Tannochsidebear

I can assure you that anyone who knows me knows that I care not a jot how Scottish or manly I am perceived. I am merely having a light-hearted debate on patriotism and the man-skirt is just an annoying aside. Chill out please, and I will do likewise. I think the skirt looks girly, and I am not afraid to say it. It has nothing to do with my masculinity, I think it looks bad, thats all. I wouldn't wear it, but happily accept the right of those who wish to do so. I am in fact going to a family wedding this saturday where the man-skirt will be in full attendance, but not me or a couple of others who dont like them.

It couldn't be just because IT IS a skirt, could it? I have always thought blokes who stick up for the skirt to have issues, like they really want to dress up in skirts and dresses, and maybe not just as a child....

A great array of responses since my last post in this thread. I got the exact response I thought I would from the ex-pats, that it doesn't matter how long they have been away or why they decided to move away, they are all still patriotic Scots. Well sorry guys, but that just will not wash with us who pay our way in this country. Remembering that the definition of Patriotic is loyalty, where is the loyalty in buggering off to avoid paying your taxes? As I said before I can understand the old "absence makes the heart grow fonder" line and I would definately concede that I am probably too close to appreciate all the finer points of Scotland as I was born, raised and educated, and have always lived and worked here, but I can certainly claim to be a more patriotic Scot because I choose to live here and pay my taxes and try to make a difference here. You are not contributing anything to your country by staying away and out of the tax system, and that again is a valid and completely defendable point. I understand that you feel proud of your roots, and actively retain a sense of Scottishness instead of integrating to the country of your residence, but that is just being proud of your family origin, not your country. If it wasn't for the Rangers, would you even bother with this country at all, now that you have settled into another way of life in another culture? I regularly go off for the weekend or a day trip to see more of our beautiful country and contribute to the local economy of these locations, and therefore I get to believe that we have something special here, and reinforces my desire to stay loyal to and patriotic about my country. The Wallace monument, Loch Lomond shores, the Ayrshire coastal towns, the beautiful Stirlingshire hills and small towns, the lovely Aviemore resort and surrounding area, the Stonehaven fireballs at new year, all fantastic uniquely Scottish places of interest that are lost to you all to save a few quid in tax. As proud of Scotland and its heritage and history and achievements as I am, I'm sure you are, but patriotic about Scotland, no chance!!

Are STV really so desperate for hits on its website to generate advertising income that it employs people to go posting on football fans messageboards with wee clips of football realted stories? It must be in bigger trouble than we thought. Perhaps some unbiased sports reporting these last few years would have been a better way to generate interest from Rangers fans?

Very interesting point of view Craig. I suppose patriotism means different things to different people. What is your definition? The dictionary would suggest it is a love of and loyalty to a country. I can see how you can fondly remember mostly the good things about your country if you leave it behind, and promote them to new friends and colleagues in the country you choose to reside in. But that is not patriotism any more than sticking up for a particular bank, or brand of trainers, or football club. I dont see how it can be patriotic to leave your country behind because of tax and bad weather. I would go so far as to say that if you choose to leave the country to pursue your own interests, you cannot claim to be patriotic to that country as you have chosen to leave it behind. What is it about Scotland that you are patriotic about? Not having a go at your personal choices to go and live in Bermuda instead of Barmulloch, but surely you cannot have it all ways?

Some of those replies he got were cringingly funny from the scum. He doesnt miss them when he replies to them though!!

As much as I like Thomson and Davis, a fully fit Ferguson is miles ahead of either of them. I havent seen enough of Edu or Mendes to compare but I would be amazed if anyone has the array of qualities Ferguson has, never mind his leadership skills. Ferguson can now look forward to coming back into a midfield full of proper midfield players, not defenders and forward trying to play midfield. He now does not need to worry about covering for everyone else and can concentrate on his own game. We will see the benefit of this when he returns.

Your opinion is of course an accurate one

Perhaps his abrasive style would have got the best out of prima-donnas like Faddy. We will never know, I just got the feeling that they didn't want 3 ex-Rangers managers in a row and therefore chose Burley for the wrong reasons. Levein (Ibrox match last May aside) looks like he can be a good manager but needs to get United into top 4 consistently for that. Same goes for McGhee. The both certainly know their stuff and would be respected.

Very good. It starts Friday with a smile.

Hadn't heard that. Cheers Frankie. Hope it is nothing too bad and he can get back soon. At least we have some cover these days, can you imagine if he was not available for the Falkirk game:eek:

Gribz, You are taking this far too seriously. I wrote a fairly light-hearted rant about why I dont like celtic players in the scotland team, and I find it hard supporting them. Just because I am scottish doesnt mean that I have to love everything Scottish. How ridiculous is that. That is as bad as a communist state. I am allowed freedom of thought and speech. The bagpipes are a truly awful sounding dirge, as is FOS that only got promoted to unofficial national anthem on political grounds by anti-english sentiment. Kilts as well. Man-skirts look stupid IMO and I am allowed to think it and say it. I have readily admitted it is shallow-minded to not be able to rise above my petty club differences and support Mcthug and co when they wear the Scotland shirt. Although the way that particular idiot shamed the shirt and the armband last night, he surely should not have too many more caps coming his way anyway as he has proven yet again to be out of his depth at that level. I wont hold my breath on that one as I am sure his friends in the mhedia have already swept it away as unlucky or such like. As for Burley, I was reminded last night that Souness was actually interviewed for the job when Burley got it, and it makes it all the more ridiculous that Burley got it ahead of someone with vast, successful managerial and European experience. Baffling indeed. I seen bits of the match last night and I was delighted for Broadfoot to get the goal and I was also delighted that McFadden beat Robson to the ball for the second goal, despite the scumbag trying to claim it. I see he is learning fast at the piggery. I laughed and was astonished at the sheer stupidity of McManus getting himself sent off and was not in the elast surprised that he chased the ref around the park in an intimidatory attempt to get him to change his mind and pleading that he was pushed. Embarressing. And to think Burley picked him not only for the team but as captain of the National side. Can there ever have been a Scottish international captain with less footballing ability? What I am really saying is you dont have to love everything Scottish to be proud to be Scottish. But I do love living here and working here and I would never dream of moving away. That says a lot more than laughing at a bad football result.

I suppose I have to concede that if grown men will insist in wearing a skirt, at least it is a skirt in Rangers colours

I'll let you off seeing as there were no bagpipes:cheers:

Did Thomson pick up the injury while training with Scotland, or is it an aftereffect of the OF game?

I was in full agreement with you right up until the last sentence, then you go and spoil it.

I know fine well I should give all Scotland players my full support, I just cant. I am well aware that is a failing of mine, and was the main reason for the original post, to see if it is only me with this affliction or it is shared with fellow bears. As for scum players playing for us, at least we know that would never happen...........

I dont see what is wrong with promoting the flags of your country, and it was really pleasing to see all the saltires hanging out the cars in the build up to the Italy game. Shame they all disappeared shortly afterwards. I am glad you like FOS, musical taste is a very personal thing, it is just not my taste and I cannot listen to it. If I am watching a Scotland game I turn off the sound for FOS being masqueraded as our National anthem. That is my choice.

For someone who does not even live in the country they profess to love so much, I think you will understand if I refrain from taking Patriotism lessons from you. Perhaps if you chose to live here, living the rivalry, putting up with our demonisation at every turn, listening to how great they are from their mhedia friends, then you would understand my point a little more. I thought it was clear that the wry smile at FT was due to there being 5 OF losers in the team and my long-held belief that if there are more of them than us in a national team, we under-perform. No answer forthcoming to the question posed? I stick by the fact that I am proudly Scottish. I am Scottish, both my parents are Scottish, and all 4 grandparents are Scottish. My wife is also 100% Scottish and my son is Scottish. I am proud of our heritage, the great inventors we have given the world, our part in the shaping of the world. Around the world people have great respect for the Scots when you meet them and this also makes you proud for your country. The small matter of the international football team does not really have any bearing on being proud of your country. What I personally dislike is the National dress (the skirt) the bagpipes which are an embarressment to music, and the fact we have promoted a second rate folk song to our national anthem because of an anti-english agenda to bin GSTQ because England sing it (rightfully) as their National Anthem. I am fully behind your idea of cramming all the internationals into a winter break. Take a month off for the players to recharge, get their clean-up operations etc and get ready for the second half of the season, while those unfortunate enough to be selected for their country get to go off and play 8-10 games in a month all at once. It would perhaps refocus supporters like me into going back to being interested in international football again, as all the focus is on the internationals for a month at a time. Unfortunately I dont see it ever happening but I do like the idea. I dont particularly require a National manager to be ex-Rangers, but they must be qualified to do the job. Burley has never had a big job to see if he is any good. Yes he did well for ONE season with Ipswich, but that was over 10 years ago. If that really is the peak of his management career, then he is most definately not the best man for the job. A Scotland manager should have managed at a big club or have international management experience. He falls short on both.

It has to be NIKE. Proper global branding. Go anywhere in the world and you have NIKE sports shops and you can see a selection of clubs tops from this group. There are celtic tops in sports shops that would not be there if they were not with NIKE. Similarly our tops are not there. If it is not NIKE, second best would be ADIDAS, as at least they have global branding as well. Not as much as NIKE I dont think, but it would certainly get our stuff into shops worldwide. We missed out hugely by not having our tops in sports shops around Europe when we reached the UEFA cup final.

I know I shouldn't and I should know better, but I did have a wry smile on my face when the final whistle blew in Macedonia last Saturday. I didn't see the match as I was travelling down to Birmingham for the weekend to watch the Masters, but I listened to most of it on the radio on the way down. It always intrigues me why I dont want Scotland players to do well if they play for celtic. And on top of that if there are more celtic players in the team than Rangers players, I cannot wish them success. I am proudly Scottish, but some of our "Scottish" culture really annoys me. Bagpipes, tartan, kilts, anti-englishness and that truly awful so-called anthem FOS. The results of England, Wales and NI dont even register with me, international football is just an annoying break from the real stuff in my opinion. I must admit that when we pushed France and Italy close under Walter, and then Alex in the last campaign I couldn't help but get caught up in it a wee bit and actually went to the local club to watch the Italy game on the big screens. Even then I could only look at players like McThug and Hartley and wish them every misfortune and wonder why the manager could not find someone better than them to play instead. I pick on the celtic players when they play for Scotland. Every bad pass, lost header or mistake is further proof that they should not be in the team, and Rangers players mistakes are "unlucky". Under new management, with a ridiculous pair of assistants, Burley has a lot to live up to. I was naturally sympathetic to Scotland's cause under the previous two managers due to them both being former Rangers managers. Burley on the other hand looked to me as under-qualified for the job. He ran away from Hearts before we could see if he was any good and his greatest success in England was over a decade ago. His first few friendlies last season were hard to judge as Rangers players were withdrawing due to our mammoth campaign, and friendlies are a waste of time. To pick 5 celtic players in the starting line-up barely a week since they were gubbed in the OF game was a poor call. The OF game is huge and their confidence must have been shattered (LOL). He can state that he had call-offs, but you must ask yourself why. It is already looking like Berti mark 2, with players seemingly uninterested to play for him, and I am sure most players will ask themselves why they should turn up to be coached by someone like Pressley, a player with "limited ability" if ever there was one, and no coaching experience at all, while Butchers experiences in the game since hanging up his boots are, sadly, hardly admirable. So I leave you with this question, When was the last time a Scotland team won an WC/EURO qualifier with more celtic players than Rangers players in it? Answers on a postcard to Iceland before tomorrow night.

Likewise mate. Shame I couldnt stay for a beer and a longer chat, there's always a next time.

Agreed. Especially when you see the form they have knocked up, a one page "Word" document that must have taken about 2 minutes to create.

And if a Billionaire comes in, he wont give a toss and take his money and run. It is easy for Murray to say he will only deal with people with Rangers best interests at heart, when nobody is wanting to buy it at all. The proof will be in the purchase/sale.

In January 2007 we were admittedly miles behind the filth. The PLG moonbeam had failed and we needed big investment in the squad and team to even make us competitive. While Walter on the face of it has done really well to completely transform the squad with under �£10M net spent in 4 windows, our chairman has systematically failed to give Walter the funds required to try to catch up with our rivals. We have spent less than them in a period where we needed to invest more than them. Only their incompetance in the transfer market has allowed us to close the gap, and perhaps even overtake them. Strachan's continual bad buys has been of more benefit to Murray than anyone else. Also, their failure to bring through any of their own talent in the last two years has meant that they were unable to sell on a "Hutton" to allow them to strengthen other areas.