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My formative years following Rangers were like many of us I expect. Catching 'football specials' to Paisley and Dundee, standing outside a pub you were too young to enter while waiting for a supporter's bus, you and a mate deciding at 1.30 on a Saturday you'd go to the game that afternoon and not worrying about tickets or anything like that. Scottish football was different then. The football was better, a better standard of player overall, much more competitive, with some genuinely world class managers pitting their wits against each other on a much more level playing field than we have today. The grounds though were terrible. While nostalgia brings a rose tinted memory of standing on terraces across the country, feeling the involuntary sway of the crowd, trying to find your way back to your pals if you left to visit what passed for the toilet, often little more than holes in the ground. Good time, but in truth many were crumbling death traps, we were literally treated like animals, herded, shouted at, regularly attacked and demonised by the media and popular culture, how more people weren't seriously injured, or worse, is simply down to luck. Add to this Dickensian picture the fact that Rangers weren't very good. I hear the cries of anger about our current state and remember back to when I was a teenager, watching clubs like Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, even Hearts for a spell, dominate us, far less Celtic. For various reasons we simply didn't have a good enough team. John Grieg, perhaps our greatest ever player, was unable to rebuild an aging but very successful side (why is a debate for another day), his successor, Jock Wallace, was a giant of a manager, the man who'd stopped the greatest Celtic side of all time, who'd delivered two trebles. Even he couldn't sustain a challenge and against a backdrop of massive industrial decline, high unemployment, social unrest and a city that was covered in soot, slowly being demolished and left to rot our Rangers side was devoid of class, of guile and of hope. Davie Cooper, our only true spark of brilliance was disillusioned and out of form, Bobby Russell and Robert Prytz simply weren't at the level we needed, as popular as they were. This was my Rangers, they'd last won the league when I was 8, I was barely aware of it. Rangers were also rans, workmanlike players struggled and and fought but were regularly bettered. I didn't really know any different. Against this background a waif was introduced to the side. I use that word deliberately, Durrant was neither tall nor strong, he genuinely looked like he was about 14 years old, in truth he was 18, so not much older. His sprite like appearance was accentuated by a shock of long curly hair, fashionable at the time, but unusual on a Rangers player, our team seemed to made up of guys for who fashion was something to be avoided, like winning trophies... He seemed to come from nowhere, his friend, Derek Ferguson, had been known to most of us since he was a schoolboy. He'd made his debut at 16, our youngest ever if memory serves correctly, he's featured in countless Rangers News features and as a support we were anticipating his greatness, but Durrant seemed to appear from stage left, unheralded and without fanfare. It was a side that featured many home grown players; Kenny Black, Hugh Burns, Dave McPherson, Robert Fleck were all regulars, some of who we had high hopes for. Durrant looked the least likely to succeed, and yet he very quickly showed us what we'd been missing. His speed of thought was only matched by his sureness of touch. Stamina made up for his lack of strength and he was fearless when facing tackling that was encouraged in those days but would see you banned for months now. The bigger the stage the greater he shone. I'd been waiting for Ian Durrant my whole life without realising it. As an ugly, lanky, spotty teenager with no patter and even less confidence here was someone who seemed to have everything I didn't and he was pulling on the the light blue or Rangers too. The media had fixated on Celtic's young 'stars'; Charlie Nicolas, Paul McStay, Peter Grant, but now we had someone who was more than their match. He cemented his immortality for me in two games against Celtic. The first Old Firm at Ibrox under Souness when he read a revitalised Davie Cooper weaving run and flick to bury the winner past Bonnar in front of the Copland Road. Rangers were back, and this time it was for real. Later he dominated a League Cup Final against Celtic, scoring our first and running the game against a very good Celtic side. There was a moment when Celtic were attacking, the ball was half cleared and fell to Durrant inside our box, instead of hoofing it first time into the stand, he let it roll through his legs, catching it with his heel while turning quickly, suddenly he was facing away from our goal, with every Celtic attacker wrong footed and we were on the attack. It was a sublime moment, one I expect most present have long forgotten, but I never will. It was a moment of skill perfectly executed in the most brutal of fields, a slip or error would have left us exposed and probably a goal down. We need not worry, we were in the presence of greatness, if only for a short time. I had never been in awe of a Rangers player like this before. I could write more, but most probably know how his career was derailed. In truth despite some great moments, he never regained his previous levels. But for a few years in the bleak 1980s nothing shone as brightly as Ian Durrant.

I've not seen it mentioned but for the Dundee Utd goal watch the foul on Diomande as the ball comes in. As everyone else is saying delighted with that result. Our vulnerability at crosses will remain until Balogun or Souttar return, in the meantime we just need to get on with it. He didn't take the headlines but Igamane is a joy to watch. His touches and turns are sublime and he almost guarantees at least one nutmeg a game. Winning is the most important thing but it's nice to be entertained too, to admire skill for skill's sake. What a finish from Dessers, 5 goals in 3 games, happy for him to shut up critics like me. As for the sending off, it's hard to look at it and not see bias. The hand ball too, deliberate or not he's bouncing the ball with his hand and yet that's not a penalty it seems.

I appreciate this is all speculation and must be treated with a pinch of salt, although at first glance there does seem to be some substance to it. I can see the attraction of it to our current board. They're getting no thanks currently, a significant and vocal percentage of our support are quite critical of them and they face further seasons of managed decline, or downsizing at least, with little prospect of that changing short term. Most of them invested with their hearts, I imagine their heads are wondering if that was the right decision now. So this opportunity, if it is is realised, might be very attractive to quite a number of our significant shareholders. Personally it's not how I want to see Rangers owned. I'm naturally wary of any business with the words 'venture capitalist' anywhere near them. I've worked with a number of companies over the years who welcomed investment from venture capitalists but later regretted it. They want a return, that's all that matters to them, it's all about turning a profit. How anyone expects to make a profit out of Scottish football is beyond me. I worry that the plan is to make us a step in a pyramid, a pyramid that will almost certainly have an English side at its apex. That's where the potential to make money lies, so it makes sense that's where the focus is. This group have no love for Rangers. They have no sense of our history, our rivalries, what's important to us, our position in the culture here and our demands and expectations. We'll be an asset, a brand to hawk, a page on a ledger. Someone decried our club as being like a bowling club recently. Perhaps, but at least there's some accountability around a bowling club committee, they need to walk and live among us. I do accept that they won't want to destroy the club, not deliberately at least. They might introduce good governance, new ideas, fresh investment and indeed some success on the park, it's entirely possible. I suspect, not for the first time, I'll be in the minority on this. It's just not how I think football clubs should be owned and run. They're not 'normal' businesses, the emotion tied up with a club precludes it from those 'rules'. In America a club is viewed as a franchise, to be bought, sold and moved for a greater return. That's not how European football is. I hate what's happening to football in England. Clubs are losing what made them great, they're becoming sanitised, tourist versions of their old selves. The same clubs in name only.

Just seen Scotty Arf has a hattrick today, his second Falkirk debut. Delighted for him.

Becoming the Gray man. On my first morning at Sandhurst, I filed into a lecture theatre to hear the Commandant's opening address. It was several minutes of advice on how to survive the ten month long course. He finished by emphasising the first ten weeks was a period not to shine, "do not stand out and attract the attention of Directing Staff, be a grey man". Two or three weeks later you realised the Brigadier was being sage, the first half semester was deliberately designed to be overwhelming. Just endure the pressure. This time last year, the Scottish Secretary for Health, Michael Matheson had resigned his position after being caught attempting to claim eleven grand on his expenses incurred during a family holiday to Morocco. Michael was watching his beloved Sellik on his Government issued laptop and did not give a flying for the roaming charges. Michael's mea culpa came in gradations, finally agreeing to pay back the monies claimed before throwing both his teenage schoolboy sons under the bus. These last thirty years, PQ has broadcast a satirical football show twice a week, 'Off the Ball'. One would expect the Michael Matheson affair was manna from heaven for regular Presenters, RAB Cosgrove and Tam Cowan? There were three or four one liners aimed at Michael's grift but, no sustained bombardment of ridicule ensued. The Secretary for Health chose to watch his team and then decided to attempt to denude the Health budget to pay for the pleasure and the Establishment broadcaster took little to no satirical action against a supporter of the Establishment club. Peter would not like it. Two months past a submitted FOI request revealed Michael's successor in the Health designation, Neal Gray had taken nine Chauffeur driven ministerial cars to Aberdeen games at Hampden and Sellik park. Further, another four had been utilised for home Scotland internationals. Neal Gray assured Holyrood that government related meetings had taken place and necessary minutes had been taken. Neal admitted family and friends had accompanied him in said vehicles. Continuing the precedent set by Michael, Neal's mea culpa arrived with an admittance he should have diversified the club attendance and he cannot locate the afore mentioned minutes. Another open goal for 'Off the Ball', surely? Not a peep and over these last ten weeks RAB Cosgrove has been on a sickie(more to follow follow later). We have endured several stand-ins, mostly Plastic Whistle lovee, Ray Bradshaw. Others have included Susie McCabe(Sellik), Mark Nelson(Queen of the South), Marc Jennings(Sellik) and, Paul English(Sellik) - you can see an equitable divide between Yahoos and supporters of the diddy teams. A second successive Health Secretary rips off his own Department's budget in a specific Scottish football circumstance and the national broadcaster's satirical football show deliberately ignores the entire episode. Why are they allowed to sit so comfortably with their preferred prejudice? I started this piece on a personal basis and will conclude likewise. Back in early autumn, the Health Secretary attended an Alzheimer's Disease Seminar for two hours. The idea being all those involved ie health professionals, sufferers, relatives of sufferers, administrators, charity workers, ...... etc come together to relate experiences. A good idea and well done Neal Gray agreeing to attend. I have an aged Aunt, now in her ninetieth year and has been a top floor resident in a Care Home for over three years. She resides on the top floor because of a five year long Alzheimers diagnosis. Genuinely, I took note of this Seminar and was disgusted that the Health Secretary spent over an hour viewing his mobile I-Phone, monitoring his progress in the queue for Oasis tickets. Becoming the grey man is now trumped by becoming the Gray man.

Rangers twitter tonight is bonkers. People losing the plot over our lack of business. Don't they ever listen to what is being said?

Don Robertson recommends an on-field review as he felt Dio was pushed and any subsequent contact was negligible so not of excessive force. Walsh disagreed. Difficult to comprehend but I'm sure Willie Collum will have it review anonymously and do nothing. An utter embarrassment.

I moved to Holland in 1980 and at that time there was no internet as we now have. The only way I could hear a game was by radio from the BBC. The only radio I had that I could hear the game was in the car. it was an AM channel and every time it got exciting the signal seemed to disappear. I had something like "And Laudrup crosses the ball"and then crack crack crack, silence. i had to wait until the signal came back, and I could learn if the score was still the same. i remember I was sitting in the car and my neighbour came out of his house to walk the dog. Just at that moment it sounded like Rangers could score and then no signal. I was battering my hand against the dashboard in frustration. He walked past the car, looking at me as if I was mad. Sitting in the car without the engine running, having a fit. He must have thought I was off my head.

Late news Scotty has gone back to fis first club----Falkirk wish him luck.

Findlay Curtis Signs Contract Extension https://www.rangers.co.uk/Article/findlay-curtis-signs-contract-extension/3gOERHYUUwYcuv2balxzKB

I went for Tav. He was roasted twice early on by their wide player who had an excellent match (and I learn is subject to a £50 million bid from Chelsea currently) but grew into the game as the first half went on. His cross for Ridvan's chance was vintage Tav. But my vote is based on his second half performance. Playing centre half he barely put a foot wrong despite having a midfield in front of him made up of children. His searching ball for Desser's goal was literally inch perfect. It was a captain's performance. He's been criticised this season, rightly at times, but he did everything he could last night. Propper had an excellent game as well.

Gutted to get nothing out of that game. Credit to the players for staying in the game for so long.

I'd take a draw right now if offered.

There's a complete denial amongst some of our fans regards our financial position versus theirs, the gap is way, way bigger than it was even in their biscuit tin days. And the avenues open to us to close that gap are disappearing. 55 masked it for a bit, due to us having a brilliant season, and them having an absolute retard as a manager. I loved Boyd as a player, but I avoid listening to him as a pundit, he's a roaster.

That's because I am an angry old man. (Not) sorry if you have an issue with that. And stop exaggerating, it's more like 95%.

It's hard to be anything other than emotional after a result like that. Months, indeed years, of frustration rise to the top and spill out. Players, management, directors, owners and indeed other supporters are to blame. People need sacked, someone, anyone. The need for blood is a given. In January 1967 Rangers lost to Berwick Rangers in the Scottish Cup, until yesterday a match regarded by many as our worst defeat in the tournament. By 1967 Rangers hadn't won the league for 3 years, and it would be another 8 years before we won it again. In total we went 11 years without a title, from 1964 to 1975, difficult times to be a bluenose I imagine. There was a demand for blood after the Berwick defeat. Jim Forrest and George McLean were dropped and never played for the club again, both left the club permanently within a few weeks. It was a difficult season for Rangers in 67. We reached the final of the Cup Winners Cup, a match Jim Forrest would almost certainly have started in had we not sold him a few months before. We lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich, playing the match with a centre half up front. Celtic won the treble and the European Cup. Manager, Scott Symon, had credit in the bank after 13 years at the club, but he was gone by November. We'd appoint 3 more managers before we won the league again. The manager who finally took us to the league title again was Jock Wallace, who was in goal for Berwick that day. Wallace is unfairly maligned as an old-school blood and thunder manager. In actual fact he was a tactician and a genius with psychology. It took Wallace 3 seasons to finally win the league. He recognised that what Rangers lacked was mental, not physical. The players didn't believe they could win so he took them to a beach in East Lothian and made then run up and down the sand dunes until they were sick. Afterwards he told them they were now the fittest side in the country and they believed him. It was nonsense, but that doesn't matter, the mental barrier had been broken. Rangers won 3 titles in the next 4 seasons. Wallace left and we wouldn't win the league again for another 9 seasons. Sometimes it's difficult being a bluenose. Yesterday is still raw. That will pass and we'll realise the Queen's keeper had the game of his life, he saved 5 goal bound shots, plus one was headed off the line. We'll realise they had one shot on target and it went in.Defenders and keeper need to look at themselves. We'll also realise our captain failed to convert a penalty. Under pressure, knowing not scoring would see us lose, knowing not scoring would pile untold pressure on the players, knowing not scoring might cost the management team their jobs. He didn't score. I wonder how much of our problems are mental, not physical.

I can't believe the ineptitude I have just watched. Not one player gets pass marks. Unforgiveable.

When we were 3-0 up and cruising. Was never gonna be when we were drawing in the final minute of the game.

Unbelievable. It was a tougher set of fixtures than Celtic had.

Absolutely not. was right guy at right time, but not for now. Doubt he would work with such a restricted budget the same way Clement has. Sad to see it hasn't worked out for him but we need to move forward.

This referee has the chance to correct a wrong at the time, he chose not to he has been overruled by his bosses but why is he not facing a two game ban for incompetency .

Walsh will be up before the beaks for that. The beaks will tell Walsh that his intention was good but it should have been more discreetly put into effect and preferably much earlier in the match. Undisclosed penances.

You can say that again.

The issue most have with Dessers isn't just around his goalscoring. My biggest issue with Dessers is the rest of his game. He's really poor at holding the ball up, for a big, powerful man he seems easy to bully, he can't play with his back to goal and he's not fast so running the channels isn't an option. The biggest difference between him and Igamane is watching Igamane take the ball in when cleared from defence, he can hold it up, lay it off or create enough of a nuisance that he'll be fouled. The formation we play that's essential in our main forward. That's not something Dessers does well. Kris Boyd had similar deficiencies in his game, he guaranteed goals over a season, but only that.

I think I have mentioned this before? The Sultans of Oman are absolute monarchs, best described as benevolent despots. During 1988, the incumbent was Qaboos bin Said and he was particularly benevolent. After attending Sandhurst in the early 60s, he served for three years in Lanarkshire's regiment, the Cameronians. In the late 70s, he financed the construction of the Royal Military Academy's olympic sized swimming pool. When you enter the building you are reminded of his benevolence by the life sized oil portrait of the Sultan replete in Cameronian number one dress. The border between Oman and Yeman remains largely undefined. These last sixty years, the Sultans have been conducting a Hearts and Minds exercise based on both education and health. Concurrently, well financed paramilitaries within Yemen have been conducting an insurgency of low intensity to run interference on schools and clinics. The Sultan's counter is a grouping of controlled patrols protecting said centres and the necessary supply lines. He prefers the Company and Battalion designations to be commanded by British officers. Thus, in August'88 I was leading a patrol company on a ten day visitation to villages and hamlets. The purpose was to ensure a couple of Kiwi nurses achieved access to conduct vaccinations and well women clinics(effects of female circumcision - don't ask). On the fifth evening we left a village and headed several klicks to a wadi with the intent to establish an overnight patrol harbour. I knew Rangers had played ra Yahoos that afternoon at Ibrox but, had maintained professional discipline. After stand-to I returned to my basher and asked my signals Sgt to rig a whip antennae knowing I was being unprofessional. It was silent hours and I tuned to the BBC World Service for the wonderful Paddy Feeny's football roundup. The desert revealed a starry, starry night and I listened as Paddy enthusiastically narrated, "all the action from the game of today at Ibrox". The ensuing five minutes were torture as Paddy played a sequence of 15-20 second commentary sections. He began with, "we were treated to a six goal thriller" and promptly followed with the commentary of McAvennie notching the first goal. I thought we have lost six nil. The next two commentary clips revealed we had secured a 2-1 half time lead. The descrition of Ray Wilkins 25 yard volley had me screaming, SILENTLY! When we scored our third, my thought was it will finish 3-3. When Mark Walters ran the fifth, I was in the Derry, the East Enclosure, the District Bar, ................ doing the bouncy whilst silently screaming. It will always remain the warmest of memories given the circumstances, even a cold scoff of tinned pilchards did not diminish my cheerfulness at cuffing ra Yahoos 5-1. It was another month and a return to Muscat before I saw video highlights.

My wife is Anglo Indian (but a Yank). Her old man is 91, still runs his engineering business, but because we spend all our time between Atlanta and London, this was the only time I could find to visit, she had been there for a month before I got there. I'm in Delhi now, flying back in about 8 hours. Then off on a work trip, then off on a birthday holiday for the big 60

On the criticism the board are currently getting. How many of us thought Clement was a poor appointment when he was announced? How many of us thought Beale was a poor appointment when he was announced? What about Gio? I was quite pleased when GvB was announced as Gerrard's successor. As disappointed as I was when Gerrard left I thought the club had found an able replacement. He'd a connection to the club, had won a title in Holland and started pretty well when he first joined. The games the led to Seville will last a long, long time in the memory. I wasn't pushing for his sacking when it came, but most were, results were poor and performances too. It wasn't a surprise when it happened. Beale looked like the ready made replacement. He knew the club, had been part of Gerrard's success, was rumoured to be the brains behind it all and was keen to rejoin us. Again, at first he seemed an inspired appointment. The side started playing attractive football, January signings, Cantwell and Raskin, looked like big improvements to the squad and we went into the close season with genuine hope. For me it was apparent something was very wrong quite early on in the new season, I remember leaving the Olympiacos pre-season game very concerned about our set-up, style and new signings. His sacking, when it came, was a relief, for whatever reason the early promise had disappeared and change was needed. Clement was an unknown to me. No previous connection to the club or indeed Scottish football but with a decent track record in management including titles in Belgium. Once again his initial impact was good, for a while it looked like we might even win the league, something that looked impossible when he joined. Ultimately we didn't, falling to almost inexplicable defeats at Ross County and Dundee. We lost the Cup Final too, harsh refereeing going against us. The summer saw an exit of some familiar names, most of who the support felt had run their course, replaced by players largely unknown to us. This season has been not unlike Gio's, struggling against sides we should beat with a lack of energy or drive around the side. We have had some great performances and good results in Europe and finally beat Celtic, quite comprehensively. But it's a results business and Clement leaving would not come as a shock to anyone now. Each of those managers was backed, to an extent. But I'd argue through this time the club has 'downsized'. The loss to Malmo under Gerrard and our failure to qualify for the Champion's League that season was possibly the catalyst for a lot of what has happened since. Off the field the executive offices have been a revolving door, with a number of senior and important positions becoming vacant. I don't know Patrick Stewart, I've no inside info on him, but as a fan his appointment doesn't look like a ridiculous one. He has football experience, he understands how a big football club is run and the little we've heard from him he's not said anything worrying. Whether he'll be any good at it only time will tell. The work overrun on the Copland Stand in the summer was a poor look and an expensive one too. Clearly a project that was badly handled. On the plus side this board finally, after many, many false promises, addressed the challenges facing our wheelchair supporters. There should be criticism but also some credit too. There have been other works carried out on the old stadium too, often work that is essential but not visible to the average supporter. Work that should have been done long before it was. No board is above criticism and this one certainly isn't. Mistakes have been made and more will be made, that's the nature of these things. But on balance are they doing a bad job? I mean it's a low bar but they're undoubtedly the best board we've had this century.

Realistically how far away are we, player wise, from a concerted and successful title challenge? The squad has finally shown it can compete with Celtic in a head to head, the last two games have proved that. Our next match at Parkhead will be a test of whether we do have what it takes to take points off them regularly. That aside our away form is poor, we really struggle to breakdown most Scottish sides who sit deep and aim to frustrate us. So we're missing at least one, probably two, players who can create a goal or a chance from nothing. It's no coincidence, I feel, that our improvement in form coincided with Raskin and Igamane coming into form and also Hagi returning to the squad. I'm not sure we have replacements for any of them if/when they pick up injuries or suspensions. Likewise Cerny is a very important player for us, who is his replacement when he leaves? We're short at full back too, another utility type defender would get a decent amount of game time with us. Lastly I feel we're really missing an experienced old head. Our defeat at Man U was a perfect example of that. We should have killed that game after we scored. Players should have been down with cramp breaking up play, forwards pulled into midfield, midfielders into defence, and a strong voice marshalling them all. Players like Arfield and Davis were essential when we won the league, that experience is something every side needs. I'm not sure how many players that is, 3 or 4 at least I'd say.

If you thought Sunday's was bad you should have heard Friday's! Everyone on here knows the Gersnet podcast is not a reliable source of information and everyone on it only appears because Frankie pays them handsomely.

Walsh is a bigot and a cheat.

I really should know better. I was attempting to gauge the reaction to a Rangers defeat by sampling some online contributions last night and I'm staggered that anyone can come away from the game feeling angry. Frustrated...yes. Disappointed...yes. We are nowhere near being able to lose 9/10 first team players and rock up to Man Utd and expect to win. I get that we can be upset with some individual errors but the manager played the team 99% of fans would have picked. And please spare me the Dessers should have started in a front 2 hindsight nonsense. No-one was calling for that prior to kick off.

I once heard Lanliq described in a high court as bottled on a Monday drunk on the Tuesday and an evidence exhibit on the Wednesday

I'm sorry but no striker that misses a blatant open goal at 0-0 (not the first time he has done it either) and has 3 one on one chances with the keeper but somehow doesnt even get a shot away in 2 of them will get a MOTM vote from me, even if he does manage to score 3 of the dozen or so chances he had. I actually think that was one of his worst performances for us, and yet he got a hat-trick. Crazy game!

I was once at a conference in America a few years ago and at a dinner in the evening the conversation moved to teenage music. Scottish guy I was with told a story about him and his mates meeting up in a youth club where they'd "sit round a tranny sharing a fag, listening to the charts". This sentence, which made perfect sense to me, led a guy from San Diego to get quite annoyed with him. I'm not he ever believed our innocent explanation.

You have to be careful with such terminology now 🤣

It's a pointless question. Emotive, fan nonsense. What's he going to say, 'Aye, alright, I'm off - keep the money'? It reminds me of the great Timplosion of '21. Oh, how we laughed. But now it's 'legitimate questions'. It's not for me.

1956/57 league match Queens v Rangers at Hampden, Queens leading 4-1 in the first half Hunter Devine scoring thrice. It would have been 5-1 if they hadn’t missed a penalty. Johnny Hubbard got two in the five minutes before halftime and Rangers got three more in the second half, 4-6. Niven, Shearer, Caldow, McColl, Young and Davis was the defence. How did QP score one goal let alone four? Geordie Young’s last season might be the answer.

Why bring on Lawrence ffs, give a youngster a game

https://x.com/RangersReview55/status/1885302535369421082 Nico Raskin averaged the most tackles and interceptions per 90 (7.72) of any player in the UEL group stage.

Phillipe and Issame have shared and enormously enjoyed the odd Tagine. Alex Rae does not care for apricot with his lamb and knows there is no danger of such a combination at Motherwell.

So close, yet so far. Credible performance with a depleted squad, but individual errors cost us once again.

Rumoured Dessers has asked to leave. Lets hope we can find another 20+ goals striker in the next week or so before the window shuts

Aye, this outbreak of confidence among our support gives me the fear. Man Utd are having a poor season by their standards, but they've still got a hell of a squad, some genuinely world class players and they've shown recently they can compete with the very best when they concentrate. I'd take a draw right now without any hesitation.

On match day I'll volunteer to meet the fans at Bridgeton cross and lead them up the London road singing in full voice . were the boy's from the toll we are loyal and were true you only live once so make the most of it .

Think I said it previously but I wouldn't be surprised that if part of the deal to get Hagi back playing this season, was that he had far more control over his future going forward. Be that a reduced price release clause, or perhaps as it might seem now, a reduced contract term. Whatever the truth, I hope this independent football department review spends some time looking at how the Hagi situation was handled.

The whole Dessers witch-hunt is truly cringeworthy. He is not Ronaldo, he is not Kane, he is not Messi. If the same measures had been put on McCoist, or Hateley ever other season, they would have been hounded out in no-time. We don't score enough goals because of our "centre-forward" (note the singular), but because hardly anyone bar him and the penalty-god scores enough goals per season.