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There's definitely a different feel to the prospects of the upcoming season than there has been in recent times with I suspect a bit more optimism than for sometime. I have noted that even the opposition fans of the usual mocking entities have themselves slowly but surely come to believe what I believe. I believe we have already moved on to another level in this window and we're not even done yet. Gerard himself has commented that we could still be looking at two more incoming and with one of those rumoured to potentially be a relative marquee player. Yes we played some weak opposition in pre season and in Europe too but we did throw in two games against two Championship sides both littered with multi million pound players and a Ligue one side littered with multi million pound players. In those games we were still largely dominant and looking extremely potent while just as importantly looking more solid at the back. And I feel the Derby game in which we were the better side again is a demonstration of the new level we have moved on to just in terms of the SPL. As previously mentioned Derby are a side littered with multi million pound players and a side who so recently just narrowly missed out on promotion to the EPL and playing their last game before their season begins. Traditionally the last game of a pre season is against the strongest or at worse strong opposition and Derby opted to play Rangers before their season begins. How many sides in the SPL are going to be fielding any multi million pound players far less a team littered with them? Only one and that one wasn't the reason we didn't win the title last year. The reason was the hubz and killies and sheep and more. As far as I can see at this point that's going to change in our favour because I see no way the SPL outside that one can very often survive. One of the relative failures of last season was losing goals against these let's say lesser sides yet we still finished with the second best defensive record in the league as well as being highest scorers. At the back we have McGregor and now a host of quality CB's while just in front of them we have a frankly in SPL terms awesome variety of options before even mentioning the Morelos Defoe front line. If the back line performs as well as it appears they could I feel confident in predicting this team will hand out a number of thrashings both home and away. Regarding the yahoos we got the better of them on at least 3 occasions last season and can I feel take points from them again. Getting back to moving on to another level I have to speak of Steven Gerrard and why I think we have the right man at the right time to pull it off this season. Steven Gerrard has relatively recently moved to the top of lists of the greatest Liverpool players which had previously been occupied for decades by Kenny Dalglish. A point I want to highlight is the reasoning provided by an example site for Gerrard taking the number one spot while Dalglish goes down to number two. "2. Kenny Dalglish Usually the favourite pick when naming the greatest Liverpool player. It is hard to argue, but he was part of a world-class ensemble, his genius as an individual flourishing in a team already Champions of Europe when he signed in 1977" "1. Steven Gerrard A contentious choice ahead of Dalglish, but the context in which Gerrard won his trophies – in consistently reshaped teams and alongside many average players - edges him into top spot." So Steven Gerrard was a player who spent his career at a relative fallen giant for whom past domestic glory was harder to come by. And that in a new environment where many teams in the top half had better players than them and greater resources too. In that environment he played in Liverpool sides with which he still won 6 domestic honours and 3 European honours. The miracle of Istanbul an obvious classic example where he dragged that team to one of the greatest if not the greatest European cup/Champions league final comebacks of all time. Gerrard first became captain of Liverpool under Houllier at just 23 years old and was 25 in Istanbul. Houllier explained the promotion by saying that despite being so relatively young he recognised Gerrard had demonstrated leadership qualities early on, but needed to mature. At 23 he was captaining one of Europes biggest most honour laden sides during a period of relative decline in domestic success when compared to historic domestic achievement. And that's exactly the same situation he's in with us right now except this time he's manager and not a player. He's a man who has been in this very situation with one difference being that during his playing career the domestic challengers facing him were far greater in many ways than face us in the SPL. And he still prevailed though never got the holy grail of their first title in decades. He knows how to win even in situations when the opposition appear to have financial and playing advantages and that's why he may be the perfect man to have in charge at this crucial point. Aside from his experience of leading in a scenario such as that described above I feel the vast experience of such an all time great who has played at every level will have given him an eye for a player and a knowledge of how to then construct a potent side. To me this is his first real transfer window. When he came in last June what followed was a rush to build a team with little time for in depth research and analysis and for that reason some mistakes were made. The January window arguably somewhat better and now this window which he has had a whole year of experience in Scotland to contemplate. He now knows exactly what Scottish football is all about has been to all of the grounds and knows what they're all about. All of that alongside what I would say is a major strengthening of the team means to me that we are now looking at a season immeasurably different from the last few. In the last few we have been the team in turmoil with managerial changes and constant mass overhauls but now in the mix is the fact it's the yahoos who are in relative turmoil with what has to be perceived as a massive downgrade in managerial quality. We're the strengthening team with some managerial stability and though I know many fans are still wary of false dawns after our recent experiences there just feels to be a whole different ambiance so to speak. Everyone including the haters and the media are at worst tacitly conceding that we have moved on to another level. We now have so many quality options that i'm convinced we're going to find a way to break through any stubborn resistance most of the time. I feel Joe Aribo and Sheyi Ojo are going to be a revelation with both being up there amongst our high scorers. Keep it close at the back and we will be putting a distance between us and the also rans by the end of the first quarter. There is at least some credible evidence to suggest that this time could be the time.

Update on BBC Scotland Dispute Dear Member, Club 1872 would like to bring members and supporters up to date with our correspondence with BBC Scotland regarding their coverage of Rangers Football Club. Supporters will be aware that BBC Scotland still refuses to cover Rangers in the same manner as other Scottish clubs due to a long running dispute over the biased reporting of Chris McLaughlin. That dispute continues and it is our opinion that a culture is now well established within BBC Scotland that Rangers are fair game for false and malicious reporting. BBC Scotland remains the only major media platform in Scotland not to report at all on Rangers’ new diversity and inclusion campaign, Everyone Anyone. Before this season has even begun in earnest we have seen two examples of inaccurate reporting about Rangers which have had to be corrected by BBC Scotland. The BBC Scotland position is that these are honest mistakes - incompetent rather than malicious - despite the frequency with which they occur. Club 1872 has submitted twelve separate complaints to BBC Scotland over the past few months. All of these have been escalated through three stages of their internal complaints process and a number have now been passed to OfCom where they currently sit. Complaints regarding the frequent, biased, false reporting of BBC Scotland employees on social media cannot unfortunately be referred to OfCom and have been whitewashed by BBC Scotland. It has become clear during this process that BBC Scotland routinely denies the basis for any complaints regarding their coverage of Rangers and it appears that their complaints process is designed to be as difficult as possible for members of the public to navigate. Different reference numbers are regularly assigned to the same complaint to make it difficult to track and generic responses are routinely used for complaints which have no relation to each other. One of the central issues with BBC Scotland reporting is their stated duty of impartiality which has gone missing where Rangers are concerned. It is here that we have seen the most disturbing comments from BBC Scotland in response to our complaints. Below are direct quotes from their correspondence: “There is no requirement for a BBC reporter or presenter to post about a particular event or development, or to treat similar stories in the same way.” “There is no requirement in the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines which states a presenter…has to give equivalent coverage or treatment to similar or related stories.” “The decision of what news stories and events to report is a matter of legitimate editorial discretion for editors and programme-makers. They are entitled to use their judgement to decide which stories to cover and the manner in which they are covered. There is no requirement which states a particular event or development has to be reported by a broadcaster, or that similar or related issues or events have to be given equivalent coverage or treatment.” We believe it is important that supporters are given this information because it is now clear that BBC Scotland does not consider it has a duty to be impartial but that it can report in any way it sees fit. It is also clear that the tone and content of reporting is totally reliant upon a group of editors, presenters and journalists who can scarcely disguise their dislike of our club and support. BBC headquarters are aware of the ongoing dispute with BBC Scotland but to date, their intervention has not improved matters. BBC Scotland are strongly resisting any attempts to address their biased coverage of our club. Senior production staff at BBC Scotland, including their Head of Corporate Affairs, Ian Small, have been presented with evidence that BBC Scotland are regularly using a contributor who has used social media platforms to publish sectarian comments and hate speech towards Rangers supporters. BBC Scotland regularly presents this contributor as a neutral commentator on a number of news and current affairs programmes, despite senior staff being aware of the history mentioned above. This is just one indicator of the scale of the cultural issues within Pacific Quay. We will continue to submit complaints regarding biased and dishonest coverage of our club and support, and we would encourage individual supporters to do the same despite the difficulties involved. At some point, BBC Scotland will have to address these systemic issues and start to address their refusal to provide licence payers in Scotland with the service to which they are entitled. Issued by Supporters Voice Limited, a Club 1872 company Club 1872

Today, Club 1872 issued a statement on the ongoing issues between Rangers/Rangers supporters and BBC Scotland. I have asked the Mods to include a copy of the statement on to this thread to ensure continuation of the ongoing narrative. We know the upper management at PQ are strict adherents of George Orwell's writings and practice, 'some are more equal than others'. The Club 1872 statement includes the following three sentences : 'Senior production staff at BBC Scotland, including their Head of Corporate Affairs, Ian Small, have been presented with evidence that BBC Scotland are regularly using a contributor who has used social media platforms to publish sectarian comments and hate speech towards Rangers supporters. BBC Scotland regularly presents this contributor as a neutral commentator on a number of news and current affairs programmes, despite senior staff being aware of the history mentioned above. This is just one indicator of the scale of the cultural issues within Pacific Quay'. Talking of Angela Haggerty, she appeared once again on Sherren Nanjiani's Saturday morning show on BBC Radio Scotland. When fellow Journo, Lyra McKee was shot dead by the IRA three months past, Angela disappeared from broadcast means for a few weeks. It was uncomfortable , she cannot admit her balaclava clad heroes, the IRA murdered a fellow Journalist. Regularly, Angela mentions her own difficulties whilst doing her job, she was viciously trolled by a bigot, he was arrested, charged, tried and sentenced to a custodial term. Compare with the investigation into Lyra Mckee's murder, no arrests. I note the IRA have erected signs at the scene of the young Irish journo's murder, "informers will be shot". Perhaps Angela will call it out? On Saturday, Shereen asked the weekly question, "your moment of the week"? Think of all the world events occurring this last week, Angela chose the rehabilitation of Leigh Griffiths at Sellik Park, scoring against Estonian opposition. She eulogised Griffith's employers for their patience and doing the right thing in providing the proper assistance. She highlighted the point where Leigh emerged from the darkness into the light, "he scored a goal, a free-kick, and what a goal, a screamer". She told of her fellow supporters empathising with Leigh and his sobbing tears of victory over depression. Angela failed to acknowledge Leigh's conviction for racism, tweeting Zak Iqbal to go back to his own country, his singing a song about Rudi Scakcel and clothes pegs, his taunting of Linfield fans, his ........ etc. Angela has a problem and BBC Scotland should provide the necessary assistance.

I was quite annoyed to see a headline today about Ojo saying we were the best team in Scotland. When will our players learn to do their talking on the park?

I wonder when, if ever, Rangers and its support will move from describing the landscape to finding a way across it? Correct me if I'm missing something but, as far as I can see, things are no better and probably even worse than they were two years ago. The BBC looks fully committed to its current relationship with Rangers. Discussion of the issue remains hidden within the confines of the Rangers community and essentially invisible to the rest of society. For the avoidance of doubt, I don't advocate Rangers should back down in any way at all but for all the torrent of words devoted to documenting the BBC's obvious bias, not a single thing has or is likely to change as a result. If we want the BBC to adopt a different attitude then perhaps we first need to do so too.

Good work from the group in this case - a real shame that progress can't be made for those fans that reply on the BBC for live radio coverage in particular.

The SPFL proposed the dates and asked for Police opinion. I'm just waiting on the SPFL coming back to me with the confirmed dates so I can begin planning and resourcing the Motherwell Hearts game.

Turkish newspaper saying that Skrtel is a possibility, why would need him?

I'd love to agree. But the unfortunate thing here is the reach. Some figures from last year suggest that Reporting Scotland can reach up to 500,000 listeners (10% of the country) thru its various broadcasts across the day. Its the biggest vehicle in the country by some distance. Most might be non-football fans or old Grannies, but the message is still getting out there. And if that results in even one occurrence of someone not buying a football top or not letting their kid go to Ibrox then its unacceptable.

That's a fair point but it only has an impact on those who consume the BBC propaganda. I think I'm right in saying that the only time I am exposed to the BBC is on this forum. I do spend a lot of time away from the UK, but I don't think I'm alone in having little to do with them. My kids and their friends (who are all UK based) never see anything that comes out of the BBC (except perhaps The Line of Duty), so I wonder if there is a stage when it really is an irrelevance. I can confirm that my life without the BBC is certainly a much more content one. More of you should try it. ?

A much better statement than yesterday's. Keep up the pressure, C1872.

I enjoyed reading that OP, thanks @JFK-1! I am not quite in the overly optimistic group just yet, quietly hopeful would best sum up my feelings just now and the main reason for that is that, in the last 2 friendlies and the progres game, our old failings of working the ball from side to side and back again, at a pace a packed defence can cope with, gets us nowhere more often than not. We are good at creating half chances, not so good at taking them. We mostly refuse to shoot from distance, which means the defence dont have to rush out to close us down 25 yards out, they can keep their 18 yard line shape solid so there are no gaps to try to slip a pass into, so most of our attacks end up with a wide player throwing a hopeful ball into the middle to be chewed up by the defenders. We are much better in open play when we win the ball high up the pitch before the opponent has the chance to regroup the Alamo along the 18 yard line, and we get most of our goals this way, but against a team like Killie, Livvy, and lets face it about 9 of the 11 opponents we will face domestically, they know fine well they just have to frustrate us and be well organised along the 18 yard line and they will keep our chances to half-chances or crosses. I have seen nothing so far to see that this has changed. We have replaced Kent & Candieas, neither of which made much inroads against such defences, with Jones and Stewart/Ojo and I i'm not sure this is going to change our fortunes much. IMO we still need that master craftsmen who unlocks these defences, can get shots on target from 20-25 yards, and get goals.

Last season Morelos had to play a full 90 every game, we couldn’t afford to sub him. On Thursday Defoe lifted the team when he came on, he was sharp and injected new life into us. Morelos did the same when he came on against Derby. How many points will that be worth for us this season? Imagine the dread for a centre back after an hour of chasing Defoe’s shadow and just when he’s finally starting to tire he sees Morelos’s number on the board. Or after an hour of being ragdolled by Morelos and he’s finally starting to make less off the ball runs and suddenly the master of off the ball runs has taken off his training jacket and is on the touchline. I’m looking forward to this season.

You hope.

I don't think it's smart for someone do put such a flag up, given the number of idiots out there. Having said that, what sort of country do we live in when you are told to take down the flag of our country? The country is being destroyed bit by bit every day.

I don't really see much wrong with a bloke wanting to put a flag in his window. But it's also a wee bit naive because all it takes is one idiot or a drunk to throw a brick and we all know there are plenty of both of those in Scotland. Decent people should be tolerant of other views. You only need to look at all the Yes stickers and posters in cars and windows and the (lack of angry) response to know who are good, law-abiding citizens.

Havent travelled along the M8 at Royston recently but are the Irish tricolours still flying in the rear gardens of the council hooses?

All joking aside, it's common knowledge that the BBC has a deliberate and long-standing policy that it is never wrong. Even in disputes such as the recent farce involving Sir Cliff Richard, where the BBC lost its arse in court and was roundly condemned by the judge, the BBC admitted no fault and was still denying it had done anything wrong at the same time it was handing over squillions in damages. If anyone thinks the BBC is about to admit fault where Rangers is concerned then they need urgent therapy. The people at BBC Scotland know exactly what they're doing with respect to Rangers but will always deny it, no matter what happens. This is why I suggested in post #6 above that expecting to influence the situation by highlighting BBC bias to a few Rangers fans is as futile as it's possible to be. You can collect and compile evidence until the end of time itself, just so long as you realise it will not make one iota of difference.

Excuse me, as someone who's fully woke I'm obliged to be offended by everything.

I'm offended that you have taken offence at someone being offended by flags.

A couple of years ago I drove into Dunbar from the west and saw a house near the main road with a Union flag and a Rangers flag on poles mounted on the front wall of the house. I remember thinking it must be a really hard bastard who lived there to have the confidence no one was going to touch them. Taking offence at flags certainly offends me.

I hope you’re right. Few things would do this country more good than abolishing the tv licence. The BBC is a basket case in Scotland but I think the entire organisation is miles past it’s sell by date.

Yes, ignoring the BBC is not a strategy that will be in anyway effective. Put simply they have the 3rd most popular website in the UK (after Google and Amazon), the most watched TV station and top 2 most listened to radio stations. On a Scotland only basis Radio Scotland has the most listeners of any station broadcasting from north of the border. I understand very well the changes in media in recent times however the BBC remains the single most influential broadcaster in the UK and in Scotland. That may change in the coming years but I wouldn't put my mortgage on it.

Reputationally there must be an affect. As an example, discussing our chants across multiple medias as headline news, day after day. Using very pointed and particular language. Whilst ignoring the same from Celtic. And worse with their ongoing CSA scandal, which I dont know if they've even mentioned yet? One item that stands out to me was the no to newco stuff. Where mclaughlin and co would interview a different support every day over 2 weeks and announce that some no-mark fan group or other had voted against us remaining in the SPL. This stuff built the narrative and enabled the governing body to take certain actions (which no other FA would pursue or allow). Similar tactics to the trial by sportscene. Bigger picture, this stuff may being driving from elsewhere. It doesn't look like the key players are bothered about any damage to the BBC either, through their actions. Which may be part of the plan.

Back up centre forward too.

Spot on, it was plastered all across every paper as far as I could see. We really must educate our new players in how the gutter press operates up here, and remind them that we say nothing until we have achieved something. It only gives your opponents increased motivation and adds nothing to our cause, so STFU!!

Good post and I do agree but I wouldn't go quite as far as you. We've found it far easier to play through teams since switching to the 4-3-2-1. Up until March we struggled badly against the top 6, a fact that some in our support didn't want to face up to. In the final 6-7 games of the season (let's not count the last game) we brushed them all aside. We definitely still lacked final product (my total exasperation with Kent's final ball is well documented on this forum), but despite that we still eventually found a way through. The formation change has been like a new signing. Arfield a prime example, same player but a different position where he is like a new signing because it uses his abilities far better. And that's not to mention that the additions of Aribo, Davis and Kamara make us far more creative there (Aribo in particular). I still totally agree with you that we haven't found that creative central attacking midfielder and I wish we had signed one but I think we are definitely less in need of one than we were and I hold out hold for Stewart and Murphy to pass through defences and score from that position when they get up to speed.

We are far better insulated from bad luck with injuries than I ever thought possible. To be honest I think we could still trim players from the squad for financial reasons but currently our second 11 would actually give our first 11 a decent game. Depending on individual choices you could easily have our second 11 as; Foderingham Flanagan Katic Edmundson Halliday Docherty Polster Kamara Stewart/Hastie Murphy/Jones/Middleton Defoe Ok they wouldn't win the Champions League but that is an incredible second 11 compared with a last season and certainly the season before. We have so many attacking midfielders I had to just list them all.

We better be!!

To ensure a continuation of the narrative, can one of the Mods post the above statement on the Pacific Quay Musings thread? Thank-you.

The Best Liverpool Players of All Time

That will always be the case if our own kids aren't good enough. They could have been given a chance through the banter years but none of them are even close enough to being good enough to displace Morelos or Defoe. It's only fair to make that clear and move them on for their own good as well as ours.

Yeah, I know. Was a shite attempt at humour.

Portuguese centre half who's close to retiring. Likes a red card or 8 too.

I also listened in for the first 45mins but unfortunately I was called away. The show was excellent. I don't know what happened to my live chat but I never had the window to type. I could see the discussion but couldn't take part.

I was in the audience so to speak but I thought you did a good job on your maiden pod mate.

I think the manager will go before Bale

I get nervous when we start talking about average players in terms of "must have". They mostly never deliver as much as we think. I'm all for Ryan Kent having a role at Ibrox but only at reasonable cost, never at the expense of funding the wider squad of players.