It could only happen with Rangers

[Tontospal 1,116]

We have no fixture this week whilst our greatest rivals are playing a competitive match against arguably the biggest team in the world and the reigning CL champions.

You would think that our manager would want to stay out of the press given the quality of opposition that put us out of Europe and ensured that we have no meaningful European games for almost a calendar year.

Is he embarassed at his poor tactics and team selection that led to such a humiliation? It doesn't appear so and instead he has a real go at our fans.

The same fans who stuck by him but who, if they had any real ambition for the club, should have demanded his sacking after losing to Kaunus.

His time would be much better spent on the training pitch to try and teach his side how to play decent football because after the St Mirren game it is patently obvious that the coaching staff and the playing squad leave a lot to be desired.

With regards to TFO, I only hope that our support actually stay united on this one and do not 'surrender' as they did with TBB.

There is absolutely nothing in either the intent or words sung by the matchday support that could be deemed sectarian, racist or actually insulting. I am confident that any court in this country would have no grounds for prosecuting anyone guilty of singing the 'matchday' words.

The truth of the matter is that the MOPEs don't like it.

[rossDas 1,071]

We have no fixture this week whilst our greatest rivals are playing a competitive match against arguably the biggest team in the world and the reigning CL champions.

You would think that our manager would want to stay out of the press given the quality of opposition that put us out of Europe and ensured that we have no meaningful European games for almost a calendar year.

Is he embarassed at his poor tactics and team selection that led to such a humiliation? It doesn't appear so and instead he has a real go at our fans.

The same fans who stuck by him but who, if they had any real ambition for the club, should have demanded his sacking after losing to Kaunus.

His time would be much better spent on the training pitch to try and teach his side how to play decent football because after the St Mirren game it is patently obvious that the coaching staff and the playing squad leave a lot to be desired.

With regards to TFO, I only hope that our support actually stay united on this one and do not 'surrender' as they did with TBB.

There is absolutely nothing in either the intent or words sung by the matchday support that could be deemed sectarian, racist or actually insulting. I am confident that any court in this country would have no grounds for prosecuting anyone guilty of singing the 'matchday' words.

The truth of the matter is that the MOPEs don't like it.

Key word is intent. TFO was too easy for the MOPES to twist and the media to use. We will never be able to turn opinion on TFO so why flog a dead horse.

We would be better served as a support if our songs make clear who we're singing about, don't use such sledgehammer tactics, and can't be twisted by the media.

[Tontospal 1,116]

We have no fixture this week whilst our greatest rivals are playing a competitive match against arguably the biggest team in the world and the reigning CL champions.

You would think that our manager would want to stay out of the press given the quality of opposition that put us out of Europe and ensured that we have no meaningful European games for almost a calendar year.

Is he embarassed at his poor tactics and team selection that led to such a humiliation? It doesn't appear so and instead he has a real go at our fans.

The same fans who stuck by him but who, if they had any real ambition for the club, should have demanded his sacking after losing to Kaunus.

His time would be much better spent on the training pitch to try and teach his side how to play decent football because after the St Mirren game it is patently obvious that the coaching staff and the playing squad leave a lot to be desired.

With regards to TFO, I only hope that our support actually stay united on this one and do not 'surrender' as they did with TBB.

There is absolutely nothing in either the intent or words sung by the matchday support that could be deemed sectarian, racist or actually insulting. I am confident that any court in this country would have no grounds for prosecuting anyone guilty of singing the 'matchday' words.

The truth of the matter is that the MOPEs don't like it.

So I lack ambition for not wanting Smith out after Kaunas? Even though he was the very same manager who lad us to the UEFA Cup Final? Negative yes, but those tactics got us pretty far last season.

Yes he got Kaunas wrong and it was a shocking and embarrassing result, but calling for his head after that is a knee-jerk reaction that didn't take the big picture into account.

And i dont understand why he should stay out of the press for this reason. Can you expand on that one please.

My 'big picture' would have seen him thanked for his efforts at the end of last season and replaced.

The European results last season were certainly good but the quality of football throughout was dire and far too negative and of poor quality for a club the size of Rangers.

IMO a better manager would have won the SPL title and may even have won the UEFA Cup Final.

I don't subscribe to the opinion that 2 domestic cups was satisfactory for us just because it was an improvement on the previous 2 trophyless years.

We needed to sign at least 4 quality players to go straight into the first team if this season was going to be a success. No players were signed before the Kaunus games who it could be argued actually improved the squad nevermind the starting X1.

As a result there was a good chance that we would lose to a side that are far inferior to us as a club and whose total wage bill is a small fraction of that paid to our 'superstars'.

Not a knee-jerk reaction for me to sack him but a realistic and justifiable action for a club with any real ambition of doing well in Europe. Losing the UEFA Cup Final is very much a consolation to not getting in to the lats 16 of the CL for me.

Ragarding ypur question:

My point was thet he should be keeping a low profile in this of all weeks, given the 'Battle of Britain', nevermind attacking the fans, faceless minority or not.

He should be feeling the pain we are feeling having to read, listen or view all this pro-celtc propoganda not forgetting the endless references to the behaviour of our fans in Manchester and the comparisons with the self proclaimed greatest fans in the world.

Since he came back he has undoubtedly steadied the ship but we have actually played well in a handful of games. Although we have a chance of winning the title this season I fail to see any evidence of the qulaity or style of play improving under Smith.

[lidorfc 6,685]

We have no fixture this week whilst our greatest rivals are playing a competitive match against arguably the biggest team in the world and the reigning CL champions.

You would think that our manager would want to stay out of the press given the quality of opposition that put us out of Europe and ensured that we have no meaningful European games for almost a calendar year.

Is he embarassed at his poor tactics and team selection that led to such a humiliation? It doesn't appear so and instead he has a real go at our fans.

The same fans who stuck by him but who, if they had any real ambition for the club, should have demanded his sacking after losing to Kaunus.

His time would be much better spent on the training pitch to try and teach his side how to play decent football because after the St Mirren game it is patently obvious that the coaching staff and the playing squad leave a lot to be desired.

With regards to TFO, I only hope that our support actually stay united on this one and do not 'surrender' as they did with TBB.

There is absolutely nothing in either the intent or words sung by the matchday support that could be deemed sectarian, racist or actually insulting. I am confident that any court in this country would have no grounds for prosecuting anyone guilty of singing the 'matchday' words.

The truth of the matter is that the MOPEs don't like it.

So I lack ambition for not wanting Smith out after Kaunas? Even though he was the very same manager who lad us to the UEFA Cup Final? Negative yes, but those tactics got us pretty far last season.

Yes he got Kaunas wrong and it was a shocking and embarrassing result, but calling for his head after that is a knee-jerk reaction that didn't take the big picture into account.

And i dont understand why he should stay out of the press for this reason. Can you expand on that one please.

My 'big picture' would have seen him thanked for his efforts at the end of last season and replaced.

The European results last season were certainly good but the quality of football throughout was dire and far too negative and of poor quality for a club the size of Rangers.

IMO a better manager would have won the SPL title and may even have won the UEFA Cup Final.

I don't subscribe to the opinion that 2 domestic cups was satisfactory for us just because it was an improvement on the previous 2 trophyless years.

We needed to sign at least 4 quality players to go straight into the first team if this season was going to be a success. No players were signed before the Kaunus games who it could be argued actually improved the squad nevermind the starting X1.

As a result there was a good chance that we would lose to a side that are far inferior to us as a club and whose total wage bill is a small fraction of that paid to our 'superstars'.

Not a knee-jerk reaction for me to sack him but a realistic and justifiable action for a club with any real ambition of doing well in Europe. Losing the UEFA Cup Final is very much a consolation to not getting in to the lats 16 of the CL for me.

Ragarding ypur question:

My point was thet he should be keeping a low profile in this of all weeks, given the 'Battle of Britain', nevermind attacking the fans, faceless minority or not.

He should be feeling the pain we are feeling having to read, listen or view all this pro-celtc propoganda not forgetting the endless references to the behaviour of our fans in Manchester and the comparisons with the self proclaimed greatest fans in the world.

Since he came back he has undoubtedly steadied the ship but we have actually played well in a handful of games. Although we have a chance of winning the title this season I fail to see any evidence of the qulaity or style of play improving under Smith.

and what makes you think a better manager would have taken us to the uefa cup final?

[BlueSuedeSambas 54,423]

The same fans who stuck by him but who, if they had any real ambition for the club, should have demanded his sacking after losing to Kaunus.

Did you not listen to any radio phone-ins or browse any internet forums after the Kaunus game?

The majority of fans were demanding that Walter was sacked.

[Wreckedroy 33]

A better manager would not have won the UEFA Cup last season. It was Walters insistence on playing defencive football that got us to the final. With the team we had, doing anything different would have seen us crash out away to Bremen. Even playing negatively we were absolutely demolished for 90 mins and just scraped through somehow.

And it would be totally unjustifiable to sack Walter after last season. A bawhair away from a quad. I'll happily accept the argument that the negative tactics played a major role in us losing the spl, but if it wasnt for the fixture congestion it would have been easy street for us.

The fact we didn't sign what was needed before Kaunas is, for me a mixture of poor scouting and Murray's reluctance to let us spend when it was needed. If we had the team we managed to sign before the deadline for the Kaunas games we would've torn them apart.

I also just can't get how we have no ambition in Europe when we had a run like we did last season. Can't grasp that one mate.

And perhaps you are right and perhaps he should have stayed quiet. But maybe his decision to do an interview with the Herald this week is an attempt to keep the limelight on the club when really, theres absolutely no reason to look at us. We're in the papers taking the shine of the Celtic wankery shown the in papers over the weekend. I actually think chosing this week was quite sensible, especially with our game off at the weekend and there being nothing Rangers related to talk about.

Excellent reply Kev.

I'm not sure I agree with the highlighted sentence though. I'm pretty sure Smith, much like the rest of us, thought that the team he already had would be good enough to put Kaunas away. He had already stated, more than once, that the majority of our signings would come near the end of the transfer window. Surely that puts to bed the assumption that Murray wouldn't let him spend?

As for the initial post, IMO it is extremely naive to imagine that Smith should set the timing of any media interviews to take into account sellick games. Our manager should concentrate on Rangers and Rangers alone, and leave worrying about that mhob to the more paranoid amongst our support.

And, as I said over and over again at the time, how anyone could imagine Smith getting the boot a few months after leading us to our only European Final in 36yrs is frankly beyond comprehension. The PLG debacle apart, Rangers have always given our managers time and space to build their own squads and establish their own tactics and "flavour" upon said squad. Were we ever to go down the road of sacking successful managers after a few months in the job for the sole reason of satisfying the immature and unrealistic minority in our support, we'd be as well packing up our gear and moving en masse to Tynecastle or the girodome, where that sort of behavior might be tolerated. Because we wouldn't be The Rangers our history and tradition demands us to be.

[Wreckedroy 33]

The same fans who stuck by him but who, if they had any real ambition for the club, should have demanded his sacking after losing to Kaunus.

Did you not listen to any radio phone-ins or browse any internet forums after the Kaunus game?

The majority of fans were demanding that Walter was sacked.

Shouldn't the highlighted sentence read :- "The majority of fans that phoned in were demanding that Walter was sacked." Because the rest of us were laughing at the numpties!

[Tontospal 1,116]

A better manager would not have won the UEFA Cup last season. A better manager did win the UEFA Cup Final last season - albeit with a better team/players. TBH, I .was extremely disappointed with Smith and the players in a one-off final. The best team certainly one but we never looked like winning at any time

It was Walters insistence on playing defencive football that got us to the final. With the team we had, doing anything different would have seen us crash out away to Bremen. Even playing negatively we were absolutely demolished for 90 mins and just scraped through somehow. A sad state of affairs when playing negative football is celebrated. Yes it got results but it was extremely embarassing at times. We kid ourselves on about being a big club when the only things bigf about us are our support and our history. Playing for and celebrating a 0-0 draw against anyone at Ibrox as was the case v Barca is something I hope I never witness again.

And it would be totally unjustifiable to sack Walter after last season. A bawhair away from a quad. I'll happily accept the argument that the negative tactics played a major role in us losing the spl, but if it wasnt for the fixture congestion it would have been easy street for us. There are several reasons/excuses why we didn't win the title but we blew it. It was in our hands and we blew it. The back to back defeats v celtc cost us the title and most probably any chance we had of winning the UEFA Cup. I do not believe that Smith is the best manager for Rangers. That may be unjustifiable for some but based on the quality of play since he returned, the lack of a consistent or positive style or formation and his absurd team selection and signings (Cuellar, Davis and Mendes apart) I think it is not as preposterous a view as you deem it to be.

The fact we didn't sign what was needed before Kaunas is, for me a mixture of poor scouting and Murray's reluctance to let us spend when it was needed. It was also poor management to go into the games with a substandard squad of players. Murray and Bain messed up yet again but the manager was also complicit, particularly as the squad we had available should have won comfortably.

If we had the team we managed to sign before the deadline for the Kaunas games we would've torn them apart. As they say if your auntie had balls she'd be your uncle. Although hindsight is a wonderful thing, lack of foresight in this case was unforgivable.

I also just can't get how we have no ambition in Europe when we had a run like we did last season. Can't grasp that one mate. The UEFA Cup Final is a consolation plate type tourney for teams outside the top 16 in the CL. So if anything we were the 18th best side in Europe last season behind celtc. Like the league we had our destiny in our own hands but blew it against Lyon at home. Getting in to the last 16 would have been a bigger achievement than losing the UEFA Cup Final. The lack of ambition relates to not strengthening the squad to ensure that we again qualified for the CL.

And perhaps you are right and perhaps he should have stayed quiet. But maybe his decision to do an interview with the Herald this week is an attempt to keep the limelight on the club when really, theres absolutely no reason to look at us. We're in the papers taking the shine of the Celtic wankery shown the in papers over the weekend. By slagging off your own supporters? You find that acceptable?

I actually think chosing this week was quite sensible, especially with our game off at the weekend and there being nothing Rangers related to talk about.

See comments in bold.

[Tontospal 1,116]

A better manager would not have won the UEFA Cup last season. A better manager did win the UEFA Cup Final last season - albeit with a better team/players. TBH, I .was extremely disappointed with Smith and the players in a one-off final. The best team certainly one but we never looked like winning at any time

It was Walters insistence on playing defencive football that got us to the final. With the team we had, doing anything different would have seen us crash out away to Bremen. Even playing negatively we were absolutely demolished for 90 mins and just scraped through somehow. A sad state of affairs when playing negative football is celebrated. Yes it got results but it was extremely embarassing at times. We kid ourselves on about being a big club when the only things bigf about us are our support and our history. Playing for and celebrating a 0-0 draw against anyone at Ibrox as was the case v Barca is something I hope I never witness again.

And it would be totally unjustifiable to sack Walter after last season. A bawhair away from a quad. I'll happily accept the argument that the negative tactics played a major role in us losing the spl, but if it wasnt for the fixture congestion it would have been easy street for us. There are several reasons/excuses why we didn't win the title but we blew it. It was in our hands and we blew it. The back to back defeats v celtc cost us the title and most probably any chance we had of winning the UEFA Cup. I do not believe that Smith is the best manager for Rangers. That may be unjustifiable for some but based on the quality of play since he returned, the lack of a consistent or positive style or formation and his absurd team selection and signings (Cuellar, Davis and Mendes apart) I think it is not as preposterous a view as you deem it to be.

The fact we didn't sign what was needed before Kaunas is, for me a mixture of poor scouting and Murray's reluctance to let us spend when it was needed. It was also poor management to go into the games with a substandard squad of players. Murray and Bain messed up yet again but the manager was also complicit, particularly as the squad we had available should have won comfortably.

If we had the team we managed to sign before the deadline for the Kaunas games we would've torn them apart. As they say if your auntie had balls she'd be your uncle. Although hindsight is a wonderful thing, lack of foresight in this case was unforgivable.

I also just can't get how we have no ambition in Europe when we had a run like we did last season. Can't grasp that one mate. The UEFA Cup Final is a consolation plate type tourney for teams outside the top 16 in the CL. So if anything we were the 18th best side in Europe last season behind celtc. Like the league we had our destiny in our own hands but blew it against Lyon at home. Getting in to the last 16 would have been a bigger achievement than losing the UEFA Cup Final. The lack of ambition relates to not strengthening the squad to ensure that we again qualified for the CL.

And perhaps you are right and perhaps he should have stayed quiet. But maybe his decision to do an interview with the Herald this week is an attempt to keep the limelight on the club when really, theres absolutely no reason to look at us. We're in the papers taking the shine of the Celtic wankery shown the in papers over the weekend. By slagging off your own supporters? You find that acceptable?

I actually think chosing this week was quite sensible, especially with our game off at the weekend and there being nothing Rangers related to talk about.

See comments in bold.

[Tontospal 1,116]

The same fans who stuck by him but who, if they had any real ambition for the club, should have demanded his sacking after losing to Kaunus.

Did you not listen to any radio phone-ins or browse any internet forums after the Kaunus game?

The majority of fans were demanding that Walter was sacked.

If that was the case then why is he still the manager?

Celtc and Hibs away have been our only decent performances this season IMO. Results in the league have generally been good but the performances have been dire.

The St Mirren game highlighted the deficiencies of the manager, coaches and players when we played the bottom of the table (IIRC) after a clear week courtesy of our early Euro exit. I would love to know what the training consisted of that week and how it translated to that inept performance.

[Tontospal 1,116]

One point at a time.

The squad we had last season was not good enough to get to the uefa cup final any other way than with defensive football. You might say its a sad state of affairs, but I'd say its doing what needs to be done to get the results. And Walter got us the results last season.

Yes we blew the league last season. But fatigue was an obvious issue. Who knows what could have been if we were fully fit for the last few weeks.

Walter's signing havent been outstanding, but there have been a good few gems in there too, like you said. Jury is still out on that one for me.

Again, I wil say that imo the main issue behind the lack of players for the Kaunas game was our poor scouting network and Murray's reluctance to give us the cash we needed for the players Walter wanted. Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing, but that doesnt detract from my point. We have (more or less) the team Walter wanted now. And that team would destroy Kaunas.

And your next argument is just pish imo! Last 16 bigger than the Uefa Cup final? That the shite timmy was coming out with last season.

The part of the interview that has been focused on in todays papers doesnt put walter in a good light amongst the fans, but thats been discussed in another thread on here. To see my views on it, please read there.

And for your other post saying that we've only had 2 good performances all season...disagree there too!

I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree then.

Perhaps my ambitions and demands for Rangers are a bit higher than yours although you will probably argue that mine are unrealistic.

I don't blame Smith for most of the bigger picture, that lies with Murray and his monkey Bain but 2 domestic cups in the last 3 years is nothing short of disgraceful. But his signings on the whole have been very poor and not represented value for money. As for the fatigue argument last season there were players like Buffel, Gow, Fleck and Furman who could have been used much more than they were. Smith didn't trust, rate or fancy them when IMO we would have won the title had these players been used whilst giving other key players a rest and also giving these guys an opportunity to prove themselves and make history.

As for your point about the UEFA Cup and the last 16. All I will say is how many fans went to Ibrox hoping that we lost to Lyon so we could have a crack at the UEFA Cup? Similarly I .don't know one Rangers fan who left Ibrox after that defeat and, although taking small consolation from the fact we were in the UEFA Cup, was glad that we had not made the last 16.

It was an achievement to get to the UEFA Cup Final although it was as much down to good luck as Smith's tactics but the sad fact remains that the top 16 of last season's European football were in the CL and the UEFA Cup remains a competition for also-rans in the previous season's national leagues and those not good enough to qualify from the CL group stages.

It might be the stuff that that lot came out with last season but it's true.

I also stick with my opininon that we have had 2 good performances this season - celtc and Hibs away.

Falkirk, Aberdeen and St Mirren away were poor whilst Hearts at home was decent and Kilmarnock and Motherwell at home also left a bit to be desired.

No point even mentioning Kaunus.

As I say my standards and ambitions may be unrealistic to many but a club of our size, history, infrastructure and support should be achieving so much more.

[radlord 24]

I thought we were pretty poor against Hibs away - their defence was appalling

[Tontospal 1,116]

One point at a time.

The squad we had last season was not good enough to get to the uefa cup final any other way than with defensive football. You might say its a sad state of affairs, but I'd say its doing what needs to be done to get the results. And Walter got us the results last season.

Yes we blew the league last season. But fatigue was an obvious issue. Who knows what could have been if we were fully fit for the last few weeks.

Walter's signing havent been outstanding, but there have been a good few gems in there too, like you said. Jury is still out on that one for me.

Again, I wil say that imo the main issue behind the lack of players for the Kaunas game was our poor scouting network and Murray's reluctance to give us the cash we needed for the players Walter wanted. Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing, but that doesnt detract from my point. We have (more or less) the team Walter wanted now. And that team would destroy Kaunas.

And your next argument is just pish imo! Last 16 bigger than the Uefa Cup final? That the shite timmy was coming out with last season.

The part of the interview that has been focused on in todays papers doesnt put walter in a good light amongst the fans, but thats been discussed in another thread on here. To see my views on it, please read there.

And for your other post saying that we've only had 2 good performances all season...disagree there too!

As for your point about the UEFA Cup and the last 16. All I will say is how many fans went to Ibrox hoping that we lost to Lyon so we could have a crack at the UEFA Cup? Similarly I .don't know one Rangers fan who left Ibrox after that defeat and, although taking small consolation from the fact we were in the UEFA Cup, was glad that we had not made the last 16.

Last 16 is not comparible to last 32 or whatever of the UEFA cup that we dropped into. We did not drop into the UEFA Cup Final. We had to further progress past some very good sides.

You are right it is not comparable. The last 16 of the CL sit at the top table whilst the last 32 of the UEFA Cup pick up the crumbs.

We may have got past some decent sides but that does not detract from the fact that it is better to qualify for the last 16 of the CL than the last 32 of the UEFA Cup regardless of what happens after that.

Smith is seen by many as a God yet IMO we were the 18th best side in Europe last season and this season we aren't even in the top 100/150/200?

That's not exactly progress and it is for that reason he should have been thanked for his efforts and replaced.