Aubie92

I'm not at all embarrassed to be happy for Halliday. I hope his loan move works out for him, and that any subsequent transfer works out well. I do think he could have been a good player for us, and it not working out is as much psychological as it is about ability; he'll do well at another side. Other than absolute shitebags or players that burn bridges, I like seeing former Rangers players - or Rangers players out on loan - do well. If Mo Edu won the MLS Cup I'd be happy for him; if Steven Whitaker broke both his legs in his Hibs debut, I wouldn't give a fuck.

He had his chance to prove he warranted whatever figure he & his agent were holding out for, and in typical McKay fashioned he turned up twice under Pedro. He's in a routine were the odd goal or assist warrants a pat on the back, rather than it being an expectation; Pedro sussed that out, just like most Rangers fans already had. Honestly, I think Warburton is a horrible manager for him to be playing under during important years of his development. Even if he performs well at Forest, how will he cope when he's playing under someone who expects his wingers to change games on a weekly basis?

He's not good enough to be our main striker, though he might be a useful squad player. I do think his confidence was dented by the first half of the season under Warburton, so it's hard to say for sure if he's just not good enough. My biggest criticism isn't even that he missed so many sitters last season - it's that at times he looked scared to try. I'd rather have Louis Moult as our main striking option after Morelos and Herrera, if only because he's not afraid to get physical, and scores goals. But if Pedro can thinks he can get something out of Waghorn, then good luck to them both.

Sod's law they go on sale the week before I'm paid.

Not only that, but other teams tried to hijack the transfer, and Gazza wouldn't listen to the offers his agent had in front of him - as he'd already given Walter his word. It's disgusting what the media did to him. His stepdaughter played on his surname, but they pretty much destroyed any relationship he had with her and his other children; he thought they were the source of the leaks to the press, which worsened his mental state, and he didn't trust the kids when they tried to get him help. The Record can fuck off with their obvious biases, but the Newscorp papers like The Sun aren't any better.

I think it speaks volumes that his mentor seems to be Warburton, the coach that believes Jock Wallace treated players too harshly. Any professional that needs the arm around the shoulder all the time has no place at a big club. I'd expect players like Beerman and Barjonas to need that given their age, or even Bates due to the jump in levels from Raith to Rangers, but McKay shouldn't need to be cajoled by his manager all the time at this point - especially given that McCoist sent him out on loan years ago to give him a reality check and kick up the arse.

We do need a better attacking midfield option than Windass, and I'd feel more confident with a goalscorer that's proven at this level. I'd like to see us shift Waghorn, Forrester, Windass and O'Halloran and bring in McLean and Walker; Moult too, maybe. But it will take time for Herrera and Morelos to gel together, and the benefit of some of these closed doors games is they've been playing against the opposition they'll face in the league. Mannus is a good keeper - along with Lewis at Aberdeen, he's probably the best in the league besides Gordon and Foderingham - so I'm not overly concerned that he's kept a shut out in the closed doors game. The strength in depth of good attacking options concerns me more than that scoreline.

Pedro probably didn't stop Joe from beating Barrie up and taking his lunch.

I think we still need a few more creative players, and I'll be worried if the window closes and it's just Dalcio and Candeias. Even if both play blinders in the weeks leading up to the window closing, you need options and there's no strength in depth in any areas other than the central defence and midfield. (Candeias can also play right wing back, and I assumed he'd play there when Tav is out.) I was disappointed Thompson and Hardie weren't involved in the European ties, even if just to give them a run out to see if they could impress.

The point doesn't stand though. He turned down numerous offers, even when the club made it clear they weren't offering better terms, and went to the press to call our bluff. That isn't the conduct of someone who wanted to stay here, and it was going on when Warburton was here too. McKay did absolutely nothing to warrant being one of our top earners, and if he thinks he was good enough for a lucrative contract, then I'm glad Pedro water boarded him. In hindsight, Warburton's digs at Jock Wallace should have been more of a red flag than they were, given how coddled players like McKay, Windass etc seem to be.

He also said he was expecting a few more in, and since then it's only been Dorrans. The players they've brought in were fairly easy deals to conclude as we weren't dealing with Scottish sides. We wouldn't have bid for Walker and McLean if they weren't also on his radar.

So Peña and Herrera brought pals over with them.

Good work the restoration project are doing. I'm still surprised that the club didn't do this for the founders years ago, but it's good that Rangers fans have.

He's reunited with the manager that signed that waste of space, so I don't think McKay minded all that much. Pity we didn't include Windass as part of the deal.

He's also targeted Jamie Walker, who would be playing in the position that McKay operated in. And he targeted Kenny McLean, who would be in the attacking midfield role that Dalcio can also play in. It's unlikely we'll get both of them - if either - due to the sums we'd need to pay out, but those two would address problem areas in the team.

Wouldn't have any issue with Pedro sending the rest of the duds to Auschwitz.

So why didn't he sign the contract he was offered? That had fuck all to do with Pedro. He didn't want to play for us - he wanted a significantly improved contract, despite doing fuck all to warrant it. And he called the club's bluff by going to the press about it. McKay wasn't being treated unfairly, and his comments just reinforce that he's got a sense of entitlement that his career performances don't warrant. McKay not wanting to play under Pedro is absolutely not a nail in his coffin. Especially as McKay only turned up once in a blue moon.

Maybe they can clarify why many of them were calling Linfield fans "H***," despite it apparently not having anything to do with sectarianism or loyalism, and it merely refers Rangers fans. Supposedly.

I don't take the "I'll only manage at international level" at face value. He's spoken umpteen times at his annoyance at being overlooked by big teams, and the way things went for him at both Newcastle and England will make that doubly frustrating. I honestly think he'd be tempted, as he's all too aware of how big a club we are. (Don't know if he comes from a Rangers supporting family, but his parents were Scottish and some of his siblings are.) I'm not his biggest fan, but I do think he'd do well with us. (Partly because I don't think the squad we've assembled is shite, and the question marks are over the manager more than the majority of the signings.)

We've not got a history of sacking managers, and it's always been when there's no way back from them. I don't think that's the case with Pedro, given that none of his key signings - bar Cardoso - have been match fit and available for our two competitive games. The board accepted he inherited a dross and needed major investment. If they sack him now and bring in McInnes, do they grant him funds? What if McInnes has a shit six months? Sack him and bring in Wright? If we do bin Pedro we need someone who has experience at turning other managers' teams around, and who has a strong enough reputation that someone like Alves won't want out sharply. The only two that I can think of are McLeish and Allardyce - I don't believe Sam would turn us down, despite his stated preference for international management at this stage - but I'd rather give Pedro games against Celtic, Aberdeen, the Edinburgh sides before writing him off.

I know. "Record blogger" just read as patronising in that paragraph. (Maybe because for every decent writer with a blog, there's a JJ or Phil Macwhatever nutter with one too.) A good number of the journos who are published in print are freelance too, unless things have really changed in the newspaper industry. Obviously the more renown someone has the better their agreement with the paper will be, but technically a good number of them won't actually be staff members. (At least that's the way it was when a relative of mine worked for the Record a decade or so ago.) I was only being half serious. My point was more that The Sun aren't going to print anything about The Record's antics on this issue, and it'll be sites like RO, GTBFO etc that we'd be relying on to report it, and then it's down to word of mouth from those reading the sites. (Though I think Rangers fans who read them regularly should be spreading the word about them in general.)

The problem with that is most of the newspaper - tabloid and broadsheet - are owned by a handful of media conglomerates, and the biggest such in Newscorp are in no position to criticise this sort of thing. You'd need a publisher that wasn't implicated in any of the scandals of the last dozen years or so in regards to how the media operate, and without ties to one of the major publishing groups - which just doesn't exist. Maybe our resident Record staffer could bring this issue to light though, either on his Record blog or via GTBFO.

Especially someone that likes a good night out.

Think it was more all the stories and rumours about him being out on the piss. Some will just be made up, but given that Forrester has had questions raised about his dedication throughout his career it's easy to understand why folk take them at face value.