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Can we not focus on the good times? Alfie has given us some great memories and it's telling how much opposition fans hate him.

Yet again Cantwell and Raskin impress. Borna and Davies also did well. It was good to see some of the long term absentees back and Arfield bagging himself another goal. The sideways and backward passing in the first half would bore you to death but job done.

Wait? Are the semis not at Hampdump?

We had a brief chat about this on Friday's podcast and someone got in touch to point out that Peter McCloy joined Rangers in 1970 and played at the end of the 85/86 season when Walter Smith was caretaker following Wallace's departure and before Souness had joined. So a nice goal-keeping symmetry, Peter McCloy to Allan McGregor linking Walter Smith from 1970 to at least last Wednesday evening.

https://www.rangers.co.uk/article/rangers-unveil-new-rangers-ready-concept/4L61PGUoMBU1ZeSd26YLbu RANGERS Football Club are today thrilled to unveil ‘Rangers READY’ – an all-new nationwide concept in children’s football development in Scotland. Rangers READY will further enhance our Academy’s offering to young people not only in the Glasgow area, but right across Scotland. Seven new centres will open across the country including cities such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Dundee. This innovative, exciting offering for young, primary-aged kids allows them to learn, grow and explore in a fun and engaging environment that supports and challenges young people who desire to learn and develop in a playful and creative way. In addition, it will see Rangers build strong relationships with the grassroots football community. This, however, is not a ‘community programme’ as driven by our Academy, Rangers READY is free for the selected kids and a genuine attempt to change how we develop young footballers in their earliest years experiencing the game. Those selected kids will be chosen by Rangers’ extensive scouting network to come and experience the Rangers READY programme. Rangers READY is designed to allow children to develop a love for the game and, perhaps most importantly, the ball. As such, Academy Head of Coaching, Zeb Jacobs, has designed a unique, evidence-based play programme, taking his own experiences in Belgium and combing them with lots of research from countries such as Germany, that is exciting, fun and will stimulate curiosity. All of the team delivering Rangers READY will offer a unique and different programme full of playfulness, movement skills and lots of competitive 1v1 to 3v3 practice designed to create a strong long-term love of the sport. Rangers READY is an all-new concept, which young people and their parents will feel from the moment they arrive at the venue, different from any Academy model previously implemented. There is no retention or release for kids this young, only fun and games, and that is why every block will see all players leave the centre at the end of the term and new invites issued for the following school term. We don’t believe in the existing model of labelling six, seven and eight-year-olds ‘elite’ and adding pressure to an already challenging childhood. We want to offer parents and their kids a new alternative and hopefully create an affinity with the club that will make Rangers their preferred choice when selection occurs at an older age. Rangers Academy Director, Craig Mulholland, commented: “Our team have worked on developing the new Rangers READY concept for almost a year. Our starting point was that we simply don’t believe in labelling kids who may only have been playing the game for less than 12 months ‘elite’. “All of the research Zeb has led tells us we need to change how children learn. We must engage with them and create that love of the game in a playful way. We also spoke with many parents and didn’t like the pressure they felt when professional clubs became involved, so we decided to create a different offering which will benefit Rangers, Scottish football, and most importantly, the parents and the child. "So, whether you are attending the Rangers READY in Aberdeen or the Ayrshire, the feeling, the environment and the research-based content will be the same. We looked at what they do in Portugal, France, Germany, Belgium and many other countries and are now really clear on what we want engagement with Rangers to feel like when the kids are so young. We are really excited by this new concept which we believe will change the pre-Academy space in our country. Rangers Head of Coaching, Zeb Jacobs, added: “We looked closely to research about optimal learning environments and tried to understand how a child learns. Based on the outcomes, we saw that ‘play’ needs to be at the heart of Rangers READY. "So, together as a team, we have designed an exciting ‘play programme’ based on research, best practice and experience that allows children to explore and develop in a unique and playful environment. This is why we speak about a ‘play programme’ and not a curriculum, a child and not a player and an experience and not a pathway.”

Let’s hope for a few more before he goes.

Semis are at Hampden you can join me in the home for old doddering men

Run of mill victory with not much to write home about. Raith came to spoil the game and were allowed to by Beaton who was his usual self (I.e terrible).

I thought Ridvan's cameo was quite good. It'll obviously take him a while to get up to speed, but I like the look of his style of play. Barasic is effective but mainly a crosser, which is not the best skill set for us because we play against a lot of teams that park the bus; it plays into their hands a lot of the time.

Did you know that the chance that a goal will be scored off a corner kick is roughly 3%.

Pathetic and immature not to turn up to cheer for your team, surely?

Toys oot pram, again.

Wouldn’t read too much into today. If Morelos goes we’ll need to bring in a striker to replace him

let us down time and time again.

Semis are both at Hampden, but we will have to beat them in the semi or final, and doesn't really matter which.

Why? Our record there is woeful. Scum at Ibrox hopefully.

We did this in the 55 season to great effect, sucking teams out. If you just go at teams fast when they sit in, it doesn't work, utterly pointless. You have to be really confident at your ability to hold onto the ball and wait for the mistake to come, a wee space to open up, then go quickly.

If this is true I salute the club. Too many politics, and social garbage injected into sports as it is. Keep your social issues and your political crap out of the stadiums. If they would only do this in the US.

Chris Jack @Chris_Jack89 Rangers statement: “Rangers refused to allow an offensive banner relating to the police service to be displayed at today’s match. "The Union Bears elected to absent themselves from the stadium because the Club would not permit the offensive anti-police banner display.”

Job done, that's about it

Always a worry seeing Ben Davies go down with a knock. He has been playing well.

I think it'll take them a while to get used to Ridvan wanting the ball in front of him rather than Barisic wanting it to feet.

Because there is a bus parked in the box.

The UBs put a lot of work into supporting Rangers and creating a good atmosphere, a lot of Rangers fans don't like the UB's and can't wait to have a kick at them they feel it's the right thing to do, not pathetic or immature IMO.

Plenty fans not turned up today - why single out the UBs? They continue to be targeted by PS whilst other ultras can do what they please.

Cracking header from Goldson and pleased to see us grab the lead against a hard-working stuffy Raith side. Doubt much will change after half-time so vital we cut out the slackness, move the ball a wee bit quicker and take any more chances that come our way.

Pathetic & immature comment from you once again!

UB not at game, guy comes in says something through megaphone and leaves.

Souttar and Ridvan made the bench. I hope they can get some game time.

Not sure if any of you heard the remarkable Arsene Wenger stat from the weekend. Apparently Arsenal's Saturday starting 11 was the first time since 1986 that a player who didn't feature in an Arsene Wenger managed Arsenal side didn't start. So 37 years give or take a few months. As you do I started to think of a Rangers equivalent. Best I've come up with is 59 years although I can't say a player started every match in that period. So here's my workings - Jimmy Gordon joined Rangers in 1907, played 315 times (won 10 Scotland caps) and left the club in 1920, the year Bill Struth became manager. Struth took over in May of 1920. I don't know what month Gordon left though. Fast forward to Eric Caldow. Caldow was signed by Struth in 1952 and played for Rangers until March 1966. An unbroken 59 year connection with Bill Struth (I think). Happy for someone to correct or improve this. BTW Reading about Jimmy Gordon he apparently played upfront, in midfield, in defence and in goal for the Rangers first during his career. Love that.

Important to keep winning. One match a week - play the best team available.

Mon the toffees ⚽

New to the forum, followed the podcast for a few years and thought I'd join. Sorry it took awhile! Sakala's on his way to 20 g/a in the league which is some going considering he was bombed out until Beale came in. He's clumsy and erratic game in game out but also produces moments of magic and gets the numbers which make it worthwhile keeping him. I'd actually go as far to say in terms of the player trading model and building title winning squads getting players like Sakala on a free is essential; for profit and for depth, if he can get 20 g/a a season in rotation then we're laughing. Plus I love the guys attitude and there's something endearing about a player who's that raw but contributes. Yud

Celtc FC can beat the lot. They've employed at least one convicted paedophile in every decade since the 1950s (at least).