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Russell Anderson was released from his last two English clubs, both cancelling his contracts. His contract at Aberdeen was 'pay if you play' because injuries have meant no club will take a chance on offering him a longer contract. He's basically 'gone home' because he has nowhere else to go. Griffith is still a Wolves player, he's only on loan at Hibs and is due to return to them in January. For all that it seems unlikely he'll make it at Wolves and I expect he'll be put on the transfer list soon, it's unlikely anyone up here outside Celtic will be able to afford his current salary though. Skacel's career is coming to an end, he'll be 34 at his next birthday, he's only here because he's known in the league, his previous club was in Cyprus. He was also released by Southampton. Maloney rejoined Celtic over 4 and half years ago, a lot has changed since then. Even Celtic could not afford to compete with EPL salaries now, even most Championship players would stretch their salary scales. The issue with Craig Gordon is quite different. His injury is career threatening, clubs are unwilling to take a chance on him currently until he can prove his fitness, he can't prove his fitness because clubs are unwilling to take a chance on him and so on. He will eventually need to sign a short term contract on a significantly reduced salary than his Sunderland one if he wants to get back into football. If he can prove his fitness and reclaim the form he once had he'll be able to command a salary far out with anything Celtic are currently able to offer. The point Cooperfan made was valid. Signing players from the EPL or the Championship, even Scottish ones, is highly unlikely. Unless they are at the end of their career, no one, Celtic included, can compete with the salaries even average players are on down there.

Cheers Frankie, wise words. I'm not sure if this is the generic 'Merry Christmas' thread or not but I'll take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to all the posters on Gersnet. Frankie, Zappa and the rest of the people who give up their time to make this place available to all of us can I add my thanks and express my gratitude to you. Have a lovely time all.

It's an odd thread this one. Every year at this time Celtic write a direct letter to businesses who deal with them or have some other connection to them, requesting a donation which they then use to support families in the East End of Glasgow at Christmas. They claim the families they support are highlighted to them by a local Church of Scotland and a Roman Catholic church and that the families don't know where the 'support' comes from as it is given through the relevant churches. For what it's worth I believe this is true. I don't believe they get much if any publicity for this. None of this makes me want Celtic to lose any less, nor does it change my views on certain people involved with them. However, some of them, indeed I'd venture possibly most of them, are fairly normal, well adjusted members of society, just with a terrible taste in football club. If they helped Great Ormond Street then I applaud them, if they got acres of fawning publicity for it that's just the world we live in. Whether it was their motivation or not shouldn't take away from the gesture though. A lot of corporate charitable work or donation is done with an ulterior motive, either positive PR, tax efficiency or cock-measuring ego maintenance. Indeed charities realised a long time ago that by giving someone a sticker if they put a coin in a collecting jar was a very effective way of raising money. Celtic got a very big sticker and made sure everyone saw it. There are lots of reasons to hate Celtic, this isn't one of them.

On a mobile? I can't see them, they used to be there though.

Thanks for updating and protecting the site. Change always elicits mixed responses but we'll all get used to it in a few weeks. I think its all right myself. One point, which was also mentioned above, how do you go back to the Rangers Chat forum when reading a thread? I can't figure that out.

I'm not sure I understand any of this. So Dermot Desmond receives £544,000 from Celtic every year because they owe him £9,080,000? He's a slippery one is old Dermot isn't he.

Thanks for that Forlan, you put a lot of time into that and raised some interesting points. One wee thing though, can you fix the spelling of 'brief' on the title.

That's great. I laughed when the presenter said he agreed with not paying taxes! Priceless.

She looks plenty attractive to me, not that it matters. Dickheads threatening anyone on Twitter, far less the wife of someone who was a Rangers legend at one time, whatever many feel now, need to take a long, hard look at themselves and deserve nothing but our condemnation and scorn. Arseholes. She's standing by her man, fair play, and I admire her love of classic 70s British cars. I wonder what colour of Princess she has.

There is undoubtedly brinksmanship going on, but I'm concerned about looking to deeply for conspiracy here. No one will ever convince me that Fraser Wishart is anti-Rangers, indeed I don't believe the SPFA is anti-Rangers. As Rangers supporters we might naturally look at this and be appalled that footballers, many of who are extremely wealthy already, are taking the club to industrial tribunals. As all of them have new, well paying jobs it seems obscene. They might have a case legally but morally (where have we heard that before!) it feels wrong. However, does Charles Green have any moral or legal right to claim transfer fees for players that belonged to 'oldco'? It's complicated. In theory they could have TUPEd across, but no one has to do that, you can't force an employee to transfer if they don't want too, surely that applies to footballers as well as the rest of us? That's the SPFA point in this. Footballers are people, not assets, can you really 'buy' people in that way? It is of course further complicated by the fact that footballers are 'bought' and 'sold' fairly regularly. They have allowed themselves to become 'assets' that are traded rather than employees who can work where they choose. If we can remove the emotional from this, which is hard, what the SPFA are saying is these players are 'people' basically employees like you and me and able to choose their own destiny. What Charles Green is saying is they aren't, they are valuable assets and part of the company he bought and so he is entitled to take ownership of them. I disagree with how the SPFA are handling this but I've some sympathy with their point of view.

Yeah, but with respect the point is nonsense. Andy Dibble was only at Rangers for 3 months and Letizi for 6 months, 2 of which he was injured for. What kind of improvement do you expect to see in that time? Waterreus did okay, he came in as a number 2 and stepped up when Klos was injured, considering he never even made the first team at Man City you have to say he improved when joining us. Christiansen was a young player who had been part of a team who had won promotion to the top flight in Denmark, he was basically playing at the second tier of Danish football before joining us. He couldn't dislodge Stefan Klos which is hardly a disgrace and so left. He left us and became the first choice keeper for one of the biggest and most successful clubs in Denmark and has made 11 international appearances in that time too. You know, that sounds like improvement to me.

Charbonnier was okay, he was unlucky with injury. Waterreus was a number 2 who came in and did a job when asked as did Dibble, Letizi looked poor, but he was barely at the club and replaced by McGregor who became an outstanding keeper. Christiansen has been Danish player of the year three times since leaving us, Stefan Kloss was ahead of him at Ibrox, how can you even begin to judge his ability?

Rangers have an excellent record of improving goalkeepers. Since we signed Goram we've consistently taken good keepers and made them great keepers. We've taken a lot of this for granted, Allan McGregor was/is an exceptional player, that didn't happen by accident. We rightly criticise the coaching department at times but when it comes to keepers we've excelled. I'd prefer us to allow one of the younger keepers to develop under Alexander myself, playing either Gallagher or Smith in a few games wouldn't do either any harm. I'd have hoped this level might allow us to develop them.

I read that earlier, it is a welcome and refreshing piece. Well done to those who organised it.

C'mon guys, it's not unreasonable for someone to think the word 'Tim' means Catholic. I've known Scots who made that mistake, it's not uncommon. Language is fluid, it evolves, words change their meanings over time and geography. For most people in Central Scotland a Tim is a Celtic fan no matter their religion, but the etymology is from a Catholic street gang, so there is ambiguity.

It's high stakes poker then isn't it. The timing is not coincidental, with Green's share issue rolling along an announcement that Rangers could remain in the lowest league for an indefinite period might make some investors nervous. Realistically the SPL want us in their league, but they want us their on their terms and in a way that allows them to appease their support. I think they are trying to make Green blink. Ultimately if the SFL clubs say no to this, frankly, ludicrous proposal then we've stalemate. Let's see if those first division teams are as committed to improving football as they claim to be.

I've no idea if this rumour is true or not, I hope it isn't. I disagree with Blue Pimpernel that Traynor is qualified for the position, he isn't. Traynor is at the wrong end of his career, he's a technophobe, he's embittered and has countless enemies in the media. If, and I stress if, this is true it will be the equivalent of Jock Brown joining Celtic for those that remember that. The media will turn on Traynor in their droves, they will be very conscious of being seen to be running Rangers 'spin' and rile against it. Traynor has stubbornly refused to engage with social media a hugely important PR tool, even with the likes of the excellent 'Rab' helping him on that I'd be astonished if his instincts are right for it. PR is about building good relationships, making friends and being able to influence people, Traynor has more enemies in the Scottish media than Lord Leveson. Trust me when I tell you that the best PR people are people you have never heard of and you never will. They are below the radar, diligent and never become 'the story'. Traynor would act as a lightning rod for our enemies, he'd become the story. For what it's worth I think he's a good journalist on the whole, a better writer than some give him credit for and has played a fairly straight bat during his career. But he's no PR man I'm sure of that.

Traynor leaves a muddled legacy. Some on here might not remember him on The Herald where he was a better writer and more challenging journalist. His move to the Record was curious and for me he embraced it's 'tabloid' mentality too much. In truth his time there has not been successful, circulation has fallen below the Sun, the great bar it was always measured against, and it can't be argued that the Record is a better paper now than it was say 10 years ago. Now that's not all his fault by any means however their sport coverage isn't as good as it should be and he needs to take responsibility for most of that. Personally I don't think he should have used his last article to have a go at an anonymous blog, it feels petty and embittered. I expect he's working on a book as we speak, that might be interesting if he decides to pull no punches. However that doesn't tend to be how these things work, normally secrets are kept and favours returned.

Bloody hell, that's an hour of my life I won't get back. Barely mentions price and never mentions incompetence at a senior level.

No. Whilst Glentoran and Linfield are city rivals and described as the 'big two' Glentoran don't represent the 'Celtic' side. Both clubs draw their support from the Unionist areas of the city. The fact Glentoran play in green can mislead some, but remember what colour Northern Ireland play in. Cliftonville have in recent years become Belfast's 'Celtic' side, in the last few seasons Donegal Celtic have also played in the top division but they don't have much of a support.

Well written as ever D'artagnan. I don't mean to be picky but what Leveson proposed yesterday will have no effect on the BBC, his report covers the press only. TV, radio and online content are already overseen by a ruling body which is governed by statute, I'm surprised that hasn't been mentioned more in recent days. If anyone is unhappy with any programme or advertisement broadcast in the UK they can complain to Ofcom. Ofcom have the power to enforce legal sanctions if the law has been broken, impose fines and prevent broadcast, they are independent of the broadcasters and advertisers. The BBC documentary mentioned can be complained about, not to the BBC but to Ofcom if it contained slander, inaccuracies or broke privacy. There is even a complaint of 'fairness' regarding programme content. If anyone wants to complain about that documentary they could then, I imagine they still can now if it's still available to watch on the iPlayer.

I'd draw the line at the UK, we can't help every club but we could offer too. From offering a friendly match at a suitable date to a couple of tickets for an auction prize. I don't see why we couldn't offer, I'd argue it could only help the club going forward too.

Look, your loyalty to Adidas is I'm sure celebrated by half the population of Herzogenaurach but it bewilders the fuck out of me. The Rangers kit could be made by Coco Chanel herself using only unicorn hair and it isn't going to sell very many more. For our strip to sell to people who aren't immediate supporters we need to be successful on the pitch. The reason half the 10 year old boys in the world wear a Barcelona top isn't because they love Nike or share the Catalan struggle for self determination, no, it's because Lionel Messi plays for them and they are rather good. I suddenly notice Man City strips being worn around these parts now, are you going to tell me that's because of Umbro's worldwide marketing genius or do you think it's because they won the league last season? (Umbro, imagine, what were they thinking!) Whether it is Umbro, Puma, Adidas, Nike or fuckin Gola it will make hardly any difference to us in the grand scheme of things. If whoever can design a strip that's half decent looking that will help, if people like blue that'll help, but nothing will help shirt sales like winning the league, playing in Europe and developing exciting players. I'm not down-playing the importance of merchandise, I understand why it matters to us and every other club, but you are vastly over-playing it. Whilst we are a lower league Scottish club the only thing that matters is who'll offer us the most money.

I noticed earlier that east Belfast club Glentoran are again in financial difficulties and haven't paid their players for a number of weeks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20549083 I imagine a home match against us would be of some help to them. I personally met a number of Glen's fans who were also Rangers fans although I'm not sure that matters in this case. I lived in Belfast for a number of years and I'm aware of the local rivalries, many of us might see their big rivals Linfield as their 'obvious' Belfast team, I personally took to supporting Crusaders but saw most of the local sides play in my time there. The bigger point though is should we help? We know what it is like to see your club struggle through no fault of supporters. Should it become part of Rangers culture that when a fellow football club are in difficulty we offer to help?

Is that based on anything other that your personal preferences? Nike strips are horrible, this has been established on here before, there is probably a UN resolution on it now. Seriously though Puma are a billion dollar, multi-national company, they are huge, they know what they are doing. They are owned by the same people who own Gucci, they understand premium branding and retail. Anyway, all football strips should be made by Umbro, that's a law of nature.