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Ferguson is no better than Docherty and both are rather different players to Kamara so can't be a like-for-like replacement.

Strange how they both choose their words carefully and tippy toe around the issue but with anything Rangers related it's all guns blazing.

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

Interest in Ferguson and Hladky (St. Mirren goalie) seems to be made up or simply agent talk ... https://www.followfollow.com/forum/threads/lewis-ferguson-and-vaclav-hladky-apparently-its-just-newspaper-and-agent-talk.96573/

Chelsea play at a higher level than we do, they are in a more competitive league and in the Champion's League, so the standard a young player has to attain to reach their first team is higher than ours. I'm well aware that circumstances have forced Chelsea down this route and until relatively recently they were largely ignoring their youth prospects. However, currently, they look like a better career path than we do. Unfortunately I've seen nothing from the club recently to suggest we've figured out how to take highly talented, over-achieving youngsters and turn them into first team players. There's no way of knowing where Gilmour would be if he'd stayed at Rangers, but ask yourself would he be ahead of Davis, Kamara and Jack? Arfield or Kent? I'm not convinced, and nothing the club have done in the recent past has suggested to me he would be. I don't disagree with you in terms of the club's focus, but I'm not yet convinced there is a pathway to our first team even if we did win the league this season. It's not about whether that's the right thing or not, it's all about the context around the young lad King being courted by Chelsea and Liverpool. My point is that if I were him (or his parents) the harsh reality is that Liverpool and Chelsea can both point to successful 'graduates' of their youth system playing regular 1st team football at the highest level, plus offer him a life changing amount of money. We can't even point to successful youth system graduates. It makes it harder to convince an exceptionally talented young player their future lies with us.

We can't really complain about richer clubs enticing our youngsters away for more money, afterall we do it to all the clubs with less money than us. We allow other teams around Scotland (and wider) to train their youngsters and then we take the best of them. We win some and we lose some, but we are just as much part of the problem as the bigger clubs are. As for Gilmour, it'll be interesting to see if he holds on to his place in Chelsea's first team squad when they start spending money on players again.

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

The Winter 2019/20 Transfer Window Rumours and Deals - Thread SIGNED in January 2019: Ianis Hagi (21) - attacking midfielder, Racing Genk, contract till 20xx, loaned till end of season (with buying option) - LINK GONE in January 2019: Andy King - loan deal cut short, returns to Leicester City Eros Grezda - (contract terminated) signed for Osijek on a permanent deal (06/01/2020) Zak Rudden - Partick Thistle (after loan deal, now permanent with future options), undisclosed - LINK Eduardo Herrera - Club Puebla on a permanent deal - LINK OUT or AWAY (as of 20/01/2020) OL - Robbie McCrorie - season long loan at Queen of the South - STATS 2019/20 OL - Jordan Rossiter () - CMF, contract till 2020 - loaned to Fleetwood Town till end of season - STATS 2019/20 OL - Ross McCrorie (born 18.03.1998) – contract till 2022 - loaned to Portsmouth FC for the season long - STATS 2019/20 OL - Stephen Kelly (19) - contract till ... - loaned to Ayr United - STATS 2019/20 OL - Cammy Palmer (19) - contract till 2021 - loaned to Partick Thistle - STATS 2019/20 OL - Jak Alnwick (17.06.1993) - contract till 2020 - loaned to Blackpool till the end of the season - STATS 2019/20 OL - Jake Hastie - right winger, loaned to Rotherham United FC till summer 2020 - STATS 2019/20 OL - Jason Holt - loaned to St Johnstone FC till summer 2020 - STATS 2019/20 OL - Jamie Barjonas - Partick Thistle - loan till end of season - LINK OL - Jamie Murphy - Burton Albion - loan till end of season - LINK RETURNING pre summer 2020: OL - Josh McPake (17) left winger - 6-month loan to Dundee FC - now back - STATS 2019/20 OL - Eduardo Herrera - loaned to Necaxa FC till January 2020 - STATS 2019/20 OL - Glenn Middleton () left winger - season long loan to Hibernian till summer 2020 - STATS 2019/20 - deal cut short OL - Jake Hastie (winger) - season long loan to Rotherham United cut short by mutual agreement - LINK RUMOURS: IN - Lewis Ferguson (21) - Aberdeen, central midfielder, contract till 2024 (Link on 1st page below) + Seemingly only paper talk IN - Mostafa Mohamed (22) - Zamalek, striker, contract till ??? IN - Lovro Majer () - Dinamo Zagreb, AM, contract till 2023 IN - Lyle Taylor (29) - Charlton Atheltic, striker, contract till 2020 IN - Olivier Giroud (33) - Chelsea, striker, contract till 2020 IN - Herbie Kane (21) - Liverpool, CM, contract till ??? (signed a new one with Liverpool in December 2018) - LINK - Stats at TM IN - Tyrese Campbell () - Stoke City, contract till summer 2020 - various sources, ID 10 verified IN - Matěj Vydra (28) - Burnley, striker, contract till 20xx - loan deal till summer IN - Florin Kamberi () - Hibernian, striker, contract till 20xx, loan deal till summer with buying option OUT - Alfredo Morelos -> Crystal Palace & Leicester City ... Inter Milan, Sevilla ... OUT - Glen Kamara -> Brighton & Crystal Palace - LINK and Leeds for 8m LINK - New Link 02/01/2020 OUT - James Tavernier -> "EPL sides" - LINK OUT - Wes Foderingham -> Middlesbrough FC - LINK OUT - Andy King - loan deal cut short - DONE OUT - Greg Docherty - on loan to ... Sunderland? or Hibernian OUT - Eduardo Herrera - loaned to Necaxa FC till January 2020 - possible  deal with Atletico San Luis - DONE OUT - Borna Barasic - loan to AS Roma with permanent deal in summer OUT - Jamie Murphy - loan to Burton- DONE OUT - Glen Middleton - loan to ... St. Mirren? OUT - Robb McCrorie - on loan to Livingston till end of season OUT - Jordan Houston - to Ayr United (with sell-on options) OUT - Jak Alnwick - pre-contract with Blackpool FC OUT - Conor Goldson - interest from Leeds, West Brom and Fulham OUT - Jordan Jones - loan interest from Sunderland with buying option CONTRACT EXTENSIONS Steven Davis, Allan McGregor, Jermaine Defoe - LINK - Defoe till 2021 LINK NON-STARTERS: IN - OUT - SQUAD as of 10 / 11 / 2019 (Squad listed in order of remaining length of contract) For running updates, see here: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/glasgow-rangers/startseite/verein/124 Goal: Wesley Foderingham (28) – contract till 2020 Allan McGregor (37) – contract till 2021 Andy Firth (22), Barrow FC, goalkeeper, contract till 2020 - extended in January 2020 till summer 2021 - LINK Defence Jon Flanagan (25) - right-back - contract till 2020 Matt Polster (25) – right fullback/midfield, contract till summer 2021 James Tavernier (28) – contract till 2022 Connor Goldson (25) - centre half, contract till 2022 Borna Barisic (25) - left-back - contract till 2022 George Edmundson (21) - centre-half, contract till 2023 Filip Helander (23) - centre half, contract till 2023 Nikola Katic - centre-half, 21 - contract till 2023 Midfield Steven Davis (34) – contract till 2021 Sheyi Ojo (22) - loaned from Liverpool (u23), right winger - loan till summer 2020 Andrew Halliday (28) – LMF, left fullback, contract till 2020 (Jamie Murphy (30) - left-winger, contract till 2021 - on loan to Burton till summer 2020) Scott Arfield (31) - contract till 2022 Greg Docherty (23) – CMF, contract till 2022 Brandon Barker (23) - left winger, contract till 2022 Glen Kamara (23) - CMF, contract till 2023 Ryan Jack (27) – CMF, contract till 2023 Jordan Jones (25) left midfield, contract till 2023 Joe Aribo (23) - attacking midfielder, contract till 2023 Ryan Kent (22) - forward, contract till 2023 Jake Hastie (21) - winger, contract till 2023 Strikers Jermain Defoe (37) - striker, loaned from Bournemouth till summer 2020 - Contract extension & permanent deal till 2021 SIGNED - 25/01/2020 Greg Stewart (29) - striker, contract till 2021 Alfredo Morelos (23) – striker, contract till 2023 Coaching Staff TBC Squad in 2019/2020 as of (10th November 2019) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/glasgow-rangers/kadernaechstesaison/verein/124

Done the same myself many a time. Ask Craig!

Thank goodness for that. We shouldn't touch him with a long pole used to propel a barge and fend off obstacles. If he gets in then the B.B.C. and the Daily Record will know everything that happens inside the training ground.

I heard it was the end of this week mate but not seen any confirmation

Not if we were to sell him for the £8-10m being mentioned by some. £50k to £10m is a great profit.

You could make a decent case for holding on to all our players but the reality is we MUST sell to stay afloat, so some of our best players MUST be sold. Just hopefully NOT in January.

It's a very interesting one. I haven't seen enough of him tbh, he can't be judged on games against us when Aberdeen have 11 men behind the ball. There's no question he is doing fantastically well for his age though. My concern would be the fee. He is on a 5 year deal, and remember this is the club that turned down £7m for McKenna. I think it's a non-starter on that basis.

Why does anyone want to waste time at a football match yapping about politics? As far as I know only one club in the UK does it .

Lewis Ferguson is a no brainier. Head and shoulders above the rest at Aberdeen Given his background I can’t see him being anything but keen on a move. ABerdeen will drive a hard bargain but with the new stadium I imagine they also have some pressure to raise what funds they can.

It is but rumours and they all need listing for those who missed them ... and for having a laugh. IMHO, if Morelos keeps on scoring and playing like he is, I would suspect better and greater teams than Palace may happen along. And whatever SG is saying, if they e.g. slap in 30+ million bids he will probably be off to the better league he is aiming for. So better be prepared and have a look at decent folk. Can`t see Kamara leave just now, all the vibes coming from him / SG is that he is settled and loves the place. Lewis Ferguson ... whatever he wants, McInnes and Aberdeen will rather puke blood and organs before letting the lad go to us anytime soon, even for ridiculous money.

Does it count when they don't know they're a diddy club?

Taken from FF.

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

If they are able to hoover up the elite talent from most other clubs with fewer resources then it'll be more likely they'll have the younger players who are made of the right stuff to make the first team squad. An 18 year old Billy Gilmour is now making the Chelsea bench in EPL matches. - If he were still at Rangers, where do you think he would be in terms of breaking through to the first team ? - Have his 2 years development at Chelsea been significantly more constructive than they would have been in Glasgow ? If so, why ? Given the current expectations placed on the team and management relative to the challenge faced, is it realistic to expect a pathway to open up UNLESS we produce exceptional talent complete with the necessary strong mentality. -------- My take is that we have to win the title and get that monkey off our backs in the short term. Then hope that the current crop coming through do produce and the likes of Kelly , McPake, Kennedy etc. continue to improve to the point of joining the first team squad. IMO taking everything into consideration (including finances), the necessary timescale being we win the title this season (at a stretch the following season) and we start to get several youths into the first team squad for 20/21.

Absolute rubbish.

Finally ...

(ii) Rank Hypocrisy. Enthralled, I returned home last evening, Rangers beating of Porto was the high on my mind. I switched on the TV and found BBC's Question Time underway. Guests included Humza Yousaf and Angela Haggerty. The HND armed Journo is a piece of work, and considerable work has been put in by many to ensure she is provided with every opportunity. Angela straddles the horses of both Irish and Scottish nationalism, riding down Union aspirations the way she rode down any claims that fellow Journo, Lyra McKee was murdered by the IRA. As my high ebbed, I wondered just how far does Angela's protection extend? She is among a coterie of Journos regularly invited by PQ to broadcast their preferred prejudice. You have the likes of former Sellik View Editor, Kevin McKenna, the Herald's former Literary Editor, Hugh MacDonald, and Herald columnist, Catriona Stewart(Gregor Cox). They all provide support to a range of Producers, Staffers, and Presenters. Well, it's mutual support; Chris McLaughlin, Tom English, and DrStu' can all say what they like, knowing it will minimised/expanded, rationalised/evaluated, justified/acceptable, ...... etc. They have all uttered the most vile, sectarian statements about Rangers and Rangers supporters knowing that not one of them will ever be pulled up, chastised, or disciplined. They will not be reminded either, their sin is clean. They were all contributors to the Rangers Tax Case Blog and that has never been raised for conversation since the day it all disappeared, after a number of court rulings. Nearly a million impressions gone overnight without a word. Actually, DrStu' has commented on a few occasions, it has always been the same, "Rangers supporters should forget all about the RTC Blog". It's the arrogance, we are not allowed to find out whose display cabinet hosts the Orwell prize? DrStu' the Jedi Knight! Last Thursday's Media Review, you know that show where DrStu' brings a different voice to the microphone? He introduced himself saying he had been watching Jeremy Corbyn's election campaign. He found it most compelling, or rather he could understand why traditional voters in the north of England would find it compelling. He urged those voters to forego the temptation of the Brexit Party and return to the socialism fold. A break ensued, then DrStu returned to speak of "coherence". In Scotland, Corbyn's message was incoherent because socialism was represented by the SNP. Here's me thinking if you allow your socialist sensitivities to be subdued by nationalist demands, then you are a national socialist; something entirely different. Why can't DrStu' allow his fellow Scots to vote Labour? Further, I am surprised that the broadcast footprint of BBC Scotland has been extended to include the north of England. Of course the rank hypocrisy is that DrStu' hates the English as much as he hates Rangers supporters. Question Time is a show that exercises the collective minds of the Gang Hut. We have had several rantings and ravings on the make up of the panel, and even more interesting is a demand to ensure approval of the audience members. DrStu' spent an entire Media Review battering a particular audience member from Livingston who had rag dolled Fiona Hyslop. It was DrStu's favoured shotgun approach, he was outraged that the Livi' chap was a drummer in an Orange marching band. The rank hypocrisy is DrStu's Councilor in Dennistoun is a drummer in a marching band, his name is Allan Casey and he banged the drum for an Irish Republican marching band. Obviously, DrStu' is prepared to subdue his socialist principles because Casey is nationalist Councilor. I suppose it's a relief that DrStu' only hates some drummers. The other conclusion must be DrStu' the Jedi Knight approves of Angela? It was he on the Media Review that announced Lyra McKee had died as a result of cross fire. Mutual support provides mutual comfort.

I meant to post this a week or so ago. Following Dundee Utd announcing a significant financial loss recently, a loss that was underlined by a salary to turnover ratio of 133%, the evening Sportsound featured Jim Spence, Allan Preston and Chick Young. Jim Spence is a well known professional Dundonian, a man of the people, recognised as the senior legal opinion for most of Tayside and someone who cares greatly about sporting integrity. For the younger readers sporting integrity is something that was all the rage earlier in this decade. Anyway, I expected a full evisceration of Dundee Utd from Lord Spence, someone as concerned with financial probity as him would be ripping then a new one as they say in the High Court. Well, you can imagine my surprise when in fact it turned out that dear old Jim was in fact something of an apologist for Dundee Utd's reckless absentee owners. Apparently they've got deep pockets, have fallen in love with Dundee Utd (I know, I know) and see them as a long term investment. Indeed apparently their business plan will see them making money in the mid to long term. Incredibly this clear case of "financial doping" doesn't require criticism, simply explanation. It's a project, there's nothing untoward going on and everything will be fine. Allan Preston, a football agent who relies on working with clubs for his living, also saw nothing to worry about or question. It was left to an incredulous Chick Young, for possibly the first time in his life, to express what everyone else listening was thinking, namely WHAT THE FUCK??!! Yes, BBC Sportsound that evening made Chick Young sound measured, qualified and sensible. Who says it's not worth the licence fee. PS For some reason no Dundee supporters were invited on to give their opinion on Dundee Utd's problems. Again, a break with precedent surely.