Leaderboard

They’ve rejected the ESL proposal. Also have Man City & several top European clubs including Dortmund & Feyenoord. Rangers should sit tight & say nothing for the time being. Wait & see how this pans out. We should not dismiss anything that gets us out off the SPFL and into a better league

An image from Auchenhowie this morning...

I wish the book and club every success. The tome looks like a cracking festive read and the perfect tonic to accompany a glass of Harris Gin. Throughout my professional life, I carried a battered copy of Neil Munro's 'Para Handy Tales'. A training area wood line, a range complex slit trench or, waiting for a pre-jump C-130; release Neil's words from it's plastic protection and, find yourself in a better place. There is a little known tale of FC Vital Spark being drawn away to Carloway in the Hochmagandy Cup. Para held the tiller steady. Dan MacPhail was akin to a Perkins, going up'n'doon and roon'n'roon in midfield. Sunny Jim's pre match ritual of running the Cuillin peaks and swimming the Minch kept him quiet during the goalless first half. He recovered in the second period and ran in a hat-trick. If Dougie was here, he wid tell ye himself.

The new book on Carloway Football Club contains a chapter on the late Ronnie Mackinnon which covers his time with Carloway, Rangers and Scotland. In a recent interview for the book, the Rangers legend talked about his time at Ibrox including the story of how he got signed by Scott Symon shortly after playing for Carloway in the Lewis and Harris Football League. Ronnie had some good tales to tell including yarns about Greig, Baxter, Puskas and Pele as well as about the time he spent in his mother's hometown of Carloway. The book ‘Ninety Years On: The Story of Carloway Football Club 1933 to 2023’ is available for £25 (including post and packaging) from the following link: https://buy.stripe.com/fZeeXfgZdgm5dna001

Förster is one way of translating "ranger"in German, the etymological equivalent would be "forester". So "Alte Försterei" would be the "Forester's/Ranger's old house" or the "Old Forester's-House". I only noted this a couple of months ago.

Haha there's lots of stories about West Side in the book and they don't all involve losing to Carloway! 😉

I would like to wish all Gersnetters lots of pudding and pie. Can I share a wee Christmas memory from 1971? Christmas day was not an official holiday in Scotland until 1974. Easter and the risen Lord was the big religious festival but, we saw on the TV how much fun the English were having at Christmas and decided to participate. The 25th December'71 was a Saturday, a working day and, Scottish football had it's final Christmas day fixture list. I was a 14 year old schoolboy and when asked what did I want from Santa, my reply was to view Rangers at Easter Road. Santa was good to good boys and I travelled on the Tannochside Loyal RSC to the capital city. 25,000 squeezed into the old Leith ground and watched an attritional game. Large snow flakes began to settle on the pitch in the ninetieth minute as the ball was hoofed from the Rangers box. The ball was hooked on by Colin Stein and the Lone Ranger chased down his own ball forcing Hibs defender, Black to concede a corner. Tam McLean stepped up as the snow began to drive, the corner found Colin, Colin Stein's head and flew into the net. Winter was howling and the Bears were growling, we only sing and dance in blizzards.

About to go on my works Xmas day out then am on a family holiday for a week so wanted to take some time now to thank everyone for their participation on the forum again this year. Supporting Rangers still feels like a fool's errand at times but the last month has shown football remains a funny old game and, as we approach Christmas Day, it's fantastic to see us winning the League Cup, being Scotland's sole representative in Europe post-group stage and, whisper it, challenging again for the title. Yes, we're struggling with injuries and genuine quality during some games but there's no doubt Philippe Clement has restored some belief to our players and fans since his arrival. To that end, I hope everyone has a safe, happy festive period and is able to enjoy a few more Rangers victories as well as, more importantly, valuable time with your friends and family. I certainly hope Santa brings us three more wins before 2023 is out and let's hope 2024 is a prosperous one for all Rangers fans and our club.

Could we get him for under a million? His recent record is crazy. It's something like 55 goals in his last 63 games. And I don't think he takes pens. Regardless of his current level, look at what Hooper did at the Celtic a few years back.

And we punted Joe Aribo for 6m....

Please allow me to offer some much needed medical advice. Start with something red and robust, move on to the encompassing arms of a juniper laced thermal wave(tonic water is full of quinine) and, finish with Heverlee(keeps you hydrated and that mixture of bitter hops and honey will provide a sturdy platform). Take times three daily for a week and delusions of Fireman Sam(Lammers) as our saviour will dissipate.

Nurse, ........... Nurse, ............. Nurse, ..............

Motherwell 0 Rangers 2 FGS Lammers 🎅.... hey it worked with Dessers @Rousseau

So basically replace the whole team in January.

On a rather positive note, in the past couple of weeks Spain's top two sides (Real Madrid and Girona) have failed to win against Betis in Seville (both drew).

Gone where?🤓

Carloway, pah! West Side loyal 😉.

Need a whole new front line and midfield. Always important to strengthen the defence first though. We all know that Tavernier and Barišić are suspect so both need replaced quickly. We've needed a settled partner for Goldson for quite some time now. We should make that a priority too. Goldson has been here for years so we should freshen things up by finding a replacement for him. Sadly we will be forced to replace the goalkeeper. He will leave in January for two million pounds. Given the number of first team players required this money will be very useful.

That's why we should offer them the corner. They should never get the Broomloan again.

Sub.

Did Butland touch the ball last night?

Are we really powder-puff? How many goals have we scored this season? I'm sure our xG this season is very encouraging. We are 2 points behind Celtic in the league with a game in hand, have won the 1st compition of the season and progressed, as group winners to the later stages of the EL. We definitely require additional players but the need is more down to our horrendous injury list rather than us being "poweder-puff". Sima has been the standout forward, Cantwell is beginning to show flashes of last seasons form, McCausland has been a find ( ut like all young players, will be inconsistent) and Danilo and Dessers have shown quality in spells (bother been hampered by injury). Even players like Lammers and Matando have shown flashes or quality and are nowhere near as bad as they are made out to be. Butland has been the signing of the summer, but Sterling looks to be very good and very versatile. Dowell whilst being injured for a while was one of the better players last night. I'd say our biggest concern is in the left back area. Borna has been a decent servant but coming to the end of his Rangers career. Yilmaz is not what is required and is the weakest player in our squad (IMO). He has also struggled with injuries. In my opinion it is more important to get rid of the permanently injured players like Roofe, Lawrence, Jack etc and replace them with players who can contribute more.

Thank you for a fantastic board. Merry Christmas and very happy new year!

Saw this and started to crease haha

Y’know what, all this transfer speculation seems particularly pointless now that we have a manager who knows what he’s doing. I’m finally content to sit back and watch him work his magic without the usual noise spoiling the show.