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Our school game was away in East Kilbride, a delayed mid-morning kick off. The game was complete by half noon and four of us climbed into the Tunnocks van. We headed on a detour through Eaglesham and on to Newton Mearns before heading to Ibrox. We were avoiding Clarkson, the afternoon before an underground build-up of gas had exploded. Ten shops on the Main Street had been completely destroyed, 22 folks perished and, over 100 were injured. Ibrox was becalmed; obviously the disappointing midweek result was not the only factor affecting a crowd of 21,000 for the visit of Motherwell. The teams that Saturday were Rangers : McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, McKinnon, Smith, Henderson, Conn, Stein, Fyfe and, MacDonald. Motherwell : MacRae, Whiteford, Gillespie, Forsyth, McCallum, Goldthorpe, Campbell, McClymont, Muir, McInally and, Lawson. The four of us had a bit of insight, the 'Well number seven, Paddy Campbell was our Coach at the burgeoning Fir Par Boys Club. Paddy was a Nothern Ireland international who had plenty of time for anyone who had time for the game. The Motherwell side had plenty of characters, Paddy was joined by Jumbo Muir, Jackie McInally(Alan's old man), Tam Forsyth, bean pole striker John Goldthorpe and, Keeper Keith MacRae(soon to be transferred to Man City for £100,000). Enough to subdue a subdued Rangers, half time was 0-0. The mid game break at Ibrox was a drama in three parts half a century past. The pie and bovril stall was challenged by the circling lads and lassies of StadiaCatering. Replete in white aprons and forage caps, they traveled the Ibrox cinder track holding trays of Chipmonk crisps, Lees Macaroon bars and, juice. Another circumnavigator was the old boy carrying the poled blackboard with the winning luck programme number chalked upon. Finally, as half time neared ending, the Ballboys dragged a trolley from the tunnel containing the tin plated letters and numbers to be planted on the Copland terrace wall. These were the half time scores, each letter was followed by two numbers. The back page of the match day programme carried the explaining formulae ie Game A 2-1 translated as Ayr United 2 Arbroath 1. Further, in those days the League Cup final was played on a Saturday, kick-off 3 O'Clock. Celtic were playing Partick Thistle at Hampden in front of 60,000. Apparently, Game H was 4-0? One of us four had a younger brother who was an Ibrox Ballboy, he was called over to the Enclosure wall. He had just helped putting out the tin plates, he assured us that it was a regular problem what way around the numbers were placed. A middle aged guy behind us was letting off steam reference Billy Mathieson. Our left back was a bluff Fifer commonly referred to as, 'Billy Wan Fit' because of his over reliance on his left peg. It was taken further that day, "he couldnae kick doors at Halloween" screamed the Enclosure Messiah. The Ibrox PA system sounded like the type to be found in a swimming pool, a distinct tinny echo was it's main characteristic. As the second half got underway, it was announced Partick Thistle were leading 4-zip, it was repeated to growing cheers. I did not witness any Rangers supporters running out to get taxis to Hampden but I have met a couple who swear they did so, ah false memory syndrome? The crowd was galvanised and the team too, Johan Fyfe scored a double, Doddie and Sandy chipped in for a 4-0 victory. The result had taken us up to eighth in the table, slightly better than mid table. Thistle won the League Cup in handsome fashion, the final finished 4-1 in their favour. Their victory dominated the Sunday press and deserved spilled into midweek. The Glasgow Herald agreed, Ian Archer and Cyril Horne lionised their beloved Jags. Their were two other match reports on the inside back page, Aberdeen had won 0-1 at Cappielow and Hibs had demolished Falkirk 6-0. We were two pages inside, behind the TV listings(only three channels), Thistle-Sellik and, the two other matches mentioned. We had Killie the following week, a win could see us move up to seventh.

I couldn't get near the gates this evening. There was a bit of congestion before kick off. Sometimes you don't need to do something physical when you care about something or someone. I know what Walter Smith means to me and he knows what he means to us. Memories that will last forever.

The referee perfectly entitled to award a foul for a jersey pull

Squad players have done little to boost their credentials when picked or brought on as subs. Agreed. The grace period gained with 55 has gone, after the two home draws against two mediocre teams. Time to sort it out.

I haven't read the rest of this thread just yet as I am depressed enough. All I have to say is, if the manager keeps playing the same people who are not doing the business we will be stuck with this mediocrity. I have tried to remain positive but last night was a turning point for me.

We're almost a third of the way into this season and the complete lack of progress now makes it clear that last season was more of an aberration than a direction of travel. After 11 games the one thing our manager cannot afford to do is to keep on repeating the same mistakes and hoping it will all suddenly come right. We've lost all momentum, the team is clearly stuck in a rut and several of our erstwhile key players look more like deer in the headlights. The league can still be won but not by going about it like this.

I like Hagi as a player. In the first half last night he made several runs, a couple in behind and the long diagonal did not happen. His other runs were into the hole, an angled ball or a simple chip ball would have found him, again did not happen. I don't think there is anything sinister in it, it's more an inability to see the runs or find him. We are lacking pace in the forward areas and appear to have both an individual and collective inability to beat an opposition player. However, all of the above means nothing if we continue to start games in a sluggish manner. Keystone Cops defending must stop. We have played eleven games in the Premiership and conceded ten goals. We have managed three clean sheets.

I think it would be a good option to play Sakala and get him to sit in the shoulder of the last defender. Knock long balls over the top to him. But we don’t play that way. Everything is slow tempo with balls side to side & backwards. we need to change our style of play. We are too predictable & easy to play against. Playing sakala upfront on Sunday (with Morelos) would force Motherwell to defend deeper.

The lack of attacking intent from the full-backs (who seem positionally uncertain) is a big issue as all our attacking play is from deeper areas with neither Morelos, Roofe or Hagi interested (or able) to run into any space behind defences. It's very easy for teams to block their service, meaning Morelos has to come deeper and deeper looking for the ball whilst we can't get it quickly enough to Hagi or Roofe for them to create anything. Surely, we can be a bit more flexible tactically and personnel wise.

Jermain Defoe will not prevent Rangers from defending like amateurs.

Their first goal tonight was embarrassing. When will stop this nonsense playing the ball around in our own penalty box. Were not good enough to do that.

Will we ever see Tavernier being dropped for performances like tonight, when he delivers exactly one good cross and scores from the spot? Patterson is long overdue a run in the side, but by the looks of it, he`ll rather play on the right wing than right fullback. For long spells today, there was a large gap between our attackers and the CM. hardly anyone running into spaces and if, they didn`t look for a route to goal, but a way to pass the ball. Kamara, for all his technique and skill, was more or less a passenger and luxury, with Lundstram covering most spaces. Aribo drifts in and out of games, far too often looking for the double and triple one-two around the area instead of shooting. The service to Morelos and Roofe were poor, despite us dominating large spells of the game. If we keep on going with 2 DMs against team like that, with no players for penetrating runs and willingness to shoot, this season will become another toil.

They "looked" the better team than us prior to coming to Ibrox. Most Rangers fans were expecting a "doing", which failed to materialise. We were never going to win the league as convincingly as last season, we can still win this league, but we do need to improve.

I am worried. Our form has been poor all season. Celtic are in full flow and have looked a better team than us for a while now. Gerrard needs to sort this out. We have much more difficult fixtures ahead.

The Maryhill Magyars

Was working that day and when going to the canteen for afternoon tea break someone had a radio on.The presenter said "we are going over to Hampden for highlights of the final" and I listened in wonder as they relayed the goals 1-0 Jags/2-0 Jags/3-0 Jags and 4-0 Jags,leaving me elated. Went out that night with my young brother and my mate(a lifetime Jags fan). After leaving pub we got stopped by the Police(real ones in those days) for singing too loudly and then with a smile they left us to enjoy the rest of our evening but calm the singing.

I seriously doubt it. More of the same, I expect.

This with the fact we have our Captain/Vice-Captain there to organise and making the mistakes so really need to sort that out.

And we may have had another one near the end when Bates (IIRC) pulled Baloguns shirt at a corner. Must have been a shout as sure it was mentioned on BBC match thread!

Speaking to Gersnet post-match, Tavenier offered: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Would that we had a couple of 6/10s last night!

I went for Hagi. He at least showed a considerable amount of effort which is more than can be said for most.

It can be harder to put in a 6/10 performance when the rest of the team are 4/5s than to put in a 8/10 performance when the rest of the team are at that level too. So I think “least bad” votes do have value.

Whilst I agree, like I said a few weeks ago I can't help but think we just need to mix it up with a new formation to bring fresh energy to this team. It's gotten so stale. It's been months now and we aren't even getting better, that's three home draws from our last four league games. And Hibs had an early red card in the one we won by the skin of our teeth after going behind. That could easily have been four winless home league games in a row.

I agree. As much as I don't want to "drop" Tavernier, Patterson would offer a real threat with his runs and he would provide some fresh impetus. His runs mix things up and cause a bit of chaos. We really badly lack players who will take guys on just now, it's often the best and easiest way to break teams down. Far too often it's side to side passing and there have been occasions recently where it seems we have broken away on a wing, only to slow down, turn around and pass backwards and before you know it the ball is back to Goldson! It's infuriating.

Substitutions have always been a bit of an issue with Gerrard. It all seems a bit formulaic, similar to Warburton. It's usually like for like and doesn't change how we're playing. Bringing Wright, Sakala and Arfield on certainly won't strike fear into the opposition.

I felt it was Hagi and by some considerable distance. So disappointed in Tavernier and Kamara, both of whom should be playing far above the level of performance they served up.

It had changed a bit over recent weeks with Lundstrom tending to be forward thinking with his passes and runs, but that was nullified last night with him being asked to play so deep.

Were waiting on the team hitting form but its not happening. Were pedestrian and predictable week in week out and Gerrard needs to take a good look at his tactics and constant backi g of under achievers. Ive called out aribo and hagi before and ill do it again. Wheres the end product? For all aribos fancy play theres no goals or assists, much like hagi. Ive always advocated that hagi should be in the midfield and Aribo should be on the left, im bewildered to why our manager persists with playing aribo on the right in particular. Kent took all the flak before getting injured , these two main stays should have a good look at themselves. As for Roofe, like others hardly kicked a ball this season and im starting to wonder if we should have kept Itten and put him out on loan instead. Biggest problem we have though is it will be the same old lacklustre tactics that dont work with the same rigid formation and the same underachievers next game. I know it, you all know it and the opposition know it. And thats down to the manager. I said he was getting it wrong at the start of the season and ill say it again. You could see us getting better right up to winning the league under gerrard as the seasons went by but now we are stagnant to the point were going backwards. Like our key players hes dropped the ball and needs to up his game. He cant dine out on last seasons title win forever.

Indeed. Standards, old boy, must be maintained. Standards may be all we have to console us this season, the way it is going.

Agree with what you say about the lack of attacking intent from our fullbacks. I thought Bassey had the opportunity to run riot down the left hand side but for whatever reason seemed more concerned about defending even though there was no one to cover on his side. Hagi though i thought made many intelligent runs behind their defence but our midfield either never spotted his run or reneged making the pass over the top. Also thought Hagi fell way to deep when their defenders had the ball and as a team failed to press them high up all night.

Poor recruitment and a lack of invention from the players and management are going to cost the club millions, if things don't change soon. Sakala - I just don't see anything there. Bacuna looks like he can pick a pass but is not a hard worker, which is why (presumably) he isn't playing much. I recall people saying how strong our bench looked earlier this season...seems bonkers now. Our midfield is powderpuff and that's no use in Scotland.

I know what you mean. However he wouldn't offer us any less than Roofe has in the last couple of games, and his presence may have led to the Aberdeen defence lying deeper and not to compress everything so much. It would have led to a different, hopefully more beneficial tactical game.

As for Defoe, I don't think people are realising the issue is we don't get the ball to the strikers in dangerous areas anywhere near enough which is why we hardly score from open play nowadays. Defoe may well provide a penalty box threat but I'd rather we actually gave Sakala some game-time. Last night (and against Hearts recently) was tailored made for him with loads of space in wider areas for his pace to exploit. Space we rarely use as neither Morelos or Roofe run in behind any more.

Defoe's a great finisher, but we still have to provide him with chances, and that's something we're not doing. We're just not very good this season. The extent of it is quite inexplicable. You can't be firing on all cylinders all the time, but I still don't think we've started this season. So poor. Frustrating.

As far as i'm aware Defoe is still fit and training with the first team ,so i'd far rather see him come on as sub than Sakala . Of course Sakala has pace, but so does Usain Bolt. Regardless of age ,Defoe is a natural goal scorer,..it's what he does.

Because he is best finisher he have at club, he scores goals no other striker can and plays between the posts something Roofe and Alfie domt do often enough. Oh and plus we have him a new 1 year contract.

He made little or no impact last season but I do think he’s a better option than sakala

So do we play Sakala for his pace? only option for pace we’ve got. And he looks miles short of what we need

Wrong team, wrong tactics. We can't play with a forward line with no pace. We've been lucky to get away with it in the previous few games. On current form Patterson is playing better than Tav. Playing Lundstrom behind Kamara clearly wasn't working and it took them more then a half to suss it out. Subs should hehe been on a lot sooner etc etc. Poor night for Gerrard.

Another piss poor performance, against a journeyman outfit, this one ravaged by injuries. Our team is too easy to play against, and every other side, obviously, knows it. I worry that our players, too, know it. I worry even more that these players reached their apogee last season, and are now on the way down; even more than that, I worry that they know this, too. I worry most that our management team does not see any of this. Play badly and win is becoming, merely, play badly, as it is always likely to do, when poor performance becomes the rule, rather than the exception. I do not believe that the regular duff performances of this season will somehow magically transform into powerful winning football. Steven Gerrard, and his staff, to have produce a remedy, tout de suite. Sandcastle United, eh? Who is driving?

Their prerogative, we needed to be smarter than them. But you are 100% correct we are missing Kent.

Another way below par performance. Kent has his critics but we are a far poorer team without him. We basically are not creating any chances. Their goalie had nothing to do in the 2nd half. That's what worries me. On a sidenote, I'm embarrassed that a Scottish team actively went out tonight with a game plan focused on falling over and time wasting. Shame on you Aberdeen. Their players were falling over at every opportunity and were obviously told to go to ground and stay down. Glass must have been on the phone to Simeone.

On a side note congratulations to Rangers B Team on their 3-2 win away to Alloa tonight thanks to a Juan Alegria hat-trick. Hoping to take the kids to see the B Team on Saturday against Berwick Rangers at Dumbarton.

Very poor. As things stand, Celtic are a point behind us. And that’s after being to Ibrox, Tynecastle, Easter Road and Pittodrie. Surely everyone has woken up to the fact that we are staring disaster in the face now? Massive second half coming up.

I have never, ever felt this heartbroken about anyone outside of my immediate family - the only other person where this hit even close to as much was Princess Diana, but Walter's far surpasses that. Literally find myself at work trying to get things done and all of a sudden I have a tear rolling down my face. Multiple times today already and it is only 1pm for me.

Why all the rush to get managers out of a job? I think Ole, Arteta and Santos are doing fantastically well and long may it continue. I wish Moyes and Klopp were doing equally as well