ascender

Boyd and Velicka seem too similar to be played together, but I thought Velicka looked much better in pre-season than he has done since. I still think a settled strike pairing who complement each other is the way forward. My feelings were pretty clear on Cousin and they haven't changed, he disgraced the jersey and should have been out on his arse at the end of last season. JCD and Miller are too similar, but Miller seems to be much fitter and less injury prone, so JCD could go. I'd be interested to see what Lafferty could do up front alongside Velicka for example.

Its now official, he's signed a 5 year deal subject to the work permit going through. I'm guessing this might mean Dailly and Hemdani are allowed to leave?

I think a couple of the papers today confirmed that Bresciano would rather play in the Premiership than the SPL according to his agent. I think he's been linked with Fulham as well actually, so that'll be our money from Davis going towards him probably.

Is that the whiff of shite I can smell? I love how he is concerned about someone "carving" his club up and selling bits off. Is that not what he's been doing himself in recent times?

I think its a good move. If he proves his fitness, I honestly believe he could become a really important player for us. Whenever I have seen him play in the past while fit and getting a game every week, I thought he looked a bargain signing for us. Of course that was before the injuries and bad luck kicked in.

Good news. Just so long as he actually gets a game....

Just looking at the online editions and the R***rd has Celtic in talks with Loovens.

Check this out. It mirrors many of the sentiments being posted on here and other Gers forums recently. Clicky

FF has been crazy today with this stuff and other things going on. The best bit is that nearly everyone has a "source" but won't go further than that. I'll put money on it that a lot of these sources will turn out to be people who've read it on FF, phoned/emailed their friend who has then gone on to the McCoist thread and posted that they've heard it from their source too. And so the wheel goes round. As for Bain, surely his job is just doing what SDM tells him to in terms of trying to adhere to budgets, saving as much money for the club as possible etc? Given how close WS and Ally are, I can't see this sort of thing being true, but at the same time, if Ally did make that comment about Cuellar, I'd love to see him having the honour to make a stand about it.

I don't have a problem with us doing this sort of business, where we either sell on a player who has come through the ranks or someone our scouting network has enabled us to buy "on the cheap". But what's the point if: 1. The money doesn't get reinvested in the team. 2. The player in question only stays here for a season at the most. 3. The player & club aren't honest and upfront about their intentions. That's why I have a problem with the Cuellar situation.

Really? Surely this is absolute bollocks, mainly due to the fact we already have 23 other strikers on our books? I could see Davis and Loovens coming in for a grand total of about 4M, or maybe even some jiggery pokery with Maloney from Villa, but still leaving the club 5M+ from the Cuellar deal and the remaining transfer budget.

Cuellar didn't have to say a word, especially not lie through his teeth about it. Yes, the whole thing stinks, but I thought he was better than that. Regardless of what went on behind the scenes, there was no need for him to lie.

So why did Cuellar come out with the usual shite about being happy here and wanting to stay if he had no intention of doing so?

Just watched the highlights and it was good to see Boyd, Laffery and Velicka combining for the goal. Amazing what happens when you put some strikers on the pitch.

You have got to be fucking joking. I can't believe this. Talk about being strung along, we really are mugs aren't we? We'll just lap up any old shite the club and even players come out with. Unbelievable.

I quite like that. Very retro, was that not similar to our away top round about 85/86?

So is that a dig at the players or the manager?

In the R*cord. Clicky I think he's spot on with much of his appraisals of the players who started in Kaunas and again, seems to be repeating much of what fans have been saying for a long time now. Definitely worth a read despite some strange comments near the end.

WS has to change certain things and hope for a great start to the season or I can see a clamour for him to leave. I also don't think this is a knee-jerk reaction to the result in Kaunas as many of the things he's being criticised about were being said from fairly early on in last season. The warning signs were there for all to see I think.

Looks like someone is about to be crossed off from SDM's Christmas card list... Clicky

But you do need players like Miller in your team at times when you play certain systems and against certain systems. FWIW I think he's a better option that JCD as he's fit for starters. But the problem comes when you play him up on hiw own or with little to no support. Then you can do all the grafting in the world, but when you put balls in to the box, there's no-one there to get on the end of them. You need to have strikers who complement each other. The problem is that we should be creating many more chances than most of the opposition we'll meet in a season. Those chances should be coming from our midfield, but in lieu of that, as we saw last season, you have guys like JCD & Novo who get dragged wide a lot and try to create chances themselves, only to have no-one to aim for in the box. That's why I never really understood why we played one up top in many of last season's matches and then to make things worse would try to play high balls up to them as if we still had Hateley playing. It was obvious that Miller would come in for stick and I agree that we should be aiming higher with our siging policy, but I think he's one of the few who is at least working hard and doing what is being asked of him by the manager.

I was just about to post something similar. Say we do have a good start in the league, is that not just going to be another case of us papering over the cracks? Its a similar position to Eck, when we had a good European run which was distracting from just how dire things were in the SPL. So we have a good start, beat Celtic, then does that mean our troubles are over and everything's fine? We could have another season like last year in the league where we somehow throw away a points advantage and capitulate to Celtic in the last few weeks and find ourselves no further forward than we are now.

I have to say I'm not impressed with Smith's comments so far in the media. It looks like everyone's to blame apart from him. As for blaming the players, are these not the players he signed in the first place?

If WS really is a Rangers man, then surely he should resign? I'd rather that happened now, before the SPL starts, than it happens during the season if we're still struggling as that's just wasting valuable rebuilding time. The financial situation we find ourselves in now must be extremely grim, but surely getting a new manager in who won't make the same glaring mistakes as Smith has been is preferable to what we're looking at now?

Like I alluded to in another thread, I've wondered just what it would take for people to turn on WS and/or SDM in any great numbers. I still believe that for many, both are untouchable and beyond reproach. Just look at SDM's reaction to the protests when we were struggling under Eck and Walter's response to any reasonable criticism/questions from journalists. And speaking of those protests, those involved were painted as being nothing but a small bunch of troublemakers and in the scheme of things, were a small section of our support. Will SDM/WS come out and say its just unacceptable? Will journalists actually ask the questions that need to be asked? Will either of them stop treating the fans like something they've trod on in the street? Honestly, where do we go from here? Win the SPL I'm sure will come the reply from Ibrox. But is that good enough considering the football we've had to watch last season and the noises coming from Ibrox that it was all about steadying the ship and then we'd kick on from that this year?