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I can't be the only fan who is struggling to even watch games anymore. Corruption ? Inconsistency ? Honest mistakes ? When the majority of them go against you, or in favour of your biggest rivals for trophies, it effectively removes the word "competition" from the equation. It obliterates your energy for it, knowing that it isn't a level playing field, unless of course we actually believe that "they even themselves out over a season". We are currently 8 points behind Celtic, fair enough We have dropped points of our own making too many times, fair enough. But if you ask yourself how many points Celtic have dropped that were because of poor officiating - and how many points they have gained because of poor officiating.... and that is before you even begin looking at the same thing for us, it is galling. We had a 3 point swing in the 1st OF game (Jack foul, game would otherwise have ended 0-0, despite us being pumped), you also then have a 2 point swing this past weekend where a player scored a winner who should not have been on the pitch to score it - and, indeed, their opponents were down to 10 men AFTER he should have been sent off). That is 5 points in just two games (one game I watched, obviously - the other I just saw the images. I don't watch them but you can be sure there are more examples of points gained due to poor officiating. That is 5 out of 8 of a difference. Now, not for one minute am I excusing us dropping points we shouldn't, or indeed even poor performances against teams we should be beating - but when your rivals seem to be getting an unproportionate amount of "good luck" from officiating, and when the national media cover up any misdeeds (or show inconsistency - BBC said Brown's was a yellow card, yet absolutely hounded the authorities to give McGregor a two game ban) and attempt to derail us at every opportunity.... then your energy and passion for it just vanishes. We aren't playing on a level playing field - and that is the most galling aspect. If we were, and ended up second best, then fair enough. But I would just like to know how close we are if there actually was a competition in place. Lawwell has exactly what he always wanted - Rangers back at the top table but being crippled to prevent us from challenging, not just financially but from his vice-like grip on the media narrative, a very compliant media and a CO who, it seems, is more than willing to further assist in ensuring that Rangers will not challenge their run at the title. It is his dream scenario. It's sickening - and is edging me towards just shutting off from Scottish football - I probably would in fact, if it weren't for the love of Rangers that I have.

I already have, except for Rangers. I never watch Scottish football, except Rangers, and that includes the national team, which I long ago abandoned as a sick joke. Football in Scotland is a sad farce and relentlessly corrupt - and perhaps the worst of it is almost no one cares.

The corruption involved in us being kicked out of the top league down to the bottom was evident, see Hearts FC the following season! and has just got worse, I have always said if it wasn't for Rangers I would not be watching/attending any Scottish football.

Honestly? I think Scottish football, like much else in Scottish life, is deeply corrupt and is sustained only by the naivety of people who rush to claim it is merely incompetence. Frankly, I trust very little in Scotland at face value and nothing is rushing forward to change my mind, whether in football, politics or whatever This certainly isn't the "best wee country in the world". It's cesspit of bigotry and division ... from Holyrood to Hampden ... and probably has been since the 19th century invasion split communities and started the cultural substitution that's been ongoing ever since. We're burdened by a truly awful neighbour and it's not England.

I think it’s going a bit far to conflate too many issues at different levels of society. Sticking to football there is no doubt that we were never liked by ‘fellow’ fans and then 2011/12 compounded the dislike into hatred. We’ve all personally seen and felt the increase in hatred in pubs and other places. No-one is interested in helping Rangers and we need to get used to that fact and there is absolutely a ‘pay back’ taking place because lots of folk wanted us dead and it didn’t happen. The BBC are deep in that mindset and it dictates their football output. Noone seems to care if Killie, Aberdeen or Hibs get bad decisions and frankly it doesn’t make much difference as they will never seriously challenge Celtic so they hardly care themselves (and of course Celtic lend them players to shut them up) and whilst Celtic are not universally popular they have grasped the bull by the horns over the last few years and taken control. The CO is the most obvious example of that. It is not right that the SFA and the SPFL who exist to administer our game fairly are not capable of doing so. It would be better to focus on their capability (whether caused by corruption or bias or just professional incompetence) than to guess at the motivation for their inadequacy and link it to Scottish society and politics more generally. I mean Gordon Smith was CEO of the SFA - the guy is thick. The evidence of incompetence from these organisations is everywhere and there is perhaps more to the 6k fine than we realise. The message there is ‘shut up’. The media are tied up in Dermots web, the BBC are plane biased and corrupting our game so none of them will help us, and the officials are incompetent (evidentially true) or biased as is evidentially true in the case of the CO and surrounding ‘process’. Let’s not forget we did not cover ourselves in glory in the Murray and Whyte years but we were penalised and have served our sentence and should now be treated fairly. So why why would we just ‘shut up’? If we think we are going to be offered baubles on committees etc then we are playing a losing game. We should call it out a lot more and if it’s 60k in fines then it has to be done. Our club will not get truly back on our feet until we start winning trophies and there is an off field battle taking place to stop that happening. The evidence of incompetence and unequal treatment is there (and it’s perhaps best to call it incompetence because absolutely no one can argue with that). But the club must be prepared to take a far bigger hit than 6k in calling it out and we should do it on a media scale guaranteed to raise eyebrows outside this country.

No doubt this has come with full prior legal scrutiny but I still think we're playing the wrong game. This isn't about high diplomacy or coded statements. The club should simply come out and say in plain language that Rangers is being discriminated against and that blatant cheating is ongoing against us from both fellow member clubs and officials at all levels. We must force the SFA to defend itself, not just give them an easy excuse to sweep it under the carpet with glib denials. They urgently need a spotlight shone into their mess. If we restrict ourselves to DEFCON 3, the Scottish media will condemn us and rush to the SFA's aid. If we take it to DEFCON 5 it will be seen and heard all over the world - the one thing the haters are terrified of. The accusations should be so damning that only an independent enquiry will answer them.

Halliday is our most consistent and reliable left back at the moment tbh.

As with the word "sectarian" in Scotland, the word "compliance" does have a rather peculiar meaning when it is being combined with "Compliance Officer". There is but one - rhethoric - question here: the officer is compliant to whom? The facts speak for themselves.

Gang Hut Speak. Looking through BBC Scotland's website this morning, I note they have a most peculiar take(spin) on events effecting Kris Boyd yesterday. Of course, the article is unattributed. It begins : 'Kilmarnock striker Kris Boyd has criticised Celtic fans after being hit by a coin and being subjected to what he considers sectarian abuse on Sunday'. BBC Scotland's multi layered defence of Sellik begins with redefining sectarianism, are we to believe that only Kris Boyd considers being subjected to to continuous chants of, 'you're just a fat orange bastard', is an expression of sectarianism? Obviously, in the PQ Gang Hut, being referred to as an orange bastard is a term of endearment. The piece goes on, 'The former Rangers and Scotland striker had been warming up as a substitute when apparently struck by an object'. Having watched BBC Scotland's very own Sportscene last evening, there is no ambiguity, the footage clearly shows a pound coin striking Boyd's arm. Why the need for the adverb, 'apparently'? Now, this particular adverb could have been utilised to speculate on the source of the coin, the Green Brigade. Sportscene stated the coin emanated from, 'the crowd'; they didn't speculate on which set of supporters, let alone specify a grouping. It allowed Michael Stewart to include the coin thrown at Livi. Remember, that coin thrower has been arrested, charged, and appeared in court. Whoever tossed the pound coin at Boyd will be arrested, charged, and appear in court, the same time as the Fernando Ricksen lighter thrower at ra Stade de Gadd, 18 years ago.

Credit where credit is due,...Ross certainly stepped up to the plate in what must have been a relatively pressurised situation and played a blinder in his quarter-back role.

There’s a lack of bloody-mindedness about the team. Richard Gough, John Brown, Stuart McCall all had a stubborn determination not to be beaten.

A big improvement on results and performances are badly needed or it could be that old favourite, show me the way to go home??

I’m in two minds about this because on the one hand I totally agree, our squad isn’t as strong as Celtic’s it’s as simple as that. On the other hand how can we blame lack of quality when Kilmarnock and Aberdeen are within touching distance of us after 26 games? That strongly suggests poor management rather than lack of quality.

King has just spent many months, countless hours, court visits and probably no small amount of cash with the sole intention of not giving the 'Easdale Bloc' a single penny do you really think he's now going to turn round and buy them out? In the offer document it was announced there would be 2 more (at least) rounds of fund raising both of which will result in further dilutions of the 'Easdale Bloc'. King and the Boards strategy is crystal clear: don't give them a penny and dilute them into insignificance. So far as I see it is working like a dream.

It’ll be the final nail in the coffin for SG soon if he keeps playing Defoe up front on his own. He can’t play that role. He should have realised that after the SC game at Killie Reminds me of Murty who played JasonCummings up front on his own. That didn’t work either

I'm lost by this argument. Should BBC Alba only cover the Lewis and Harris local league then? I've lost count of the posts on here complaining about commentary and summarisers, I'd have thought ones you can't understand would be a welcome relief!

However, the expected costs surrounding Mr King’s estimated offer alone, is £606,000 excluding VAT. According to financial papers connected to the offer, that includes £435,000 for financial and corporate broking advice, £75,000 for legal expenses and £96,000 in other costs. A £52,000 expected bill incurred by Rangers International Football Club plc includes £40,000 for financial and corporate broking advice, £10,000 in legal expenses and £2,000 in other costs. It is not clear whether the bill includes the costs of the protracted legal battle in which the South Africa-based businessman tried to stave off pressure to buy the shares fearing the heavy financial toll it would place on him. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17439415.dave-king-and-rangers-650000-costs-over-failed-court-ordered-8m-club-share-purchase/?ref=mr&lp=3

Decent enough interview, although I think the club needs to be a wee bit more aggressive.

There is no clarity on the disciplinary process in Scottish football. He needs to start by asking the SFA who selects the incidents which the Compliance Officer passes judgement on. And why some clubs such as ours get selected more than others for incidents in our games whereas similar incidents in other games get overlooked

He spoke well and made his point. His "we're being treated differently from every other club" line nails it. Interesting to hear that the BBC wanted to come back and cover matches but not interview players or managers. Whilst the lack of coverage of our home matches angers me I support the club in saying 'no' to that. As Robertson says, just treated us the same way you treat every other club. I said last night I thought Gerrard should say this, but I'm delighted someone has said it.

Could agree more with this. We should highlight and shine a light on what’s happening, so the world can see what’s going on.

It's downplaying it by descriptions such as "inept, or "incompetent" that allows the corruption to flourish. Worse still is the self-doubter reaction that prefers to blame the situation on our own lack of vigilance or our "laziness". Refusing to see the worst in people might be seen by some to be a positive characteristic but it's largely just a product of social engineering and in fact all it does is hand immunity to corrupt people. For so long as folks pretend the entire edifice isn't controlled and orchestrated by a (not so) narrow section of society, the shit will continue to happen and those who perpetrate it will continue to flourish. (And no, I don't mean those big bad corporations ?)

Well maybe we should look try and reach out to other supporter associations, at least then we can say we tried and no one was interested, its got to be better than the perpetual cycle of complaining that we do now. Also i wouldnt just stop at spfl, i would engage all the teams in the divisions below, after all didnt we make a few friends on the way up?

But do the fans want to get together to sort things out? They clearly don’t. The blind hatred of Rangers seems to have allowed all sorts to slip when it comes to the smaller teams fans, not really grasping that not only are Rangers being screwed, Celtic are being given advantage.

My cynical self just murmured: working together in Scotland is some challenge, as we have seeen from the days of William Wallace right to standing together in 2007 or 2012 or these last few years.

I would genuinely love to disagree with you. But I find so many things that seem blatantly obvious and reeking of corruption - and you’re right; it is in daily life too.

We can't all be a self-proclaimed Captain of industry who needs a football messageboard to get his financial ideas thrown out

Some cracking prizes - well worth a tenner folks!

Couldn't manage to listen live but just caught it there whilst eating my porridge. Sounded like a normal podcast in as much as there was very little in the way of awkard silence or any kind of mistakes, well done you guys are getting sort of professional at this. As for the content, interesting conversation and well worth the listen. Thanks to all involved.

Em they buy more shares, give the Easdales a call I'm sure they'll welcome your advances.

As long as Halliday is anywhere near the 1st team, we won't be winning trophies. We just don't have the quality to get a good run of victories. Bringing in youth players, loanees and ex-players who are past their best won't fix that. Out of all the players Gerrard has brought in, only Goldson, McGregor and Arfield get pass marks. Maybe Kent too, although I think he flatters to deceive.

Have no problem funding smaller regional stations have major problems with millions spent on current and previous show hosts e.g. Jonathan Ross,Graham Norton,Gary Linekar to name but a few.