Tannochsidebear

Sounds to be the sort of pedigree loan signing we need, for a position we badly need. A full internationalist who did well at the WC, and should bring some much needed pace to the team. However, until I get that official Rangers text..............

I was expecting much worse from the bheasts if i'm honest, with a debt nearer �£10M. The sale of mcgeady has really helped them out also, and allowed them to bring in the swede and perhaps some more on top of that, but a loss to Utrecht may well apply the brakes, and guarantee only outgoings in January over that way. All the more important we give ourselves a squad capable of fighting on all fronts, and I would be more than happy to give up on the two domestic cups this year, as much as that pains me to say it, to ensure our first 11 are playing only the most necessary games.

Seems to have a decent career behind him, but I am curious as to why AEK Athens released him on a free with a year still to run. Has Martin Bain been moonlighting in Greece??

I find it hard to argue with that as well bmck, although for �£2M I think we are entitled to believe we were getting a better quality than the honest trier pros like Broadfoot, Murray and McInnes that you mention, all of which were signed for next to nothing, or nothing at all. And that is a big part of my argument. Had Miller been signed on a free or a �£500K, and on average squad wages, I wouldnt have quite a bee in my bonnet about him!!

I do have a dislike for Miller, as a footballer, for the following reasons. His first touch is very poor, and often goes further than some can kick it. His finishing, although it improved last year, is still woeful for a striker, and the more time he has, the worse he gets. He is dreadful at staying onside, even at around the halfway line he often finds a way to stray into an offside position, despite having the pace to outrun most defenders. His goalscoring record, taking last season out as a fluke, has always been poor for the number of games he plays. Turning to his second spell with us, I would add the following; His first season was a poor one, with his performance in Kaunas still one of the worst I have ever seen from a Rangers centre forward. With the amount of chances our team created for him that year, he should have outscored Boyd. He is injury prone, and will miss many games with injuries every year. When he loses form, he stays out of form for weeks/months. Similarly, when he is in a scoring streak he looks much better, but you know it wont last, and it doesnt. As a lone striker, you know we wont score many, as he comes so deep, the opposition back 4 could get the deckchairs out. And let me just say that my dislike is nothing to do with him having played for Timmy, as I openly cheered when he signed for them and was hoping he would stay there much longer than he did. I have no problem with us playing players who played for them, or support them, if they are good enough and apply themselves properly for us, that is good enough for me. Kenny Miller is not the type of player I like, and therefore I dont like him in my team. He gets my full support for 90 minutes every week, and I do try to contain my frustration when he blazes another good chance over the bar, or is caught offside at the half way line, or fails to make the obvious run into the channels to create space, or traps the ball so far it goes to someone else, and I cheer as loudly and proudly as anyone when he scores, but I can and do see faults in every part of his game, as is my right. If other bears choose to ignore these faults then that is entirely a matter for them, and I have no problem with that either, as we are all Bears after all.

Sorry Frankie, but didnt hear TBO much on Saturday. I am in the Copland rear right enough but usually have no problem hearing them trying to create an atmosphere. Not going to do them down as I am supportive, and it was very colourful and energetic, but I thought it was quieter from TBO than usual.

Agreed with Naisy as MOTM, and was happy with performances of Edu, Lafferty and Boughy. Thought Papac and Weir had mares, and our defending of corners was abysmal, with Killie's training ground moves catching us out several times. Overall was quite pleased with the start, although the lack of a clinical finisher was all to obvious. It was these type of games Boyd got a lot of his goals from, and we could easily have had the game out of sight at 3 or 4 nil before we got our second, but I am guessing we are going to have a lot of these tighter affairs this season unless we can add some quality. Also the bench was really weak, and although young Hutton came on and did ok, there was nothing on the bench to change the game, and this will be required over the course of a long season.

Absolutely delighted at the news that this imposter has refused a new contract. I hope we are sensible enough to punt him at the first available opportunity and try to get our (waste of) money back. Unfortunately, given that his reasons for coming to us were for his family, I can see this as being simply the start of the game being played between his agent and our club. We should, at the very least, tell him to take it or leave it, as he does not want to move away for family reasons again, then he will have to either take our offer or go to the mhanks again, and I doubt they would want him. I would also wait until he has played in the CL again to see if his abysmal European form continues, or he finally has a good game on the big stage. No point offering him a new deal at all if he continues to bomb in Europe.

A pity he has another bad injury, and hopefully he can get fit and playing again sooner rather than later. I'm quite sure the majority of Bears wish him better luck than he wishes us for next Sunday, when we go to Edinburgh to play the team Thomson supports. A decent player for us, good passer, but hot-headed and injury prone, and I always felt we were never going to get more than one contract out of him. I dont recall him ever declaring undying love for us, or stating he wanted to stay forever, so that is fair enough. He was just another professional footballer that we signed, played, and sold. I do always look out for ex-Rangers players/managers and their new teams results, especially the players I particularly liked at Ibrox, and hope they do well. I was delighted for Charlie Adam for example when he took Blackpook up, and was delighted to see wee Burky get the winner yesterday for Cardiff, while disappointed to note that Boyd failed to score for Boro.

That seems a fair appraisal to me. I was surprised at his inclusion from the start as like most I was expecting him to come on from the bench. I dont expect him to start at Easter Road next Sunday as that game normally has such a high pace to it, it would probably not be suitable for him just yet. Given Beattie's sharpness, and with Davis back and McCulloch still suspended, I am hopeful to seeing what I believe will be our strongest 11 available next week, although I am aware that Walter very rarely agrees with me on the correct starting 11, and as he has won many titles and I haven't, I have to allow him that right!!

You just answered your own question when you named the source of the rumour!! Clyde 1 are dreaming of Davis leaving us, and McGregor, and Bougherra, while dreaming of their beloved hoops signing Bellend, Given, Keane and MON. Fantasy f'n football at its best from that corrupt station.

Thought he did fine, lots of effort but a lack of sharpness, which is understandable, given that he has really been frozen out at Stoke since December. Should have scored when put clean through, but worked hard and had a decent touch for being so off the pace. I am hoping and expecting better things in the coming weeks, although I am not sure I would play him at Easter Road from the start, as generally the pace of this game would probably catch him out, but with another week's training and perhaps a closed doors game in midweek, he should quickly get up to speed. Got to try to be supportive and understanding at a new players debut at least!!

I'm not a fan of Kenny Miller, although I was supportive of his first time purchase from Hibs and disappointed to see him sold on McLeish's first day in charge. His subsequent career down south, with our rivals, and down south again has been disappointing given the talent he looked at Hibs and in fleeting glimpses with us first time around. His overall lack of goals for a striker has always hanuted him, and while he has always managed to go on hot-streaks, the cold-spells have normally been for longer. He usually misses decent chunks of the season with niggly injuries, and plays on with minor injuries that make his form and general play suffer. He seems to be touted as a natural lone striker for big games, but I would challenge that as well. A lone striker cannot be merely a runner, chasing down defenders and running onto out-balls from our defence. In the big games in Europe during his time with us, he has been our worst player on many occassions, like Kaunas and Unirea, and the fact is we have completely under-performed in Europe since his return to the club, and he has been used in this lone striker role that both Cousin and to a lesser extent Darcheville mastered in our UEFA cup final season the year before he arrived, without any success at all. The one positive I have taken from his return is his partnership with Boyd. They seemed made for each other, and created chances for each other and tormented many domestic defences with the different styles that combined so well. As with any partnership, you cannot give credit to one without the other, so both players were made to look better individually as a result of their excellant partnership. With Boyd gone, what sort of form will we get from Miller this season? If you look at Miller's career, he has never had 2 good seasons in a row, generally resulting in a move. After an initial mixed season (more bad than good IMO, but I appreciate others would reverse that) he had a good season (certainly his goals tally was good) last season, we can only hope he can finally nail a second successive good season this coming term. Certainly he has the managers full support, and he seems to have won over the majority of the fans who didnt want him signed in the first place. My fear is that Miller will revert to type, struggle with niggling injuries, miss far more chances than take, and with the absence of a predator beside him to take the goal-scoring pressure off him, he will quickly go off form and have a poor season. My hope is he will grow into the number 9 jersey, continue on from last season, hopefully form a new and equally successful partnership with another striker (who at this stage is difficult to work out), and carry the Rangers onto 3 in a row. Starting tomorrow, we are about to find out.

I'm sorry, but all this guff about McCulloch having a good season last year doesnt wash with me. I watched him closely on many occassions last season, and on many occassions, especially home games against the bottom 6, we win the game comfortably without incident, but McCulloch spends large parts of the game chasing (and not catching) Falkirk's central midfield whose short pass and move stuff was far too good for our millionaire mr versatile. The odd tackle (foul) here and there, and seemingly because everyone knows he is not a genuine centre midfielder, it is all right just to put in sufficient "effort" to make it all right. Why doesnt this sort of stuff get picked up by most observers? Because he wasnt ever near enough to be seen to be off the pace and no doubt others got the blame instead. The guy was useless at left midfield (the position he was signed for over �£2M for), and has proven useless at Centre half, striker, and centre midfield. I see from the reports of pre-season we are now trying to find him a new position of sitting just in front of the back 4 as protection. Lets hope his 5th different position in his Rangers career can see him finally earn his significant wages after 3 years of utter dross IMO. Working hard should be a pre-requisite, not an achievement.

I had to fix that for you Hippo!!

Still got decent cover at Centre Half for now, with Weir, Bougherra, Broadfoot all fit so Webster neednt be rushed. He does seem jinxed with regards to his Rangers career, but hopefully this will be the last and he can go on to be a big player this season. I'm still intrigued as to who Walter will play when all are fit. Will he go with Weir and Webster, with Boughy at RB, or will he go with 3 at the back with Whitty and Papac playing further forward.

Really disappointed in this news. I was really hoping that this would be his last season, and that perhaps with Davis and Edu holding down the central midfield positions, Lee might be warming the bench more than chasing opposition midfielders around a 10 yard square area in the centre of the park. Offers us absolutely nothing as a creative influence, doesnt track back properly often enough, is outrun by almost every opponent, and his idea of a tackle is normally the ref's idea of a foul. Yes, he gives 100% and is a loyal and true Ranger, which is more than can be said for a lot of them, but I want to see quality footballers wearing the Rangers shirt, especially the number six jersey worn with such distinction in the past, and "big Lee" fails to impress me with almost every touch. I am even more disgusted that we actually are reporting that 2 EPL clubs were in for him. If we have to pay �£1.5M for a similarly aged Beattie, surely even Bain could have got a good fee for a current Internationalist and experienced pro that is wanted by 2 other clubs. The saving grace, albeit a short term one, is that at least with him suspended for Saturday I dont have to watch him for a wee while longer.

I really dont get where I see a lot of posters on here and elsewhere assuming that average Championship players would "walk it" in the SPL, or an assumption any decent lower EPL team striker will blow away SPL defences and score over 20 goals. I just dont see any evidence for this at all. There are many strikers who have came up from the lower EPL or the Championship and have fell flat on their arse in the SPL, many of them with us over the years. Just because they get paid stupid amounts of money in the top 2 tiers of English footy, does not in any way guarantee that they are actually good footballers that can adapt to a club of our size and expectations. I am especially worried about 30+ strikers who have clearly lost their scoring touch, are out of favour at their poor current teams, but still have huge wage demands that seem to be far more important to these already very rich men than the opportunity to play CL football, or to win medals to look back on their careers with pride about. Maybe its just me, but if I was already financially secure by my mid-twenties, I would hope I would start to look for opportunities to win trophies and medals to look back on rather than the only stories I can re-tell to my grandkids is "I took �£20K a week for sitting on the bench, then got a �£250K sign-on fee and another �£20Kpw at another club for another couple of years. I go back to my consistent rant that under no circumstances should we be signing players for a 7 figure fee with no sell-on value, and certainly not ones with no recent form. I smell another Ostenstadt in the offing.

The best thing about that whole article was the reminder that McCulloch is suspended for the Killie game!! Signing those 2 overpriced, overrated has beens from minor English clubs, no doubt on huge wages (for us) does not fill me with any great sense of hope. I am actually raging if it turns out we have paid �£1.5M for a 32yo striker whose last good season was... well I dont remember. On a free and a max wage of �£12Kpw I would say it was worth a punt, or a loan deal to see if it works out, but a 7 figure fee that we wont get anything back on is nothing short of a disgrace and is not the way we need to run the club at this time.

I stopped reading your and NL's debate about 3 pages ago and just reading any other contributions

Another thing to take into account with these Austrians trying to get the best price possible is that they will no doubt remember Rangers last raid on Austria when PLG paid far too much for Sebo and Svensson and they no doubt think that we are stupid enough to pay anything they ask as we did it before.

A real quality player at his peak, and would normally be well outside our grasp under our current wage structure. However, a loan deal with cash-rich Monaco paying the rest of his wage above our reasonable offer, could be a great deal. Sadly, I agree with Cotter that this looks like us being used to make the English clubs take notice, and another look what we tried to buy angle for Sep 1.

I agree that games like this should either be free for ST holders or at a greatly reduced price. But the mhanks gave away their CL match as free because they were really struggling to sell ST's for this season and have been using all emotional blackmail and some financial incentives to try to get timmy to back the lurgan bigot's rebuilding flops and put some desperately needed cash into the club. Not quite the same.

This is my take on it also. Boyd could have stayed, probably wanted to stay, but didnt want another year of watching Miller Naismith and perhaps even Lafferty playing in CL games with him on the bench, but being asked to provide the goals to win the title again. Watty didnt rate him enough to play him in the biggest games, so the big man left. It is indeed our loss IMO, but I bear him no ill, just disappointed it couldnt have been sorted out. KT is different because he is not, was not, and will never be, a bear, and therefore was always going to move on at about this time IMO. I was not the least surprised to see him go, and am still amazed at the amount that thought he was captain material or a real bluenose.

It was �£16 for ST holders for todays game, with kids ST holders getting in for free. Personally, i'm giving it a miss. I hate friendlies as a rule, you only get a reasonably competitive game for about an hour, berfore the countless subs and breaks in the game take the contest to farcical levels. However I am usually tempted to go to see the new players who have came in over the summer. Hence the reason why there is no need to go today! Live TV coverage on ESPN just makes the decision easier not to go for those would be unsure, there will be a lot of money to find over the next few months with 6 CL games on top of the usual league stuff, and another �£20 to watch a one-paced hour-long match against a relegation candidate from the EPL doesn't really get the juices going.