Tannochsidebear

You clearly haven't watched Jig too much then if you think he would have blocked that first goal. At best he might have half-heartedly stuck out a leg rather then turned his back, but to say with any assertion he would have prevented that goal flies in the face of the many similar goals we have conceded with Jig at CH. I really laughed out loud at your mentioning Jig being in position for the second goal, as you wont find many (any?) Bears that think Jig has got any positional ability whatsoever. No argument that the choices we have at CH are not of a long-longed for standard, but Jig wouldnt make my top 6 at CH (or any position in the team)

Is it bad that I clicked on this link purely to see who our opponents were on Sunday as I knew you would have a link up already Zappa?!! Outside of Hearts/Hibs, the rest are so unappealing that it doesnt really matter which of them we play IMO. I remember feeling this way as well in the SPL. Outside of the OF game, the other games were so samey I often turned up at Ibrox and was in my seat before finding out who our opponents were that day! The days of looking forward to playing against Aberdeen or Hearts because you knew you would see a good contest and a good game of football are so long ago now it is truly sad.

Unfortunately the poor performance last night gives the manager an easy out to put the talentless Jig back into the centre of defence. I am also gutted it was only a 2 game ban as I thought it was a certain 3 game ban. Can we not appeal?

Mohsni turning his back at the first goal cowering away from the shot is not what is needed in a proper defender. I know all defenders cannot be held up to the standards of a Richard Gough or a Terry butcher, but the amount of times they hurled themselves, without any fear of injury or hurt, towards an opponent as they are about to pull the trigger IS the standard I expect from a Rangers centre half. WTF Wallace was thinking about at his own goal is going to take some explaining. Of course the game would have changed had we got our deserved penalty kick at 0-1 just before half time, with the referee only a few yards away from it we can only speculate as to how he missed it. Poor show on the only really big call he had to make all day. Had we gone in 1-1 the second half would have turned out differently, although it was easy to see we did not have the same energy, desire and pace about us from the off. Was this a result of Shiels missing in midfield? With Law reverting to the type of performance we have seen too many of when he was killing our engine room beside Black for many months, the midfield had no snap about it. Vuckic was, as expected when the going got tough, a passenger. He is a luxury player not willing to pull the sleeves up and dig in when the chips are down on current showing. Thankfully we have the chance to bounce straight back on Sunday and show this was just an off day. We really cannot afford any more dents to the fragile confidence before the play-offs. I wonder if any other Bears are perhaps now reviewing who they think we will play in the semi final? From what I have seen this season QotS have much more about them than Hibs and it wouldnt surprise me to see them beat Hibs over two legs. That horrible wee ground and pitch is a real advantage to them.

The link for this to be in the Rangers Chat thread is tenious at best. Can this be moved to the off topic please, unless of course I am misreading the thread and people are talking about Boyd & Daly when discussing the merits of Haystacks & Big Daddy!

I dont know anything about Ferguson, but I am sure I read somewhere that he is not from our "side" of the tracks in Norther Ireland so to speak, and was point-blank refusing to come to us and will remain injured throughout his loan period rather than go anywhere near Rangers. Would be glad if that is all nonsense and he can come in and make a contribution. We are paying a portion of his wage either way so the best we could do is get some contribution from him, either in the first team or in the development sides.

For cup semi-finals the gate money is split between the four semi-finalists after the SFA take around a 20% cut plus the expenses for hosting the matches. Taking 50% of gate money means some clubs will host play-off matches and lose money after policing, stewarding etc.

We must challenge this extreme profiteering from the scumbags running the game in this country. What right have they to claim gate money from a league match, which this essentially still is. The paltry prize money on offer is incomparable. The alternative is to give the game away free to season ticket holders and ask our supporters to donate what they feel is right to the club via buckets outside the turnstiles, or ask everyone to buy as many rising stars tickets as they feel appropriate for these play-off games. If the SPFL would still be entitled to a cut of ST money, then sell the tickets at a fiver and tell them this is a reward for our loyalty and patience during this difficult season. If we done that I would buy 8 rising star tickets to make up the difference.

I dont see the youths at all but I get updates from Elfideldo as we travel on the same RSC, and also from his excellent blog, so I am pretty confident you are correct in what you say and hope to see some of them get into the team soon for a chance, especially if we have wrapped up second place with a couple of games to spare which could happen if Hibs current malaise continues.

Of course Weir sometimes got done for pace, but the small amount of times this happened was because he read the game so well and was always taking up the right position. On the counter attack that sometimes leads to him being done for pace, but generally you could rely on Weir to be in the right place more often than not, and remember that was at a much higher level. I dont know if you go to the games or watch them on tv, but if you have been one of us lucky enough to attend most games, you must have noticed that Jig has absolutely no positional sense whatsoever and for that reason alone should never have been trusted at CB. Why has he been moved to so many positions in his Rangers career? It is simply because after a while the manager has known that he is no good in that position and he has to move him around.

Gavin Rae was captain for about 3 games when PLG went to war with his players and thrust the unfortunate Rae into the spotlight to make a point that he could pick his worst player and make him captain if he wanted to. It is unfair to Rae to include him as a Rangers captain as he may have led the team out for a couple of games, but everyone and their dog knew he wasnt the Rangers captain. I thought I was quite clear, but to re-emphasise I am talking about the worst football player ever to captain us. Not anything about leadership, professionalism, etc. Is he the worst player to have been official Club Captain (for more than 3 games!!). In my book Jig has no positive attributes to his game other than being a good guy to have around. Passing - poor, tackling - poor, heading - poor when challenged, positional sense - poor, pace - non-existent, finishing - poor unless tap-ins. I fail to see what he brings to any side he has ever played in. I will say that given he has had a long and successful career on paper means he must have kept himself fit and easy for a manager to like him, and must fit into a squad environment well. Walter Smith was on record as saying he only played Jig at left midfield in our 2007-08 season so he could aim for someone with height in our midfield at our goal kicks to ensure we did not immediately give the ball away in open play. I must say that tactic alone kept me awake at nights that season and we all despaired at this tactic that usually seen us give away possession as a throw in from every kick-out as Jig could never win the header aimed at him and keep the ball in play. Sums up Walter tactical awareness I suppose more than a pop at Jig who was happy to play anywhere he could get a game and do what his manager told him.

I usually discount Ricksen as Captain as he was only acting Captain as I recall and not the official club captain (cant remember who was) but in reality Ferguson coming back in the January captained the side to our league triumph, alongside Marvin's inspirational leadership and spirit. It actually spoiled the day (but only a tiny bit) at Helicopter Sunday when we allowed Ricksen to raise our league trophy. I wasn't talking about a better Captain (as in leader of men), I meant worst footballer to captain us. Of course it is a healthy debate, but as I said in my original post, I really dont like debates that involve a race to the bottom.

:yay::yay::yay: I actually did LOL and nearly spat out my soup here when I read the Gary Caldwell line. Great retort SBS.

And a better performance than any of them have managed too. It was a no-brainier to take off the talented but work-shy Vuckic at HT after Jig forced McCall into a change. When the sleeves need rolled up he is not the man, when we need to create chances and put in good entertaining performances against much poorer teams, there would be a place for him in the current setup. Not worth £5Kpw plus a 500K promotion bonus but that is not the lads fault.

I thought it looked around the 40K mark from my seat. The number most of the guys I was talking to at HT ranged from high 30's to low 40's so can't argue with the official number.

A good shout but I'm not buying that BlueSolace, Paterson while not the greatest was not as bad a player as Jig. But it is a good shout and as close as anyone has got to date!! I respect your opinion if you believe CP was worse than Jig as I didn't see a lot of CP, but I have seen far too much of Jig!

Ratings are pretty much spot on this week, though I personally thought Murdoch was like a Stuart McCall in his prime in the engine room today and was my MOTM by a fraction ahead of Law. Makes you sick that we had to watch Law and Black stifle the life out of our midfield for months when we had this lad and McLeod that could have made a great CM partnership. Hopefully Murdoch is well looked after and he can maintain his focus and not get carried away with the rave reviews he is picking up, as he could nail down a CM slot for years if he can replicate the kind of performance we saw yesterday. Finally, 3 for Jig, seriously?!!!!!!! A sympathy vote for sure!!!!! A big fat zero is still too good for him, but I know I'm biased!!

Spot on!!!

Great argument DB, completely tore me apart there with your own excellent language and debating skills. Thanks for your contribution.

I speak only for myself when I say I have never liked him as a player. Let's not kid ourselves on that he stayed out of loyalty to the club, he couldn't get another club to take him on the £15Kpw outrageous wages we were paying him. He is an imposter to me as I have never believed he is Rangers class, and believe me I know that term itself has been completely downgraded in the last few years, and no matter how low we set the bar for "Rangers class" Jig will be well below it. Im delighted that he will be absent from the side for at least the next few games, and content that his failed tenure as Rangers player and Captain is almost at an end. While I have no intention in a race to the bottom, I would like to hear your opinion on the worst player to have captained us if it is not him. The only player with anywhere near as poor technical ability who was captain in my 30 years of going to games was Ricksen IMO.

My point was that we caught a Celtic side that were miles in front of us under Advocaat in no time at all. Not saying Ecks tenure was all glory and some of it was downright awful. Was merely pointing out that what appears a massive gap can, in this sport, be closed easily if you get some basics right.

You got one thing right in all of that. He IS an imposter. Amongst the things you got wrong are that we all loved him once. Nope. He has always been a terrible footballer. Bereft of any vision, he tackles poorly, his defending is abject, he has no pace, he can't win a header without fouling, he slows the game down to his pace, he has a lack of ball control and clearly cannot motivate his teammates. In short, he is the worst Captain in our history, and yes, he is an imposter.

Did anyone in their wildest dreams think that the appointment of Alex McLeish would enable us to take on, and beat regularly, Martin Oneills side who were 20 points clear of us, while our club was downsizing and in massive debt? You never know what manager is going to work out well. Some managers fit really well into a certain club and not so in others, and some good managers just can't get things to work at other clubs. It is not an exact science. The current Celtic side is one of their worst in history, and won't take much catching. Any decent manager who knows what we are all about and fits in well enough can take on, and beat, Ronnie the fist-pumpers really average imposters. We just need to get there and improve with some shrewd additions and one or two clever buys and we can challenge them immediately. As for the rest of the Premiership sides, utter dross without exception who we will easily beat over the course of the season.

Spotted this on Facebook yesterday and posted there that this was a great read and a piece of journalism that our Scottish hacks could only dream of.

I might have missed this elsewhere, but is there a definite date sorted yet or is it still dependent on our finishing position and play-off participation? While out of the country on the 16th, there is a small chance I could make the 23rd, but dont want to influence a vote if I will not be able to attend.