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Very much so ! The previous two blocks were made up of 7 games each, the next is 10 games. It's not only volume, the difficulty scale raises significantly with League trips away to Aberdeen, Hibs, Motherwell and Celtic. Not forgetting a National Cup Final and the business end of the EL group. Sun 24/11/19 PRE Hamilton Acade… 13 : 15 Rangers More info Thu 28/11/19 UEL Feyenoord 18 : 55 Rangers More info Sun 01/12/19 PRE Rangers 16 : 00 Hearts More info Wed 04/12/19 PRE Aberdeen 20 : 45 Rangers More info Sun 08/12/19 LEC Rangers 16 : 00 Celtic More info Thu 12/12/19 UEL Rangers 21 : 00 Young Boys More info Sun 15/12/19 PRE Motherwell 13 : 00 Rangers More info Fri 20/12/19 PRE Hibernian 20 : 45 Rangers More info Thu 26/12/19 PRE Rangers 16 : 00 Kilmarnock More info Sun 29/12/19 PRE Celtic 13 : 30 Rangers So far so good but this up and coming block will be pivotal.

It is that time of year again when James McClean sparks uproar among thousands of football fans because of his notoriously stubborn refusal to wear a decent first touch. No matter how much abuse they shower upon the Stoke City winger, his left foot insists on turning to concrete as soon as it makes contact with a ball. The frustration and resentment it has caused for most of this decade shows no sign of abating. In comparison with this gross professional negligence, his notoriously stubborn refusal to wear a remembrance poppy could be considered a matter of personal choice. For anyone who believes in freedom of expression, it is not a misdemeanour at all. It is the essence of liberty, a living assertion of the citizen’s right to democratic choice — which is not to say that the 30-year-old clogger does not need a few lessons in politics and manners. McClean grew up brainwashed with a simplistic version of the distressing story that surrounded him in Northern Ireland. In this version Martin McGuinness, his fellow Derry man, was a freedom fighter, a working-class hero, a revolutionary inspiration. It seems that John Hume barely existed at all, albeit that he is a Derry man who is revered as a statesman and who in 1998 was a co-recipient of the Nobel peace prize. In his pronouncements over the years, McClean has never mentioned Hume. When McGuinness died in March 2017, McClean described him in a statement as “a good friend . . . a great leader, a great hero and above all a great man. Thinking of all your loved ones.” Julie Hambleton was thinking of loved ones that day, in particular her 18-year-old sister Maxine, who was one of 21 people murdered by IRA bombs in two pubs in Birmingham on November 21, 1974. She has devoted much of her life since to bringing the perpetrators to justice. McGuinness, she steadfastly maintains, had “so much blood on his hands”. The death of the unrepentant IRA commander prompted a diametrically different response from Ms Hambleton. “I feel sad because here was a man who I believe could have given us so many answers to our questions and the questions of many others who are victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. His family have our genuine condolences. We are not evil people. But he has had a full life and has a family, children, grandchildren — how lucky for him. What about Maxine and Jane Davis and the rest of the 21 who were killed in the pub bombings?” Through Sunderland, Wigan Athletic, West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City, McClean has made a handsome living in those English heartlands where McGuinness and his cadre of sociopaths wreaked the most dreadful human suffering. Warrington, Manchester, the M62: does he know what happened in these places? Does he care? His comments have shown a regrettable insensitivity to the country that has given him a livelihood of which he could never have dreamt in Derry. If he has struggled to show a modicum of consideration for his adopted community, perhaps he ought to be mindful of his fellow emigrants, the Irish men and women who for generations before him made their lives in Britain. The atrocities of Irish terrorism brought crippling shame upon them. It was they who were left to deal with the inevitable backlash provoked by these crimes against humanity. It seems that in McClean’s world there is only one such crime that matters: the shooting dead of 13 unarmed civilians in Derry by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday — January 30, 1972. Five years ago, while at Wigan, he wrote an open letter to Dave Whelan, the club chairman. At the time he was being subjected to a storm of vitriol. He prefaced his explanation by stressing he had “complete respect” for those who fought and died in both world wars. But Bloody Sunday made the wearing of the poppy a step too far. “Please understand that when you come from Creggan like myself or the majority of places in Derry, every person still lives in the shadow of one of the darkest days in Ireland’s history. It is just part of who we are, ingrained into us from birth.” Fair enough. His conscience will not allow it. The problem arises of someone who seems to know only a fraction of the story. “Ingrained into us from birth” is an admission that he has been force-fed a version that leans heavily on denial, self-pity and sentimental nationalism. While Hume, his SDLP colleagues and their supporters stood four-square for peace, civility and civilisation, it was McGuinness, the IRA and their counterparts in Ulster loyalism who were dragging that society into its chamber of horrors. One of the most infamous horrors was perpetrated at a ceremony to commemorate the war dead in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, on November 8, 1987. Irish terrorists killed 12 people that day and injured 63, many of them elderly. It was an outrage that stunned both nations, known as the Remembrance Day bombing, the Poppy Day massacre. The wearing or not of a poppy on a football field seems trivial but it would be no trivial matter if McClean reconsidered his position in the light of that hideous day. Stripped of history and tribalism, it would be a simple, stand-alone gesture of atonement for that unfathomable act of cruelty. McClean takes a lot of pride in the strength of his convictions. He insists he has done it on principle and that, as he said in his letter to Whelan, “if you’re a man you should stand up for what you believe in”. The point is that it matters less what you “believe in” than what you know. Believing in something is often a shortcut for people who do not bother to inform themselves or who do not want to know. Blind conviction becomes a refuge from inconvenient truths. McClean’s political sensibilities are as crude as his football skills. He has not made life easy by refusing to wear the symbol of “the Brits” but it is easier than telling home truths to his people. If he needs to know one thing, it is that standing up to one’s tribe is the toughest principle to live by, the hardest test of all. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/james-mcclean-has-right-to-snub-poppy-but-he-needs-to-learn-full-story-vwmgbl5j0

I'm assuming you're talking about his mother, but that shouldn't concern you?!?! Helander has never been beaten for pace despite being up against some of the fastest players in Europe (Porto and Feyenord in particular).

The only reason Gilmour is anywhere near the first team is because Chelsea cannot sign players. Their track record of promoting youth is terrible.

For ever Billy Gilmour there will be another 10 that are no where near the first team , Chelsea work on numbers , they simply hoover up the best of the best that they can get , Ajax do the same as do all the big clubs . Statistically I would put money that we have a better strike rate at bringing players through than they do , percentage wise .

These days, Bill's thoughts are full of pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Pity we couldn't get anothe diddy beside him , cant beat a good pair of diddy's up front .

I wonder what Leckie thinks of this article now?

Unsurprisingly, I couldn't find a Hannibal Barca gif, so this will have to suffice:

PG’s not great on the defensive side of the game. Walter as consultant?

The best of the action from Rangers U18s Scottish Youth Cup second round tie against Celtic at Broadwood. https://rangers.co.uk/tv/view?it=17976&c=&act=watch&r=1631604828

Going for Barisic, and for the same reasons as above .

Kamara was very good and close to be named my MOTM but i went for Barasic. I thought his all round play was excellent and was unlucky with a couple of goal efforts. which along his his joining with goal celebrations shows he has now settled in to the club although i still there is more to come from him.

Goldson for me his defending and passing top class.

Kamara for me. Everything good we did went through him. The way he receives the ball, passes and moves makes it very difficult for opponents to track his second run, which opens up so much space, not just for him but his team mates. One stray pass aside (which he recovered) I thought he was close to flawless.

The original post is in a larger font size than the normal font that you and I are using. It makes the threads harder to read, and so ideally when pasting a thread, the poster should click on the "paste as plain text instead" option that appears at the bottom of the post.

Look folks, Were talking about dinosaurs here. Leckie and the printed media. Print media relies on advertising these days to survive. The only way people like Leckie and co can keep themselves a float is to write a sensational piece of drivel, which (hopefully) may get the people to pick up a copy when they pick up their £3 pound meal deal for the day. So see it for what it is … A journalist & newspaper trying to keep themselves relevant by hanging onto the coat tails of the feel good factor that is Rangers.

Good few candidates for this one - I went for Aribo. Took his goal really well and was always available for passes.

A good all round performance but I voted for Morelos again his goal put the game beyond any doubt I just pray he can avoid injury

Goldson for me, his last 2 matches he has been excellent, maybe Helanders' form is a factor in that?. Barisic was excellent as well and our midfield were the real difference in the match, Morelos gets another goal.

A lot a good performances, everybody gets pass marks, but I'm going for Goldson just shading Helander for MotM.

Goldson for me. I thought he had a great game.

If a young player is good enough he will break into the team. I think Gilmour would have played more first team football had he stayed but the difference in money is so great that most will go for it. It's a sad fact that if one of our youths looks exceptional there's a high chance we will lose them.

If only, he had half a brain...

League games postponed because of League Cup semi-final and final were Home games. Game at Easter Road being on the Friday means we lose a possible midweek date and hence a game less than Celtic.

Sadly, I very much doubt he gives a shit.

Not something I’ve ever noticed. Quite the opposite in fact.

Absolute rubbish.

Neither Rangers nor Celtic need any help from the S.F.A. or S.P.F.L. The other teams can't compete at the moment. How do we expect them to compete if the fixtures get re-arranged to help Rangers and Celtic? As for the national team, I couldn't care less about them. If the fixtures change to help them then I will be most disappointed. I suspect Lennon is more concerned about having several first team players in the Scotland team.

Kevin Thomson told me a couple of weeks ago that if this Youth team has all of its players available then no other team in the country could live with them.

Great interview with Neil Alexander,.... thank's to all involved.