Bahrain Bear

Daily Record must have been itching to get a negative story out about Warburton. Far to much positivity surrounding the gaffer. It was only a matter of time. Won't be the last they'll drag up.

It's getting beyond a joke. The article is full of suggestions that the guy is lying and pretending not to support Rangers. "... claims to be a Leeds United supporter, but is known to attend football games where Rangers are playing". "... describes himself as a Leeds Fan ... but is also photographed with Rangers fans". Do you think if the guy said he was a Rangers fan the Daily Record would question it? "Says he's a Rangers fan, but he is pictured wearing a Leeds United strip"? Would they f*ck. Unless of course it was a positive piece. For too long now any stories about Rangers fans (alleged or actual) have been negative and usually involve crime. Any stories about Cel*ic fans have been positive and usually involve Rod Stewart, Gerard Butler or donations to charity. The club need to act. Rangers fans who refrained from going on the pitch for a mass brawl, despite severe provocation, should have been roundly commended for their behaviour. But for a few sentences, it was more or less ignored in the mainstream media. The Daily Record would have started a campaign with the SPFL and nominated the Cel*ic fans for a UEFA Fair Play award if it had been them.

Graham Roberts against Dundee Utd as the snow fell on Ibrox. Never shirked a tackle or took a prisoner. Had Roy Aitken bricking it in his first Old Firm game. Hard as nails and could play a bit.

I don't post often, and this may be my first 'non-football' post, but I seriously doubt the sincerity of the OP. It's beyond belief that anyone would suggest Rangers fans or any individuals for that matter should abandon any heartfelt loyalties and latch onto a cause they don't necessarily believe in. A cause or stance that has the populist vote, so to support it openly will reflect well and win favour with wider society, here and abroad. Is that really the proposition? Irrespective of whether you agree or disagree with many Rangers fans whose sympathies and support are with loyalists, unionists and the monarchy, it's their beliefs and they are entitled to them. Leave the bleeding-heart sentimentality, the abandoning of games for ex-players who pass, the donating of money to charity and never tiring of talking about it, and the glorification of terrorist atrocities to others. Otherwise we'll need a big car park to fight over who gets first dibs on supporting the next seemingly opressed faction.

It's been suggested on an earlier post, but ELO's Mr Blue Sky would be a good shout, but maybe just for first game back in Premier League and first game against them. Don't want it going the same way as Penny Arcade. Sun is shinin' in the sky There ain't a cloud in sight It's stopped rainin' everybody's in a play And don't you know It's a beautiful new day hey,hey Runnin' down the avenue See how the sun shines brightly in the city On the streets where once was pity Mister blue sky is living here today hey, hey Mister blue sky please tell us why You had to hide away for so long Where did we go wrong?

My abiding memory of Davie McKinnon was his amazing performance against Inter Milan in the 3-1 UEFA Cup game at Ibrox in 1984. My memory tells me Cooper was dropped, but maybe he was injured. In any case, Wallace tinkered with the formation. McKinnon was playing almost as a winger with big John McLelland making rampaging runs forward. It worked a treat. Not a failure in the Rangers team that night, humbled a decent Inter team and had them rattled. Atmosphere that night was up there with the best. Liam Brady took some stick.

Michael Ball. The former Everton left back, not the fat singer. Strange because although the guy was a seasoned pro in the top flight in England and had been capped for England (I think), there were clauses and trigger payments in his contract with us that saw him side-lined for months. Rangers would be liable to pay Everton half a million after a certain number of games. Rangers were rationing his appearances, picking and choosing the games as the trigger number drew nearer. Farcical, and the type of situation that wouldn't have looked strange in the last couple of years, but at that time (early 2000's) we were spending big. With hindsight, maybe an early sign of things to come ...

Barrow for the Glen Skivington (aye, who?) Testtimonial and Sunderland for the Gary Bennet (ditto, who?) Testimonial. Roker Park was rockin! Very proud to be a Rangers man that day, irrespective of how the mhedia painted it the following day.

Hearts, 2-2 at Tynecastle, 1984. Sure they equalised late on. Remember the aftermath on the way back along Gorgie Road to the train station. Had to shelter in a shop to avoid all the coins and other stuff being chucked as both sets of fans converged and it kicked off a wee bit.

Hugh Burns! Maybe limited ability, but had heart and hated them. He would have been right up for tomorrow's battle. I'm sure he fell out with Souness at almost the first training session he took.

Broke his leg if I remember rightly. Wasn't that also the game when Jimmy Nichol was sent off while on loan from Toronto Blizzard?

I couldn't have been far away from you mate, in the West Enclosure. Remember it like it was yesterday. You're spot on. Don't get me wrong, Big Dunc thried his best to nut him, but failed, as you say by a few inches. John McStay (cousin of Paul and Willie), didn't have a mark on him. Obviously. In the media a few days later he said this was because the cut was in the inside of his lip. Aye. Oh, and such was the SFA's hatred of all things Rangers at the time he was banned from football for a dozen games or so, but the ban didn't begin until he came out of jail, then they struck a deal with the English FA to ensure the ban transferred with him to Everton. And some question why Dunc declined ever to play for Scotland again ...

Watching Scotland Today in amazement as Souness was unveiled as the Rangers manager The final whistle at Pittodrie in '87 and running onto the park, hoping a wouldn't get lifted, as ma Dad would've killed me Durrant running onto a sublime reverse pass from Cooper and cooly slotting home against them, cannae mind the year - 88? Beating Inter Milan (Rumenigge, Brady, Altobelli, Bergomi, etc.) 3-1 at Ibrox in '85 with a poor but gutsy Rangers team Atmosphere versus Kiev, Leeds Utd, Marseille, Bohemians of Dublin, Sunderland Gazza first on the pitch and last off it, every game home and away for the warm-up - ball boy in goals. Entertainer. The Laudrup cup final The drive down M74, M6 to Manchester - biggest mobilisation of people since the 2nd World War Pre-match UEFA Cup Final, Manchester

Brilliant piece and brings back great memories for me. My first 3 games were a 2-2 draw at Tynecastle in the league, the 2-2 draw at Dens Park in the cup you mentioned and the 2-3 reverse to Dundee at Ibrox. I was 14 years old and the older guys on the bus had me down as a jinx. The "Ally, Ally Get Tae F*ck" was scary as I sat in the Copland Rear and I remember thinking why people would come just to hurl abuse. He did miss some sitters that day all the same! I went to that League Cup Final - Rangers had the battle fever on - and Ally changed many peoples opinions of him. I sincerely hope he does the same again as a manager. If he doesn't, then let's hope he's not subjected to the abuse I heard 30 years ago. Ally McCoist the manager may have his failings, but Ally McCoist the man has dignity and class in abundance. He deserves the greatest respect.

Roy Aitken's still trying to work out how Coop executed that reverse pass! Cooper brilliant, Durrant probably best young midfielder in Britain at the time. I was in the Copland Rear. Also recall it was the first ever live televised Scottish league game. Great memory.

Superb.

Always tempting to say Davie Cooper, but on this occasion I'll go for Claudia Caniggia. We didn't see his best years but sometimes it was as if he was on the run with the ball as it arrived. If you know what I mean?! No first, second and third touch required. You don't play alongside Diego Maradona for Argentina if you have a shite first touch. Jimmmy Greaves on Saint and Greavesie, when Mark Hateley came commented, "he can trap the ball further than I could kick it". Hateley went on to prove he wasn't as bad on the deck as some would have you believe. See Leeds United at Elland Road.

Two criteria: Liewell's club get first refusal. See criterion number one.

Davie, oh Davie Coo-per, oh Davie Coo-per on the wi-ing! Davie, Davie, Davie in Royal Blue, we're half crazy over the love of you, we thought you were fu-cking magic when you fucked the glas-gow c*ltic, you looked so sweet with the ball at your feet davie give us a goal or two! Or Stuart Munro ...

You're right mate, it's not that simple. It was just a what if scenario, but there are 100 others. What if the fan shareholders had asked more questions of Murray when he was throwing all the money around. Every signing seemed to be 5 million at one stage. It would also have been interesting to see how the Lawrence Marlborough/David Holmes era may have played out. Was their plan always to generate a bit of interest by getting the big name, Souness, in and sell on or did they have a 5-year plan had Murray not come in? People sometimes forget that the big crowds and big signings were in place when Murray arrived. He genuinely did get Rangers for a bargain at 6 million, but years of over spending was the un-doing.

Fair points well made.

My first 'Gers game was in 1984, a 2-2 draw with Hearts at Tynecastle. I'd wanted to go for years, but my Dad had always said at 14 I was too young, too much trouble at the games, etc. I was probably fortunate I only had to suffer 2 years of continual disappointment with the odd League Cup win. Older Bears will have suffered the mediocrity for almost a decade. The league challenge was non-existent. Even qualifying for the UEFA Cup as 5th placed side was not guaranteed and Rangers were firmly behind C*ltic, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd and for a year or two, Hearts. Big signings (250k plus) were rare. Bobby Williamson's 100k move from Dumbarton (or was it Clydebank) was par for the course. And then it all changed. Watching on the news in 1986 when David Holmes introduced Sounness was a moment I'm unlikely to forget. Couldn't believe it. This was the guy who bossed midfields all over Europe and now I was going to see him play. In the flesh. He quickly signed Colin West (best forgotten) and, I think, Chris Woods and we knew we were on the verge of something special. We know what happened next. A year or two later in comes David Murray and his boasts about us winning the European Cup within 5 years and we believed him, why not. He had a way with words; "for every fiver they spend ..." Was inspiring. "I'll only ever sell Rangers to someone who has the club at heart and who can taken them forward" was re-assuring. Craig Whyte had a spare pound and, well, we are where we are. Here's the question, and forgive me if it's been done to death in the Bears' Den, but would you have changed a thing? Obviously hypothetical, but having suffered the pain of the last 2 years, do you wish Rangers had just carried on as things were pre-Murray and pre-Souness? Okay, no Butcher, Gough, Woods, Laudrup, Miko, Gascoigne, De Boers, Mols, Numan, Thern, 9-in-a-row, UEFA Cup Final, 5-1 victory over Hearts in the Scottish Cup, 5-1 destruction of the Tims, Champions League outings against Juve, Barca, Munich, but ... We'd have avoided financial meltdown, maybe, and would still be in the Premier League. Maybe getting into the Europa League now and again. Irrespective of what's happened, the memories are etched into my brain. Davie Cooper slotting home that penalty in the League Cup Final against the Tims and being held aloft by Super Ally, Gazza's hat trick against Aberdeen to wrap up the league and the Laudrup Cup Final. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Don't fall into the trap of believing anything you read in the Scottish scum mhedia mate. I was at Sunderland and it was one of the best trips I was ever on. We went to the greyhound track early and Gary Bennet whose testimonial it was came in and spent time with a load of the Bears and Sunderland fans who were there. The atmosphere at the ground was amazing with the Bears in good voice and outsinging the Sunderland fans. We had no idea about the unfortunate stabbing in the city centre until later on in the evening. Our bus stopped at a wee village outside of Sunderland and we had a great time with the locals in the boozer and in the Chinese next door before getting back on the bus we bumped into Hateley,Bomber Brown and Gary McSwegan who were in getting the post-match meal for the Queen's Eleven. Great trip not in the slightest spoiled by an isolated skirmish in the town centre, despite the best efforts of guys like Gerry McNee.

Hard to argue with any of your selections or reasons for their respective demise. The Mols travesty still brings a tear to my eye, and Bo Anderson "peed on", brilliant! We seemed to be jinxed for years with injuries early in players' careers. Kusnetsov and Rozenthal were the big ones that spring to mind. I think it may have been St Johnstone at Ibrox I saw Rozenthal in his debut and pre-injury thought we'd unearthed a gem. I'm sure I read somewhere that Seb gave up any claim to the remaining cash he was entitled to in his contract when he left as a gesture for the way Rangers looked after him during his long injury spell. Oleg Kuznetsov on the other hand was slightly different and boasted in the Russian press that he was earning more in a day than he did in a month with Kiev, for sitting at home. Allegedly.

Klos Ricksen Kuznetsov Moore Numan Cannigia Gattuso Albertz Laudrup Mols Prso