andy steel

Ah. come on. COME ON COME ON COME ON!! We caught a break there and any pundit, or fan for that matter, who says otherwise is kidding themselves on a bit. Pat Nevin or that other wallah saying so hardly confirms BBC Scotland prejuidice, even though it certainly exists.

I fear those hoping the Mendes wage will be re-directed toward Kris Boyd are being a mite optimistic.

Fair play to McGeady, and I never thought I'd say that. He was very mature in his quotes today. I guess we all grow up eventually. Shame he's still an ugly scrote, but credit where it's due. If the description of Keevin's behaviour as given above by 26th of Foot is accurate, he ought to be disciplined either by his employers or by some equality commission (I'm sure there are many). It's that sort of stupidity, outright idiocy, which eggs on the less intelligent amongst the OF support and leads to nothing but discord and trouble. Does he not care that his ill thought out words will, very likely, result in someone getting a boot in the face? Until this country rids itself of the parasites who are attached to the Old Firm and who use it to push their religious/social agendas (agendum?), we'll never get anywhere.

To borrow a phrase from somewhere else - Walter Deserves Better.

If they were watching him today, that should have killed off any chance of a deal.

Who knew fishes have ghosts?

Danny makes a lot of accurate points in his OP. I'm most impressed that you can still, after all these years, be bothered arguing with fans who can always find something to moan about.

Oh well. Just need to get on with it.

I'm sitting here purring with pleasure, fired by Guinness and the 7-1 demolition of Dundee Utd. That was so cool. And the thing which is making me happiest is not Boydy hitting 5, or Boogie scoring a 'special', or the 7 point gap above 'them' in the league. Dundee Utd tried to put the boot in tonight. Wee off the balls, elbows, leaving the foot in, they were at it. And Rangers totally refused to take it. The 'highlight' (lowlight?) was their big defender feigning agony in order to get Miller sent off. He maybe deserved it for lashing out a bit: it's soft, but there you go, we all know what happens when there's any sort of action like that. I'm not whining about the sending off. I'm celebrating the reaction. McCulloch whacked the big defender, Little took him out. There was a clear message. We can play you off the park, and if you try the rough stuff we are equally good at kicking you off it too. That's a fearsome combination for the other team. Granted, you get things like Lee McCulloch being suspended; but there the advantage of our squad comes in. It may be thinner than in recent years, but it's still deep enough to have a midfield missing Pedro Mendes, Kevin Thomson and now Lee McCulloch and still be able to field Steve Davis and Maurice Edu in the middle. Good enough for me, anyway. Rangers can boss you, and they can beat you. There's your New Year message for the rest of Scottish football as they try to keep up. Rangers - Better.

I don't know what Pat has done to annoy you, I don't mind him at all. I was amused to hear BBC Scotland living up to their high standards for impartiality today, though. Their sports bulletins on the hour managed to cover a 4-1 away win for The Rangers by mentioning Celtic twice, Celtic park once, and include a 20 second vox piece from Walter Smith in which he bemoaned our first 20 minutes as being poor. Outstanding. Producer Frank, I salute you! Your bitterness has leaked from my speakers and stained my plastic interior trim!!

I love Stevie Whittaker. I love any baldy who can overcome their natural disablity and make a go of life, and not only that but actually play pro football and not only THAT, actually do it for The Rangers. I love the way that despite being (at a guess - I can't be bothered looking up wiki) about 15 years younger than me, my natural, manly, hairyness means I actually look younger. Wider, I grant you, but younger. I love the way he can bang in goals with an elan not seen in a Rangers full back for a long time. I was going to say since Gary Stevens but I don't recall him scoring that often, in truth. Great player though he was. I love Stevie Whittaker. So it is with a heavy heart that I have watched the object of my desire this year, lurching around the pitch, a pale shadow of the player I know he is. In an ironic twist of fate, the light from the floodlights, glancing off his reflective dome, have mirrored his passing and decision making: all over the place. The return of Kirk Broadfoot has certainly aided the team, but what about Stevie? It was agony to read posters advocating playing Andrew Little in ahead of the one they call 'Lombardo of the North.' Understandable given his form, but put yourself in Walter Smith's shoes: you have a player chronically out of form, what's the best way to deal with it? Keep him in there, encourage, cajole, hope it turns around while waiting for a first team alternative (Broadfoot) with whom to replace him? Or to drop him for an untried reservist, sending a signal to a man you paid several millions for not long ago that you rate him lower than Paul Robeson's voice? Well done, Uncle Walter, for getting the close cropped full back out the team ASAP but without fatally crippling his confidence. There's a key to Whittaker, I think. Like some footballing vampire, he seems to feast on goals, taking enough positive energy from each one to see him through another 2 or 3 games. No goals, though, and the confidence seems to seep away, the touch become less certain, the skin become paler. I don't know if he avoids the daylight or refuses any meals with garlic included, but this reliance of goalscoring to believe in yourself can come to no good end. Especially as there's no need for it! All Stevie Whittaker has to do is look up his goals on youtube to be reminded of what he can do, especially of course a famous night in Lisbon, and one this millenium too, I might add. He may never be the greatest defender in the world but at Rangers he doesn't have to be: adequate will do, as long as you can deliver the goods at the other end of the pitch. It doesn't have to be goals every week: no-one expects him to match Boydy, except perhaps in the premature male pattern baldness stakes. Effective and solid 3 out of 4 games, with a belter of a goal in the 4th. A long and prosperous career awaits you! In this festive season of goodwill to all men, I send a message of hope to the man untroubled by dandruff: in the words of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, Don't Give Up!

'Full backs aren't great defensively' I dunno what junked up planet that walloper is on! Papac and Broadfoot, not good defensively? Ah well, all the sweeter when victory wraps her wings around the Blue Rose.

<outraged> Well, I do!

No way! Way?

It is, but it needn't be so. If we stopped playing defensive kick and rush dross, if we backed refs when they booked players for tackles that are considered bookings in every league on the planet bar ours instead of questioning their integrity, and if we fans stopped going mental when our team plays three passes across the middle, I think the combination of intense workrate would marry with skill to see our teams mid-ranked in Europe, on a par with eg. Portugal. We can all dream.

I'd say that. having watched the Championship this season only, that it boasts some of the worst defending I've seen for a good long while. On a par with the SPL and ocassionally outstripping it, but not on a regular basis. The only way to find out would be to play these teams. I actually believe that there are a fair few talented players in the SPL, but that the refusal of coaches to allow them to play actual football - as opposed to Scottish football - stops them showing it.

This is very Scottish - I read this thread this morning for the first time, and am filled with deep, deep foreboding for this afternoon. Too much positivity! Novo and Beasley will be rubbish and will be hooked at HT, with us 0-2 down!! We're DOOMED!!!

He has looked most impressive for Cardiff! He seems at ease on the ball, willing to keep it for longer than other players while looking for a pass and if that's not on, to have a go at passing the players before him. That might be down to playing at a lower level: I know the SPL is often compared to the Championship, but having seen the highlights on TV some of the teams are definitely sub-SPL. But saying all that, he was going nowhere at Rangers and it is better for both player and club that he moved on.

How about expanding the point: suppose McGregor is sold in January, but Alexander also goes for some bizarre reason - who would you like to see coming in? We would have to buy someone, after all. Canny think of anyone off the top of.

Down to mental strength. If they can handle being ripped to shreds by supporters who rip them for any slight mistake, they may make it at Ibrox. If they can't they will probably go on to appear better elsewhere, where the fans back them. It's crap to have to post that we are shit at supporting the team but with some exceptions, we are.

Boz to that, ASIL, I hope they get the pumping they richly deserved in Glasgow. They're on a run atm, and it would be good to see it derailed a bit.

You greedy sods! We did get nearly 8m for him, remember.

Don't forget they were robbed of a win at Anfield too. Be most interesting to see who they plump for to bolster their squad in January.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8416945.stm Three in London? Emirates, White Hart Lane and Olympic...it seems a bit unfair on East Anglia and it's surroundings that neither Norwich nor Ipswich are featured while there are 3 in London, 2 in North London alone - I dunno where the Olympic one is, is it East London? And Elland Road...that ought to be a culture shock for whichever poor sods are based in Leeds. Still, I do envy them.

Weak argument going on there from Maineflyer. Disagreeing with you doesn't make anyone ashamed of their own, nor does it mean your viewpoint is driven by Spiers or Keevins. Those points you have raised are merely attempts to link people disagreeing with you to others, whom many on this board will hold in contempt, or to turn "I am embarrassed by some of our fans" into "I am ashamed of my own." That, in turn, suggests a lack of confidence in your ground. Some inverse intellectual snobbery there, too, as you have a dig at Calscot for trying to pose as a deep, intellectual thinker. What good does that sort of snipe do? I assume everyone on here, and certainly you for one, couldn't give a hoot what the others think of them - why do you assume others are trying to persuade anyone of anything? It's the same old story. Can't we discuss this subject without hand wringing, Spiers, denials, revisionists, accusations like that, getting flung around. Sorry to single out Maineflyer but he was last.