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The Skrtel rumour is like the Alan Smith rumour that always seemed to resurface during every transfer window.

As am i. But (and tinfoil hat time) i'm concerned that some of the statements from fan groups are coming via the board adding to the confusion.

Yes I can see it now. Some aspiring 'Bugsy' like character in a kids club will corner the market in free tickets and begin a racket. And just in passing if they gave one away to me I still wouldn't go.

The sons of struth post is just bizarre , it is like something comical ali would write .

Isn't it strangely predictable how few complaints are ever made about the proliferation of Palestinian and Catalan flags that seem to be everywhere you look in Scotland. But put up a Union flag and you're up to your neck in offendedness. Honestly, it was such a bad idea to ban handguns in this country.

I used to like Killie as a club but they're going down the same route as Aberdeen for me.

In this day and age with streamed content and access to worldwide programming it's quite easy to legally stop paying the TV license.

Anyone who wants to fly a flag in their garden is generally a roaster anyway, whatever that flag is. Offensive? no, not at all. Ridiculously tacky looking? absolutely.

Totally agree. They are blatantly taking the piss as they know their days are numbered anyway. They must have told London to f@ck off too? It’s so obviously contemptuous, and we should go after them in the courts if we could in some way?

I don't think it will die but it will have to evolve considerably. Most younger people stream what they want to watch and the thought of a tax for a state broadcaster will become more ridiculous. With regards to our peculiar situation, they seem keen to continue it and I would suggest they're intentionally taking the piss out of Rangers FC and Rangers supporters and the best way to respond is simple. Stop funding the contemptible twats.

If selling Morelos meant we could sign Kent permanently, I'd rather keep Morelos.

I suspect come Aug 31 if he hasn't been sold liverpool may change their mind.

Me too more or less. I'm trusting there are people at board level who have sufficient business acumen and who armed with the best legal advice have made an informed decision that this is the best route to take for a favourable end result.

The board's hands are tied with regards to transparency. It's an ongoing court case, so they can only say so much. I'm in the, "It doesn't look good but let's not panic yet.", camp.

Kent the "dream" is over we can't afford him and as for Skrtil no way if his wage demands put off other clubs.

Sons of Struth Yesterday at 12:18 · THE CALM AFTER THE STORM THE KIT DEAL SAGA Last week we witnessed an amazing amount of noise regarding Rangers kit deal and some amazing misinterpretations of truth. So much so that many of these inaccuracies had Rangers fans thinking some of these headlines and blogs must be true. Rangers fans were led to believe many things including, we won’t be using Hummel, we wouldn’t be able to buy kits, Rangers won’t have kit for next season and Sports Direct would be paid millions in costs. You can imagine why some were upset. The more calm among our support, who have unfortunately had many years of court cases to dissect, suggested that folk should wait until the case was finally settled before deciding if renegotiating the 7 year rolling contract and replacing it with a “normalised” deal that we eventually broke, was value for money or a waste of money. With the final figures still some way from being agreed, it’s difficult to say for sure but with this court order dated 19th July, it appears some folks fears may have been misplaced as the legal costs alone awarded to Sports Direct (£440k) are somewhat lower than plenty suggested. On first reading some may be cringing when they read paragraphs 6 and 7 of this order but once you’ve digested the whole document you will see allowances in the scary parts of 6/7 and Rangers will be able to register, order and sell kits next season despite the claims of many. So where are we with this? The court order states further court dates at the end of September which may be for SD to put forward their claim for damages, Rangers should then be given the opportunity to appeal this amount and then the judge will finally put a value on the award to SD. This could obviously take months and would probably be 2020 if you use previous cases as a barometer. Then and only then can a fair assessment of value take place. So far Rangers have paid £3m to normalise the 7 year deal, we received a £1.6m dividend shortly after normalising this deal and today we can see a legal bill for £444k. That means we are roughly £1.9m down plus a figure to be assessed by the judge for damages to SD for us doing a deal with Elite. The wise money is guessing this will be £1m. If this does turn out to be the figure then it will have cost Rangers just under£3m to bin a 7 year deal that was returning us zero profit. Wise men suggest this is around one years worth of kit income and hopefully the next 6 years make far more than we could have dreamt of from Ashley’s 7 year deal. We shall be patient waiting for the final outcome (probably next year) but it does look on the face of it that by being sued and allowing Rangers fans to buy kit for the first time in years, it’ll be ok in the long run. Just don’t tell the headline writers and crazy bloggers that. This court order is publicly available. I wonder why none of the MSM or distractor bloggers have put it out. https://www.facebook.com/SonsOfStruth/photos/pcb.2456138064617307/2456137967950650/?type=3&theater

Far from it. I said "unless our hands are tied". If the board look at the numbers and decide we need a Morelos transfer fee now then so be it. If not then that asset will still be there in a year and if he is willing to stay we have a real shot at winning the league and opening the door to crucial revenue generation. Of course if Mark Allen and his scouts decide they have player lined up who will be just as good then that is another matter but that isn't likely.

Thanks for that insight!!! Its useful to read the facts rather than rely on my own experience of it. A lot of that really surprised me. I've just asked the kids who are now in their twenties and they said that neither they nor their friends would ever listen to radio at all, but it just shows a lot of young people still are. You are right that the younger ones get everything they need through YouTube channels and similar. On your last point about a Rangers radio station for commentary, I wonder how possible/difficult that would be. I have RTV and it's transformed my enjoyment of watching our away games. If the commentary was available somehow free of charge via a radio station I am certain it would be successful. There is however one stage next year when I would want to tune in to the BBC football radio station whatever that is, and that's when we win 55. I just want to hear the pain in their voices.

Well done again Vanguardbears. Keep it up, you might be a lone voice sometimes but all credit for not allowing this to rest.

Thread necromancy! But yeah, another sample of the mad English market. Didn`t Solanke go for like 19m?

We have a few recycle systems running over here, one that collect waste paper and old newspapers et all in bins which have to be placed in front of your garden door at a certain date. If a drunkard happens by he could lit half a dozen of these bins in no time too ... because he`s drunk and find it funny and whatnot. So hurling bottles or do other stuff can have umpteen of reasons ... and none need to be tolerated. It is the job of the community, the council and the police to get any offenders to task. You do that once or twice and other will think again before hurling bottles. Likewise, there is a tendency for some people over here to have a flag pole in their gardens and fly flags of stuff they like most, in my immediate neighbourhood there is one chap who has a Norway flag up there, while two others have those of Union Berlin and Hertha ... more or less all year round. It usually draws a smile - whether of affection or pity - and that`s that. There is near to no news whatsoever over here that someone has burned a pole, flag, or paper bin ... nor hurled bottles at such homes. In a city that has roughly 3.7m inhabitants ... and who support anything from Bayern (not so liked), BVB, Schalke, Hertha, Union or even the BFC Dynamo.

No thanks. Why would we want to sign a player who can't do the business in the lower echelons of the Football League?

Would love to see that introduced! Sat in the enclosure for one of the friendlies and there were a few seats that weren't in the best condition so this is good news for STH in that area.

Has here been any attempt at organising a license boycott? I could easily do without a license and stay within the law but my missus loves the soaps. Be willing to break the law though if a boycott did get going.

Easy route for the council. It should be their job to listen to complaints and check who murmurs of potential violance and veiled threats ... and talk to these persons. Flying the flag of your country, whether Union Jack or/and Saltire is everyone`s right of freedom of opinion, not least in one own`s backyard. If someone start talking about violance and puplic disorder because of that, then there sure is a problem out there that needs to be tackled.

The BBC is a difficult beast to pigeon hole, its size and resources give it enormous influence. Radio 1 for example has a huge younger audience, the biggest of any radio station and Radio Five Live remains hugely influential across all sports. The BBC website attracts a huge and diverse audience, they've segmented and cross channeled very well, and are industry leading in many ways. Their serious move into podcasts over the last 12 months is harder to measure. BBC1 remains a broad channel, creating programming aimed at a wide audience, BBC2 and BBC4 more niche. Cbeebies and CBBC have their own clear audiences as does the BBC News channel. Their charter goal is to produce programming for everyone in the UK across all their platforms. The challenge is when you look at it on a Scotland only basis because the UK wide channels can skew audiences. What we know is both Radio 1 and 2 have more listeners than any other radio stations in Scotland. Then Radio Scotland is next. However, this is complicated by Radio Scotland (and Radio 1 and 2) broadcasting across the whole country, no other Scotland based station does that. When you look at a station like Clyde, although it has a smaller audience than Radio Scotland in total its share is bigger in the area it broadcasts too. So it and the other 'regional' commercial stations out perform Radio Scotland in a number of areas. Now, I suspect you're seeing teenagers who watch You Tube channels, Instagram videos and other assorted web content as well Netflix and Amazon Prime and with sport Sky, BT and whoever has Scottish football this year. In the end if you want to watch Scottish football you are limited to the channels that are actually showing it. Teenagers and younger people have always looked for media channels different from their parents. Whether that was NME, Kerrang, Radio Luxemburg, The Word or today You Tube prankers and make-up artists. What is also inevitable is they drift back in their 20s to the mainstream and within a few years they've turned into their parents, mirroring, it happens to all of us without us noticing. The unfortunate reality is Scottish football remains niche, it's of massive importance and attraction here, but outside of Scotland there's little appetite for it. That's the market we're in for now. As such Radio Scotland, with exclusive radio coverage, has the biggest market share for Scottish football and until a realistic competitor takes some or all of that coverage they'll continue to exert significant influence. Ironically, the BBC Scotland issue with Rangers might have unintended consequences. Rangers specific podcasts are appearing and some are flourishing as fans look for coverage and insight elsewhere. If, and it's a big if, one of them or indeed the club, could get the ability to provide radio commentary of Rangers matches, home and away, then BBC Scotland might well have a problem. There are many hurdles in the way of that though. However, the longer this dispute goes on the more chance there is of someone finding a way of filling the void.

For me the BBC is the only item that Rangers need to focus on. It is the most important by miles. The rest will take care of itself. I don't care how we get back in there, undignified kicking, screaming, lying, face-scratching, playing race and victim cards. But we need to get back in there.

Just chuck some rails in instead and, voila, an Enclosure standing section!

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.

Thanks for that @JohnMc and I know you've made this same point previously. I wonder though who these people are though and if they are significant. I understand the point by @Rick Roberts that if they manage to sway one potential customer or sponsor then it's too much, but how likely is that? In other words, what is the demographic of those that access the BBC these days? I thought I'd just ask to see if you knew. I don't know of any in the younger generation that would list the BBC as something they would ever consider accessing for information on anything, never mind football. They just don't go there and even my generation (70s child) I find are unlikely to go there either. There are just too many better sources and it leaves the BBC completely redundant for those in the digital age. That's obviously a very skewed view based on my own experience but I just wonder how many of Rangers' target audience really are impacted or influenced by the BBC. I am sure I will see the death of the BBC in my lifetime and it's the younger generation that will kill it off completely. It may happen sooner rather than later when inevitably the fee is scrapped.

Just managed to listen now, great as usual. Well done!

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.

Totally agree with the council. OK for the day of a match or a day before but should not be a local landmark.

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.

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.

That is massively underplaying the benefits of the new system and overlaying the role of other factors imo. The article explains very well how our opposition didn’t know how to counteract it. And the Kilmarnock game did no such thing. Aside from the fact they were playing for 3rd place we dropped Arfield, Tavernier and Davis, each were huge in that run of wins but none more so than Arfield who is integral to the formation working. I think it’s fair to say we agree on a lot but just not quite on everything.

I have high hopes for Murphy if he can get himself fully fit and in form he will be a first pick as he is simply better than the other options. I agree to a certain extent that in the latter part of last season we looked a lot better, however the league was gone by then, and most of our opponents had nothing to play for, so those results need scaled down a bit, and we cant just say omit Killie, as it brought to light all our old failings again! Arfield is a favourite of mine, I love players who drift in unnoticed into the box and score goals, the way he does that reminds me a bit of Ian Durrant (pre-injury). Putting him into that position centrally is ideal for him and that has been the biggest positive from the formation change for me.

Treble - New Zealand rugby world cup, Rangers premiership and Man City premier league is 8/1.