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Rangers travel to the Netherlands on Thursday to play Feyenoord in Rotterdam. Their name is now spelled Feyenoord but was originally Feijenoord. They updated their name from the old Feijenoord and took a modern English language plunge to Feyenoord in 1974 - pity really; changing your original historical name. For anyone who has been to the Feijenoord stadium, known as de Kuip (the bath tub), will know it is a mass of steel. I would rate it higher quality than tin city on the east side of Glasgow, though. During the war years the Germans wanted to demolish it for the scrap metal to turn the steel into weapons but the director of the stadium estimated a much lower tonnage of high class steel and the Germans decided it was not worth knocking down. Later the stadium was also used for pop concerts and my moment of fame was going to watch Pink Floyd playing there in 1988 which was unfortunately the last time the band toured Holland. As we all know Jaap Stam begun the season as manager. Jaap was probably one of the best defenders you could get but after a spell of managing Reading and PEC Zwolle he got a move to Feyenoord,. The team started off playing not great and quickly got worse. Defeat against Rangers, who a certain Dutch journalist called a nothing club, and a chanceless 4-0 defeat against Ajax saw Jaap fall on his sword. Since he left, players have come out and said he was unclear in his instructions. Why didn't they tell him that at the time seems a logical question for me? After his management performances up until now questions do have to be asked about his coaching ability and man management, I am afraid. After Stam departed, Rangers old boss Dick Advocaat took over as interim manager until the end of the season. Dick Advocaat will do one thing to the team: discipline. He is up to this point unbeaten but after Feyenoord drew 1-1 with Groningen at the weekend the same Dutch journalist stated on telly last night that even Dick Advocaat can't polish a jobby! The fact that Feyenoord had less possession than Groningen must set some alarm bells ringing in Rotterdam. In general though, Dutch Journalists expect Feyenoord to win and stated they could not name one player in the Rangers team. I would say that it is their lack of knowledge as Steven Davis missed a penalty against their national team just a few day's earlier. I have to say that one of the problems with Feyenoord is that they have really only one central striker in Nicolai Jorgensen and he is pretty much always injured. The only other specialist central striker they have is a seventeen year old kid who is still learning his trade. They have been trying many other permutations of wingers or attacking midfielders with Luis Sinisterra playing there recently as striker, but obviously a natural striker is a big part of the backbone to the team. At the back their big money defensive buy Argentinian Marcos Senasi has instead of being a rock in defence actually become a laughing stock amongst the media. They have have painted him as the big money defender who can't defend and can't pass a ball more than a few metres. Dick Advocaat defended him this week saying he will be money well spent, and to be honest he had a reasonable game against Groningen, so maybe he just had problems getting used to his different surroundings. It is my view that we cannot let Feyenoord play football. We have to be in their faces every minute of the game. Defensively they are weak and Morelos should be able to role their defenders. I would try to let them give the ball to Senasi and the put pressure on him to make a mistake. If we let them come at us then they do have players that can hurt us in Steven Berghuis, Luis Sinisterra and Sam Larsson. Obviously a forward line built for on the ground football and not for high balls into the area. With Jens Toonstra, Leroy Fer and Orkun Kökcü they have a decent midfield but certainly not world beaters. Rangers Rangers didn't play that great on Sunday but we got the three points. Playing bad and still getting the points, is the sign of a good team. If we defend as we did on Sunday though then Feyenoord could rip us apart. The Hamilton goal was a comedy of errors with our central defenders caught out of position and Barisic looking on like he had bought a ticket for the game. Thankfully our defending has been great in Europe so hopefully we can keep the clean sheet and get the win or draw that we need. One thing we can all be sure of is that Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent must, and barring injury, will play. Morelos' value to the team is of paramount importance and Sunday's game showed that Jermain Defoe when not scoring goals is a virtual passenger. Morelos can score and also hold up the ball to bring the midfield into play. I may be biased but in my eyes Steven Davis, Ryan Jack and Glen Kamara are certainties for the midfield and are good enough to dominate the Feyenoord midfield. I think Ojo will make up the wide right position. With the knowledge that Feyenoord have small, quick technical footballers and virtually no aerial threat, would it possibly be better to have Edmundson at the back other than Filip Helander? We all know Goldson won't be dropped but Edmundson certainly looks quicker than both. I doubt Gerrard will mess around with the defence to be honest. I think the Rangers team will be: A draw will probably take us through to the next round depending on the result between Young Boys v Porto. With a Porto win being the only result to stop that. One thing is certain: to be sure, two wins from the last two games would be just what the doctor ordered and give certain Dutch football pundits a remembrance of who the famous Glasgow Rangers are and our players names. C'mon the Gers.

This is a fantastic result for our Youth team. A big well done to the players and coaching staff. What direction does the competition take from now on?

For all King has done his most telling and lasting contribution might prove to be the appointment of Gerrard as manager. From the outside it looks like they have a good relationship and I understand it was King who identified and made initial contact with Gerrard about the Rangers job. We forget now that we weren't exactly an enticing prospect. Laden with debt following years of terrible publicity, struggling in the SPFL and miles behind Celtic on and off the pitch. Mr King must be quite persuasive for Gerrard to give up his job for life at Liverpool, while biding his time for Klop to leave in the hope that the 'boot room' promotion system that served Liverpool so well in the 70s and 80s would see him in line for the top job there. Gerrard has taken a huge gamble coming to us, if it doesn't work out here he has no chance of ever getting the Liverpool job. Dave King deserves huge credit for that if nothing else. My dad pointed out to me a long time ago that King attended Allan Glen's School in Townhead while living in Castlemilk. He must have had an inner-steel and an ability to either avoid or deal with trouble, because he must have attracted some dressed in their uniform while travelling across the city everyday. We shouldn't be surprised he doesn't back down from a fight and has no time for bullies. I'll be sorry to see him go, for all his faults I always felt he'd the club's best interests at heart, even if some of his actions left me a little nervous at times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Youth_League After a two-year trial period, the UEFA Youth League became a permanent UEFA competition starting from the 2015–16 season, with the tournament expanded from 32 to 64 teams to allow the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations according to their UEFA country coefficients to also participate. The 32 UEFA Champions League group stage youth teams retain the group stage format, with the group winners advancing to the round of 16 and the runners-up advancing to the play-offs. The 32 youth domestic champions play two rounds of two-legged ties, with the eight winners advancing to the play-offs, where they play a single match at home against the Champions League path runners-up. The round of 16 onwards retain the same format of single-leg ties as before.[5]

General story at the press conference Botteghin came out first and when asked what they had done to improve from the first leg to see what went wrong he said they had studied video's. He said Advocaat had brought a different philosophy and was improving confidence. He said the Rangers strikers were aggressive and they would need to match that. Rangers should expect to see a different Feyenoord tomorrow and they are going to try the forward press, unlike having to go onto the back foot as against Groningen. Advocaat. A lot of injuries but he would not say who. A Lamont from BBC Scotland asked what he thought of Rangers. Scottish teams are underestimated in Holland but Celtic and Rangers are amongst the top European teams and it will be a difficult game. Rangers showed what they can do at ibrox and Feyenoord never turned up. That will have to be different. Thought Gerrard was a great player and looks like he is improving Rangers but he is new and training Youths is different to training top teams. It looks like he could go on to be a top coach. Rangers have bought good players and are a good team it will be difficult. Thoughts on Morelos and Defoe. My only thought is only one will play. DA: Or do you think different? Journalist: No. DA. Well that is that then.? Advocaat had his best time at Ibrox and it is a special club even down to the wash lady. When asked about Zenit beating Rangers he said I am confident of beating Rangers tomorrow but I was far more confident back then. Will it be a surprise if Feyenoord beat Rangers? Yes! Again he stated that he wants Feyenoord to control the game but it is not always possible as sometimes the other team have better players. Then when asked about Fernando Ricksen he wished his family well and that such a young daughter should not be missing her father. He said I took Fernando to Rangers and he became a legend there. Then I took him to Zenit and he became a legend there. Unfortunately it was not on the park. Even in his dark period he was always honest with me though. That was it in a nutshell really and not translated word for word

His pieces!? I used to have a colleague who left his house everyday with a briefcase and wearing a Columbo Jacket. All that was in the briefcase was his bread box. It was just all show for his neighbours as he just operated a turning machine.

Must be loads of folk getting injured in the toilets of the Broomloan and Govan stands during half-time, at most home matches then. I love how foreign fans can piss in the street, in plain view of the Police and set off multiple flares, unhindered but when a Rangers fan says one naughty word, within earshot of PCPlod, he'll get lifted.

The obsession is stronger than ever, I like it. They drive up the metrics on Rangers mentions which is beneficial when it comes to negotiating sponsorship deals. Hell aside from this bizarre 'resolution 12' obsession I saw it again just today. Had a look at the Evening Times website which isn't a typical habit for me but there they are. Scores of rants from them on single Rangers articles while all articles on their own club struggle to get a handful of comments from anybody at all far less scores. Driving up the metrics. Long may it continue.

This guy is on a record breaking roll. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/50567024

I'm sure that the shows repeat endlessly on the wonderful carousel of daytime TV.

That's your preview published on the main site, @pete: https://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news-category/match-analysis/1103-feyenoord-vs-rangers-feyenoord-a-club-in-chaos It's also my first go at the graphic - my attempt at trying to fill Frankie's substantial shoes during his holiday. Everyone - please tell me if I make any mistakes in the graphics.

The AGM, investment and a thank you to our Chairman https://fourladshadadream.blog/2019/11/27/the-agm-investment-and-a-thank-you-to-our-chairman/

While trophies are important in the long term King's tenure wasn't about trophies. It was about recovering from an unparalleled catastrophe to be back in a place where the club was again capable of winning trophies which wasn't the case when he came in. We were in the Championship when he took over and he appointed hos first manager, Mark Warburton. A memorable season when he delivered exactly what he said in his his first interview. Promotion back to the premiership via winning the title not through the play offs which he stipulated. Plus a memorable SC semi final win over the yahoos no one expected and a Scottish cup final appearance to add to the record books. As we all know it then went sour with Warburton and the next manager to my knowledge wasn't a King appointment but more a Douglas Park's son appointment which ultimately proved a costly mistake. From there we brought in Gerrard who as far as i'm aware was a largely King inspired appointment and so far that move has been exceeding expectations. So as far as i'm concerned King delivered everything he said he would. He didn't promise a top league title he promised to create a situation where we would be back capable of challenging for that title. No one could argue he hasn't delivered on his promises.

That's what i'm actually wondering, is there any chance he would be the one to raise the flag if we win the league this season. Traditionally the chairman raises the flag and he wont be the chairman much longer. As for his popularity I think that's pretty much guaranteed given where we were when he took over and where we are now. Contrast that with Milne at the sheep where he has been chairman for 22 years. And is vilified as a loser they're glad to see the back of which I find astonishing. That comes down to the fantasy that they should be regularly winning titles and cups which has never been a habit in their entire history outside a brief Ferguson inspired purple patch. Take that out of the equation and in their entire history they have 1 league title, 3 Scottish cups, and 5 league cups one of which was won during the current McInnes era. They have never been any footballing superpower outside that Ferguson blip yet Milne is a loser. But anyway, I related that partly to piss off Craig who doesn't like any mention of those fantasising losers. ?

First chairman for a spell who would be enthusiastically welcomed back to the stadium anytime he visits. And another thing. If we were to go on to win the league how much of the credit would he get? Enough to be the popular choice to raise the flag?

It’s difficult to reply to these points without being accused of being anti King or even anti Rangers , he has always had a polarising reaction amongst our fan base , personally I’m split , I appreciate and am thankful for some of the things he and the three bears achieved , yet at times I simply shook my head in disbelief at his actions , namely the litigation with SD . What happened today was or rather has been coming for some time , his fellow board members were growing tired of the continual fights he was getting into that was holding up investment , that was in their eyes , holding back the club . It was rumoured that there were board members meeting SD senior figures to try and sort this mess out , a short while ago , however this proved a waste of time because Ashley now views this as personal . The people seemingly in power now are George Taylor and Julian Wolhardt , who are the ones wanting to invest serious money . The new year is going to be interesting , however given that it’s James Blair that has been put in charge of some of the changes they want before DK steps down , it could be a complete cluster fuck .

Back in 2015 when DK & T3B took over I genuinely wondered if they were in it for the long haul as these were not young men taking over Rangers. They were men mostly in their 60’s & 70’s. I think we’ll now start to see new additions to board being of a younger generation.

Says more about Polis Alba(or whatever they’re called) than anything else in my opinion

some may not agree with the way he has went about certain things but i really dread to think where we would be today if he hadn’t stepped up when he did. we certainly wouldn’t be joint top of the premier league, be one win away from the knock-out stages of the europa league, in a league cup final, have a footballing icon as our manager and a squad full of top international players. to think it was only 4 years ago they took on a a challenge that saw a kenny mcdowall led team with the 5 newcastle loanees and a 6-1 aggregate drubbing from motherwell just around the corner. it’s remarkable the turnaround. thank you dave king.