Leaderboard

have a very merry Christmas everyone

I really doubt that they are pissing themselves or are that they want a divided support. The board want success as much as the rest of the support. I doubt they look on us in the same way as Murray did. They'll be frustrated as everyone else and to try and paint them as the second coming of Murray isn't helpful and perhaps a sign that emotions are high. The one thing about yesterday's protests and recent statements is that nobody is coming up with proposed alternatives. Not one. If the directors walk away and withdraw their £22m loans (as at 30/6/24) where do the payments for next month's salaries come from? Who do the protesters want to take over? I don't think anyone denies that there hasn't been mismanagement but we have extremely limited resources to change things and there is nobody looking to take over from the current board. Frustrations are high but if change for the better is to be achieved, there needs to be a different approach and not done with meaningless platitudes.

FFS. The guy has been in the door less than 2 days and will still be in the early stages of his information gathering, and has also been dealing with the SFA on the VAR issue and you expect him to have something of substance and can already form an opinion that he hasn't got what we need?

I enjoyed last night's game, thought we pretty much controlled it from start to finish. I also think we need to remember we again played with a makeshift defence, who I thought did well. The much maligned Propper once again had a solid match, so much so that his injury is now a concern when a few weeks ago some might have thought it a relief. Nsiala looked very composed with the ball at his feet, he's clearly a ball playing defender. Time will tell if he's up to the more rigorous aspects of defending but he's certainly not a dud as had been suggested. Ridvan has done his best at right back, but the lack of a right footed player there was evident at times last night. Having to come inside every time and his inability to play a pass down the line was a real weakness. That said he's out of position and has done a job for us, so criticism of him is unfair. Raskin, Igamane and Cerny are our most important players currently. Cerny always provides an out ball, Raskin is bossing midfield, short passes, winning 50/50s and breaking up opposition attacks sounds is made to look simple, when it's not. Cerny's movement is underrated, watch him when we're out of possession and then again when we win it, he's always available, he finds space and stretches their defence creating space for others. His final ball isn't always right, but he's become very dangerous player. Big Hamza is fun to watch. I don't think i've seen a Rangers player strike a ball as sweetly and has powerfully since Albertz, he had a shot in the first half that is still stinging the Aberdeen keeper's hands this morning. I also think he's got an interesting temperament. You have to assume by now he's getting noised up by defenders, that prick Shinnie will certainly have tried. I've yet to see him look even mildly annoyed far less angry. There are comparisons to made with Morelos in terms of his strength, presence and growing affection from our support, but he looks to have a very different mindset. Time will tell if that's a good thing or not, I think it is but I might be wrong. Our lack of squad depth is still a problem, a glance at our bench last night really underlined that. For all Rangers deserve criticism for some of our away performances they deserve praise for our home ones too. Six goals scored in two matches at home, one conceded, with a defence that probably gave many of us nightmares when we first saw it picked. Credit where credit is due.

Merry Christmas to everyone, thanks to you all for continuing to support the site and forum. 👍😎❤️🎄

C'mon Cammy, we get you're really unhappy just now but the club can't win with you. Do you really expect the CEO to announce he'd welcome bids for Raskin and Igamane in the coming days? Would that lift team morale, get the Union Bears back onside, increase a player's value? You know that if the right bid comes in for any of our players we'll sell. Stewart knows that, Clement knows that, the players know that and their agents know that. What the right amount might be is open to speculation. You're now taking up a contrary position on every subject, whatever the club say or do you oppose it. It's a shame and it makes this forum harder to read.

You could make a credible case for 7 or 8 of yesterday's side. Hagi had his best match for us I thought, fair play to him as i'm not his biggest fan, but he was excellent. I thought both centre halves were immaculate, Sterling playing another unfamiliar position looked like he could make that berth his own. Both full backs were pivotal to our game plan and both were very good, our keeper had a strong match, his distribution was eye-catching and saving what needed saved. Bajrami and Igamane did the secret work, ensuring both McGregor and the Japanese midfielder weren't options for Celtic when they had possession, ensuring it was their centre backs who had to try and start their moves. Cerny worked hard all match, he could have had 2 goals with a bit more luck, I was celebrating the one that hit the post for a while before I realised it hadn't gone in. But for me the game was won in midfield. Diomande was elegant in possession, spinning and turning away from danger, supporting the attack and protecting the defence, always available for a pass. Raskin though was my man of the match. Controlled energy, aggression when needed, wonderful anticipation, tenacity and his run and back heel for our first was sublime. A captain's performance.

Frohes Fest to you all. Hope everyone has a few peaceful days with family and/or friends! An impression from yesterday's (annual) Christmas singing at our ground

Happy Christmas to all Gersnetters!

Dessers' goal was great entertainment. I knew he would score when he came on. Despite that nothing beats watching him getting into a great position and trying everything he knows to miscontrol the ball before an inexplicable good finish.

PS hat tip to the Union Bears, who not only sang for the entire 90 minutes while the rest of our support was quite subdued but the booing of the subway loyal was very funny. For me, if you want to protest, that's how to to do it.

Rangers were very good tonight and could easily have scored half a dozen. Enjoyed the game. C'mon The Gers

£7 million for Igamane looks on the low side at the moment. He's got tremendous potential and other clubs should be able to see that. It is a gamble as Cammy points out, but one criticism aimed at the club over the past 8 years is that we've sold players at a lower amount than other clubs appear to be able to do. The opposite argument regarding Morelos and Kent also applies so it's a difficult line to get right. I'd hope our CEO with his experience would be able to judge it better than perhaps we've done in the past.

I really don't know what some amongst our support expected , given what we all know , the ridiculously bad player trading under Beale and GVB , we simply cant bin managers every time . I really liked and am glad that at long last there is going to be an in depth external review of our entire football operations , god , how many times have we said that the clubs a shambles etc etc , well now hopefully we get this done and find out exactly what's going wrong and sort it . What would be the point in sacking PC , finding out that there were fundamental flaws and that there was nothing he could have done about it , also remember the amount of players that he still has been left with that need shifted , Dessers , Matondo , Lawrence , Dowell ,also the youth players that are obviously not going to feature , Lowry , Devine ,King etc This season is a write off , we wont win the league , we wont finish 3rd , we need to give the new CEO and Chairman a chance to sort things out internally . We are heading , albeit slowly in the right direction imho.

I actually thought what he said was quite measured and covered most of the issues that concern the fans. Most of what he said has been said by people on here. Good to know about the external review and that Clement basically has a stay of execution which is fair given the circumstances he is working in.

I thought what he said sounded good. It's unrealistic to expect that he's got all the answers immediately. My main issue is that we have heard most of it in the past as well, and there's been a failure to deliver. Hopefully he's got both the ability and the power to deliver.

The longest serving manager in the Scottish top flight is Derek McInness, he's been in his post for 3 years and 4 days. He's currently the only manager who has served more than 3 years in their job. Indeed only 2 managers, McInness and Robinson at St Mirren, have been in their jobs for more than 2 years, every other manager has spent less than 2 years in their job. The desire for instant success isn't just reserved for Rangers supporters. Willie Waddell never won a league title as Rangers manager, his successor, Jock Wallace, took 3 seasons to win his first. We live in different times now, Rangers managers were given time back then, a chance to build something, to fail, but learn and come back stronger. We gave Gerrard time, he made progress, but came up short twice, but we stuck by him and it paid off. As frustrating as last night, and many times this season, have been, I'm not convinced the answer is to rip it up and start again. At times we've been brilliant this season, at times we've been dire. Our domestic away form is very poor, unacceptably poor, we should be much closer to Celtic than we are. The manager deserves criticism for that. Personally, I'm giving him this season, despite results. I do think he's building something, I do think the basis of a good side is there. The thought of firing Clement, and all his backroom team, and then appointing someone else to manage players he didn't sign and with a very limited budget to change that depresses me. We've tried that already.

How much do you think naming rights for Ibrox would bring in? It's reported Scottish Gas pay slightly over £2 million a year for Murrayfield. I don't think we'd get as much as that, for various reasons. I'd be surprised if this hasn't been looked at already. I don't think I'd be happy knowing the ground was now known as the BetFred Stadium or similar, because that's the type of company who'd be interested. Criticism of the board is fair enough, mistakes have been made. Stepping back and trying to be dispassionate, if that's possible, then I think we have a good manager in charge, as good as our budget will allow. I'm comfortable with the Chairman appointment and we've brought in a CEO with extensive football experience and an understanding of the peculiarities of Scotland. I'm also relatively happy with our most recent recruitment, it's been better than previous seasons. So I'm willing to see how this plays out now. We're not going to challenge for the league this season, we don't have the players, that's clear to anyone who has watched us. We can give them a bloody nose though, so the Scottish Cup and Europe remain for us. Similar recruitment next summer and things might look very different next season. I'm willing to wait and see on that, accepting the frustrations this season is bringing. Lastly, Celtic have spent big recently, yet are still relying on 3 Japanese players their old manager knew of and Callum McGregor who has been at the club forever. There recent signiongs have been expensive and average. This talk of Tierney signing for them doesn't worry me. He's a good player but his injury record makes Tom Lawrence look like the Incredible Hulk, he'll command a very big salary and he'll have zero value when his contract is up. Perhaps they can afford that type of player, time will tell.

It's worth pointing out that only 2 players who started the 3-3 draw last season, Clement's only other match against them at Ibrox, started yesterday (Sterling and Diomande). While it's likely Butland, Tav and Soutter would have started if fit, even that underlines the amount of change our squad has gone through in 12 months. Change does take time, whether we like it or not. Also worth remembering that Celtic brought on Engles and Idah yesterday, who they purchased for a combined fee of £20 million in the summer. That's more than our entire starting 11 cost. Lastly Jefte, Bajrami, Kelly, Cerny, Igamane and the much maligned Propper all started yesterday, all summer signings, plus Diomande. We criticise our recruitment, but it looked good yesterday. One swallow and all that, I accept there's little point in beating Celtic if we lose to St Mirren. Our away form isn't good and we're really struggling to breakdown very defensive sides, something we need to to do if we're to compete over a season. But i've seen enough to believe that Clement knows what he's doing and given time, and a bit of luck, he can create a squad that will put in a serious challenge, not just lift themselves for the glamorous matches.

Clement is here for the long term, we must know that, accepting it is a different matter. This team is still a project, unless Stewart has other ideas?! In terms of money generation from football performance, you could argue Clement is ahead of schedule, mainly down to the success, thus far, in the Europa league. The risk of changing manager is obvious. Not only could we continue to lag well behind the beasts domestically, but we could also find ourselves struggling to do well in Europe. I don't think that is a risk worth taking given our financial situation. The vision for the Rangers hierarchy is to become financially sustainable - primarily through player trading - and I would assume they feel that we don't necessarily need to win the league to achieve that, but that it will come when we are able to properly generate income and thus properly invest behind the squad. Short term, unfortunately, we have to suffer the journey. The days of changing manager to chase short term success are over. Lose on Thursday, and ordinarily we would have Clement chased out the door. Supporters may try to protest, but any attempts will be futile. Season ticket money is a guarantee with the waiting list what it is. Merchandise will continue to be sold, and night will follow day. However, long suffering fans will continue to hope (for the first couple of months of each season) and next season is another opportunity. For now, we have all to play for in Europe, and I'm trying to keep the dying embers of my passion glowing as long as possible.

I remember doing an article on the Boumsong sale, praising his agent Willie McKay. We used the cash to buy Kyrgiakos, Barry and Buffel in the winter window and result was the never-to-be forgotten Helicopter Sunday.

We should try to keep Igamane for another 18 months. His impact on the team is too important. The rest of the players will play better with him in the team than with Dessers. The only exception is if we get some more good results in Europe and somebody wants to bid £15m+.

This time last year Clement was doing fine. This season he has not done very well at all. Is that him or the material at his disposal? Too many players are mentally weak. There is not one thrawn bugger in the entire squad and you need two on the field. I can’t remember the last such. Ryan Jack was the nearest. No new manager is going to do any better . He’ll face the same problem until better players are found so sack him and where does the payoff money come from? Others will have to go too because a new man will want his own hangers on then there’s the question of compensation to whichever club the new chap is poached from. Easy, some will say. There are managers out of work. Get one of them. But they’re out of work for a reason. They’re duffers, in which case we don’t want them or they choose to be idle pending a lucrative vacancy which rules out Rangers. Nobody is accepting or celebrating second best just because they accept reality.

Probably not - everyone couldn't wait to kick him out the door. Only I remained faithful.

We wanted Murray replaced and ended up with Whyte and Green. The "replace them" message isn't helpful when the likelihood is replacing them with someone worse for the club and is not interested in "keeping the lights on". Keeping the lights on is a fairly major point and the alternatives are to sell players and vastly reduce the wage bill and therefore the squad quality, which is the easy answer and may end up having to be the solution as you are correct in that it can't go on indefinitely, but kudos to the board for delaying the inevitable as long as they can. Yes, we all want better players on the park and better in the board room but we don't have any quick fixes. In terms of external debt we owed around £3m to Premier Division Support Fund and under £1m to a bank. Just asking for a replacement board, who would probably be worse for our club and may end up selling players or selling the ground, is dangerous. Be careful what you wish for.

I attended yesterday's proceedings at Ibrox with no expectation and no hope. Walking to the ground reminded me of my start to my intermediate academic week some fifty-five years past. I began each Monday morning with triple Latin, a double period after Assembly was followed by morning break then another forty minutes of 'o me miserum'. My Latin master was Danny Sutherland, a genuine Polyglot, he taught Latin, Greek, Russian and, Arabic. His recreation was utilising other tongues, the four at the end of the Lochgelly extra heavy were particular favourites. Mea culpa, me maxima culpa. Triple Latin was a dread, better to get in and take your punishment knowing you would feel better once it was over. Approaching the Stadium, I was lamenting Noon kick-offs. Normally, it would be over at two thirty and the process of emotional betterment could begin. What transpired was a growing feeling of being able to compete. We dominated, had 24 attempts on goal, scored three and, generally battered the Establishment club. I was transported back to the early seventies when we sang, 'who put the ball in the Sellik net, Alfie, Alfie'; securing a last minute Ne'erday victory. I was elated. Last minute singing should have been the thing but that element within our support had other ideas. Throwing coins at the £11 million Belgian fud as he prepared to take a corner was a considered better idea. Striking Arnie on the cheek bone deflects, it changes the post match narrative and, allows the Yahoos something to hang on to. Since the League Cup final, the usual suspects have queued up to tell us, "you have nothing". Latin for nothing is 'nihil' and like most Latin words it can be extrapolated to greater significance - 'the absence of anything'. Why do they persist with unconsidered actions that detract from the greater Rangers joy? If they want to dispose of ten quid, then deposit the coins in a bucket and help our well skint club. I implore the club to identify and deal with the culprits in draconian fashion. Then, we can remind Peter of his stated intension of 24 years past to indentify and deal with the Yahoo that struck Fernando Ricksen on the head with a lighter.

In the 7 games we’ve played Celtic under Clement as manager there’s only been one really bad defeat, the 3-0 game earlier this season. Only 2 have been at ibrox( a 3-3 draw and todays 3-0 win) Two have been controversial cup finals at Hampden with dubious refereeing which we lost Perhaps we’re not as far away from them as some would have you believe. I think PC’s biggest challenge is playing teams in the SPFL who ‘sit in’ against us & try to hit us on the break. Totally different from todays game.

Merry Christmas to you all. Wishing you peace and joy 💙

Merry Christmas Gersnetters 🎅 🎄

Elsewhere you deny having predicted a third place finish behind Aberdeen so we must take you at your word although my recollection had been remarkably similar to @buster.’s. You must disabuse yourself of the notion that people celebrate coming second. There were times when third place did look a possibility. Grudging relief is not celebration

I don't like to toot my own horn but I did mention Aberdeen's xG being atrocious a few months back and that they were therefore due a bad run...

What is happening now is exactly what needs to happen. Board take a step back, employ someone else to run the club and let them take full accountability. A financial reset in terms of the playing squad was also needed. We just need to suck it up and take the pain while we transition. What is key to this is that the board actually do step back and don't get involved in the day to day running. Under Parks reign we sleepwalked into a spiralling wage bill and scattergun recruitment. That works fine if you can outspend everyone else like we did in the 90's but its not the 90's. We also need to accept that we are not a club who can hold on to players. If a bid comes in for someone who's been here for 2-3 years and its making us a good profit, or maybe in some cases getting our money back then we do it and move on to the next. There are no Ally McCoist's and Richard Goughs that want to stay here for most of their playing days. They want to use it as a stepping stone after a couple of years then go play for a Fulham or Brentford. We will likely be looking to move Raskin on in the summer if his form continues and contract runs down and that's exactly how it should be. It will likely be a modest fee but probably more than we paid. I expect many of the support will find this unpalatable but we need to get used to this as a fanbase.

Careful what you wish for. We won't want his stifling brand of football.

What is the protest trying to achieve? It says that they want "accountability, ambition and leadership". That's very generic. I'm not sure what they want the directors to do. Bring in new directors? Sell up? Take way their finance and loans? I don't know what exactly they are wanting. As for the RSA, they appear to be faceless these days. No mention of who their office holders on their website or twitter as far as I can see. Changed days from when John McMillan and John Donald ran it extremely well for many years. It's an organisation that doesn't have individual members so it's a bit more difficult for people to know who to aim their thoughts at. People are entitled to leave when they want, either on 55th minute or part of the subway loyal, but should be aware that it's impacting the team when they do so....in the same way as the actions of an organisation that costs the club tens of thousand of pounds in a year in fines does.

Reading the entire press conference vindicates why I said "no" to sacking Clement just now.

Thanks for putting all this up for us

Easy to say. I didn’t hear too many people saying they were bad appointments at the time. And one even got us to a European final. Don’t forget too SG got 3 years to win something. The 3 managers since then haven’t been as fortunate

I will be a Rangers fan until my last breath but I have to be honest and say that my love affair with the wider world of football is waning on a season by season basis. Rangers current woes only exacerbate my current apathy with the game. I'm now hearing that Sean Dyche is the current favourite to replace Clement. OK, this maybe speculation but even at that, the very thought of dipping into the Jurassic age for a potential new manager is extremely depressing. When everything went tits up in 2012, Rangers had an opportunity to create something amazing and new. Something that was sustainable. Something with fresh ideas. In our rush to simply reclaim our spot as the premier team in a 2 horse race we lacked vision on all fronts. The club should have been a pioneer for progression (on and off the park) and hurtled into the 21st Century with a bang. Instead we tried to recycle the same old shit from our recent past and merely hoped it would suffice. The Celtic fans continually go on about the current Rangers as being a tribute act. For once I agree with them as that is exactly what we are.

The English of everybody living in Glasgow gets worse over time.

In my view Clement is the symptom not the cause of where we are just now. Until we get changes upstairs to allow new investment it doesn’t matter who the manager is. But that will mean boardroom changes & maybe existing shareholders selling up. We need to get away from building a team of bosmans and low cost bargains who are too often found wanting.

Have you looked in your spam folder. Someone's vote may have "accidentally" gone there.

Never know if we don't play him

All this talk about Evans at 37 possibly coming in as a short term loan reminds me of a certain Davie Weir who did likewise at the same age. It’s not very forward thinking or reducing squad age but sometimes these moves turn out to be astute.

Definitely. I'd rather throw Nsiala or King in for a couple of games.

I hereby ban myself from attending, or watching another Rangers game.

Not all season ticket holders want to go to all the matches which is disgraceful. They should pledge to attend every match, only a medical certificate will excuse. Business, holidays, mother’s day, nativity play, school sports - forget it. Close family funeral - maybe but just the once. Perhaps holders could nominate a substitute to turn up when the holders themselves have lost hope or simply can’t be bothered. All holders who post on this Board are exempt from this criticism but a couple of wobblers should watch their step.

Merry Christmas to all fellow bears.

What’s this? Where are the pitchforks and burning torches and calls for a siege of Hampden? Seriously, that approach is entirely right. It’s unanswerable. Collum has already thrown his fellow bhoys under a ‘bus. The only problem is that there’s probably a large pool of bhoys from which to fish out replacements.

Why is Ewen insulting the officials? I am confident they know the rules.

People make unkind and unfounded remarks about the size of my ears but jings, look at the lugs on that. Spockian I thought he spoke pretty well. Interviews like that are never going to be highly successful. The trick is to avoid ridicule and he managed that. Good luck to the lad.