UCF2008

If that's the one I'm thinking of, then it was a tight angle so he was probably going more for precision than power. At least he hit the target. Fleck certainly didn't look out of his depth against such world class opposition. Here's hoping we manage to hold on to him for a few more seasons.

Here's an idea though. Once you've decided on which version you want to run with, instead of singing it at Ibrox, you could always go and sing it outside the BBC. That's sure to go down a treat. You could maybe even squeeze in a visit to the Times offices to give Speirs a quick rendition. Let us know how you get on

I agree with Shroomz on this one. I think there's a big difference between standing up for our rights and playing right into the hands of those who discriminate against us. Personally, I think that's exactly what we would be doing if we brought back TBB. Sure, we've been testing the water in recent months with 'variations' and got away with it, but as soon as it becomes undeniable that we're singing TBB, the club will be in serious trouble. It doesn't matter what lyrics we're singing as the 'evidence' could just as easily be fabricated and stuck on youtube once they can point the finger at a majority of the support. I'm all for fighting back, but I just don't think we need to give them a stick to beat us with in the process.

Doesn't look like it'll come in handy for us this season, but it has done on the odd occasion - Boyd, Ferguson, Weir & Thomson to name a few.

They probably did. I think that's the point.

I'd be sorry to see Ferguson go. I agree that he's not the player he once was, but I think he's just been unlucky / reckless with injuries. Nevertheless, as it stands, there's about 6 or 7 players we should hold on to ahead of him.

If Walter decides to play Adam or McCulloch to beef up the midfield (which I suspect he might) I hope he plays Edu or even Whittaker instead ...Wishful thinking

....with Boyd to come off the bench to score our 4th of the afternoon

If we go with Boyd and Miller up front in a 4-4-2 I won't be disappointed, but I' like to see: --------------McGregor-------------- Broadfoot---Bougherra--Weir----Papac Davis--Mendes--Ferguson Miller-------Lafferty------Fleck

A lot of it can be put down to the pressure and demands of playing for a club like Rangers. It's as much to do with strength of character as ability. Hutton was a good example of this. Many young players would have crumbled under the abuse he took from the support, but he kept his chin up and developed into a better player for it. You can't coach a player for that. The management and senior players can try and protect the youngsters and offer advice, but at the end of the day it's down to how the players handle it themselves.

Is that you practicing you're stand-up routine again MF?

I take it that when you say 'we' you don't mean the support :fish: It's a tricky one. We've had a few youngsters over the past decade who've broke into the first team and managed to raise their profile enough - Ferguson, Hutton, McGregor. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Fleck is sold for a few �£m within a couple of seasons, should he live up to expectations. For those who do make the break through, there's always a Malcolm, Hughes, Ross or Adam, who are barely good enough to have made it at Rangers nevermind being valuable assets. Then you've got the injury prone ones like Burke or Smith who have plenty of ability, but are just too much of a risk to command a high sell-on fee.

I agree with most of Calscot was saying in his post. Overall I think the transfer dealings have been quite sound. We've brought in a large number of players with International experience for a relatively low sum. Even looking at Lafferty, Miller, Edu and Velicka - that's 4 internationals (2 with previous experience of the SPL) for 8.5m. I can't argue that we didn't pay over the odds for Lafferty. He's going to have a real tough job justifying his fee, but time will tell. Edu and Velicka haven't had the opportunity to show their worth, so I wouldn't write them off just yet. As for Miller, I didn't agree at the time with his signing, but I don't think he's done too badly for us so far. We did sign too many strikers in the Summer, but I think that was more down to the expectation that more (Boyd & Darcheville) would be leaving. Added to Cousin, Buffel (apparently not a midfielder) & Sebo, we would have been down 5 strikers ...OK then, 4 :devil:.

One way of generating more cash is friendlies. Yes, they're meaningless in terms of winning trophies and they can be a hinderance (ie liverpool game in between the CL qualifiers), but at the end of the day we play x amount of pre-season friendlies each summer anyway. Why not make them more attractive by hosting a tournament?. This season the proposition of the North Atlantic league has rose it's head again. What I would suggest is to test the water on this concept by initially playing a cut-down version of the league in pre-season. You could for instance go for a format similar to the CL, only with less teams. Say we had two groups of 4, with the OF plus 2 from Holland, 2 from Portugal and 2 from Norway / Sweden. Each nation could take it in turn to host their home games over the space of a week, with the winner of each group playing for the title. You could fit the whole tournament into approx. 4 - 5 weeks. It would give the clubs involved a decent standard of pre-season opposition, while also allowing them to guage potential costs / income and with it being a 'friendly' tournament in pre-season, it's doubtful that UEFA or FIFA would have any objection.

The side that Souness left behind was hardly brimming with young talent. FACT. Unable to replace key players? Keeper - Andy Goram Defenders - Craig Moore, Steven Pressley, Lorenzo Amoruso, Sergio Porrini, David Robertson, Alan McLaren Midfielders - Stuart McCall, Brian Laudrup, Rino Gatusso, Paul Gascoigne, Jorg Albertz, Alexei Mikhailichenko, Barry Ferguson Forwards - Gordon Durie, Duncan Ferguson, Peter van Vossen, Sebasti�¡n Rozental, Marco Negri That's just some of the players he brought in. Were none of them good enough? The irony is that in season 97/98, looking at the squad for that season I would argue that's one of the best Rangers sides ever.

Can't say I totally agree with that. It's true that his loyalty to one or two players saw them stay on past their sell by date, but I think the failure to win no.10 was more down to the wholesale changes WS had to make to the playing staff (especially the defence) over seasons 96/97 & 97/98. Even at that, you could hardly condemn a manager who brought in players like Gattuso, Amoruso, Albertz & Negri over that period. Likewise he was let down somewhat by Gazza & Laudrup in that last season. Those two players, at least in terms of age (30 & 29) shouldn't have been past it, but the simple fact was that they were.

That can make all the difference when it comes to winning titles though. Also, while I don't think we have any reason to respect that mhob never mind fear them, they surely can't be as poor as some fans make them out to be ('The worst Sel'ic side in years etc.') You don't get to the last 16 of the CL two years in a row if you're that bad. Martin O'Neil didn't manage it once. Neither did Advocaat and look at what he's done with a side who IMO are nowhere near as good as the Rangers side he built. TBH I think O'Neil gets too much praise for what he did with Celtic. If it wasn't for that Laarsen bawbag we'd probably have got 15-in-a-row ...at least.

Have to agree with Shroomz on this one. Out of those suggested so far, Levein is the best candidate, but then if he isn't good enough for the Scotland job, why would he be good enough for the Gers? Also, while he might have a decent enough record against us, when was the last time he beat the Dhims? Since SDM has said that he won't go for another foreign manager, I believe we currently have the best manager available to us. There are only one or two British managers ATM who could do a better job and we've got no chance of getting them. I also think McCoist will turn out to be a very good manager and if he doesn't get his chance for us then some other team will benefit. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest (assuming he stays on as assistant for another season or two) if he gets a couple of decent job offers from down south. Sorry folks, but looking at the alternatives, Walter still has my backing.

The way things are going, I have to admit that SDM is currently doing himself and our club no favours whatsoever. I've got no doubt that David Murray has the best interests of Rangers at heart, but I have been wondering recently if he has the heart for it. If a suitable buyer can't be found, then maybe he should be looking for a suitable replacement to take over his role as chairman. He's stepped down once before, but maybe if he were to clear the debt before doing so this time, everyone could be a winner. The club would be on a sound financial footing. The new chairman would hopefully have some sense of direction in which he wanted to take the club. With a bit of success he'd quickly get the support back on side. Meanwhile, David Murray could give himself a break and with the club looking like more of an attractive proposition, he might just find a buyer afterall.

I'm usually the last person to criticise David Murray. I have even on occasion defended him against the 'Murray out' brigade, but this is unforgivable.

I can't believe this is happening. A couple of weeks ago we needed to reduce the wage bill and trim the squad. We would have been happy to have seen the back of most of the players mentioned. We might even have brought in a good bit more cash for them as well if a little discretion had been applied as opposed to the 'fire-sale clearout' message that was brandished around in desperation. Now all of a sudden, we're in dire straits and selling our best players. Please don't go Kris. We need you. It's funny how it doesn't look so 50-50 right now . I take that back. It isn't funny at all

I'd say yes. He can play on either wing or up front and would be a lot more useful than the players we want shot of. Granted, he was inconsistent (his first and last seasons were his best) but he wants to come back and you don't get the chance of signing players of his standard on a free very often. Depends on wages of course.

I thought he still had another year.

I thought the middle of the park was where we looked most comfortable on Saturday. As much as I agree he's a decent player, I don't think Hemdani would have made any improvement.

Having said that a front 3 of Miller, Boyd and Novo could be a solution, but then we'll just get criticised even more for lack of natural width.