Aubie92

At least one senior club in Scotland is apparently operating on shaky financial ground. When that was reported the Tims obviously thought it was us and were gleeful, despite Dundee United needing a cash injection from a foreign based fan - and the Thompson infighting - and Hibs were struggling too. Those were the two teams I thought of as being in perilous financial states. My gran was a Hibs fan. Didn't find out until after the Cup Final last year. My dad was there and said it was the first time we've lost a final where he didn't feel raging or gutted, just because his mum supported Hibs and she'd died a few weeks before the final. No idea why a Presbyterian who was born, lived and died in Neilston supported Hibs though.

This makes me even more angry that there are bears trying to tout tickets for the game for their own. Hopefully they manage to get the additional tickets.

His tackling has improved over the few games he's played, and he hasn't gotten disheartened when going up against experienced pros. He's essentially a boy going up against men a few stone heavier, not whining of things don't go his way and he's starting to win those battles. I like him and Dodoo. They play with their heads up and look to get involved, and seem like team players. After years of experienced pros hiding during games, it's good to see.

But he was involved in the last game as he wasn't played as a full back. And as much as Kiernan just isn't a central defender, he wasn't helped out by Tav straying from position so often. Wilson & Kiernan were left exposed by Warburton's tactics last year, and were expected to cover for their full backs. As much as a top class central defender could cover for Tav leaving him stranded, a better full back would track back to his position. I think we should be playing to his strengths, and I don't think those strengths are defensive.

Aye, I'm sure some would have taken a fee, and some would have taken just their expenses and waved any usual appearance fee.

You'd think he'd have learned from Nelson not scouting opponents, but Sims is no better. MGM Marbella have some unsavoury links, granted - nothing that would bother Burns though - but they'd at least take care of making sure they get the inside track on an opponent. Alex Arthur was talking utter pish post-fight about Indongo being elite; he isn't even that good a fighter. He's in his mid-30s, and has fought outside of Namibia twice. Arthur was going on about how it'd take someone of Crawford's level to beat him. ? Burns has done well for himself given his limited ability, but it's a bit of a joke that he's a "three weight world champion." Especially as he doesn't even have three world class victories.

Sky Sports and BT aren't much better; it's just the usual 'Engerlund' mentality that the media seems to have. After Spurs got knocked out of the Europa, the presenter asked the pundits if, just perhaps, they're overeating how good English teams actually are. They're already talking about United like they're a sure bet for the Europa League, just like they did with Liverpool last year.

I don't begrudge anyone getting paid by a charity for helping to organise an event, as usually they're doing it at a reduced rate; footballers can, depending on how smart they were with money, afford to give their time for nothing, and the average person can't. But I begrudge it when folk want plaudits for charity work with the implication they did it to be charitable, when they were actually being paid. It can actually lead to cynicism about the event, the charity itself and future events. Sometimes full disclosure isn't the best policy, but with charity honesty definitely is the best.

Yeah, for McCann it'd mean giving up his punditry work for a position at Ibrox without a lot of responsibility, and he doesn't seem the type to want that. With JJ it's career progression, as he's going from coaching youth teams to working alongside a respected coach, scouting teams etc. I'm optimistic about our management team in general, even though I think it'll take more than one transfer window for him to shape his own team. Pedro hasn't culled staff for the sake of it, and he's specifically sought out a coach with an affection for Rangers and who is in touch with the Scottish game - right off the bat it seems like he doesn't think he's bigger than the club. (I know Stewart going bothered some, but he was leaving at the end of the season, and I think it made sense for Pedro to bring his own man in. Even then, it seems like he spoke to Stewart about his intentions first.)

I think there's even a positive in Tav's confidence taking a knock, in that he genuinely seems to care about playing for Rangers. I'm under no illusions that Tav and Waghorn ultimately want to play in as a high a level down South as possible, but both seem like they've been around enough to realise how big it is to play for Rangers in front of 45,000 - 50,000 at Ibrox. I do think there's signs Tav has tried to improve as a defender too, but it's at the detriment to his natural game. I'm old fashioned in that I want my defenders to defend first and foremost, and I don't think we can get away with two full backs simultaneously bombing down the wings, at least not without another body to drop into the centre of defence to cover them. (I thought Ball was used to good effect that way last season.) I'd play Hodson at right back, but I think that frees Tav up the basically do what he was doing last season to great effect - get down the right wing. It worked against Celtic as it meant Tav's tendency to drift into the centre of midfield worked in out favour, and when he was getting back into defensive positions he was adding an extra body to the back four. In fairness to Tav though, the issue was Warburton's tactical naivety. I understood his point about plan B just being tweaking plan A - the way we used Ball from last winter onwards, for example - but Warburton never seemed to really catch on that you can't have two full backs playing as wingers at times, especially with a midfield so focused on attack. When Tav and Wallace got forward there should have been an instruction for one to hang back a bit if the other was on the run, or for one of the midfielders to cover their run. It was just basic schoolboy stuff that Warburton seemed to ignore. The boy Beerman has shown signs that he's working on improving his tackling, and I think there's signs he could be challenging Wallace for that starting berth next season. He's a natural winger, but if he can continue to improve then we could have someone that can slot into either Wallace's or McKay's position.

I can understand the organiser being frustrated and wanting fans to know, if they're telling the truth, but putting it out there on twitter is more likely to just give the Scottish tabloids another chance to make Rangers seem like a laugh stock, and could even hurt future support for similar matches.

My main issue with Tav is that he, more often than not, chases the ball rather than return to his position after running down the flank, which usually means he's running into the midfield and leaving his centre back exposed. I wouldn't have him in at right back, but I wouldn't be binning him either. I thought the way Murty used him in the last Old Firm game not only played to his strengths, but it turned one of Tav's biggest flaws - the aforementioned chasing the baw - into a strength.

I think he's an intelligent analyst and clearly has a good understanding of the game. However, I think JJ is a good appointment for what Pedro was looking for, and I'm not sure if McCann would have been interested in that. If he does well at Dundee and continues in management then we might yet see him back at Ibrox one day.

Monaco, Juventus or Atletico winning it this year would be a nice change, but if Real get to the final I wouldn't bet against them. I'd rather enjoy Atletico beating them in the final to win the tournament though...

Am I imagining this, or did UEFA get in a tizz over fans booing their anthem a few years ago?

When I swapped the Old Firm into the English leagues I did it by editing the national rules rather than a straight swap, so that could be why I was able to get them out of the Betfred Cup. Having said that, I did play through a save where the Old Firm were in the Betfred. Won the prestigious treble of Football League Two, Checkatrade Trophy and the Betfred Cup....

Well, that's part of it. Another part is that Kelly and McGinn got shares in Torbett's business and/or a salary from it, continuing that association even after his conviction. The BBC documentary didn't reveal anything that wasn't already known, in that respect, but it was a subtle hint that Kelly and McGinn were either effectively paid off by Torbett or extorted him. So not only was there a cover up, not only was there a facilitation of abuse, but two high ranking Celtic board members actually used it for their own personal financial gain.

Did you manage to get it sorted? You have to manually add the new teams in the Scottish League into the Betfred Cup to replace the Old Firm. What I could never get working was that the Rangers youth teams wouldn't be registered in the English youth leagues for the first season, but the Mhanks were. Not a game breaker, but it meant having to arrange friendlies for the youth teams for the entire first season down south, as the players that I couldn't loan out would get no playing time otherwise.

In fairness to Hartley, the Dundee board sold his strike force for peanuts and expected him to be able to replace them. Results haven't been good enough, aye, but most managers would struggle to replace a 30 goal partnership with little to no money. But I hope McCann keeps them up and does well with them. He's an intelligent analyst and Scottish football could be doing with folk like him.