Manager can handle it.

[Balgreen Bear 15]

So someone who knows Boyd's family told you his real feelings? lmao!

I repeat.... is Kris a liar then?

Yeah, they did. I don't know what's to laugh about there tbh.

[Albertz 78 918]

Did he because Burns actually built a very expensive Celtic side? Thom, Stubbs, McNamara, Johnson, Cadete, McKinlay, Hughes, Wieghorst, O'Donnell, Van Hooidonk and Di Canio. Sounds like mind games from McCann. That is around £20m in 3 years. Huge sums in those days.

Yeah but these players were all on budget with what septic earned at the time.

McCann would never sanction a player if it meant they went over budget this is the same way Rangers should have been run by our board, it may not be palatable to hear but it's the truth.

Burns was sacked by squinty cause they bashed heads over how much money would be spent on players as well as other things. Ally should have been told this is what the club earns and this is what you have to spend, not that he can sign more players one minute then the club is running out of money the next.

[Drunk and disorderly. 14,462]

Yeah, they did. I don't know what's to laugh about there tbh.

Somebody on the internet knows someone who is related to Boyd who knows his true feelings. Must be true then. I 'd bet my mortgage on it.

So is Kris a liar????????

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,729]

Who has been a player development type of manager at Rangers over the years they've all been cheque book managers to some extent. Probably because our fans don't have the patience to sit back and let young players make mistakes and learn from them.

Not having a go at anyone but the same people who now slag off Ally for not using youth more are probably the same one's who assassinated Charlie Adam almost every time he played. The lad was never given the time needed to reach his full potential cause fans were always on his back after every bad pass.

Would also add a proper Rangers youth system/scouting system should have been put in place 20 years ago not just since Ally took over.

They've all been chequebook managers because writing those cheques was never an issue. It WAS the Rangers way.

Administration clearly illustrates money became an issue - why on earth would we continue to operate the same way when the goalposts were clearly not the same. Never before did we have the opportunity to start again from scratch - style of play, focus on youth, etc. Ally either didn't want it or couldn't deliver on it.

Agree fully that scouting should have been sorted years ago - not Ally's fault in the slightest. But it wasn't and he had to adapt to that somehow. It doesn't appear he used ex-players to keep an eye out, managers at other clubs for loans, or even prioritised his staff going to other games and picking up their best players other than the excellent work to get Clark in.

Our world has changed for ever but our manager has continued to eat at the same table as his predecessors. And that decision has cost us millions which due to other boardroom related shite we can ill afford. Not even a hindsight type fuckup, it's been obvious for donkeys.

[Balgreen Bear 15]

Yeah but these players were all on budget with what septic earned at the time.

McCann would never sanction a player if it meant they went over budget this is the same way Rangers should have been run by our board, it may not be palatable to hear but it's the truth.

Burns was sacked by squinty cause they bashed heads over how much money would be spent on players as well as other things. Ally should have been told this is what the club earns and this is what you have to spend, not that he can sign more players one minute then the club is running out of money the next.

Regardless of that mate, even the fans knew we had no money, we were running at a loss, do you not think it would have occurred to Ally to question being told he can spend more, if indeed he was. He done himself no favours with the squads he has built and money he has spent. The bottom line is it has harmed the club even more than the lack of success under him.

Somebody on the internet knows someone who is related to Boyd who knows his true feelings. Must be true then. I 'd bet my mortgage on it.

So is Kris a liar????????

It will be.

Well i don't believe him.

[Balgreen Bear 15]

Agree fully that scouting should have been sorted years ago - not Ally's fault in the slightest.

Do you not think a wiser man would have looked at Jon Daly for example, understood his injury record and seen what he was asking for to sign for us and decided that hiring a couple of scouts was a better choice? Instead of signing a Jon Daly, we could have hired a team of scouts to find us players who will be of use to us now and in the future unlike the likes of Jon Daly. The football side of things is run by Ally McCoist, if he really wanted scouts he should have asked for them, fought for them, demanded them, instead he chose to just add players to a squad we already couldn't afford with a scattergun approach. Diddies here, there and everywhere. With no thought for a year or two down the line.

[Albertz 78 918]

They've all been chequebook managers because writing those cheques was never an issue. It WAS the Rangers way.

Administration clearly illustrates money became an issue - why on earth would we continue to operate the same way when the goalposts were clearly not the same. Never before did we have the opportunity to start again from scratch - style of play, focus on youth, etc. Ally either didn't want it or couldn't deliver on it.

Agree fully that scouting should have been sorted years ago - not Ally's fault in the slightest. But it wasn't and he had to adapt to that somehow. It doesn't appear he used ex-players to keep an eye out, managers at other clubs for loans, or even prioritised his staff going to other games and picking up their best players other than the excellent work to get Clark in.

Our world has changed for ever but our manager has continued to eat at the same table as his predecessors. And that decision has cost us millions which due to other boardroom related shite we can ill afford. Not even a hindsight type fuckup, it's been obvious for donkeys.

Rangers were £70,000,000 in debt by the time Big Eck took over but did he say to himself na it's not really a smart idea to spend £5.5m on Arteta let's just invest in youth? Smith was not shy about spending money either at a time when Lloyds were running the club and the tax case hung over Rangers. Plenty of red flags were raised about Rangers financial situation long before Coisty became boss. Indeed had the problems been addressed at Rangers years ago admin would never have happened in the first place.

I don't blame any manager of Rangers for going short term in terms of signings cause it's them in the firing line when results are not good.

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,729]

Do you not think a wiser man would have looked at Jon Daly for example, understood his injury record and seen what he was asking for to sign for us and decided that hiring a couple of scouts was a better choice? Instead of signing a Jon Daly, we could have hired a team of scouts to find us players who will be of use to us now and in the future unlike the likes of Jon Daly. The football side of things is run by Ally McCoist, if he really wanted scouts he should have asked for them, fought for them, demanded them, instead he chose to just add players to a squad we already couldn't afford with a scattergun approach. Diddies here, there and everywhere. With no thought for a year or two down the line.

I think a wiser man would have saved money on that spent on Kyle, Sandaza, Cribari, and contracts renewed months before the players were dumped likely at our expense. A wiser man would have invested those savings on scouting.

Rangers were £70,000,000 in debt by the time Big Eck took over but did he say to himself na it's not really a smart idea to spend £5.5m on Arteta let's just invest in youth? Smith was not shy about spending money either at a time when Lloyds were running the club and the tax case hung over Rangers. Plenty of red flags were raised about Rangers financial situation long before Coisty became boss. Indeed had the problems been addressed at Rangers years ago admin would never have happened in the first place.

I don't blame any manager of Rangers for going short term in terms of signings cause it's them in the firing line when results are not good.

All ex-managers competed against the Mhanks. For 2 years Ally hasn't. Yes he was under pressure to win the leagues - but we were against amateurs, part timers and even schoolkids.

He argued part of the reason for such an extensively assembled squad was to compete in the cups.

Enough said already on that score.

I'm not saying all our financial woes can be placed at his door. I am saying that he has made a significant contribution to them that was unnecessary. We have not got value for money for the last 2 years, nor from the squad currently assembled. As said earlier, Gretna got from bottom to top for £8 million - we will be many times more than that unnecessarily.

I believe that the type of manager we need to operate going forward on a tighter budget is not the type of manager I believe Ally to be.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,552]

The CEO and board of directors run the money side of things at a club, the manager the football side of things. Just like you don't blame the CEO for the team getting beat you don't blame the manager for the business side of the club either IMHO.

Unless Ally put a gun to Greens/Mather/Wallace's head and forced them to sign players then I can't see why you blame the manager. Every manager on earth wants to sign more players it's the CEO's job to set a budget within the clubs means and stick to it.

the CEo and board were most likely held to ransom by ally in his own cheeky chappy way, there was not a chance in hell that they could get rid of ally when we started in division 3 because they feared the fans wouldnt return, and then the same for division 2

hell if any other manager of ally's calibre had refused to fill a subs bench for a home game they would likely have been fearing the sack, ally instead got more signings in the summer that we couldnt afford

also his numerous interviews where ally talks about adding to an already bloated squad, may seem harmless but ally knew he had the board and CEO over a barrel

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,552]

Rangers were £70,000,000 in debt by the time Big Eck took over but did he say to himself na it's not really a smart idea to spend £5.5m on Arteta let's just invest in youth? Smith was not shy about spending money either at a time when Lloyds were running the club and the tax case hung over Rangers. Plenty of red flags were raised about Rangers financial situation long before Coisty became boss. Indeed had the problems been addressed at Rangers years ago admin would never have happened in the first place.

I don't blame any manager of Rangers for going short term in terms of signings cause it's them in the firing line when results are not good.

the deal for arteta was in place before eck took over, advocaat seen him play against us for PSG on loan and liked him, plus he was a youngster at the time (he was 20) and presumably he was bought with the view of selling on at a profit give his high rating at the time

this was the same eck that was tasked of besting the tarriers and shopping in the bargain basement of world football at the same time, and he had the cheek of winning what he did while making a transfer profit

the same eck that was told to break up a treble winning squad while the tarriers added to a UEFA cup runners up squad

and smith was only able to spend when lloyds allowed him to spend, under HBOS smith was as reckless as ally, but at least he had the excuse of playing in the top league and facing the tarriers for the title

[Drunk and disorderly. 14,462]

Regardless of that mate, even the fans knew we had no money, we were running at a loss, do you not think it would have occurred to Ally to question being told he can spend more, if indeed he was. He done himself no favours with the squads he has built and money he has spent. The bottom line is it has harmed the club even more than the lack of success under him.

It will be.

Well i don't believe him.

Well, I don't believe you.

Probably don't even have a mortgage ffs!

[TMB 14,167]

I still believe, I agree that the journeys not been easy to watch. but Like a bottle of wine gets better with age, Ally will get better with experience. and he has improved, in several area since 3 div.

Since the day he took over. 10 cups, 10 cup exits, a number of which at the very first hurdle. The guy has won 2 trophies spending millions in some of the worst leagues in British football. To this day, he's still playing shite football, punting out the youth, and can't spot a player. Ally, Durrant, and McDowall are the making an obscene amount of money for meeting the lowest possible standards on the park (where it matters). Is Ally the highest paid manager in the country at 800k/year? Domany championship managers down in England make such a vast some of money? The guy's a fucking fraud. He hasn't progressed. He's about 52 now that's old in managerial terms and people on here dare to mention SAF. It's getting beyond a fucking joke. *logs off*

[Albertz 78 918]

the deal for arteta was in place before eck took over, advocaat seen him play against us for PSG on loan and liked him, plus he was a youngster at the time (he was 20) and presumably he was bought with the view of selling on at a profit give his high rating at the time

this was the same eck that was tasked of besting the tarriers and shopping in the bargain basement of world football at the same time, and he had the cheek of winning what he did while making a transfer profit

the same eck that was told to break up a treble winning squad while the tarriers added to a UEFA cup runners up squad

and smith was only able to spend when lloyds allowed him to spend, under HBOS smith was as reckless as ally, but at least he had the excuse of playing in the top league and facing the tarriers for the title

Eck shopped in the bargain basement?

Dado Prso - Champions league finalist.

Frank de Boer - Champions league/Uefa cup winner.

Nuno Capuco - Uefa cup winner.

Henning Berg Champions league winner.

Tam Buffel - full Belgian international.

Barry Ferguson @ £4.5m

Ronald Waterreus- full Dutch international.

kyrgiakos- full Greek international at a time when they were champs of Europe.

Hemdani - Uefa cup runner up.

That's some bargain bin he shopped in......

[gogzy 31,195]

While I agree Ally has been well overpaid the financial problems have nothing to do with him.

SFL div 3 player budget was £6,000,000 the non player budget was £12,000,000. What football club on earth spends double the amount of money on executive pay compared to it's playing staff?

Guessing we've probably spent well over £20,000,000 on bonus money and wages for the boardroom in the last two years.

As for this season the club should have set a budget depending on the amount of income it had projected and stuck to it that's the CEO's job not the football managers.

Nowhere fucking near it Not even if you added in the Management teams wages, although it would be significantly closer.

Pretty sure every single one of the numbers you have mentioned in this post are wrong.

[gogzy 31,195]

What spent £20m or so against part timers? i'd imagine any manager would spend their budget

Spent more each season than all our competitors added together? see previous answer

Not won the Ramsdens at 2 attempts? possibly, cup football is weird.

Developed a positive footballing style? possibly.

Offer players new contracts then punt them months later? examples please?

Developed more than 2 assets we could sell? possibly, our players are playing in the arse end of a shitty footballing backwater, it's no surprise that most of them are worth next to nothing.

Be in a position that as we enter the SPL many of the squad are out of contract? possibly, the manager only has so much say when it comes to contract matters.

Nah that's Ally's gig.

Most of those can be blamed on the shambolic running of Rangers off the park as much as the manager tbh.

If we hadn't scrapped the scouting system, we could have been taking way more advantage of the bosman market than we did.

if they hadn't given Ally >7m every year for a first team budget

If they had been smarter in contract negotiations ( which IMO this board have been the best at, the shorter term deals with year options are much smarter than giving out 4 and five year deals like they were sweeties.

If they had done most of that, then we might not be in the shit we are in right now.

I think this might be his last season in charge tbh, and I wanted him sacked after losing in the way we did against Raith Rovers in a cup final. I have not changed my mind, i don't think he is the guy that can take us forward any more.

However You can't blame a manager for spending the budget he has been told he can spend, and you can only blame him to an extent for the players we brought in considering the embargo, and bosman market shopping we have had to do ( with no scouting department).

[Sweetheart 8,458]

Most of those can be blamed on the shambolic running of Rangers off the park as much as the manager tbh.

If we hadn't scrapped the scouting system, we could have been taking way more advantage of the bosman market than we did.

if they hadn't given Ally >7m every year for a first team budget

If they had been smarter in contract negotiations ( which IMO this board have been the best at, the shorter term deals with year options are much smarter than giving out 4 and five year deals like they were sweeties.

If they had done most of that, then we might not be in the shit we are in right now.

I think this might be his last season in charge tbh, and I wanted him sacked after losing in the way we did against Raith Rovers in a cup final. I have not changed my mind, i don't think he is the guy that can take us forward any more.

However You can't blame a manager for spending the budget he has been told he can spend, and you can only blame him to an extent for the players we brought in considering the embargo, and bosman market shopping we have had to do ( with no scouting department).

Agreed. The club don't have the finance for a scouting department at the moment, maybe RM could start a thread to profile potential players, A fans scouting thread could help the club out by being it's eyes and ears. We know the club has read articles on RM in the past so maybe this is a way fans can help?

[Balgreen Bear 15]

Agreed. The club don't have the finance for a scouting department at the moment, maybe RM could start a thread to profile potential players, A fans scouting thread could to help the club out by being it's eyes and ears. We know the club has read articles on RM in the past so maybe this is a way fans can help?

That's not true. We could have done without Dean Shiels and Jon Daly and had more than enough for a team of scouts. The money is there but we have a manager who would rather spend it on players than on the club.

[Sweetheart 8,458]

That's not true. We could have done without Dean Shiels and Jon Daly and had more than enough for a team of scouts. The money is there but we have a manager who would rather spend it on players than on the club.

That's all done and dusted we can't change the past, what can we do now?

Sweetheart, on 10 September 2014 - 07:46 AM, said:

Agreed. The club don't have the finance for a scouting department at the moment, maybe RM could start a thread to profile potential players, A fans scouting thread could help the club out by being it's eyes and ears. We know the club has read articles on RM in the past so maybe this is a way fans can help?

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,552]

That's all done and dusted we can't change the past, what can we do now?

Sweetheart, on 10 September 2014 - 07:46 AM, said:

Agreed. The club don't have the finance for a scouting department at the moment, maybe RM could start a thread to profile potential players, A fans scouting thread could to help the club out by being it's eyes and ears. We know the club has read articles on RM in the past so maybe this is a way fans can help?

This would be the same RM that many highlighted andrew Robertson as a future star when he played for queens park against us, the same andrew Robertson that cost unuted heehaw byt earned them a minimum of 3mill in a year

Instead ally wanted and got stevie smith

[Albertz 78 918]

This would be the same RM that many highlighted andrew Robertson as a future star when he played for queens park against us, the same andrew Robertson that cost unuted heehaw byt earned them a minimum of 3mill in a year

Instead ally wanted and got stevie smith

2 points I would make about that.

1. Stevie Smith was signed as cover for Wallace not to be Rangers first pick left back. How many games would Robertson have played for Rangers over the next few years with Lee Wallace in the team?

2. Robertson is a tim he might not have wanted to sign for Rangers anyway and they obviously never thought much of him either if they freed him without a single first team game under his belt.

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,729]

Most of those can be blamed on the shambolic running of Rangers off the park as much as the manager tbh.

If we hadn't scrapped the scouting system, we could have been taking way more advantage of the bosman market than we did.

if they hadn't given Ally >7m every year for a first team budget

If they had been smarter in contract negotiations ( which IMO this board have been the best at, the shorter term deals with year options are much smarter than giving out 4 and five year deals like they were sweeties.

If they had done most of that, then we might not be in the shit we are in right now.

I think this might be his last season in charge tbh, and I wanted him sacked after losing in the way we did against Raith Rovers in a cup final. I have not changed my mind, i don't think he is the guy that can take us forward any more.

However You can't blame a manager for spending the budget he has been told he can spend, and you can only blame him to an extent for the players we brought in considering the embargo, and bosman market shopping we have had to do ( with no scouting department).

I've already stated GW to have done poorly on this front up to and including signing a backup backup keeper only 2 weeks ago. Mather was inexperienced, wanted to be Ally's friend whilst doing as he was told.

But if your missus was in charge of the finances in your house and you and everyone else knew that your household was spending more than it could afford would you stand-by cause she says it's ok or would you challenge it until you got to the truth. Personally, I'd slow the fuck down on spending til I found out what was going on. For me it's the same and it's a convenient excuse to say it's not Ally's fault he just spent what he was told.

The transfer embargo didn't include under 18s as I recall, if ever there was a trigger to think about youth that was it. But cause he was forced to play pampered youth who struggled, he chucked it went down the experienced ( read costly ) route asap. From day 1 he could have been thinking about tapping into other clubs for season loans, asked ex players/ managers to identify talent, or prioritised targetting the best players in the league above to get us by each season. He chose the other predictable route. He knew he had no scouting so he and the other 2 should have been doing more.

Think most of us agree he's not the man for the future, given a chequebook manager isn't going to be needed at Ibrox any time soon. A manager who can over achieve with players, punch above their weight will be.

And can't remember the names of the players offered contract extensions then chased not long after that. Am gonna check archives on here unless someone else can enlighten me first.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,552]

2 points I would make about that.

1. Stevie Smith was signed as cover for Wallace not to be Rangers first pick left back. How many games would Robertson have played for Rangers over the next few years with Lee Wallace in the team?

2. Robertson is a tim he might not have wanted to sign for Rangers anyway and they obviously never thought much of him either if they freed him without a single first team game under his belt.

So we just knock back any decent youngster because we have someone in his place already, garbage, what does that say about stevie smith if he's happy to earn a coin sitting on his arse

As for Robertson being a tim and released by them, who knows what would have happened, fact is we seen a standout against us that would have cost nothing and we didnt even try and sign him

What if we signed him, got our money back for wallace and used Robertson now, we'd be in a better position financially that having Wallace and smith in the team thats for sure

[Albertz 78 918]

So we just knock back any decent youngster because we have someone in his place already, garbage, what does that say about stevie smith if he's happy to earn a coin sitting on his arse

As for Robertson being a tim and released by them, who knows what would have happened, fact is we seen a standout against us that would have cost nothing and we didnt even try and sign him

What if we signed him, got our money back for wallace and used Robertson now, we'd be in a better position financially that having Wallace and smith in the team thats for sure

Lee Wallace will probably be Rangers first pick left back for at least the next 2 years maybe more would someone like Robertson be willing to come to Rangers and sit on the bench for 3 years minimum playing at best a few times a season?

Not really any good for him or the club to have a situation like that. If the lad played in any other position I would see the point you are making but I don't think Wallace deserves to be dropped and he's already said he won't leave Rangers till the club is back on top.

As for Stevie Smith I'm sure he knows he was signed as a squad player and not a first team pick if we had said the same to Robertson he would have turned us down in 2 seconds flat.

Also think Wallace is better player than Robertson anyway when at the top of his game.

[coopsleftboot 5,512]

Thanks for taking time out to reply, responded in red in the post.

Do YOU think the kids good enough?

an example of our kids, what did emilson cribari bring to our 2 seasons of promotions that luca gasparotto couldnt have brought himself, what did argyriou bring to our division 3 campaign that a young right back couldnt have offered, what did kevin kyle bring that kane hemmings wouldnt have brought, and what did sandaza bring at all

thats 4 signings that i have highlighted that we did not need one bit, then you could add dean shiels, stevie smith, all wages wasted on players that we do not need and never did to get to where we are just now.

The argument "we didn't need them" is difficult to substantiate. The fact we brought them in, used them and we ended up with two promotions could be seen as evidence that justifies the signings. Even by playing bit parts (because of injuries or others being preferred) they contributed as cover for others when others were out the team. Those times without experienced back-up could have been banana-skins. You're argument over Hemmings is decent, because an analysis of the three produces similar results, they were all pish. Kyle scored 3 in 11 games, Sandaza scored 2 in 14 and Hemmings 1 in 10. Not a return you'd want at all from any Rangers striker. But both Sandaza (in particular) and Kyle came with a current reputation and experience the manager (and me - we didn't have an experienced striker at the time) felt we needed. We couldn't rely on a novice and so it proved.

If you think they are, what have YOU seen of them to make that judgement?

the standard of opposition in the previous two years, the absolute piss poor performances by a lot of allys signings in that same time, 2 things that easily confirm that we could have signed less players and still made it up 2 divisions.

Sorry, but in my view that doesn't confirm anything. Piss poor performances were still good enough for successive promotions and signing lesser players might well have produced promotions but it would have increased the risk of even poorer performances, more frequent losses and increased the likelihood of even missing out. There's no guarantees in this game, but the players we bought provided the next best thing. Incidentally, that doesn't mean I think many of them are good enough for Rangers, far from it, but it's horses for courses at the moment.

What more experienced players would YOU have brought in?

fuck all, id have kept the money, if we really needed more experienced players we should have paid buttons in wages for guys that actually played these divisions, guys from the likes of falkirk, QotS, etc, aye they arent the signings the fans flock to see, but they would have been cheap and more than capable of climbing the divisions as they have already done it

That's a risky strategy that borders on madness in my opinion. The risk of even taking one year longer to get back into the SPL would likely cost us far more than the current expenditure.

How would YOU have identified them?

considering most of our games are different times from others in scotland, why cant even one of our management 3 go to various other games and have a fucking look, its not hard to spot standout players in these games, spot one, highlight him and watch him again and again, if he stays stand out then thats a start

They did go to many games, but they can't be everywhere doing everything that you'd expect from a modern management team, because the support staff normally provide that for them. I remember a cry for some striker that we we "should be bringing in" (name escapes me) after we played him in Div 3. He's still there. We could have flooded our team with players that were "decent" at their level but using them would be a greater risk to moving through the divisions than the experienced, top level players we brought in.

Where would YOU have brought them from?

answered above, other successful teams in the SFL at the time, QotS cantered league 1 like we did, they done it with a 10th of the budget we used

QotS are actually a very good example of why we were right to adopt that philosophy. Them cantering a lower divisions doesn't turn them into Rangers players, nor does it guarantee the players will succeed at the next level, as we need them too going through the divisions. Where did QotS finish last season? That's not acceptable at all for us.

How much would YOU pay them?

offer them double or treble what they were getting at their old clubs, still under the wages we gave cribari, sandaza etc

Depends who the old clubs were. Signing the QotS team (for example) on treble their wages would have been cheap and might have got us out of the 3rd tier comfortably (as QotS did), but what next, buy the Dundee team?

How would YOU encourage players of the quaility YOU want to play in the bottom two tiers of Scottish football?

answered above

Ditto

What size of squad do YOU think we should have?

about the size we have just now, only with more integrated youth, less expensive seat warmers like shiels, smith etc

If we're going forward with youth, I'd want them to be good enough for the long run. Seems some of ours won't be yet are still being allowed to linger longer tham they might under normal circumstances.

How would YOU guarantee the promotions?

did you see the shite we faced in the last 2 years, we just cuffed clyde recently big time, we managed over 100 points last season and way over 100 goals, more games would have been tighter, but we'd still have won both leagues with games to spare

You say that, and it only might be true. Problem is it's done now and the strategy you're advocating (more youngsters, cheaper players from lower leagues etc.) only might have produced the same promotions. Was it a risk worth taking? Personally I don't think so. There's a reason most of the players are playing in the lower leagues, and invariably it's as good as it gets for them.

Should we be in a position to challenge in the SPFL once we get there?

no but financially we wouldnt be rock bottom again with the prospect of having to find a whole new squad for the premiership, we might have had a fair few million left to recruit decent bosmans to at least settle in the division, we might have had some decent youth that people wish to bid on, or decent youth that could maybe hold their own in the premiership,

the fact is even if we survive financially this season, we might end up going into the premiership with a squad that is worse than the squad ally started division 3 with, purely because our clubs thinking, and this is a lot to do with ally, was for the next 12 months and no further

Personally I think the prospective cull at the end of this season with a lot of the contracts expiring is a good thing. Many of them are only on the money they're on becuase it could attract them to the lower divisions. All we had to offer was the chance of a Rangers shirt and a nice wad to entice you. Next season (hopefully!!) we can offer top flight football, greater exposure for their playing ability, OF games, and potentially European qualification. Players will come, and for not much more than the lot we're letting go. Why? Because we'll still be offering more than anyone else other than Celtic and have a whole lot more to entice them with than we had three years previously.

an absolute shambles, ally takes a massive portion of blame for our on field state

The make up of the playing side and the contracts that players have been on has been a direct result of what's happened off the park. It's suffered big time because we've stripped a lot of the support away from the manager that he'd need to build what we wanted and we've been left with, in my opinion, the only option available to us, buy in average Joes from the SPL to almost guarantee progression, failure was not and still is not an option worth considering.

Now, I know I get accused of being an "Ally man", but that's simply not true. My view is that going the youth route and supplementing with experience from lower divisions was riddled with a risk that should not be considered. Experience with known players used to playing at as high a level as possible (and the manager was told he could afford) was the way to go. It's worked so far.

I accept that we may have two or three more "experienced" players than we might have needed, and that's worthy of criticism. The tactics are worthy of criticism, personally I've never ever been a fan of Walters methods, but accepted the results gratefully. Ally is too much like Watty for me, and also it frustrates me to see the same players week in week out when it's obvious that players may need rest...but it's a results business more than anything for us right now and as long as the results keep coming...I understand the desire to change, but at our lowest point, Ally was the glue holding us together and deserved the shot at getting us back, and I'm sure he will.

I respect your opinion, even though I think much of the rational behind it is flawed; I don't think we'll ever agree, but that's my take on things.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,552]

Lee Wallace will probably be Rangers first pick left back for at least the next 2 years maybe more would someone like Robertson be willing to come to Rangers and sit on the bench for 3 years minimum playing at best a few times a season?

Not really any good for him or the club to have a situation like that. If the lad played in any other position I would see the point you are making but I don't think Wallace deserves to be dropped and he's already said he won't leave Rangers till the club is back on top.

As for Stevie Smith I'm sure he knows he was signed as a squad player and not a first team pick if we had said the same to Robertson he would have turned us down in 2 seconds flat.

Also think Wallace is better player than Robertson anyway when at the top of his game.

it doesnt matter, you said something like RM could be the clubs eyes and ears, we pointed out a player who is now worth 3million (when he was available for a free) and nothing happened

could we not have signed robertson and moved wallace to left mid, wallace barely defended last season anyway given our dominance at times

one thing that cannot be denied is that the future scottish left back left Queens Park for heehaw and went to dundee united, and instead we signed a higher waged "squad player" who will in turn get us nothing