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I agree with the OP's "what if" but I keep asking myself "What if" we had fair-minded, competent, referees. Any number of huge game-changing incidents on Friday. What if McGregor had been correctly sent off after only 8 minutes. What if Morelos was awarded the stonewall penalty? What if Gray had been rightly sent off for his viscous assault on Morelos in the second half? What if the referee gives us a free kick for the clear foul on Tav that leads to their goal? There were 5 major decisions for the referee to make on Friday night, the 4 above and also the over-ruling the linesman's flag for an offside because Hibs were in a great position to score. I bet McLean was absolutely livid that not only did Hibs fail to take advantage of his cheating and fail to score, but we went up the park and scored on the breakaway. I also get to asking myself "what if" the referee gives a clear penalty for the handball last time round at Easter Road in the last minute of a goalless game? What if Morelos is not wrongly sent off at Dolly in a game we dominate and drop 2 points in the last minute? What if Scott Brown was correctly red-carded at rugby Park for an awful assault in a game where he goes on to score a last minute winner? These are just the first ones off the top of my head, this season, that if the what ifs had gone the correct way, would see us level on points at the top. There are more, plenty of them. What if indeed!

Jum has a cheek. Two years past, Jum and his wife were perambulating along their village high street of an evening. A chap on the other side of the road began shouting at the pair, Jum reported the incident to the police. Jum went straight to both print and media and told of the most unpleasant experience. In fact he decreed it as 'terrifying'. He hinted the motive was sectarian. Unsurprisingly, Police Scotland did not arrest anyone for shouting abuse from the opposite side of the road. So, there you have it; a Rangers player at his place of work has a kick and a punch thrown at him, and Jum treats it as a joke. Jum is shouted at and runs to the Polis.

Well done Compliance Officer ??

Another two points dropped needlessly against a team that appeared to be inferior in many ways. On many occasions we have been left with a what if to consider. What if Alfredo Morelos had played 90 minutes on the first day of the season? What if Connor Goldson had not slipped in Motherwell? What if Joe Worrall had not gifted the ball to a forgettable Kilmarnock striker? The list goes on in Scotland and in European matches too. Now we have yet another regrettable episode to consider. What if Daniel Candeias had tracked Florian Kamberi instead of watching the ball? After tracking back from the Hibernian box Candeias stops and watches the ball. He doesn't even glance at Kamberi who is completely unmarked on the left side. James Tavernier is tracking back. It's too much to expect Tavernier to get back in time but he is also watching the ball and paying no attention to Kamberi. Perhaps if he had been looking at the vacant right back area he could have warned Candeias about the danger in enough time. After enough what ifs pile up over the season you start to realise that it is no longer about unfortunate accidents. A better explanation is an overall lack of quality. Tavernier has made a key contribution this season. Despite a couple of recent blips he has been a reliable penalty taker and repeatedly plays a key part in goals with assists. He still manages to confound with slack defensive play against average spfl sides. Candeias has also played a major part in our success, such as it is, this season. He presses, tracks back and often provides a quality ball in to the box for Morelos to finish. Yet he also provides a fair amount to complain about. Admittedly, in his case, it is more often poor quality crossing rather than poor decisions or a lack of effort. It might seem strange to spend all this time complaining about two players that are arguably among our best. The nature of the mistakes make me suspicious about an underlying problem. Do such mistakes keep happening because we don't have winners in our team? When I say winners I mean players that don't switch off at key moments. Players who don't crumble under pressure. It's something that is more difficult for a spectator to identify. We can easily point to these two players and see the undeniable contribution made to play. Is it possible that what we need is something less spectacular but more reliable?

A red card for Morelos ?

To be fair, PC Murdoch is the 'go-to man' if ever the young team gives you a sherrickin'.

I heard that. Sloppy copy? Or an indication that years -decades- of insidious and constant drip, drip, dripping, of anti-Rangers propaganda has worked, and continues to work, and that any negative story re: Scottish football automatically, by default, without thinking, as a matter of course, is couched with Rangers/its support as the villain(s). Meanwhile, the real big story -not football thuggery, but football buggery- is treated with the softest of kid gloves.

I think we're getting there, slowly but surely. It's difficult to see so many silly points dropped but we're not far off being a very decent team.

The Tav & Candy right hand side is pure net synergy that nine out of ten teams can only dream about. If they didn't make errors, they'd be worth more than we could pay.

Enjoyed it.

Poor Dundee Utd. Beaten by yet another last minute goal. Such a shame. ??????

Fine by me. At least he's appreciated here, unlike by large sections of the Tartan Army who can't help but indulge their anti-Rangers feelings whenever one of our players is called up for Scotland.

Aye, the DR at the usual. I will keep saying this; when all this is over there should be no hiding place for any of those involved from the MSM. We all no who they are!

Sold out already.

Freedom, from someone who wants to tax people more and, ergo, telling them what to do with their money

It's not really sour grapes.

Spot on! sour grapes! stand by for the ''we can't blame the ref for not winning'' brigade!!

If you watch the replays Goldson spotted Kamberi and shouted at Candeias and pointed at Kamberi and he was raging at Candeias when the goal went in. Candeias didn't move at all after the shout so can only assume he didn't hear him or know what he was saying but he shouldn't even have needed to be told really.

A winners mentality stems from having enough quality in a squad. We lack creative quality.

Great win for the Arsenal. To think if Auba had put that pen away against Spurs last week they would be above them in third now, when a few weeks ago Spurs had a chance to go 2 behind the leaders - a big collapse at Spurs. Spurs still have to go to Anfield and City but Arsenal dont have to play another team in the top 6, they should be favorites for top 4 now. Utd still have City and Chelsea to play. Chelsea still have Liverpool and Utd away. I think prediction of the week goes to yours truly Southampton 2-1 Tottenham ? But a good shout from Compo on Newcastle. I was glad to see them come back as Pickford shouldnt have been on the pitch when he saved the penalty.

Really good podcast for those that didn't listen live. I thoroughly recommend people to listen to it.

And then promptly jailed!

Villa play in a foreign country but were formed by Scotsmen (Hearts and Rangers fans, hence the colours). Maybe Humza will claim them. We'll have to take Millwall too though.

If you really think it is humiliating then I think you need to get a grip. We also went 4 rounds further than Caixinha in Europe. The league points total is not a measure of success in itself. It's only relevant when considered within the context of our league position. If you compare the league tables between this season and last it is a mixed bag of results. Ultimately it won't be good enough until we are either in a real title race at the end of the season or strolling it. To characterise it as humiliating is nonsense though.

Wait til after the Court. Hibs have done all right this time. So far.

Am I the only one that is disappointed in the club for not coming out and going tonto about this latest assault on one of our players?

The guy hits Tav on the back of the neck before he goes anywhere near the ball. It was an unprovoked and cowardly assault from behind.

He assaults Tav. As he kicks the ball and possibly intends to hurt Tav in that action his left elbow simultaneously connects with Tavs head. Go on Twitter and freeze frame through the sequence. Tav pushes out an arm to defend himself and the thug connects weakly with Tav again. Assault every day of the week in Scots Law. No one is suggesting it’s GBH but that’s not the point.

Just because a jakey Leith tramp is unable to throw a successful punch, doesn't mean the intent wasn't there.

Grealish did extremely well not to react at all.

Fantastic to see Bates play as HSV pump St Pauli in their own midden. The commentator remarked, "A few Glasgow Rangers fans in there, as we can see.". I think he was referring to the Union Flag. ???

You have to the look at the club and the football operation in general to get a better idea of improvement or otherwise. IMO the club is still recovering ground little by little, looking to provide a more solid business base, from which the Football Operation continues to develop and modernise, including encouraging work on the Academy. The First team recruitment and squad is still relatively limited by the fact we are way behind on the finances and the distance of 8 points is probably a fairly accurate reflection. It has also been limited by what was called a period of 'infrastructural failure' which we are still paying for (but TBF may be balanced off with a fee for Alfredo Morelos). The recruitment of Steven Gerrard was a coup for Dave King. A brave and imaginative appointment that quickly paid out with European Group stage qualification. The rest of the season was always going to have teething problems but we still have the Scottish Cup to go for. The litmus test for SG&Co is improving levels of consistency next season. I wouldn't be too bothered to miss out on European Group Stage football for a season if it helped us mount a serious title challenge. Bottomline, we are in a much better place but still have a way to go. The respective accounts of us and them illustrate the problem, probably moreso than the league table.