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Make sure you don't mention @ian1964's name. He was flung out for being 'tired and emotional' the last time he was in there with @johnnyk Very unstaunchlike behaviour from two of Gersnet's more experienced members.

Grass!

That's the million dollar question. Ultimately they're a venture capitalist business, so they want to buy into/invest in businesses they believe can grow and be sold for a profit. If we look at Leeds, they bought a smallish shareholding, then increased that to 49% and then bought 100% of the club. Last year they brought in Red Bull, although what share of Leeds Red Bull own isn't clear. Ultimately, they'll want to sell some, or all, of Leeds for a profit. Currently European football clubs are seen as a good investment by American VCs for reasons that I'm not entirely sure of. So I'd guess they'll want to increase our value, that can be achieved by getting us into the Champion's League on a regular basis and increasing our commercial and broadcast income, probably our ticket income too. Or, they can gut us, cut our overheads to the bone and run us as a vehicle to support Leeds, which would be one of my worries. If they are trying to build a structure of clubs whose aim is to provide players, data, coaches and expertise for Leeds, in the hope of selling the whole 'package' to another investor, then we'd fit the criteria for that fairly well. The owners of Man City are different. They're looking for respectability, soft power in Europe, influence on culture and opportunities to expose Europe and beyond to the wonders of United Arab Emirates.

Interestingly enough, I remember arriving late to that game and my seat was in the Broomie Rear for some reason, right up the very back. I grabbed a quick Bovril from the pie stand and started jogging up the stairs. Unfortunately, it was a very wet night so I slipped and chucked my Bovril over myself and the stairs. At least we grabbed a point!

Look, as a Rangers fan, it's not just a hobby, it's ingrained. It's the inherited stories, the first match, the feeling of Ibrox on a European night. It's more than just following a team; it's a connection to something bigger. Our traditions aren't marketing slogans. They're the shared experiences, the matchday rituals, the sense of belonging. It's the songs, the colours, the understanding between fans. It's what makes us us. Think about it – the anticipation before a big game, the roar of the crowd, the shared frustration or elation. That's tradition. It's not something you can buy or manufacture. It's earned, passed down, lived. Now, we hear talk of takeovers, of new ideas. Change happens, we get that. But some things are fundamental. Our traditions are what define Rangers. They're what connect us to the past, to each other. They're the bedrock of the club. And they're worth protecting. Because without them, it's just another team. And we're not just another team. We're Rangers.🔴⚪️🔵

As you know my thoughts are complete speculation, I've no unique insight or special background knowledge on this, it's all just made up oot my own wee heid, so take it all with a pinch of salt. Your Leeds supporting pals could well be right, they could know more than me, no doubt about that. For me the reason I think the focus will remain on Leeds is simply due to the access they can get to the EPL and it's money. Leeds last reported turnover was £190 million. Bournemouth, the 'smallest' side in the EPL, turned over £141 million in their last reported accounts. That's the least available in that league. That's over £20 million more than Celtic who've won the league and played in the Champion's League and who most accept are pretty well run. I think we'd need to win the Champion's League to get anywhere close to that kind of income. In reality Leeds are more equivalent to Newcastle in terms of size, location and potential than to Bournemouth. Newcastle's last reported turnover was around £300 million and I suspect that's where 49ers think Leeds can get too. For that reason I think Leeds will remain their main focus, that's where the potential profit is. Get Leeds established in the EPL, make them a top half of the table side and count the money coming in. Now, before any of that happens Leeds need to get promoted, something that seems easier said than done. They're well placed currently, but it's not a given. If they fail to go up then who knows what happens, maybe that changes things, but if they do go up then I suspect every effort goes into keeping them up and establishing them as a permanent fixture there. I don't know where we fit into that.

What do 49ers Enterprises get out of the deal? 1 A stadium site. (No idea of the development value) 2 Access to Champions League riches if such riches exist. There are costs involved getting there namely provision of a lot of funds to create a team capable of getting into the competition then continuing investment to get back at least two years out of three to make it worth while. I wonder what US owners get out of Liverpool and other PL clubs. I doubt the Arabs get anything significant out of Manchester City. Oh for a dyed in the wool, multi-billionaire Rangers man with no widows or orphans to worry about but can a drowning man agitate about the bloke throwing him a lifebelt?

Everything changes through time who’d have thought that an icon of motor cars Rolls Royce would now be a subsidiary of BMW same at Ibrox the Protestant first was thankfully binned its time to get into the twenty first century and if this takeover goes through which I hope it will it will save the club from dropping down into obscurity because that’s where it’s heading new owners new money a new future. Mon the gers.

Most of the support will abandon any 'tradition' in exchange for five million pounds to buy some Senegalese striker.

I don't think anyone can disagree with that Cammy.

I was watching the Fenerbahce game last night while at my weekly poker game and I noticed they had two players carded which meant they miss the first leg of our tie. Fred was definitely one, not sure the other. So they wont be at full strength and we have been playing well in away ties, they seem to suit our play at this level quite well. Amazing how we can lose to QP at home, not beat Dundee, St Mirren, Motherwell and Hibs in consecutive away games but be quietly confident of a result against some good European sides! One thing to point out the game will not necessarily be on the Thursdays, as UEFA are indicating 5/6 March and 12/13 March on the draw page on their website. I think times and dates are confirmed tonight.

So beat Fenerbahce Roma and Man U and then revenge on Frankfurt in the Final.... simples

Keep the tie alive after the 1st leg and who knows what could happen.

Jack Tav Propper Clinton Jefte Raskin Dio cerny Igamane Hagi Dessers Get Danilo on in the second half when we have a lead and get Tom Lawrence as far away as possible.

Andrew Cavanagh president of Structure Holdings, mate in LA says he’s the main man in this. Been at Ibrox with John Gilligan. Don’t shoot the messanger.

It will be interesting to see what happens. The Leeds guys (who all favou us up here, I may have played a small part in that 😁) have all said positive things about their involvement with Leeds. I'm still not 100% convinced on the deal but I think I'm more inspired by this than I am of more years of regression under the status quo. Only time will tell how it'll pan out but at some point, something has to happen to inject fresh impetus into our faltering club.

Rangers 3 St Mirren 1 First goal scorer: Igamane

https://x.com/4ladshadadream/status/1892985224104931488?s=12

Dave King massaging his ego again. https://x.com/chris_jack89/status/1892982619211546719?s=61

Jordan Campbell @JordanC1107 A deal for 49ers Enterprises to acquire a 51% majority stake in Rangers is expected to be completed in the next few months. The structure of the deal is “well baked” with enough shareholders willing to sell to give 49ers the control they seek. https://nytimes.com/athletic/6150980/2025/02/21/rangers-takeover-san-francisco-49ers/

In Souttars case I dont think its anything to do with luck , everybody in the country knew he was injury prone when we signed and thats exactly the way its went with him. Surely we should be trying to find another mug to pay something for him . Same goes for all those you mentioned.

I worked with a few Leeds lads and keep in touch with them. They are worried that the focus will be on Rangers and not Leeds as even they understand that it'll be easier and cost less getting Rangers to CL on a regular basis than it would be with Leeds. Let's not forget our total income last year was circa £95M - that's not to be sniffed at. Internal restructuring and getting us operating correctly should see us breaking even (at worse). Ita undeniable that we require a "shot in the arm" - time will tell if this is it.

Oh dear. I am in The Horseshoe Bar, and will try not to let this news spoil my day.

I think only Lazio have been given a good draw, everyone else is finely in the balance. I'll take Fenerbache. Bodo Glimt would have been the preferred tie but Fenerbache are beatable and would be nice to knock out Jose Mourinho. The away tie will be hostile and tough but with our record we can get a draw there.

Reluctantly I have to concede that the days when supporters could rely on wealthy fans - John Lawrence's building empire or Louis Edwards butchery business - are gone; we are in a globalist economy. I just hope Mr Marathe does not get total control like the Whytes or the Greens.

I'd rather go another 10 years with 3 trophies than shake this particular devil's hand. I'm far too old to be tricked by the blinding lights and flash of the knickers tactic. This is bad for the soul of our club.

No, just a wee consultation for hernia buddy. Just bumped into Jonatan Johansen in Morrisons, should've asked if he knew anything 🤣 Had Gers training kit on, he back with us?.

I doff my bonnet to Mrs F. A Saint on Earth. No chance I’d have got away with that.

We might then take comfort from these words of putative guru and saviour Paraag Marathe, who "...explained how teams in his stable no longer operate as 'lemonade stands' ". Speaking on the Sports Geek Replay podcast earlier this month, Marathe explained how teams in his stable no longer operate as 'lemonade stands' and are run to maximise return on investment. He said: "The fundamental thing that's changed with professional sports teams on and off the pitch is professional sports teams are no longer run as lemonade stands. They are no longer just about the football team, or the baseball team, or the soccer team, or whatever it is, it's now run as a business, right, as a big Fortune 50, Fortune 500 type of business. "That means you need to get as much value as you can and minimising risk as much as you can, both on the field of the players and also in the business." "At that time, we hired most of our C-level executives who are here today, as well as most of our EVPs or VPs. And what we did is we just, it was just, we just flipped, flipped a fundamental hiring practice kind of upside down for the beginning, since the beginning of time in the sports industry, people hired other sports people, maybe had a little bit of business experience. But the primary trait was, hey, you worked in that sport or this sport and like success or failure didn't matter, but you just had sports experience. "We took the other approach as we were hiring. We said, hold on, let's go get really good sound business people. And by the way, if they happen to have sports experience, then great, but not a prerequisite. In the end, we ended up hiring, as we grew from, I think, 70 people to 300 people, we ended up hiring a lot of talented, talented individuals of all colours and genders as well, because we were, we tried to do it as much of a meritocracy as we could. And that's what enabled us to transition and actually be able to do all these other things that we still do today." 

I watched the CL game versus Galatasarey (Ibrox game) in a social club above a Turkish restaurant in New York City. Went to the Big Apple Bears pub initially but the satellite was on the fritz so everybody piled over to this place near Times Sq. Place was rammed with Turkish fans and Bears. Good lively atmosphere but I'm glad it ended 0-0 😧

Do we get use of their cheerleaders on matchdays too ?

Currently in Ross hall waiting room, I'm bound to bump into one of our players, see if there's ocht in it.