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Far too much mutual ill-feeling has gone under the bridge for many Rangers fans to give a damn about international football. I honestly lost all interest years ago and only notice internationals because of frustration at the absence of Rangers games every few weeks.

The manager and coaches felt he needed to vary his game more, rather than just going down the outside each time. I mentioned in the Sunday match thread that they had Jamie Murphy and Steven Smith on RTV and it was a very good commentary team, along with Tom. Jamie was able to give great insight on many things throughout the game, and one thing he spoke about was Middleton, and the drills the coaches are doing with him to help vary his play. Jamie specifically mentioned his confidence to use his pace on the wing all the time was admirable but too easy to defend in many occasions. He said he was pleased on Sunday to see the training pitch drills working out the way the coaches wanted them to in that game against Motherwell. I felt he was right because that's the most I've seen Middleton vary his play and Well couldn't live with his pace and trickery. I hope the boy continues to develop because he could be a really good player for us. He's certainly direct and exciting.

Ian, Daniel Candeias walking past two St Mirren players after the Rangers goal could've started WW3. Then there was Andy Halliday inciting a riot at Cappielow. Neil is the poor, helpless victim here. Never forget that! A tiny coin can knock him over, for crying out loud - can you get more weak and feeble. #HelpForNeil

I usually take an anvil to matches or at least a spear. I tried a grand piano once but the stewards spotted it (they still let me in because it wasn't a sectarian piano).

The tackle that seen young Serge see his debut cut short was an assault and went unpunished, I hope it isn't too bad?

A senior member of the Rangers team told someone I know that “Windass is thick as fuck and he’s one of those players who would get a manager the sack”. Interestingly, when Windass says he “didn’t listen”.... this exact same senior member of the team has said exactly that.... “I try to help him but he doesn’t listen to anybody”. if Rangers hadn’t sold him in August and he showed that level of disrespect to someone like Gerrard he’d have been out on his ear in January. how stupid do you have to be to say those things on the record ? What manager would be tempted to take him on knowing that he doesn’t listen to them ? his father is thick as shit but I suspect his son is even thicker.

As long as he recovers to play for Rangers because he's been outstanding recently.

Shameless liars

Why wouldn't the SFA just see sense and issue NO statement ??? Ahhhhh, right... it's the SFA - better to make yourself look like a fool than say nothing and not. Idiots

Sorry Craig I was thinking in my own head about his statement about coaches who had never kicked a ball and not really reacting to what you said. You are right if he does this with professional coaches then he is going down a one-way street in the wrong direction.

Absolutely BS. Both the goalie and Ferdinand initiated contact with Candeias.

I wasn't at the game but I heard the police were confiscating the Blue Order's harpoons, on the way into the Broomloan, that day. Maybe if the police would be a bit more lenient then we wouldn't have any more coin throwing.

Historical Re-Enactment: the Persian Wars recreated on the playing fields of Scotland. Act 2 Scene 1: Through the Hot Gates of Hibernian FC The Rangers' Support: Our barrage of coin will blot out the light The Hibernian Players: Well then, we will play our football in the dark

As someone attending said game, I remember MacLaren dispatching the spot kick and running towards the delighted Hibs fans? Personally, I launched two javelins at Jamie from Bar'72 and attempted to arm a 66mm LAW missile, but you know what it's like attempting to extend those telescopic weapons? Anyways, you make the effort and receive no credit.

Oh would you look at that. Rangers shorten the gap at the top to 2 points and score 7 into the bargain so the mhedia respond by sending out their rats to all corners of the country to look for negative story about big bad Rangers.

Thanks for the info I hadn't heard that commentary. There's no question that there needs to be an element of unpredictability in your play as a winger. But I think far too much credit is given to players like Kent who cut inside all the time as if that somehow makes them more dangerous. Motherwell were tripling up on Middleton for a reason, he's so fast they wanted to push him inside. The sting came right out of Grezda's game when he switched to the left too because all of a sudden he was running away from the fullback inside rather than running past him down the line, which was resulting in a pass to a centre midfielder in a non-threatening position rather than a cross to a striker in a threatening position. When I'm marking a winger who does that I feel very comfortable. Barrie McKay had the passing range and general technique to play the "wrong wing" role brilliantly at times, especially with Wallace overlapping. Without the overlapping fullback (when Flanagan plays) and without very good technique and passing it does little more than keep possession the vast majority of the time and doesn't result in any penetration whatsoever, which we saw a lot of for a spell there. Great to hear they are working on drills to bring dynamism to the play on the wings though because Middleton will be impossible to mark with his pace when the team are giving him one-two options inside as well as down the line.

All of that is true but since the Roxborough/Brown years, I haven’t been able to bother. I’ve gone from boyhood expectation that Scotland would win no matter who, except maybe Hungary and South Americans, to the roller coaster of magnificent defeat and unexpected victory (did I get that the right way round?) and now to apathy. Very wrong of me, I know.

Middleton, who will celebrate his 19th birthday at the turn of the year, has a lot to his game and is showing signs of being able to perform at first team level. A young and hungry wide player who can create and finish should be encouraged with enough gametime to continue his development and if he is the real deal, he'll make the first team spot his own, regardless of age.

I haven't seen him enough to judge his defensive discipline but his ability to score and also pick out a deciding pass has exited me. It is easier to sort defensive problems than find a player to create scoring opportunities.

He’s one dimensional IMO. He gets the ball, head down, pushes ball past full back and looks to get to the bye-line. He doesn’t vary it (to be fair he did a little on Thursday but that’s the first I’ve seen it). it depends on what you call one dimensional I guess. Running down the bye line all the time and picking out different passes is still one dimensional for me - and can be fairly easily defended, aside from the pace. its not a slight on the lad because I rate him. But I believe he currently is still one dimensional and he most certainly does lack defensive discipline.

I am not sure I agree with you on that Craig. Middleton has a gift in scoring himself but also in picking out players that is not the obvious choice to pass to. I have not counted but I am sure he has had more assists than Kent in the few games he has played. I certainly don't see him as one dimensional.

PUBLISHED: 22:30, 13 November 2018 | UPDATED: 22:30, 13 November 2018Before the interview is over, Steven Gerrard is making plans to do another one. He wants to give a candid insight into the differences between playing and managing — the winning and the losing — but, to do it properly, something special must happen.'We could come back to this,' he says. 'But what you have just asked me… I can't answer it, not at the minute. I do hope I get the chance to try one day.' This is the only point where Gerrard is lost for words during 30 illuminating minutes.We meet on Merseyside on a rare day off for the Rangers manager. It gives him the chance to step into the past and discuss Make Us Dream, the biopic of his life which is in cinemas on Thursday. The title is wholly appropriate. It charts how the wiry little schoolboy became the emblem of a team and a city, Liverpool's dream-maker.The good times are chronicled in glorious colour, but so are the bad times and Gerrard goes into detail on some subjects like never before.For instance, one previously untold story is about Liverpool's title-decider with Chelsea in April 2014 — the match in which Gerrard's fateful slip enabled Demba Ba to score. Gerrard needed an epidural injection to manage the pain from a back problem. By rights, he could have missed the game.'Don't think that is an excuse,' he says. 'What happened was just pure bad luck but, when you do a book or film, especially with people who have won Oscars and made films such as Amy (the biopic of the late Amy Winehouse) and Senna, you must be as honest and open as you can.'Honesty has never been an issue for Gerrard. He was an open book as a player and nobody needed a degree in body language to work out when things were good and bad in his world. It was always there, carved into every crease of his face.'Looking back, I didn't hide it well, did I?' Gerrard says, smiling. 'But that's me. You could see the pure ecstasy when I was at the top end of the dream. But the low moments? I'm not one who could put on the poker face. I never have been.'Does he not need to be able to do so now he is a manager? The past is the hook that has brought us together but the present and future are just as interesting and, typically, his views on how life has changed and how he is changing with it are compelling.There are times — not least when he recalls the 'horrible moment' his playing career ended in Los Angeles on November 24, 2016, his body no longer able to meet the demands of his sport — when it is clear he would love, just once more, to be in the thick of a frenzied game for club or countryManagement, however, offers new challenges and he accepted the invitation from Rangers six months ago to begin the next phase. So far it has been smooth going, with Sunday's 7-1 thrashing of Motherwell his most emphatic success to date.'I have to be aware I must control my emotions a lot more,' he says. 'It's not about me now. It was about me when I played. Now the challenge is to get a group as right as I can, using my journey and experiences to help them.'Slowly he is finding his feet, putting distance between himself and the players rather than being central to everything in the dressing room. He effectively stopped thinking like a player when he gave his first team talk on the first day of pre-season training in June.'That was completely different to having a group of kids in front of me last year,' says Gerrard, who spent that season guiding Liverpool's Under 18 side.'It smacks you right in the face, the size of the job, when you have 25 fellas staring at you, waiting for every word that is going to come out of your mouth. Away from the cameras, it's candid and raw. I've never had any help in terms of public speaking.'The only experience I have had is myself, as Liverpool captain, doing it off the cuff. I've never had any advice because I always wanted to be authentic and real.'I don't want someone to change me into this spokesman with big words and try to kid people on. I'm a Scouser from a council estate. I never want to lose that because it's me. It's the reason I've gone on the journey as a player and it's the reason that I have ended up at Rangers.'Could he equate the feeling to the moment manager Gerard Houllier summoned the then callow 18-year-old and sent him on to make the first of 710 Liverpool appearances?'Very similar,' he says, nodding. 'In terms of the beat of your heart, the buzz, the adrenaline rush. There's pressure. There's responsibility. But when I stopped playing, there was a void in my life.'But I didn't see myself just having an easy, comfortable life. There's time for that. While I feel I can help players — and while there are still opportunities to have that buzz — I'm game for a challenge. I'll give it my best shot.'He is not the only one. The way football is changing can be seen in dugouts across Europe, with poster boys from Gerrard's era — Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard, Ryan Giggs and John Terry — all pursuing coaching careersI've nothing but respect for those people having a go at it,' he says. 'They could easily have done whatever they wanted but they are football people. They loved their careers, like I loved mine.'From leaving school at 16, my life has been about football. I want to work and it has always been about preparing for that buzz at the weekend. I don't know how this journey is going to go, but I'm hoping it will be good.'He is doing everything to ensure that is the case. Gerrard has moved to Glasgow, settling near Rangers' Murray Park training base. His day starts at 8am and finishes about 6pm, when he heads home to spend the evening with his laptop, preparing.Gone are the days when he would go for a game of snooker, golf or table tennis. Gerrard made a conscious decision to dial back on the time he spends on Instagram in an era when social media can be all-consuming.'I want to be respectful to people and my job,' Gerrard explains. 'I'm grateful for the following I get but, with due respect, I am busy. I've got four kids, I'm busy with my job. Every minute I have is taken.'I understand the modern player. I see the characters in my dressing room. The younger ones are social-media driven, they can't wait for the next new coloured boots… football is evolving. If you want to stay involved, you have to get up to speed with it.'I'm open to it, as long as people keep their standards and do what they have to do. I don't mind a player wearing pink boots and having lines striped all over their hair. As long as they give me eight or nine out of 10 on a Saturday, that's fine with me. No problem at all.'Clearly he is enjoying it. There have been some fine moments, such as the longest unbeaten European run in Rangers' history, but there have also been disappointments, such as losing to Aberdeen in the Scottish League Cup semi-finals.The question, then, is how it compares. He loved winning and hated losing, so now he can no longer shape a contest physically, what is better: playing or managing? It is here he gathers his thoughts and looks to the future.'Winning as a player is fantastic, winning as a manager now is a great buzz,' he says. 'Losing? There is no difference in the hurt. Winning a trophy as a player? Now that's special, incredible. And I would love to be in a position where I experience that as a manager. That is what I want.'I want to win a trophy — achieve something special. So I'd like to come back to that — what you just asked me — I can't answer it, not at the minute. I hope I get the chance to try one day.'It's a fitting way to finish. After years making everyone else dream, now it's Gerrard's turn to do that. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6385839/Steven-Gerrard-challenge-Rangers-boss-slip-Anfield.html

Windass just proved to me in that interview why he's not at the club. The only managers he's ever rated are the ones that "let him do what he wants", and he "doesn't listen to coaches because they've not played football at the highest level so don't know what they're talking about". He was also apparently happy after the 5-1 loss to Celtic "because he played brilliantly". Really!?!? He lacks any discipline or regard for his team/coaches and I'm glad he's gone. If that was anyone else from a different club I think I'd have been mildly amused. With him I just found myself getting annoyed. Looks like we did a great piece of business in selling him when we did.

You said strange, not admiring.....

"we want to hear from Rangers supporters". Since the turn of the year, it has become a constant refrain from Tam Cowan. I suspect those inside the PQ gang hut have realised they no longer speak to or for the Rangers support? Of course, it's important that they are seen to have some communication, the BBC are the biggest broadcasters in the world. They have tried VoxPops with Bears, introduced guests with the most tenuous Rangers links, and regularly claim that some regulars on their shows are Rangers supporters, when they are clearly not ie Wullie Miller. The BBC charter promises to broadcast to all, it's a pledge to license fee payers. The bait laid by Tam Cowan was the ridiculous red card awarded to Daniel Candeias. He wanted to hear Rangers supporters' views? The means is social media, e-mails, tweets, facebook,.... etc. The show's Producer decides what is broadcast. There is no telephone communication anymore because it's a loss of control, and well how many Beeb Scotland Producers are still willing to call up, pretending to be Bears? Anyways, a few contributions were read out, a Bear claiming inside knowledge, and a couple of St Mirren fans; but hey, they have satisfied the license demands by claiming to want to hear from Rangers supporters. It also fails on a more important level. These last four weeks, the name Kenny McIntyre has featured. He is reckoned to be the last Rangers supporting staffer involved with football at PQ. DrStu' has attempted to paint a target on his back on a couple of occasions. We know DrStu' is attracted by purity, and loves the idea of a cleansing. It's all very rational to his mindset, Rangers supporters, "are H-u-ns and typical orange wankers". To be fair to DrStu', he doesn't want to hear from Rangers supporters. On Saturday, Cowan re-introduced his favourite comedy sketch idea, he advocated the BBC Scotland 1979 Ricki Fulton/Gerard Kelly skit of Rangers supposedly signing their first high profile catholic. They pulled it from discussion two weeks back because they heard from Rangers supporters, the sketch was based on a false memory. Tam did not want to hear that Rangers had signed dozens of catholics in their first fifty years, "aye from you Kenny"; he re-framed the sketch as Rangers signing their first prominent catholic. Really, it's all small potatoes because the bait was not intended for Rangers supporters, it was an attempt to draw out Jim Traynor. DrStu' suspected Jim had penned Rangers statement on the St Mirren match and was particularly interested in comments reference Willie Collum which included, "underlying issues". The PQ speculation was sectarianism is at play. The second half of the show had a guest that supported the underlying issue with Collum is his habit of running thirty yards with the red card already in hand ie not taking enough time to arrive at the correct decision. What is it with PQ and their constant need/desire to attack a former colleague? It has become a most unedifying habit. Perhaps, some transparency from Beeb Scotland is required, they want to speak to Jim Traynor. On Sunday, the A Team was assembled in Livingston. Big Dick, Liam McLeod, Wullie Miller, Pat Bonner, and Scott McDonald spun a nil-nil draw into a really good game. The pitch took pelters, ra Sellik's exertions against Champions League level opposition on Thursday night was to the fore, and Dolly Menga MUST be cited by the Compliance Officer. At quarter to three, Rob McLean read out both teams and substitutes involved in the three O'Clock kick-off at Ibrox. The show finished at 3 O'Clock, another Dandy Don, Jeff Webster took over to talk Rugby until Five O'Clock. Rob McLean remained on the PQ naughty step to cover events at Ibrox. There was a few goal updates, and a half-time report; it was hilarious listening as Rob tripped his way through, seriously attempting to avoid mentioning he was watching RTV in the studio. Even Jeff Webster could be heard laughing in the background. BBC Scotland's five O'Clock news and sports headlines told us all where they are at, we received a match report from Livingston, all the English football results, and the newscaster offered, "you can read the match report from Ibrox on BBC Scotland's website". Seven goals from the good guys was just too much of a choker. "we want to hear from Rangers supporters"?