16. "However, newly promoted Hearts will feature in the game with the other 11 authentic clubs from the Scottish Premiership." Fans voiced their opinions online including Ryan Fisher from Paisley who said: "Rangers Football Club, one of the most successful football teams in the world have been left out and [this] therefore puts me off buying the game." EA Sports have sold over 100 million copies of the FIFA series since launch in 1993. The game now features over 30 leagues and over 650 playable teams from around the world. http://glasgow.stv.tv/articles/1329010-rangers-fans-back-petition-to-feature-club-in-new-video-game-fifa-16/?fromstreampost=243966

Fantastic approach at the U16 level and below I have seen so many knucklehead coaches that have a more physically mature U10-U12 player, stick him up top, and then have the other 10 players play hoofball to that kid in order to win. It does nothing for player development and when physical maturity levels out at U14-U16, you have done those kids a real disservice....all in the name of winning a few meaningless youth trophies. Warburton, to me, is hitting golanzos left and right with all of his moves to transform this club into something that it hasn't been the past 10 years....a club capable of playing a positive style that aids in the development of players. It will help enable the club to live within our own means and create an attractive environment for kids wanting to be a successful professional footballer.

It's about individual skills development at the youth levels.

We started it 7 years ago with our U8 and U9 girls teams. The U8 girls (which stayed together) just finished (in July) #3 in the USA at the U14 level while one of our girls from the U9 team (which did not stay together) made the USA U14 national team last year. It should make the club (along with the positive play on the field by Warburton's lads) a more attractive destination for the best of the best in Scotland. There are a fair amount of Coerver Academies in the USA and this move is another reason the club can be an attractive destination for technical players that want to develop in a system that will continue to make them a better player. PS The shirt in my pic is the same one my U9 girls wore when they were known as the "Rangers". No one knew who "Carling" was or that it was a beer.

Very nice teaching method for the youth system. It follows along with Warburton's philosophy of individual ball mastery and fitness.

Of course you want European football. More revenue (ticket, TV), more exposure and a chance for some to cut their teeth next season before Champions League football the next year.

There were a few posts last week from folks that claimed to have good sources about a meeting between King and Sports Direct. Did that happen last week? If not, is it happening this week instead?

Club should not take on any additional overhead until it is running in the black. Folks were saying that we needed to sell merchandise at the airport (as well as in Belfast) and those ventures did not pan out too well.

Would like to see the League captured early so that he can focus on the Cups to get the club into Europe next season.

How much is the club spending per month on PR work? I would much rather see money go to Scouts instead of PR work regardless of the amount TBH. Our on-the-field results is perfect PR work.

I don't understand....was the BBC employee cashing in Ally's checks the past 6.5 months while King & Co were in charge?

If Ally witnessed any illegal activities while at the club, no "confidentiality clause" in the world could be enforced if he went to the police to disclose those actions.

I didn't realize that ...I remember statements by the UOF and SOS that were very supportive of Ally after the Ramsdens loss and never saw any negative statements about Ally out there from any of the fan groups nor questioning his work ethic, results and accountability. Like North Rd stated yesterday, I think McCoist has another job and needs to be off our books to accept it. Otherwise, he would have milked his contract another 3 months like he has done the previous 6.5 months that King has been in charge.

King said in May 2015 that discussions had taken place and that Ally was entitled to his money. Ally took the money from King Board and the fan's season ticket money for 6.5 months.

McCoist was placed on gardening leave Dec 21st, 2014. King won the EGM on Feb 28, 2015. That looks to me about 2 months of salary under the old Board and over 6.5 months of gardening leave under King's Board. That's a lot of season ticket money from the fans received by McCoist when all he was doing was waiting for an hour or two to say "I will not accept any more money from the club".

So we paid Ally wages for 6 months because everyone was too busy to get together for 1-2 hours and negotiate an end to the payments???? Seems like a porky to me because in May, King said the following: Rangers chairman-elect King is dismissive of any suggestion McCoist’s standing at the club, where he was one of their most decorated players and the leading goalscorer of all time, could be damaged by the situation. “Ally is perfectly within his rights and there is no conflict between Ally and the board,” said King. “Ally is an absolute icon and legend at Rangers and I would be very surprised and disappointed if any of the discussions we had with him resulted in any change to that status, or if he felt in any way unwelcome, because we will make him feel extremely welcome when he comes back to the club. “To me, the situation has been resolved with Ally. The fact is that Ally is entitled to his money. That was the deal – so I don’t think there is any situation to be resolved.

I get what you are saying (especially after the Gold Cup and last night) but the kid likes Klinnsman for better or worse. Would be nice to see him in a midfield with Bradley since both do an excellent job with the ball at their feet.

Hopefully Klinnsmann calls him up to the Senior team soon.

It should have been what Ally did 3 years ago. A lot of mistakes made on and off the field during that period. That being said, I am not sure if Ally could have "sold" a development system like MW can do. Arsenal and Spurs don't loan out their top talent to just anyone.

I just hope the experience with Warburton speeds up his development such that he can get into the USA (Senior Squad) setup much faster so that he can be ready for the next World Cup. As I stated in the game thread today, it's amazing that an Arsenal scout saw this kid in a youth game in the USA at age 14 and got him signed up for Arsenal.

Hard to believe that arsenal found that kid playing youth soccer in the United States at 14

Thanks for the free links today

When was the SOS formed? When did they first start their criticism of the Whyte sale?