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If the mood on here is indicative of that of fans generally, then we are 2 bad results away from meltdown. I understand the frustrations of Girdergate, lack of signings, etc but I was hoping that the hope and anticipation of a new season would be kicking in, optimistic fool that I am.

Really? Wow.... I don't think I go far enough. No stadium yet to play our home games in. If it is Hampden we have clashes with QP which will mean Friday night or Sunday games (inconvenience for fans). Wel'll have to play all our crucial CL qualifiers at what is a "neutral' venue (huge income implications). We can't improve our squad unless we sell our best players (plus Lammers). Our wage bill is £2M more than Atalanta who finished 4th in Italy and won a European compition. We are miles behind (on and off the pitch) our main domestic rivals. I really can't see anything to be positive about. Maybe someone can point it out to me?

Excerpt from article in The Daily Record: Philippe Clement admits he’ll have to offload some of his first-team stars before he can press ahead with his Rangers rebuild, writes Andy Newport in Venlo. The Belgian boss has so far brought in five new faces this summer. But he knows a lot more are needed if his side are to mount a credible title bid and fulfil their Champions League ambitions. Further additions, however, are dependent on the club raising funds through sales. “That’s the reality,” he confessed. “That’s the reality that the board told me a few months ago. I know this, the recruitment team knows this also. This is the reality of the club. I had other expectations when I came in in October, I have to say. But I know the reality now. I am very motivated to build the club and help in that.” ---------------- That sounds ominous to me. He is more or less calling the board out for misleading him. Omnishambles + Ominous = ??

We always seem to have issues with wages (paying players too much and having too big a squad). Needs looked into.

Tavernier & Goldson are past their best now. It was madness to give them both 4 year contracts a couple of years ago. Butland’s form towards the end of last season was a worry.

Who’d replace them?

Jordan Henderson ….thats what Ajax have done i.e an old hand in the middle

I think the next time the fans call for heads to roll it will be for the boards.

So our sellable assets? Butland - our best player by a mile. Reason we signed Kelly is we are hoping to sell him. Would be a big impact if we lost him. Tav - up there with the best on attacking stats but playing constantly catching up with him. Looks like he doesn't fancy Saudi so doubts whether he'll go. Big impact if we lose him. Goldson - our best defender but like Tav playing constantly has caught up with him. Hopefully rumours of interest from Saudi and Birmingham are correct. Big impact if we lose him. Dessers - 1st Rangers striker to score 20 goals in season since Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd. Some want to take anything for him. If he goes we need to get what we paid for him. Can we replace 20 goals in a season on a shoe-string budget? Lammers - Very successful loan spell but don't think any of the clubs mentioned could afford his wages. Would be positive if we moved him on. Cantwell - didn't feature yesterday and wasn't injured. Read into that what you will. Don't think we'd miss him if he moved on. Hagi - unsuccessful loan spell but did feature are the Euros. Hopefully move him on. Wouldn't miss him if he left. Wright - Sheffield Wednesday interested but don't think we'll get earthshattering money for him. Wouldn't miss him of he left. Ridvan - has had injury issues and hasn't shown much in his time here to suggest he is going to be what is required. Would be good to move him on. Negligible impact if he left. Sterling - decent last season but had injury issues and we haven't yet found his best position. Would be a big impact if he left but don't think he has shown enough yet to get a "big" move. I know my assessments will be in the minority here, but after Clements interview we need to start looking at the reality of where we are and where we'll be IF we sell the above.

Winning trophies is what it's all about. England can only really win two and they have never won this one, so it'd be huge for them.

Atalanta! That was the team I was struggling to recall! Their revenue is significantly higher (£120m?), but that's the type of smart spending we need. Like I said, I'm hopeful with Koppen. If we can use our capital more efficiently, we'll do well. I'm not saying we've not made mistakes or that there are no issues, but you're spinning everything negatively. Fair enough; I'm not going to challenge you on it, as it's an opinion. Edit: Actually, Atalanta made a huge loss of £67m! The wage bill is still an interesting comparison.

In the main, we've been badly run for decades. We have fairly consistently spent more than we bring in. Always trying to make up financial shortfalls. It comes from the need of the instant fix with no strategy behind it. Demanding success doesn't usually work. You need intelligence, a strategy, finance and a degree of patience.

It's a good question. Haven't we covered this when the accounts were released? We're spending too much. Revenues slightly decreased 4% to £84m, but our expenses increased to £108m. That loss was offset by the income you listed above. I'm not an expert, but I think the business side is 'improving' - we can all quibble about how much - but the footballing department is not spending money efficiently. £5m on Dessers is awful business, for example, but even our wage bill is too much. I think someone mentioned that we have a higher wage bill than PSV (iirc?) despite having comparable revenues? They were streets ahead of us. It's not that we don't 'have' the money, per se, it's that we're not spending it well enough. I'm hopeful Koppen and Clement will improve things going forward.

Tav has a knock and Cantwell was left out. Manager said some "small issues" but didn't elaborate.

Yes, I would imagine the stadium issues will have an impact. However Clement appears to lay our a rough timeline that begins with his arrival and expectations. Then some time after, but months ago, he is told the stark reality. A few weeks ago the stadium delays come to light. You are obviously free to opine differently.

The collective chip on the Scottish shoulder...will it ever go away? All very childish and totally ingrained. I didn't care who won tonight - just wanted to see a good match and thought it was okay.

Harry Kane the undroppable captain , remind you of anyone ?

Truth be told England have a squad packed with talent but have little or no output. I seen a stat they have a lower xG than some teams who went out at the first round of knockouts. The chance creation was poor and they are a dull outfit. Spain deserved the win and were the better cohesive unit.

I should have said their performance in the first half of this match was average. Throughout the tournament they have been the best. Much better in the second half and probably deserved it. You could say England were desperately unlucky in the last minute. What a clearance by Olmu. What was he doing back on the line?

Spain are superior in every way ,and if they play like they can, then they will rip England apart .

Nothing new. Teams who have qualified for Europe don't participate in the early league cup rounds and haven't for a good few years.

This is a low key genius. Love this. Agreed

Tav and Goldson Both are on the bad side of 30. Both are on considerable wages. Goldson is starting to show his age with injury. Tav is probably due a good spell on the table as well. Not wishing it, but odds are odds. I honestly think we are stuck with them until their contracts expire. The clubs that can afford them don't need them. Butland I find it hard to believe that Rangers haven't received any cherry offers for him. Odd. I was almost certain he would be gone by now. Dessers, Cyriel Dessers has scored 16 goals in 35 matches so far in the Premiership 2023/2024 season. 10 of the 16 goals were scored at home while he scored 6 goals at away games. Overall, Cyriel Dessers' goals scored per 90 minutes is 0.63. Moreover, Cyriel Dessers' total G/A (goals + assists) is 20 for this season. His goal involvement equates to 0.79 per 90 minutes. His Non-Penalty xG per 90 minutes is 0.67. This puts Cyriel Dessers's npxG output at 17.02 which puts him in the top 98 percentile of Premiership players. https://footystats.org/players/belgium/cyriel-dessers You're right. You don't just stumble into 20 goal seasons, or players who can. The rest...meh...wouldn't notice their departure. Injured, underperforming, or both.

That's the problem we have, but shouldn't stop criticism of the incumbents when they are clearly doing a terrible job. It's their responsibility to generate the needed investment or line up buyers for the club.

2-3 weeks or after the international break appear to be our go-to answers 🤔 😀

I enjoyed the game with Ajax young players eager to play well and impress the manager but it’s clear to see we will need an old hand in the middle to help gel and encourage the new signings a bit of experience in the middle never goes wrong .

Any competition is worth winning

Do I sense a sack the board campaign brewing

I know you were, but the reality is the club is rotten from the top to the bottom. The end of last season was toxic in the stands and a bad start to this season will only see that increase. Once the fans chuck it (don't believe this 10K waiting list), then they might start to take notice and make necessary changes.

I'm quite a pessimistic person but I don't know how you get through the day...

I think a couple of Dutch sides are interested.

Despite thinking he's a good player, I've always thought he doesn't quite fit into Clement's style. And, of course, there's the news that his agent is flogging him to some Italian sides!

I don't understand your point regarding Tav. The only offer we know about is from Saudi and he doesn't fancy taking his family there. I don't see why anyone would have an issue with that. Players have an option to run their contracts down, that's a reality. We can't force players to leave.

Not new information, but the question should be why are we skint. ElL final, 1 season CL money and decent runs in Europe for 5-6 years. 2 x record player sales (Patterson and Bassey). Also £10M for Aribo. Year on year record season ticket sales (price increasing year on year). Year on year increase in revenue and merchandise money (of top of my head). The board certainly ain't showing they are "best in class".

Aye, we have all known that for a long time. It was what Clement said about when he was informed that is new.

Well, that was an expected result but...the injury woes have not subsided.Raskin out for what appears many months. Moon boot means many weeks on the table and many more in rehab. SSDD. That's my Rangers.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/CJJbsNwaUFtpzRXb/ Robbie McCrorie for the first 😬🤣