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For anyone who cares, I've wasted 20 minutes of my life "scouting" Willem II. They are a club who are on the up. Promoted in 2014, they had a good first season in the Erevidisie before, as often happens, reverting to survival in their second season up and finishing 16th. From there they had two consecutive 13th place finishes. They improved on this again with a 10th place finish before finishing 5th last season, within touching distance of heavyweights PSV and Feyenoord. I don't know the story behind their gradual rise to the top table in Dutch football, but what is striking about their squad is how young it is. It seems as though they have perhaps adopted a Red Bull type transfer strategy. Last season, the ages of their front five (if you include the two more attacking centre mids) were 23, 21, 20, 20, 21. This season is largely the same although they have brought in a 26 year old striker who was prolific for Bayern Munich II in the 3rd tier in Germany. They play classic attacking Dutch football, they are quick and technically very decent and play a 4-3-3. From a quick look at their highlights, I think they will be a lot like Midtjylland. They move the ball well and all their goals come from playing the ball on the deck. Kohlert is a left footed attacking midfielder who can score from distance and will need to be watched. All in all though, I expect a similar result to Midtjylland. They are young, inexperienced and soft touch. They will not be used to the physical side of the game. Having said that, we will need to take our chances. This is a side with very fast forwards who will pose far more danger on the counter attack than we are used to in Scotland.

Kemar Roofe fluffed a point-blank header, Brandon Barker made the wrong decision every time he was clear through and while Kent and Barisic did stuff to the physical and emotional equilibrium of a youthful Accies side - stuff which should really be reported to the authorities - neither of them scored. And we know they can score now. Yes, we won 2-0 and finished the game against ten men. Yes, we scored our goals before the game had really started. Hamilton had one real chance to score throughout and Rangers dominated the ball to such a degree that the Bears watching - either on Sky Sports or over a fence behind that big Sainsbury’s - became almost as frustrated as a skinny Scottish TV presenter trying to overshadow Rangers positive start to the season. And when Ross McCrorie beat Hibs on Sunday we confirmed our place three points clear at the top of the league. And, in what is becoming a fitting tribute to Bobby Brown, the last living member and last line of the Iron Curtain defence, who we sadly lost this year, we’ve yet to lose a goal. But whisper it. Don’t shout about this stuff. Let the mainstream media’s Morelos narrative dominate. Keep the doubts to the fore. The Premiership table’s barely a month old and we’re the team who cracks when favourites. Emphasise the negatives. Keep our players focussed and our enemies lazy. Surely this is why Stevie G’s post-match analysis focussed on poor “numbers” – only two goals and assists – to take focus away from the good numbers; 16 points from the first 18 available. The first key difference between Saturday and our last visit to plastic grass was the quality of the plastic itself. Livingston’s is soul-suckingly, calf-burstingly flat while Hamilton’s imparts palpable bounce. As a footballing, ball-on-the-deck kinda side – and as a group of men who want to retain their original kneecaps beyond age 35 - that suits Rangers. But, if we’re going to throw in another caveat about Saturday’s win – and do so more lawfully than that Accies player who began rivalling Kirk Broadfoot in Florence for title of Most Foul Throws I’ve Ever Seen in a Professional Football Match - it’s that Brian Rice’s team, unlike Gary Holt’s, actually want to leave their own box. The latter are always playing within themselves because Livi’s remit is not to cross the half-way line. Hamilton, on the other hand, had an element of the caged animal about them on Saturday. They were trying to get out their own half – we just wouldn’t let them. That was pleasing but also what’s expected. Accies are worse than Livi. Maybe that’s why Kemar Roofe was getting it from some Rangers Tweeters for not scoring. But the only reason we had the points sewn up within 20 minutes – our earliest two goals of the season so far - is because of a nerve-settling, chaos-wreaking, goal-presenting Roofe backwards header only bettered by Jared Borgetti’s immortal effort versus Italy in Ōita in 2002 (I might be exaggerating): When he tires of torturing that poor Accies No.8, Borna lays it off to Stevie D, who puts a very non-Glen Kamara ball into the box and the Roofester knows only too well what to do with it. This is a man who sorts out his bearings very quickly, in-game and on arrival at a new club: Keeper stranded, ball off the bar - Ianis Hagi pounces to convert all the stramashing into a wee bit of net-thwacking, back-in-the-starting-XI vindication. The only thing annoying me right now about Kemar, a Jamaican flag next to his name on Wikipedia but a St George’s Cross on Sky’s in-game graphics, is that him and Itten haven’t swapped nationalities, thereby allowing me to describe Roofe as our Swiss Army Knife striker. As evidenced by his effort off Killie’s post last week, and his Leeds United showreel on Sky pre-kick off on Saturday, he has all sorts of finishes in his armoury. He can score with every part of his head and both feet, from all sorts of distances and angles. So of course he then misses a spectacularly straight-forward headed chance in the second half. But everything else after the first two goals was just fitness and sharpness for the big man. He gives it everything and most of it works. Ryan Kent may have swept in a shot which the Accies keeper could only parry to the deadly feet of our captain, but Ryan Kent couldn’t score. Okay, it’s probably because he’s on a goal every second game right now and scored last week. But no-one lambasted our new talisman, the man Leeds want, for only providing one assist on Saturday. So when Kemar does the same, a week after netting his first goal in his first start for the club, I can’t slate the guy Leeds sold. And Brandon Barker took a harder foul for the second yellow shown to the Hamilton captain than Kent did for the first. Brandon may have been the worst of our poor finishers in this game but he reduced the opposition numbers as effectively as he failed to increase ours. And, with apologies to his army of detractors, he offered himself for those missed chances and for the whole team more than our other big money offensive option, Hagi Junior. We all hope his goal will help Ianis settle. But Saturday’s win came from rebounds and second balls and generally overwhelming an inferior opponent. Barker did more than some to maintain the collective tempo which produced this wee whirlwind. Killing games early and playing within ourselves for the remainder is a sign of a league-winning side. But it’s only in retrospect we know this game was killed early. McLaughlin’s save on the line would have been just as spectacular at 3-0 up but a little bit less vital. It’s good to know our concentration doesn’t drop. I’m sure big Goldson had that wild, yellow card swipe at an Accies player before the half hour because he was desperately trying to avoid going rusty, such was Helander’s voracious dominance of anything that came past Davis and Jack. Despite this creeping post-match positivity I have no problem maintaining negative focus during any game. Football’s often horrible poetry demanded Hamilton, the last team to score against us domestically, would be the next. When they brought Davi Moyo off the bench I thought it would be the same scorer too. Overly superstitious? Well, the last time we played Hamilton with a clean sheet record in our sights I was stood in the East Enclosure, watching the old yellow-on-black stadium clocks with everyone else until we knew Chris Woods had gone more unbeaten consecutive minutes than any previous British goalkeeper. We cheered. We celebrated. Chris Woods waved to us. And then Adrian Sprott scored the only goal of the game, past Woods, to put us out the Scottish Cup. Punters are always too negative or too positive though. This is why I love that the manager right now looks neither angry nor overly-chuffed. I caught his post-match Rangers TV interview on YouTube. It shows a man so relaxed he only folds down one side of the collar on his trench coat. Or is he only popping up one side? Who knows? Is he a wee bit warm or just a wee bit cold? He keeps us guessing like he kept Alfie guessing all day about whether he’d get on the pitch or not – then let him watch Greg Stewart come on instead. Mr Gerrard praised the defence and mentioned the wee bit of revenge for what Accies did to us in March. But when he talks about how every Rangers front player in this game “should have had a number”- either a goal or an assist - is he referring to James Tavernier, who is a right-back but scored? Is he confirming Roofe had a great game coz he got an assist? Is he slating Ryan Jack for only hitting the post when in on the Accies goal despite being a defensive midfielder running large segments of the game? Is Stevie G’s collar up because he knows it’s nearly 8pm and nearly September so things are going to get cold? Or is his collar half down because we’re top of the table, it’s an international break and, looking as urbanely chilled as Paul Weller in his Style Council phase, he’s slipping in a reference to the penultimate track on Side One of the Jam’s debut album? Who knows? He often tantalises as tortuously as his team. Like a mod revival, there’s Red, White & Blue insignia slapped all over the green, not of a fishtail parka, but of the memory of Wim Jansen’s 1997-98 Celtic: You can’t 100% believe this is a side who’ll stop Ten In A Row, but the evidence mounts up on paper quicker than it does to our eyes, attuned as they are to our flashier title-winning teams of the past. Not one of our attacks on Saturday failed. They all kept the ball at the right end of the pitch. They might not have added to our digits, but they kept Hamilton away from the numbers. Celtic aren’t in full-on implode mode right now. But their manager has just retracted a public lambasting of players who have won every domestic trophy available during his reign. If we’re not quite ready to cruise off into the distance like Klopp’s Liverpool of last season, we can at least keep the heat on, position ourselves to take advantage of Parkhead fissures that could become chasms. Rangers don’t look spectacular. But we do look mechanically steady. And that’s how you take advantage of any rival crumbling. We started the season telling ourselves we’d be delighted to win the next 37 league games with a dreary 1-0 like Pittodrie on August 1st. Now we’ve watched Rangers win each of our last two games 2-0 with an added slap of the woodwork. We haven’t played Celtic yet. We haven’t even met Hibs. But this pause to our season is just that – one weekend off; it ain’t no winter break nor Dubai training camp. There won’t be any laxity seeping in. We’re undeniably progressing and the small frustrations are keeping us edgy, like we need to be, for the next 32 Premiership matches. Thirty two: Right now, that’s the number we’ve all got.

just another DrStu' production. Time to remind Gersnetters, DrStu' s tertiary education took place in Hull. He graduated in Drama and English, then did his first Doctorate in Theatre. Yep, DrStu' is a big ham, fond of petty drama. Back in the day, Off the Ball regularly had members of the production staff telephoning the show. A script was provided and inevitably Rangers and Rangers supporters were portrayed as the bad guys in the morality play. Occasionally, it led to problems; we had Gordon the Jambo from Glasgow, because none of the production staff could be trusted with an Edinburgh accent. Gordon might have been the last caller on the show, it must be 4-5 years since DrStu' fielded a call? The show must go on, and on. It's only last month, DrStu' nearly in his 70th year was hoping aloud for another five years. He admits he does not understand Rangers supporters, "ah don't get it, Rangers supporters are standing on the sidelines, raging and beelin". Of course, Rangers supporters are not entitled to joy, the signing of Hagi was summarised by Cosgrove as the following, "every aspect of that signing is wrong". Every aspect? DrStu' deliberately places us on the sidelines, it is most necessary that we occupy the dark end of the street. Listeners to BBC Radio Scotland need reminding we live in darkness. On Saturday, the special guest on the show was Susie McCabe. A stand-up Comedienne with a background in construction. The first thirty minutes, Susie joins DrStu in his plea for performing arts in Scotland to be beneficiaries of increased Scottish Government monies. Susie is the real deal, a good egg traveling the nationalist road. DrStu' ruminates on the usual, walking young Jack to school in Dennistoun(St Dennis Primary) and he' surprised at Sellik fans(this will be the school gates) blaming Neil Lennon for the Ferencvaros defeat. Susie is a big Sellik fan, that's a big surprise and she agrees Neil's been through a lot. Sympathy for the Devil, no mention of Neil holding a knife to the throat of a then girlfriend whilst at Bolton. DrStu' does get Lennon, he was promoting his case as next Scotland boss, before Steve Clarke's appointment. After the One O'Clock news, Susie is delivering the lines penned for her. It's all very Smashie and Nicey, a question about charity work leads to Susie claiming to do a lot of work for charidee, and begins to tell a story. At the Stand Club in Glasgow, she has just completed a gig and is approached by a Rangers supporting chap named, 'Anthony'. He asks if she'll do a charity event in Inverclyde? Susie would be delighted, what's the gig? Anthony describes the plight of the local apprentice boys and thinks Susie would go down a storm. Susie replies, "ah don't think you understand, ah'm a roman catholic lesbian from Coatbridge". DrStu' adds, "he needs to move away from that himself with a name like Anthony". Ambiguity abounds. Are we talking about apprentices involved in the construction of two Ferries? I believe there's at least another two years work left on those vessels and maybe times are hard for the youngsters. Are we talking about the Apprentice Boys of Derry? I don't know, do they exist in Port Glasgow? Anyways, as Susie continues, we find out her and DrStu' regularly attend the same Curry House in Dennistoun. This is the award winning curry shop regularly promoted by Dennistoun's SNP Councilor, Allan Casey. Now, Mr Casey is a drummer in an Irish Republican band, perhaps DrStu' should get him on to explain? Wait a minute, DrStu' told us last year on the Media Review, "ah hate drummers, particularly those in marching bands". This was in reference to Billy Mitchell ripping into Fiona Hyslop on Question Time. DrStu' doesn't want Billy on Question Time, he prefers him on the sidelines. Confusing, isn't it? Go on Auntie, give Cosgrove another five years, us Rangers supporters will just stand on the sidelines, beelin'.

Actually I remember he was slightly impeded by a defender which slowed his run but I might be wrong.

That’s usually my mantra ? But to be fair we’ve gone from Pedro and Progres to Gerrard and Braga, Feyenoord, Porto etc. We have more reason to be positive than negative in Europe these days.

Could have been better over the course of the two round draws but could easily have been worse. We're more than capable of beating any of the three teams in our way. At home would have been preferable but, in some ways, we look more comfortable in away matches in Europe.

I was at the Marseille 2-2 game. Under Smith we had two unbelievable Euro runs (92/93 and 07/08) but we also had some total embarrassments.

Under Gerrard, we've been really good in Europe but the one-leg, no crowd situation might alter things a bit. Given our history in Europe, I tend to remain pessimistic - AEK Athens, Unirea Thingybob and Kaunas always remain at the back of my mind. There are some decent sides in the next qualifier and matches, particularly if we're drawn away from home, won't be easy.

It's for the brother any old stuff will do him me I was on soda water

Messi will be given a job on cabin crew with Etihad Airlines, at an undisclosed salary, paid in the Gulf, and will play for the Abu Dhabi EPL Franchise as an amateur.

Lowland is the drink for boys, Speyside that for men, but he who aspires to be a hero must drink Islay.

Even Glengoyne is worth saving from defenestration but I’m slightly disappointed in you, compo. The elite usually have a Speyside in their decanters.

Cosgrove's triple glazing, I take it. A waste of half decent whisky, of course, but needs must...

Heard the brother ranting about this on Saturday night he was getting himself into a right rage I removed the bottle of Glengoyne from the table in case it went through the triple glazing.

They aren’t really stipulating, they are giving their opinion on his contract. Also, and I definitely could be wrong, but I think Spain has a unique situation in their contracts because, as far as I’m aware, it is the national association who mandate that every players contract needs a minimum release clause. The national association aren’t stipulating that though, they are confirming the number within the contract. Barcelona, likely in discussion with Messi and potential suitors, will decide what the actual number is. its all very easy to argue for an amicable split..... but guaranteed if any of us had the best player in the world at our club who wanted to leave, we would want the club to realize as much as humanly possible. Yes, Messi has given Barcelona 20 years fantastic service.... but Barcelona have also been very good to Messi and helped him achieve fantastic wealth and having won many top honours. At the end of the day its a business. If Madrid got £80 million for Ronaldo at 33 years old then it’s easy to see why Barcelona don’t want to just let Messi go for free. Indeed, their Board must be shitting themselves if he leaves at all because he’s been carrying that team on his back for the last 5 years since Xavi retired and Iniesta left.

Play to our best and we will win

I think we'll have enough to deal with them too.

Understand their motive, but surely the contract is between the player and the club. How can a national association stipulate the fee clubs will have to pay? If Barca want to hold on to a player who no longer wishes to be there, then it is up to them to manage the situation. This will definitely go to the courts, then i can see him spending a year going through the motions and will leave for nothing rather than the 50-100m Barca could have got? After nearly 20 years of service i'd have thought an amicable split could have been sought.

I don't fear any of these teams to be honest and I think that's the way it should be after the last few season's exploits

Entertaining read, thanks. Plenty to be positive about. I think there are one or two missing pieces to the jigsaw that the sale of Morelos can hopefully bring about. If we could bring in a quality attacking midfielder with proven end product we would be in a really good place.

We would go into each game as favourites. It's purely a matter of how likely an upset would be, and these are strong teams for this stage of the competition. We have a benchmark of sorts in that we've played against teams from these leagues last season. Rio Ave - 5 points behind Braga in 5th Willem II - 6 points behind Feyenoord having played 1 game more, in 5th Lech Poznan - 3 points behind Legia in 2nd Hammarby - No benchmark, but finished a point behind Djurgarden, who lost 2-0 to Ferencvaros. In 7th so far this season after 18 games Away from home the first three in particular would be tricky. Rio Ave the main team to avoid I think. But we are definintely favourites.

This is correct. The problem may come if they're in contact with players from leagues less rigorous than ours when it comes to testing etc.

... while the next round looks almost certainly the end of the road for Aberdeen and Motherwell.

So Willem II, Rio Ave or Hammarby/Lech Poznań for us. Very tough draw when compared to the virtual bye Celtic got. Hopefully Hammarby upset the Poles and we get them. Rio Ave were marginally behind Braga last season in the league so would be very tough for this stage. Lech Poznań marginally behind Legia so again would be tough.

I think they're exempt on account of them being classed as elite sporting events: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53295779

La Liga is simply saying that in the absence of an agreed new contract, the existing contract must be honoured. Seems reasonable.

Never take the game for granted I remember well travelling down to Berwick thinking we would be comfortable winners and that Rangers team was on a different planet to the current lot .