ascender

McGregor clearly thrives on confidence and I think the difference between him and Alexander is that ability to pull off those incredible, how-the-hell-did-he-get-to-that match-winning saves. But I think Alexander is a more solid, workmanlike and reliable keeper 9 times out of 10. When McGregor's confidence is low or his concentration is off, he does flap and has cost us a fair few goals over the last year or so. Thankfully he's back on a high again, although as a whole team we're playing better just now. I'd be happy to have either one as our number one, but if I was Alexander I'd still feel more than a bit aggrieved at the way he has been treated here to be honest. Every time he's come in for McGregor he's played incredibly well and has never warranted being dropped. While on the other hand, McGregor has been kept in the team at times when he's been making a lot of individual errors. I guess Smith feels he's definitely the better keeper and recognises he needs to play through his low-times to regain his confidence. Ultimately I think being the number two keeper at a big club like ours (playing in the SPL) is a position for someone coming to the end of their career who is "happy" to spend some time on the bench. In my memory we've had quite a few occasions where we've had a couple of excellent keepers on our books, but one has been forced to leave just because they can't get enough games.

Its from the NOTW, what does anyone expect. We are getting to silly season on the rumours again though when the transfer window opens.

Thanks very much for posting those, some very encouraging words indeed.

I know Hateley hasn't made many friends with some of his columns about us in recent times, but I think he's speaking a lot of sense in his latest one. From today's Daily Record:

No, he can't be recalled, but I think I read somewhere that's a UEFA/FIFA directive rather than an oversight on our behalf.

Thanks for posting that update from FF. Always interesting to see stuff from BarryBaldy. Cheers, Mike.

Wilson has done nothing wrong so shouldn't be dropped IMO. Mike.

Anyone else hear McCoist on the radio before the game? Apparently Boogie was always coming back today and they had no plans to play him anyway. Who knows what's going on.

Cheeky f*ckers at the Daily Record can't resist to put in a pointless line about Celtic at the same time. HTF is that relevant to the Boogie story? Cheers, Mike.

With the way things are going, we'd be lucky to get 3M for him Frankie. If he doesn't want to be here, punt him now. Can we recall Webster? He's been fit and playing well for Dundee United.

Very difficult to judge at the moment given the state of our team and how we're playing. I do think that one of WS' failings is that he does seem to have his favourites who are never dropped regardless of how they perform. I don't think it does players any harm to be put on the bench occasionally if they've not been performing. Gives them something to prove when they get their chance next and also might be a chance for a reserve (regardless of age) to show why they deserve a run in the team.

I don't think there's any doubt that Burley and the SFA handled things badly, but surely this could all be sorted by someone (be that Burley or McGregor/Boyd/Ferguson) being the bigger man and just asking to speak to the other about it. Or maybe it really is different now and players aren't that bothered about playing for their country. I know when I was growing up the thought of a Scotland cap seemed to be just as big a deal as playing for your club. Just seems like a lose-lose situation for all concerned at the moment.

Boyd for me, I thought his all-round game was very good yesterday and obviously he got the goals too. Encouraging to see Wilson & Fleck playing well too, the more experience they get the better.

We do have more of a worldwide support than many other clubs, so should be doing more to exploit it. I've lost count of the countries I and other Bears have been in and you walk in to a sports shop and there's Celtic kits for sale with no sign of our stuff. Having said that, they should sort out the UK first, its been a disgrace in recent times how hard it can be to find Gers kit for sale in JJB sometimes. Actually, scratch all of that, first priority is for us to have someone in charge who will stand up to the press and defend our club, fans and traditions.

I think the league has been there for the taking for the last 3-5 years to be honest. I can't remember a time in my memory when both halves of the Old Firm have regularly dropped so many points to other sides in the SPL.

Thanks for clarifying that. I guess the other hope would be that any parties coming in would try to generate more revenue and improve our "global brand" which is an awful term, but its something we seem to have been dreadful at doing this far.

The papers are quoting that we have 30M of debt. Given the cost-cutting that happened when McLeish was here and the new wage structure that's been in place for the last few years now, are we now "living within our means" in terms of an average season's turnover? What I mean is, if someone comes in, buys the club and wipes out the 30M of debt, so we're starting from scratch, are our outgoings under control so that any further investment in new players could be accomodated assuming this new consortium writes off some money to be spent on player signing fees? I guess anyone proposing a bid will have a detailed business plan, but I was wondering how the club stands just now. Are we in this mess mainly because of over-spending on transfer fees following Kaunas, or does it go back a bit further than that?

I know what the collective opinion is amongst our fans as regards the various sports writers up here, but over the last week, nearly all of the well known ones have come out and said that they seriously doubt whether Walter will stick around long enough to see the club under new ownership. Walter's clearly not stupid and his remark about Lloyds running the show was obviously intended to provoke the reaction that it has. So are these journos all just jumping on the bandwagon, taking 2+2 (his comments along with the hard time he had at Everton during cost-cutting) to make 5, or are they basing their stories on info received indirectly from Walter? We all know that the Scottish football community is pretty small and there's no way to keep a story underwraps for too long before it leaks out. On the one hand Walter clearly loves the club, hence why there has been mention that he'd continue to work without a contract. On the other, is his resignation maybe just his next planned step to force some sort of end-game from Lloyds, MIH and a prospective new owner?

I've no idea about Dave King's consortium. Do they even exist? What are there plans for the club? Like I said in the other thread, we seem to be jumping the gun here.

Just had the email through about this.... How do the groups know that Dave King is definitely behing a bid? If he is, is his the only bid on the table? What's the details of his bid and where he wants to take the club? I didn't think anyone had shown their hand yet and there's obviously been a fair bit of dubious press about him and his business dealings in SA, but much of it seems to be hearsay, so it would be good to read some accurate press on him. I'd have thought Lloyds and MIH desparately want to get rid of Rangers and if there's a serious bid on the table, it'll be considered. Its not like someone's come out and said that their bid has been rejected because of those organisations being unreasonable. Just seems to be a bit premature and pointless, that's all. I'd have waited until more information came out and there was something concrete to throw our collective weight behind.

Does this mean we're now going to have rumours worse than the usual transfer window crap? Only difference will be Souness' name instead of Fowler's.....

At least something appears to be happening now, even if we don't quite know what that is! Has Walter's comments put the cat amongst the pigeons?

By all accounts we can't afford to hire anyone new and who'd want to come here with zero money available for buying players or even paying wages for loan/bosman signings. Interesting to see mention on here and other forums about how we need someone to take us forward in Europe again. Fuck Europe as far as I'm concerned, we need to get back to dominating the SPL first.

There's so many problems at the club just now, but look at the players in our squad. Even while lacking depth, they are "better" than those at any of the other SPL clubs and certainly paid more (Celtic aside). So I don't think its unreasonable to wonder why our management team is struggling to have these players outplay teams like St Mirren for example. Surely we have a good enough squad to comfortably finish 1st or 2nd in the SPL, by some way? Supplement the current first team with some young players and we're good to go? Why are we still looking so mediocre, disorganised, lacking in team spirit, lacking in ideas, lacking in enthusiasm, lacking energy, lacking the will to win etc?

Agree, very positive start from the guy.