Leaderboard

Surely, this is a joke? It's similar to an incident that occurred this morning. A chap walked into his GPs this morning, informing the Doctor he was attending his Mother-in-Law's funeral next Thursday and wanted advice on removing the permanent smile from his face. He felt a happy visog was most inappropriate for the occasion. The GP said, "no problem, I can book you in for the necessary minor surgery on Tuesday morning". Then, the GP asked, "just to ascertain the length of anesthesia required, how long have you had this condition"? The Bear answered, "oh eight weeks, since Rangers won the league". The GP solemnly asked, "are you a Rangers supporter"? The Bear beamed, "absolutely". The GP sighed, "since Humza Yousaf in now the Health Secretary, all vile sectarian Rangers supporting scum go immediately to the bottom of the NHS waiting list, see you in two years".

Chances are the younger lads might not feature anyway but the experience will do them in good stead for the future at the very least.

I'm really looking forward to the interviews with the management and playing staff.

How would bbc know? They weren’t there.

Well deserved, although all the contenders could easily have won it, an indication of how consistent we have been this season, strolled the league

At the game - Edu's winner against them Not there - McCoist Elland Rd

Frankie - just ban this porn star. ?

With 51% of the main end of season forum vote, the big defender - an ever present in all our 56 games of this season - wins the Gersnet Forum PotY vote for season 2020/21. I'm currently having a new crystal decanter and glasses commissioned to be presented to Connor over the summer (he's getting married next week) so I'm sure we'll all look forward to that when it happens. If you'd like to contribute to the cost then please get in touch via PM (absolutely no obligation of course). Out of interest, in terms of the PotY race that we were running based on match-by-match votes, Ryan Kent was the defacto winner of that with 8 MotM awards followed by Glen Kamara and James Tavernier who both had 7 awards each. Kent also won 11.7% of the total votes cast across the season with 11.95% votes of cast for Kamara and 10.65% votes cast for Tav. Kamara was placed in the top 3 most often (19 times) followed by Kent (16) and Steven Davis (14). As such you could conceivably make the case for the Finnish midfielder as our most effective player. FWIW, Connor Goldson won 3 man of the match awards and could only muster 4.92% of votes cast. It's interesting that people seem to have gone for his consistency over the whole season in the main final vote. Interestingly, Tav won all his 7 MotM awards by mid-December so there's no doubt his injury two months later where he missed ten games certainly may have cost him our prestigious prize.

Two goals are imprinted on my brain. 1. Jorg Albertz thunderbolt free kick against Celtic at Ibrox, January 1997 2. Derek Johnstone, League Cup Final 1970

Interesting squad and think there are some gems in midfield, a decent keeper and 1 or 2 solid defenders. It is the forwards that do not instill confidence at all.

I was there with the blondes mate. Ended up about five rows further forward when Edu scored

I love when I wake up after a sesh and see Ive posted something haha. Whosthedado - You were at the game when Edu scored? I was in Singapore with a crowd full of tims....good job Im hard as they wanted to deck me. ?

No contest, easily McCoist at Elland Road.

Those Burnley fans were infuriating last night: booing the least wee thing, then breaking into thunderous applause when their team strung a mere two passes together. Horrible bunch.

I'd rather have Patterson than Liam Palmer who is mediocre and qualifies only via a grandparent born in Scotland.

James Forrest?????

Tam Forsyth's screamer in cup final?

Can’t help. My knowledge of current Scottish footballers who don’t play for Rangers is minimal. I like the look of Nisbet at Hibs. Gallagher knows how to defend. McTominey has had a solid season. Armstrong and Forrest are good players though Forrest like Robertson hasn’t been at his best. McLaughlin for ‘keeper of course. Patterson, why not? Tierney plays some magical stuff if he’s able. Can you have a team of fullbacks? Dykes from the Billy Houliston school of centre-forwarding, Dumfries. McGinn must be good - everybody says so. Is that eleven yet? Mibbees Gilmour.

if Patterson was at motherwell he would have been first choice RB all season. Scotland really shouldn't be any different.

Who do you think is a better Scottish right back than Patterson?

Looks like Leicester have done it again - slipped out of the top 4 two years running. Good win for the Hammers - should finish 6th now which is fantastic. Allardyce and Hodgson first manager causalities so far. Not surprising. But for Fat Sam its all about him - his statement makes it look like he is doing West Brom a favour.

And I thought it was just that Weegies lacked a certain breeding ?

he should have told them where to go after they banned him and not the celtc players.

Great read, well penned, much appreciated.

Many thanks as always @Rick Roberts An early walk to the stadium with a friend was met with fair weather and pockets of fans and flags drawn to the occasion. Crowds had already formed along Edmiston Drive. The party had started long before and was already in full swing for many by late morning. The police were present in numbers and their policy was stand-off and fair. There’s something surreal about standing outside a football ground with thousands of people whilst a game unfolds relatively unwatched inside. If anything this quirk added to the occasion. Not that it needed any more, there was enough energy and emotion for several title parties – brought by each and every person, all wanting to be part of history. Cheers would erupt as the goals went in. Beaming smiles obligatory. The movement of limbs on the horizon would indicate that another chant would radiate in this direction and wash over the crowd in the very near future. And then that uncontainable emotion and joy would erupt again. The imagery provided by the coloured plumes rushing out from the smoke bombs – a billowing outpouring of fascinating red and blue magic that demands to be watched, that heightens the experience and accents the crowd as our crowd. Fireworks crackle and boom from all directions. Hats, scarves and hands form the skyline that the photographs will capture and preserve. Half-bottles of Buckfast distinguish the young team (and some of the old team). The lamp posts silently challenge the young men to climb them. The metal barriers around the new site of Edmiston house challenge young men to move aside and the site site is soon filled with overflow from a crowd that has been steadily growing for many hours now. I make a point of trying to absorb every spectacle and savour every available moment. The last time I was at Ibrox in similar circumstances was 11 years before and I’ll never take that occasion for granted again. A decade of absence gives a sharp appreciation of what can be lost in the blink of an eye. News filters through that the trophy has now been delivered and lifted. It is ours. We are the Champions. Glasgow Rangers are Champions. This team, this title, this manager are special. The crowd are on the move and the city centre beckons. Football is nothing without a crowd and the best crowds are the ones where the energy sits on the edge between euphoria and danger. Everybody’s world view, circumstances, standards are valid and they are entitled to that. We’ve has a season of positivity and praise; I want that to last forever. And so, we need to talk about what is allowed under a Rangers banner. Some stuff goes without saying. Physical violence or lawlessness is inexcusable. If you’re rolling about fighting or smashing bottles in the middle of the city then you are on your own. Learn your lesson in your own time, not behind a Rangers crest. This was a very small number out of tens of thousands and, in such numbers, was perhaps inevitable, as much as it's also wrong. The next part should be obvious by now too and I don’t think we can ignore it. Songs or chants that damage Rangers or show Rangers in a poor light are on the way out and have to stop. We are here because of Steven Gerrard and his players and the club. Gerrard talks about standards. His team has devoted themselves to those standards. They’ve applied an almost unthinkable level of dedication. Every single Rangers great has talked about standards, about representing the club and doing the best for the club. That is the over-arching message that leads to our shared success. F-T-P isn’t that. Religion should be challenged and ridiculed, often, but it’s not Rangers' place to do that. I know that for most of it is banter or defiance, it doesn’t matter. Whether it was valid or was before is beside the point, because it’s not now. Let’s face facts, the enemy has changed clothes since those days and any chants are now against their empty shirts. Worse than that, these chants are now against many in our own squad and support. This is several own goals at once. Make no mistake, our enemies want this to continue. Everyone has the right to support and follow the club in whatever way they choose but there’s an equation that needs balanced at some point. If your way of supporting the club damages the very entity you follow then you’re doing it wrong. One thing I hear a lot is traditions and an immobility surrounding those. Let me tell you where short-sighted, stubbornness gets you. Look at the empty or repurposed church buildings in every town and city. Here’s the symbol for institutions that refused to change or that didn’t want to heed that the world had changed. Empty buildings and diminishing influence, to the point of insignificance and oblivion. Take that lesson hard, my friends, because I won’t see that happen to Rangers for some pig-headed adherence to any arbitrary, ill-informed, self-defeating value or tradition. Rangers' tradition is winning. Our job is to assist and enable that tradition. Forever. Do not fail the club. On a personal level, I couldn’t care less if people choose to express their dislike of our historic enemies in their own free time. Our enemies are actively engaged in a war against us, they deserve contempt. The actions of some in the press, specifically, the BBC, STV, writers at the Scotsman, Clyde FM, the SFA, and more worryingly Police Scotland and in the position of Justice Secretary, are down to our enemies taking up positions and opening fire. Sometimes with fabricated nonsense and sometimes with ammunition that we’ve provided. To retaliate we need get our message clear and get smarter. Roaring at old ladies queuing up outside a café isn’t smarter. It achieves less than nothing. It damages Rangers. A big, mindless, negative number. But what I’m really concerned about is what happens next. UEFA and the Scottish press will be all over us at our next European game. Domestically I expect the goalposts may change too. And as a support we have to concede that nothing has changed enough in the 15 years since The Billy Boys started getting us in trouble. A strategy to replace or displace across the board was required. We’ve collectively failed as we have many in a new generation that have picked up that bad habit, along with other bad habits. Here’s the nightmare scenario. First game of the Champions' League we get Ibrox closed because some clown can’t handle his drink, doesn’t know where he is and opens his stupid, unthinking mouth. I don’t think anyone would find that acceptable, and yet at this moment in time it’s more likely than not at some stage soon. That aspect of the culture within the support has to change to the extent that this cannot be allowed to happen. The new 'Every Saturday We Follow' song is excellent. The pyro on banks of the Clyde on Friday night is one of the most impressive football spectacles I’ve ever seen. We are at an exciting and historic place as a club. The environment should be fertile for new songs and positivity – unstoppable positivity. Only Rangers. Collectively we have to learn and find a way to filter that through to every section of the support. This situation has partly arose through disengagement and a lack of leadership and communication to our wider communities and society. The solution surely lies in addressing that? I made a point to myself on Saturday of not singing anything that I wouldn’t sing in the stadium. I noticed plenty others did too. I have no firm answers on how to bring everyone up to speed with what has to happen and the club cannot be accountable for behaviour well outside its stadium footprint. Can we put the 15th of May down as an inevitable and necessary release? An exception? Perhaps. But it’ll need introspective and leadership to move on from that place. Some stuff needs left behind quickly.

Its also worth remembering that our esteemed Justice Secretary still refuses to meet / talk to survivors (and their families) of child abuse at a certain football / boys club. That's right, he refuses to speak to victims of child abuse. Let that sink in and ask yourself why?