Leaderboard

I say, sir, you go too far, dam’ your eyes. Withdraw or you’ll hear from my friends in the morning.

It’ll help in some areas but it’s guaranteed to create new issues, especially until it beds in. We need full time refs and I’d also mic them up like they do in the rugby - it’ll add to the spectacle and stop all confusion in the ground when something is referred. It’ll also cut out a lot of the egotistical posturing from refs and players if they know everything they’re shouting is being broadcast.

I see that the team will head to Florida for 'warm weather training' during the World Cup hiatus. Frankly, given the number of injuries, and their longevity, a trip to Lourdes would seem more appropriate.

I think the main problem for Ross Wilson is that he doesn't have a big enough budget to do what he'd like to do or what we as fans, would like him to. The area that seems to have been improved and is doing well is youth development/academy. This was always going to be a hugely important area going forward and the board did well to recognise this and allocate resources accordingly. The signing of so many injury prone footballers is a tell tale sign of trying to squeeze as much quality out of a limited budget. This increases the odds on what is always a gamble. To compound that gamble in the same area of the pitch (central defence) made IMO, what was an acceptable gamble (Souttar on a free) into a long odds bet that predictably went badly. Spending a significant part of a relatively limited budget on what was or became a project (Ridvan Yilmaz) should be judged at the end of the season. The positive is that it pushed Barisic into some form. To judge Wilson on transfers, you have to look at several windows and on balance it hasn't been good. Mitigation is the size of the budget he has to work with but the decision to go with so many injury prone players, eg. Ramsey or those once wonderkids who have lost their way, Diallo, Matondo to squeeze value isn't working and is on him. Saying all that, by far the worst area for me is the squad management going into this season. It was basically set-up so as something like the current mess would happen (too many injury prone or older players whose gametime needed managed / lack of freshness and energy) and it doesn't look like the manager has got what it takes or the authority to change it. Our hopes ly with a similar inconsistency creeping in on the other side of the city. The bulk of the squad peaked 2 seasons ago. Goldson's rant post League Cup semi-final applied after Gio's honeymoon period and it applies today. Bring another manager in with the same squad and they'd take him to the same place they eventually took Gerrard and now GvB. Two different management syles but the same squad. Regards fitness. I have often seen teams where a fair number of plyers aren't really on the same wavelength as the manager/coaching team and despite what would seem to be the same amount of fitness work as ever, they appear off it in games. More especially the games that don't go to plan. Too many players have been here too long, IMO. Many look stale, (haven't got the legs, chronicly injured/old legs) and provide little energy (see our midfield). Problem is we haven't got the money to get player with the same ability and look to squeeze every last drop out of them.

Everyman and his dog knew Souttar's injury record but he was a relatively cheap Scottish punt something we've always done and always will do. I wouldn't rush to confer legendry status upon Katic I don't think he lived up to the hope, he had some howlers for us one away game at Perth in particular. I really doubt we've forked out the rumoured fee for Ridvan. In his admittedly sparse cameos so far he's shown some promise and may well yet come good. He'll get his chance but whether he takes it or not time will tell. I remember when we signed Mark Hately complete with his horrendous injury record when he was returning from a near career ending injury, sometimes it works out but sometimes it doesn't something we have to live with it. The Roofe signing left me puzzled too if it's any consolation. Kent and Morelos should both have been sold according to our alleged model and it's probably best to punt them in January for something rather than nothing if they aren't going to re-sign. Out of Jack, Arfield, Helander and McGregor I think only Jack might get another yet but that's not guaranteed. It really isn't unusual to have that many players out of contract at once lots of clubs will be in the same situation. McGregor should already have been replaced and the fact he isn't is a major failure. Nothing wrong with questioning what's going on in fact it should be encouraged however we should be wary of creating scapegoats as deters scrutiny in other areas where some sharw of the blame may lay.

I do not expect a dramatic change in the terrible quality of refereeing, but I hope I am wrong. I also think it ruins the flow of games.

Only 14 weeks then....🙃

Aye, IIRC Ryan Jack had surgery that was going to sort his calf issue, once and for all. I think I heard the same for Roofe this summer.

Not in the slightest. I'm not the one laughing at other Bears after we've just had the biggest mauling in our lifetime. People who are all 'everything's rosy' are just as daft as the 'doom and gloom' brigade. But posting 'har de har' this week is wild.

That's a strange way of spelling Van Bronckhorst

I'm probably in a minority in thinking Ross Wilson is doing a decent enough job over all. However we probably lost the league last season because we signed to many players who simply weren't ready to play when they signed Ramsay being the prime example while across the city they signed players who were fit and ready to play (the Japanese contingent etc) and yes you can perfectly reasonably attach blame to Wilson for that. Also we need to note the difference between projects i.e Tillman and the finished article Colak while you can argue Tillman may have long term value to us (should a permanent deal arise) there's little doubt Colak's current value to us is many,many times that of Tillman's even if at his age any sell on value will be minimal. Perhaps a better balance between those 2 categories needs to be found I really think we have a decent of squad size wise and quality wise, certainly good enough to win the SPFL and have a decent crack at the EL, however much it hurts we really have to admit we're simply not currently good enough for the CL no matter how sore that is to accept. Everyone points to Club Brugge but seem to forget they took their fair share of hidings for a number of years before finding their feet. I certainly think questions need to asked on the medical side not only in regards to the unusually high number of injuries but also why the recovery times seem to be so long. We certainly don't appear to be as fit as previous seasons but I'm at a loss at the reason for that if it is indeed the case. I can only put that down to application or perhaps a change in brand of coffee at Auchenhowie. I'll refrain from making a managerial comment there's plenty other threads for that snd don'twish to derail this one.

One week to go until VAR is introduced in Scotland. I predict another SPFL clusterfûck with a litany of inexplicable decisions and misapplication. What’s your opinion? Will it finally get rid of our mysterious and almost certainly corrupt refereeing failures? Or will it simply provide an additional platform for bias and cheating?

We'll get shafted and nothing will change. Detest VAR with a passion and it'll be even worse up here. Had my ST for 15-16 years think this will be my last

I think that we will see some improvement in decisions. There are a number of mistakes that result from incompetence. These should be reduced. There are other errors that it can do nothing to prevent. Imagine a fellow like Kevin Clancey, for example, working as a V.A.R. operator. It will diminish the spectacle as it does everywhere.

Possibly, time will tell. I count four total hidings in 2022. Not sure a Rangers manager can last if these continue with the same regularity.

The few people left around me at full-time on Wednesday all seemed as dumbfounded as I was. There's being beaten by a better side and then there's players not bothering their f*cking arses (Amsterdam and the last 30 minutes on Wednesday).

predictably tinpot!

I don’t think it’s a practical solution. We have so many games thick and fast. They would never get up to speed in time. We just need to manage it until January unfortunately.

That sounds like his opinion rather than him alluding to it IMO.

Davies will apparently be in the side tomorrow...

I think you might’ve stumbled unwittingly into the “I’m a better Rangers fan than you” territory.

Bassey got his chance and then never gave Barisic a sniff, hopefully King can do likewise.

There is knowing who you might want and there is knowing that who you want has reacted positively to a preliminary conversation.

That should be the case anyway. Even after just appointing a new manager, we should still have a shortlist of managers we're tracking for the next appointment.

I suggest you do some reading about a DoF model.

Currently, it is what it is. Going forward, they very much do and are part of the reason for the board's current actions. They are preparing the ground and it isn't what we are accustomed to.

Great news if accurate. Although in my experience even minor tears can be tricky to heal

You understand that this is not a problem that can never be solved, right?

Many people forget that he was poor during much of his last run in the team.

Related to Michelle? She was a piece eh?

The Athletic reporting Davies had some positive news after his scan ahead of Sundays game. Also being reported Goldson will be out for "weeks" rather than "months".

I’m sure you’re rightly ashamed of that post.

According to what I read Souttar came to us injured and has finally had surgery which should fix it. I hope so but I've heard it all before.

Who the hell is he never heard of him?.

Quite an incredible post. To say that it is a mess suggests some inside knowledge. The O.P. includes nearly zero insight into the football operation. It's not even really coherent to complain, to that extent, about current results. We are playing at our highest level for a decade and still competing for the league. In terms of European results we are a victim of our own success. The closest this gets to a genuine complaint is in regard to injuries. What does that amount to? Any management needs to tolerate a level of risk. In our case it has worked out badly.

It's worth noting that the two teams we eliminated from the CL qualifiers are both sitting pretty in the Europa: unbeaten, will both very probably progress beyond the group stage, and have a set of results we'd all be content with. Would Gio be getting it in the neck if we were in USG's current position in the Europa League? Would USG have fared any better than us if they were in our CL group? There's a gulf in prize money between CL and EL, but there's also a converse gulf in enjoyment that makes it barely worth it.

Thought he played very well first half but struggled in the second period. However, wasn't helped by a poor Barisic and no cover from midfield.

Well done Hearts