UCF2008

Yes, but it could be argued that Scotland's development has been hindered equally to England's through an influx of foreign players without being able to attract the 'cream' of players. Yes and in turn the monetary value of the players you develop increases. Especially if you're not playing in a backwater league that's seen as easy pickings. Who's going to take away the money though?

Was wondering about this myself. On one hand they could claim that he's not the rightful owner and force him to hand his shares back to either the club itself or MIH. On the other hand they could, through legal action, force the sale of the club were Whyte to be in any way an obstacle to this.

Given our circumstances this season, I wouldn't really expect any manager to have done a better job than Ally. Even Walters tactics and team selections were and would have continued to be similarly baffling at times. We'll never know what might have been in terms of the outcome of this years title race were it not for our troubles off the field. What I do still believe though is that Ally IS a good manager and will no doubt become better through all of this.

TV money and sponsorship are the main sources of increased incomes I was referring to. That along with competitive stature of the leagues down south has lead to increased value and additional investment in clubs. Sure, the player fees and wages in most cases do offset against income and financial fair play rules are going to have an effect on that which in our case I believe may work to our benefit were we to move to England.

No idea, but I don't think either the club or the players would have seen it to be relevant at the time of signing the contracts.

I agree that in the event of liquidation and a newco being formed then assuming the possibility by whatever means existed, entry into the English leagues is by far the better option. Even if it took us up to 5 years to reach just the Championship we'd find ourselves in a far more favorable position than at any level in the Scottish leagues. Sure, the bubble could burst at any time for English football, but even then you can be sure the spoils will remain far greater than the SPL. Scottish football has been dying a slow death due to lack of investment for a number of years. Our clubs current predicament is only going to serve to expedite that process. So yes, IF liquidation is 'inevitable' then there will NEVER be a better time to jump ship.

If this is true I'd say we should offer them at least half as a goodwill gesture. It avoids the bad press and the possibility of it being brought before FIFA where we might have to pay more. Not to mention the player himself. He might not care less about his old club for all we know, but they did develop him as a player and chances are he wouldn't like to see them being screwed by us.

I realize you probably didn't mean anything by it Pete, but please keep those sort of comments to yourself.

Totally agree. The pressures and expectations imposed on Rangers players simply can't be compared to most other clubs. Playing for the likes Cardiff and Blackpool must seem like an alternative reality for Burke and Adam. Personally I think - like I did at the time - that it was a mistake to sell them, even though in the case of Burke it was an easier decision to make because of his injury record. IMO they could both have been used at times this season, but no doubt they would have been given nowhere near enough game time OR support from the fans to develop as they have done. It's good to see them doing well, but I don't see the point in placing blame solely at the door of the management team that they aren't here doing it for us.

To an extent you may be right, but that works both ways. If it wasn't for Walter Smith, those players probably wouldn't have anywhere near the amount of winners medals to show off. Walter stood by both Gough and Hateley when they were well past their sell-by date. They are actually two of the better examples of Smith showing too much loyalty to some players which ultimately cost him title number 10. You can't fault him for being angered when they show what he sees as a lack of respect. That said, having read Hateley's article there wasn't much I could disagree with. He was maybe a little too scathing in his criticism of the current squad, but most of what he said was warranted, albeit emphasized to the point of making a headline to sell his rag. As a sports writer, that's his job though. As for what Gough said, I have to admit that although he was a great player and captain for us, much like Butcher, I don't have much interest in his comments regarding Rangers. Most of it goes in one ear and straight out the other, so I couldn't comment on whatever criticism he's been firing over our way.

I wouldn't call it false optimism to believe we can still turn things around and have a successful season. Yes, we've been poor in far too many games so far this season. Our widely/wildly publicized financial troubles haven't helped the mood amongst the support and no doubt have in some ways contributed to performances on the park, but I for one still have faith in the coaching staff and believe we have a group of players who are more than capable of retaining the SPL title. ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST

I think it's down to Walter Smith and the club to discipline Bougherra as they see fit and for us fans to support their decision. He's been left out of a crucial champions league game and while his inclusion may or may not have made a difference to the scoreline is up for debate, he would probably have made an influence on the game. Whatever other punishment he has been given will probably stay between him and the club, but no doubt he will (if he hasn't already) notice some change in attitude towards him from sections of the support. At the same time, speaking for myself, I'll continue to give him a 100% backing as long as he's doing the business for us on the park. There's no doubt that these lapses are unfortunate and show a certain lack of commitment to the club, it's management and his teammates, but at the same time he has always given 100% for us on the park. It's not easy for a player to raise their profile having moved from England, albeit the championship, to the SPL. We are a footballing backwater after all and yet this is something that Bougherra has achieved through consistency of performance both on the domestic front and in Europe. His value not to mention appeal to other clubs may have suffered as a consequence of his recent behavior. However I think at the present time we would be unlikely to get anywhere near his actual worth as we would probably take the first acceptable offer (for any player) that comes our way in January.

Just to elaborate on those totals :- Over almost 3 seasons including transfers for undisclosed fees, Walter Smith has actually only bought 19 players and sold 13 players. Not counting players out on loan he inherited a first team squad of 29 players and now has a squad of 31 players. 37 Players In 15 Transfer 10 Free 8 Loan 4 Undisclosed Total Spend So Far �£29.77m 81 Players Out 28 Loan 17 Released 11 Free 10 Sold 9 End of contract 3 Undisclosed 2 Retired 1 Loan return Total Income So Far �£23.05m Balance so far �£-6.72m

Don't think the EPL move will ever happen, but I think some sort of European league is still a real possibility. Personally I'd like to see the CL and EL expanded into a proper league format. It might be difficult to come up with a solution which is agreeable to all the clubs involved, but by no means impossible. Even if we didn't start off in the top tier, I still think it would be good for Rangers to be involved in something along these lines.

From my point of view I agree with MF that the riots in Manchester were instigated, participated in and reported by individuals who are part of a wider conspiracy to ruin our club and the reputation of the support. I still think there was a small number of genuine Rangers fans who let the club down badly that night, but the real truth will never be known. It's still interesting to see the occasional hole appearing in the official version of events though.

Sorry but I don't get how anything that Ally McCoist said at the weekend could effect the chances of this happening again other than the remote possibility that the support as a whole would agree with him. In which case it would more likely reduce the chance of a repeat. I'll agree that he could have said more (something in defence of the support), but like the rest of us that would have been purely based on hearsay as opposed to the evidence he was able to actually witness.

Have to disagree on this one. It's amazing sometimes how quick they go from hero to zero My initial thoughts on Bougherra's 'injury' were that we was being discreetly disciplined for coming back late the last time he was on international duty. He is after all one of our more valuable assets and his value would more than likely have dropped if he was publicly executed a la Boozegate. When he missed the CL game in midweek it was touch and go apparently, but as much as Danny Wilson has made a good impression since coming into the side I can't see Walter playing him ahead of Bougherra in that one if he was fit to play. It's possible that he was fit for the game at the weekend and with it being one game before the international break not to mention an opportunity to give Wilson a full Ibrox debut Walter chose to stick with the same defensive line-up. I think we're all being too quick to judge and Bougherra will still have a big part to play this season.

They probably do and at the end of the day football probably wouldn't be the same without the headcases in the support, but every club isn't Rangers and we're the one's in the spotlight. I'm not saying we should beat ourselves up about it, but at the same time as far as I'm concerned, we shouldn't be siding with them ahead of the club and it's management when they put our club in jeopardy.

What I'm saying is that we have a small element within our support who are always itching for a fight, no matter where they are and who they represent. Like I said, it's not exclusive to RFC. If anything it's more of a problem pouring over from our society in general, but the problem IS there and can't and shouldn't be denied whether it's fueled by alcohol or whatever sort of abuse.

Having heard Ally McCoist's comments at the weekend I can't say I disagree with anything he said. Like him, only being able to view the incident through the coverage presented, it certainly looks to me as though a small minority (or about 'half-a-dozen idiots' as he put it) appeared to be over-zealous in the process of supposedly defending themselves. Of course you have to take into account the ridiculous bias from the media in their coverage of these incidents and I've read through a lot of the eye-witness accounts which certainly make sense with regards to what instigated the trouble. Nevertheless, we really need to bare in mind that at this point in time we as Rangers supporters are under the spotlight and having been found guilty of poor conduct on recent occasions are on probation as far as UEFA is concerned. With that in mind I can't see any justification for defending the actions of that small minority. It seems to me that the problem we have is that as well as having a minority of fans who struggle to steer clear of trouble, we have an even smaller number who actively seek it. I don't see this as being any different to any large football support, but the issue is that at the present moment we are the ones who are being closely monitored by those within football's governing bodies. As far as they're concerned, we're the ones who are the recent offenders and are on our last warning. Because of this we need to stop making excuses for these idiots and as a group take more responsibility for our actions if we are to stand a chance of avoiding more trouble in the future.

I'd still prefer to see them try instead of the triangular passing movements which go nowhere except to the opposition or back to Weir or McGregor only to be given back to the opposition. Other teams only look impressive against us because they actually try to attack and this is despite the fact that they generally have a far lower quality of player than we do.

More than likely, yes. The club would no doubt have looked into the situation, but as embarrassing as it may be, it's better that we as fans know what poor behavior we actually ARE guilty of as opposed to the drivel that's spoken & printed in the media. Can't argue with that, but just as the team & management are held responsible when they let us down....

Absolutely shocking behavior. When I first heard about this on the radio this morning I thought it was on the internet and that he'd been getting abuse from mopes masquerading as Gers fans again. I was thinking 'How could it be Rangers fans? We all love Edu'. However, if it was outside Ibrox then it's much more likely that it actually was Gers fans. Don't know if it will be possible, but if he can identify the culprits they should be named, shamed and banned for life.

It's funny how football fans can be a lot more superstitious than usual when it comes to supporting their team. I wouldn't call myself superstitious at all, but for the past few years I've had a self imposed ban on watching Old Firm games on TV as we never seemed to win when I was watching ...Needless to say I gave the ban a rest for the CIS final last year

Well we need all the luck we can get at the moment i suppose, so yes it's all your fault