craig

Sounds good mate

Gersnet meet up boys ? Pardon the language.... but no fucking way am I missing this !!! I fly in on Friday from Bermuda, arriving Saturday - and back out on Friday 20th. Costing a small fortune as I bought flights, accommodation and tickets for the wee man and the ex (I couldnt have him go to Seville by himself as a 17 year old) - and he then pestered his mother because he was desperate for me to be there too - so had to - this is a TWICE in a lifetime opportunity - and, in fairness, even getting this far once in our lifetime is punching above our weight. I still havent come down off the natural high as I am sure you all are the same ! Gersnet meetup then ??

Anyone have a Europa League spare ???

Yeah, my boss took me for lunch as it is my birthday... and it is Cinco de Mayo.... That shit usually doesnt touch my stomach before just exit projectile.

I have been drinking tequila - no helpy

Then I will need to get tickets somehow... IF we make it... which won't be cheap. Ugghhhhhh

I just booked flights and hotel for my teenage son and my ex-mrs. If we dont make it I just hope I sober up in time to cancel it tomorrow before the 24 hour cancellation window....

I didnt feel this much nervous excitement even in 2008. I believe we CAN do it, but wouldnt say I am confident. I would actually be confident if Alfredo was fit as he would give their back line a torrid time of it. First 15 minutes ala Braga will do just fine - 3 goals in the first 15 I will happily take.... Absolutely bricking it ! Which is strange as we really have no right being this deep in European competition. It is absolute testament to Ross Wilson, Gerrard, Beale, Gio, Makaay, Jimmy Bell and all the backroom staff and playing squad that we are where we are. What an amazing achievement already. Now, Rangers..... MAKE US DREAM !!

With everyone fit, barring Morelos, your team basically picks itself IMO. The only question, for me, would be whether we go with Jack or Davis - and Jack still probably makes sense, but Davis has that experience to dictate the tempo of the game.

Thats an excellent read Cammy - what a fine young man he seems to be. Just hope hes gutted come 10pm this evening

Would be better than 2008. Back then we could purchase players without relying heavily on Bosmans. This group of players, and the team that recruited them, deserve great credit for getting even this far

Yet another BBC employee who doesnt understand the rules it would seem...

Dont need to have studs up to be out of control and endangering an opponent. It was either 2 reds or no reds, IMO. And that is where the issue is

They honestly tried to justify it in that way ? What an embarrassment indeed. If you look at Balogun's he actually gets the ball and his momentum through the ball rolls his foot over the ball. Is it a red ? Borderline for me but certainly can't complain too heavily as it could have seriously injured the opponent. Look at Ojala's tackle on Wright though. It is actually, IMO, WORSE than Balogun's for reasons previously explained. Both feet off the ground (Balogun's trailing leg was on the ground, so Balogun was in control). Both feet off the ground immediately means you are out of control. The fact he also caught Wright means he clearly was endangering an opponent. Wright avoiding a leg break is completely irrelevant. Not so sure there was intent but he didnt get any more of the ball than Balogun did. I am actually surprised that any Rangers fans can accept Balgun's was a red but consider Ojala's a yellow - differing opinions I guess - for me though, if anything, the cards were in the reverse of what they could/should have been. Balogun's was more a yellow than Ojala's and Ojala's was more a red than Balogun's. What is almost being forgotten is that Rangers really should have finished that game with more players on the pitch than Motherwell due to the shirt pulling inconsistencies. Arfield booked for shirt pulling, yet how many Motherwell players avoided the same booking fate ? And at least one of them was booked for the penalty too, which would have meant red. VAR can't come soon enough, although some of those decisions, admittedly, wouldnt be overturned (yellows for shirt pulling for example)

It was a red all day long. Both feet were off the ground and that means he is out of control. Given he also made contact with Wright means that it also endangered an opponent. Red all day long for me

Nothing quite like selective stats. They skipped from 1965 to 2000..... what about those of us born between those years.... doesnt suit the stats he is providing I guess....

Agreed, plus SPFL TV would literally see monies going into a pot whereby we pay for every other club. No thanks. Let each club have its own digital media including TV.

Whilst this may be true I dont think there can be any doubt that it will shine a brighter light on decisions being made. VAR allows refs to stop the game and assess..... right now, their incompetence, or cheating if you take a more extreme view, can be brushed aside as "honest mistakes". The one thing you can't do with VAR, particularly with blatant decisions, is put it down to honest mistakes. There are plenty of examples of this - Kyogo's offside goal, twice, against Hearts, to secure them wins. The Goldson shirt pull on Sunday, the CCV handball on Sunday, the shirt pull on Sakala at Ibrox against Dundee Utd, the Dundee Utd handball when we drew 1-1 at Tannadice, the Celtic handball late in the game against Livvy. There are decisions VAR will highlight that can't be interpreted any way other than the fact of the situation - that at least makes things better - where interpretation can be applied then, yes, we will have the same old issues

Re your first sentence.... is that not what they did with the Australian debacle ? They were looking to move the club forward financially.... and were soundly rounded upon (rightly so IMO). But, again, you can't ask them to move the club forward financially and, when they do, moan at them trying to move the club forward financially.... surely you can see the hypocrisy in that ? How do you know they dont have any medium or long term goals or vision ? Is Edmiston house not a medium term vision ? One which, hopefully, will result in an additional revenue stream ? Or is that to be put in the "they should be doing that anyway" bucket ? Whilst you and I can see what happened in that Oz debacle, there could, reasonably so, have been a feeling from the Club that it was sizeable monies to be earned from a mid-season break and one which represented good value financially, ignoring who the opponents would be. Should they have foreseen the fallout ? Probably. Would the fall out have been as big as it was had Celtic not used it as a convenient press release on the same day their class action was approved ? Who knows. But the Board werent to know Celtic would use it for that convenience. How do you know we would make 3 mill off a tournament like that ? How much would those clubs charge as appearance fees, how much security would there be, what would be the other running costs to get to 3 mill profit ? Who takes the risk in that too ? The club would take the risk whereas with Oz they just get an appearance fee and the organisers pay all other costs. Zero, or limited, risk. Oz would be the easier, less risky option. For the avoidance of doubt.... Oz was a disastrous move IMO and I didn't support it - but playing devils advocate I can see why the club did.

The point of VAR isnt to change the mindset of Tims. It is to take away the "honest mistakes" of refs. To give them support in their decision-making. How Tims perceive decisions should be completely irrelevant to the decision made by a ref or a VAR (although we know that, at present, Tim mindset absolutely plays into the decision-making as they just threaten refs and tan their windows)

I dont recall them saying all those funds from NP sale would be available to spend - happy to be corrected though

How do you know they arent being addressed ? I can tell you for FACT that the Academy is far, far better run now than it was 3 or 4 years ago. They actually managed to REDUCE the cost at the Academy and INCREASE the support given to players in the structure. I know some of the guys in there personally and they work tirelessly for the club, for the kids and to get the most out of them. They just took a U13 or U14 team to Manchester and beat City 4-3. The Academy is functioning.... Gilmour, Patterson, King, Lowry are examples of that working. That is just one example - but some of our fans will still scream that the academy is shit. Are there concerns ? Absolutely. Some of those things can be improved without money, or without significant money. Some however need investment - and the custodians will have to decide between a or b, not both. Fact of life when running a business that has to manage their finances wisely.

It is a bit of an oxymoron. yes, the fans provide the vast majority of revenue. However, the Board have also spent a ton of money on the very things I mentioned. Now they are to be a "given" - at the same time, we are trying to advise against the financial profligacy that previous custodians operated under. Which is it to be, because we can't genuinely have our cake and to eat it. The Oz trip was absolutely a disaster - however, if we want to maximise our finances nd become self-sustaining it is exactly the type of thing we need to do - just so happened that the club didnt realise just how little we actually want that cash when Celtic are part of the commitment to realising it. Same with the Bitci NFT's. Can't blame the club for trying to cash in on them and nobody was forced to buy them. Every other major club have done likewise including Napoli, AC Milan, Man City - yet C1872 bemoaned it. The same C1872 who wanted to buy King's shares and see none of that cash go directly to the club. We really are, as a fanbase, a walking hypocrisy

We all knew that Fergus built it on the cheap - hopefully it is about to fall to pieces and they have to spend all their CL millions on it next season. The abuse class action should, all things being equal, cost them many millions. Which is why we have shot ourselves in the foot this season. Such an opportunity to put the foot on their throat.

And in fairness to the EPL, they have tweaked their interpretation of the rules due to how VAR is used.