ascender

But we have a strict wage structure in place now which personally, I think is a good thing. If we offer him 30K a week, what's to stop someone like Kevin Thomson demanding parity? Or Steve Davis? Its a slippery slope.

Apart from Birmingham, no-one was exactly beating a path to Ibrox to try and sign him at any point in the last couple of seasons (that we know of), so it would have been a gamble to offer him a bumper deal. When was he at his peak for us, possibly leading up to him breaking Larsson's record? If no massive club came in for him then, I think that tells its own story.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Boyd fan, but if he wants to go then I think we just accept it and move on. He's more than done his bit for us in helping to deliver 2IAR, so that's just life.

I'm going to miss these threads.

He scored 19 in 47 for Hearts, so that would at least suggest he can do the business in the SPL when you consider he would probably get more chances per game for us than them? At the moment I wouldn't rush him out the door until we know what's going on with the takeover and the squad.

�£7 million for a player who missed 20 league games last season and only played in 1 Old Firm game? I'd fly him to Istanbul myself

I'd chip in for the plane ticket at that price.

Hell yeah. Screw the conspiracy theorists, those sensibly hedging their bets and those who have been dead against him from the start for no actual reason. I'm off to get my "Ellis is our saviour' t-shirt printed up and some flyers printed up for the planned street party*

BTW, what's the deal with the loser in the Ellis is/isn't a Murray stooge competition? Some sort of shaming and embarrassing public humiliation I'm hoping?

* me sitting in a party hat in front of SSN with a 6 pack of tennents.....

Fingers crossed, this could be the icing on the cake of a brilliant season.

I can't stop reading that first post by sccgers on FF

Personally I took the AJ interview to be saying one thing and that was "put up or shut up." Its an often-used turn of phrase, but I think it sums up his feelings on the whole thing. The problem we have is that without a clear and in-depth interview from one of the major players, either SDM or Ellis, we have to be very careful about what we read (and choose to believe) at the moment in the media. There's so little news coming out from either camp that there's a lot of recycling of quotes and some of them are being used out of context in order to paint the situation in a certain light by some journalists.

It was rumoured that there was a promotion clause in the contract which would get us some extra dough. Really enjoyed the match. Seen a fair bit of Adam this season, he's really screwed the nut so to speak, looking fit and playing very well in his preferred position. Will be interesting to see how he does in the premiership.

Late as always, but done.

I'm confused.

So why lie, and say that they can't say anything, which I must admit seems only to apply when it suits.

Because its their prerogative I guess. We might not like it, but that's life in the business world.

in short anyone can say anything they like, as long as it is not said to affect the market or the company or parties involved in any way regarding posturing for position or financial manouvering.

Which is fine, but at the outset there's nothing to say one or both parties might ask for things to be kept quiet for whatever reason, whether formally or informally.

Time......? How long is it since the bank pretty much said that the club must be sold?

Have they said that? They just want their money back. We don't know what time-frame they've put on it and I'm guessing, they don't care how that money is raised. They will however realise that the club has made massive inroads in to their business plan and are turning things around, so maybe they're not in any great rush to sell the club on? The problem is though that this new business plan and budget don't do much for the playing side. They're not thick though, even Lloyds will realise that there comes a tipping point where cutting the playing budget will jeopardise income off the pitch. So then it comes back to just how much of a hold they have over the club and exactly what they can demand.

We're complaining about a lack of communication which I think is very valid, but I think its somewhat ironic that those who have made official statements and those who continue to make unofficial ones, are actually muddying the waters further for us supporters. Which, like I've said before, is strange when you consider that all those involved supposedly have Rangers best interests at heart.

This Ellis as a stooge thing, I'm not exactly sure what SDM would have to gain from it? If it was a ploy to smoke out potential bidders, it clearly hasn't worked and its been public knowledge for how many weeks now? Why would SDM be asking him to keep up the charade after so long?

We don't know what prompted Ellis' interest in the club. Probably some sort of property angle? I don't think we should under-estimate the fact that a well-run Rangers could be an interesting prospect as there is a large supporter base and potential both on and off the park to do things with the club.

I posted that over on FF I reckon they will now be changing their email addresses as I type

Exactly what I thought!

Even direct comments I've seen from the last month or so have been recycled numerous times as regards our ownership, Ellis and even the tax issue. Not sure why we're spending so much time analysing them to the nth degree or looking for connections/flaws. There's really nothing for us to go on until someone like Ellis makes a full statement.

Even some of the stuff from Johnston in response to Ellis has been spun by the tabloids in to the usual way to make it look more interesting than it actually is. I read something like "Johnston hits back" in front of a comment which was not controversial in any sense of the word.

I'm guessing in the real world Ellis' people have spoken to Lloyds/MIH people and things are going from there. And I think unless you have prior dealings with a company, this is how things are supposed to happen.

Zappa - I think there's a lot of things going on here. SDM disappearing in to the background hasn't helped, but when it comes to takeovers, there are a lot of rules and regs in place to protect both parties. We just have to be patient. Unfortunately, it looks like there's been major shit-stirring from everyone else who with a vested interest in the outcome and much of that has been done through our media who are obsessed with the OF at the best of times. This is like Christmas time for them, they're loving it and having to do no work at all to get stories to run and re-run based on the smallest bits of info from sources and forums.

I don't think there's any reason why Ellis would have to speak to our Chairman other than out of common courtesy as I'm guessing Lloyds/MIH have their front men who would be a first point of contact. Johnston's comments over the last few days seem to be his way of asking Ellis to "put up or shut up" or at least make contact with him to let him know what's going on.

Some people have been against Ellis from day one for the reasons of he's a property developer, his past involvement with football clubs and/or "just a feeling". Truth is we know as much about his intentions for the club, motivation etc as we do about why some of the current "Rangers men" like King and Park haven't made a bid and them, possibly other individuals within our club are content to sit and spread rumours to the tabloids at every turn.

I understand how fans can have favourites when it comes to players, to the point where their admiration blinds them from seeing any of their failures, but I'm really amazed at how people are being so selective when it comes to what and who they choose to believe in the ownership saga.

Thanks for (again) taking the trouble to call Ellis and share what was said.

There isn't any need for Ellis to have spoken to anyone at the club as the dealings would all be at MIH level adn AJ would not necessarily be kept in the loop. However if Ellis was serious then I doubt he would be turning down the opportunity to have a face-to-face with the current chairman.

That's the bit in the story that I just don't understand. He does't need to speak with the current chairman or anyone at the club, but surely it would be in your interests to do so, or even just out of common courtesy?

One thing that has been mentioned again is that the bankers are clearly the ones setting the budget for next season and its now been said that even Walter has met with them. So does that mean we can set that contentious point to rest now, the bank is (effectively) running the club?

Kenneth really is a thug of a defender, amazing how he gets away with the stuff he does.

Gutted that the Gers aren't in the final, so normally would probably watch the English final, but I have to say, I'm looking forward to the Scottish Cup Final for the first time in a while. Both teams have shown they can play open, very attacking football, so I hope they stick to that philosophy as often the final can be a complete snooze fest.

Having said all of that, Chelsea have surprised me by how good they've been under Ancelotti at times, so maybe we'll get a couple of great games to finish the season for once.

Good to hear. I know that a lot of footballers will go with the money, but surely the chance of paying in Europe and winning honours still counts for something? Plus, the lad can't be on too bad a wage. One encouraging thing at the moment is that we do have some good, young players in our squad to build things around.

I'm starting to feel like I'm outside of some secret clique who knows what the hell is going on, who represents who, who said what, who supports which bid etc. And for that reason, I'm out Footballing topics only for me from now on as some of the comments are so vague and obviously only going to make sense for those who are in the know.

Improved communication and involvement with supporters.

An overhaul of our scouting network and youth setups.

Invest where its required, but not to undo the good (albeit unpopular) work of recent times where we have a strict wage structure in place for example.

Realistic ambition.

If we get some more goals from midfielders next season, Miller steps up again as part of a settled strike partnership, we should be able to cover Boyd's tally. But that's a big if.

Some fans have never taken to Boyd no matter what he did. Not entirely sure why, but apart from a mass love-in when he beat Larsson's scoring record, he's struggled to win over many in our support.