ascender

The Rangers PR machine strikers again ffs. Whether the bank run us or not, we get no benefit from telling the media that we are strapped for cash. Christ, we'd be better creating a wall of silence and just not telling the media ANYTHING because everything we tell them shoots us in the feckin foot.

 

Walter says the bank runs the club

 

A week later our biggest asset is attracting derisory offers because 'bank run club'

 

Can we put an employment add in the papers for someone competent in PR and marketing please?

I know what you're saying, but it doesn't really matter. Even if we kept schtum about the situation, word would get out. Even if there were no actual signs we were in trouble, all it would take is one player having a word with his agent to let interested parties know that a cut price bid would probably be accepted. You can't keep stuff like this quiet in a country this small.

I don't want to see McGregor go, but I guess the thing is, if we got the 5M or so to reinvest in other areas of the team, then maybe its a sacrifice worth making as we do have Alexander in the squad. Of course, there is the small issue as to how much you would trust WS to spend the money wisely!

Is this not all gossip at the moment as there's been stories like this for 2/3 years now? There's not been an actual offer or enquiry etc.

I'm surprised he's still here given all the alleged interest in him that there's been for some time which maybe tells you all you need to know about some of the crap written by papers.

As to his value, he's only worth what someone is willing to pay for him and in making their valuation they'll take in to account that we're in the financial shit and also play in the SPL, but on the up-side, that he's got a while left on his contract and is happy here. I think 5M - 7M is realistic.

Why does Walter come and say the bank runs Rangers when Bain has told us we have a new working relationship with the bank, which includes a workable payment plan.

Getting his excuses in early?

From the money side I completely understand his decision Craig. Its just that in a privileged position such as his, where money isn't such a pressure, you'd have hoped other things would come in to consideration. He's had a very unsettled career and seems to be in the form of his life at the moment as well as actually enjoying it, but who knows what's swayed his decision.

I suppose the main concern is that we have a bunch of unproven strikers now that Miller has gone.

Jelavic - Big prospect, looks talented, should be number one.

Lafferty - Looks better, but still some way off the finished article or even a half-decent one at times.

Naismith - Seems to be happy playing wider and has now found his feet and form there.

Beattie - Appears to have been a waste of money.

So much as I can see it as a backward step, I can kind of see the argument to bring someone like Boyd in if he's cheap enough as we need to win the SPL, its our bread and butter and that means beating all the teams in it, not just Celtic.

Craig also points out something in that striking partnerships are often down to how players work together, their understanding and often a successful one has two players whose styles are different and compliment each other. I still think that will be difficult to foster unless we get a settled strike pairing and give them a run in the team though.

Yes, Miller has improved and became a key player, but unfortunately he's playing in the SPL at a club who are now operating under a very strict wage system. I guess what's frustrating is that this wasn't resolved earlier so we could have got more of a fee for him. I don't think our financial position will have changed much in the last 12 months in terms of the sort of offer we were able to make, so I don't understand why its come down to this.

If it was all about the money for him, then he could have gone earlier, but of course, there is the argument that he wouldn't have got such a lucrative deal if he hadn't been a regular for us this season, so maybe that's where you might expect/hope some more loyalty from his side? We don't know his personal situation either, but even with a short playing career, its not like footballers don't have more than enough time to prepare for life after retiring as a player. Given the wages he's picked up, is it too hard to think that a player might want to carry on playing at a lower wage with a club where he's happy, playing in Europe & winning trophies?

Jelavic up front is a no brainer and while I'd like to see Naismith up there too, he seems to be playing well coming in from wide, so I guess that means someone else up front. I'd love Beattie to come good but it just doesn't look like happening and we all know that Lafferty still has a lot to do, so maybe Walter will try and bring someone else in.

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that Papac is wanting to return home with his family at some point to settle down, so I'm guessing a short term deal suits all parties just now. It would be good to see us bringing a natural LB through at some point though.

I don't understand what the hold up is. As for Goodwillie, I think at any other time he'd be the sort of sensible & pragmatic signing (in terms of cost, age, potential etc) that we should be making to shore up the squad. However, if we do have money, I think we have other areas that we need to strengthen first tbh.

I'm sure there's some sort of irony in this story given how much of an IRA love-in any Celtic home game is......

I can't see why Adam would want to leave Blackpool for Villa, I think he'll stay for a while yet and it would take an offer from a much bigger club for him to move on.

Still can't figure out why he left to join Middlesborough in the first place.

The last thing we need is another striker as we rarely play two up front.

Naismith, Beattie and Lafferty could all play through the middle and we still have Jelavic to come back. I'd love to see us have a settled front pairing for a while to see how they get on, but WS seems dead against the idea. I don't see how we can judge any of our current forwards until they get a run in the team in their preferred position as part of a settled strike pairing tbh.

I'd love to see how Jelavic and Naismith got on, or Jelavic and Beattie through the middle with Naismith cutting in from the right for example.

As for Boyd, if he's going to come back on a 5 year deal for the money he was on before our improved offer that he rejected, then I wouldn't be dead set against the idea as I think he'd be a useful squad player to have.

I guess Miller is after one last pay-day given his age and physical condition. Who knows what our offer to him is and what he's after, but its a shame there's no loyalty from him as I'm guessing its not a shabby pay deal he's been offered and I thought he wanted to have his family settled in this country while he seems to be enjoying his football. The flip side is that he's maybe being offered the chance to double his wages and play in Europe, so would any of us turn that down?

In a way it comes back to the club not having his contract sorted out 12 months ago, there's no point leaving it this late these days.

As to the team, up front is the one area where we do have enough players who could theoretically replace him, so I'm not overly bothered, particularly if we can reinvest the money in another position.

Or as I've suggested before, a boycott of anything other than match tickets. So no merchandise, food, programmes etc. An organised protest of that nature would soon grab attention.

I don't understand what the petition is saying. If we're in such a good position financially in terms of money coming in, solvency, debt, repayments etc given the current economic situation, why don't we take our business elsewhere? Truth is we have no idea what's going on within the club just now and while I can understand the frustration towards Lloyds, its not like we've been unable to sign anyone for a fee and in some cases, a fairly big fee for an SPL club these days. I'm not sure why WS would be able to sign some of the players we have done if all the bank wanted was to get its money back asap and get the hell out of dodge.

I think he's a reasonable and realistic target, the sort of player we should be signing in terms of age, skill, potential, value etc so long as we don't pay over the odds again. Its just strange though given how many strikers we have that we seem to be going for him at this moment in time.

..... And zip for Rangers

Unless he continues playing well and his goals help us to the title in which case its worth more to us than the 700K or so. But then we all know what can happen to players form once they know they're leaving.

..... And zip for Rangers

Unless his goals take us to the title in which case its probably worth more than the 700K. But then that was the theory behind Boyd staying I'm guessing and we all know how that turned out.

Guardian say that according to a source, he won't be leaving until the summer and will be signing to a foreign club, so the Birmingham move is off.

700 grand. Fuck me.

Edit: Despair isn't so much about the fee, just the general shitty-ness of the whole situation we find ourselves in.

Utterly bizarre. Apart from the historic issues that our support has when it comes to presenting a united front for anything whatsoever, I'd be surprised if a boycott by the whole "family" would even register on Lloyds scale given just how big a customer base they now have.

And why are they so quick to believe everything Smith says?

So the Beeb reckons we've had a verbal offer turned down for 705K or thereabouts. Which is strange given that Walter says we can't even afford a loan signing?

These Webster rumours, is there anything to them (as far as rumours go), because I seem to remember its one of those things that was posted on a forum once and is now regarded as fact?

Regarding our squad, I'd much rather see WS introduce a few youngsters to play week in, week out, if it meant our formation and structure had a more consistent look to it with players playing in their preferred positions. There seems to be a lot of chopping and changing in this regard with no real point to it, although obviously we're not seeing the players on a day to day basis. It just seems strange to have guys like Foster & Whittaker moved around a lot, Bougherra being given a free role to go forward, where should Davis be playing, Weiss and then anyone who plays on the left. I can't get my head around it. We're conceding a fair few goals this season, but with all this going on, I'm not really surprised.

What I don't understand is how any sort of league reconstruction is actually going to make our game more healthy in terms of the product on offer and the money being generated by and for the clubs in that league?

I don't know anyone who likes the end-of-season split, so getting rid of that's a given although its not going to attract any new punters.

Playoffs for promotion and relegation with two up and two down appear to be a good thing no matter what size of league.

Having more teams in the league 16-18 might mean a smaller slice of the pie, but would smaller clubs see an increase in attendance if they were playing in the top flight which might negate some of that lost revenue?

No matter how many teams are in the league, I don't see how playing each other 4 times minimum each season is a good thing.

But then one reason for teams supporting this may be purely linked to the revenue linked with playing the two Glasgow clubs more often and therefore seeing more money from gates and possible TV coverage. The real sickener of this for me is that most other clubs and their fans in the SPL spend most of the time complaining about our club and us, but they are quite happy to reap the benefits of being in the same league as us. Its the age old thing of turkeys who are never going to vote for Christmas.

England and Spain are in a similar situation to us where there's only 2-4 teams who will probably and realistically be capable of challenging for the title each season, but they're propped up by massive TV money. Are there other countries in Europe who have genuinely competitive leagues while not having a massive injection of tv money each year? There must be some I'm guessing.