amms

Well feel free to pull them up when they do, two wrongs and all that.

Hang about here. We can discuss this civilly or we can start trading insults if you want but go fuck yourself with the "Are we sure these eager apologists for failure are Rangers fans?" pish. No one has 'low' standards, no one is accepting defeat or not hurting. Showing loyalty to someone does not make you a Tim particularly when that someone is the single greatest Rangers' player of our time.

If you simply aren't as good as the opposition you can also be out-manoeuvred. That's surely the issue here.

The ICT team is full of SPL quality players, ours isn't. There is a big gap between youth internationals and top flight football. A look at who has been capped at youth level and didn't go on to make much of a career tells you all you need to know. I think it is unrealistic to expect us to beat 5th in the SPL. Football allows for the unexpected, for the upset, but normally the the best teams win.

Prior to this season Perry had hardly played a competitive match for Rangers, loan spells at League Two (4th division in old money) Oxford Utd and 1st Div Falkirk being his career so far. Hutton likewise has barely played for Rangers, 7 SPL matches most from the bench with loan spells at 1st Div Partick Thistle and relegated Dunfermline. Both are better than Div 3 but they are not SPL class and certainly don't have much experience of that level. The others are teenagers thrown in because needs must. At times they really look the part, but like all young players they make mistakes and drift in and out. I think they all look like they have potential to become very good players but they aren't yet. ICT are having a good season, after the second goal the gulf became apparent, it looked like a 3rd division side against an SPL one, which it was. Now it is you who is being generous. McCoist's goalscoring ability was most certainly not there for anyone to see in his early years at Ibrox. He looked a poor player in a poor side. He was young though, he had that. Management isn't just about tactical nouse, it's about character too. His playing career demonstrates his character that's why it is relevant. I don't know if he can go on to be a great manager I think it is too early to tell. With hindsight we made the wrong appointment in Wallace but few felt that was the case at the time. I only mentioned it to caution those clamouring for change, change is no guarantee that things will get better. We may yet win this league comfortably. We sit top despite not playing that well, the novelty of playing against Rangers won't be as strong now, our better fitness and professionalism should start to show in the next few months. I still think we're on course to win this league with a good bit to spare.

We won the Motherwell match, why would McCoist try something different? That doesn't seem logical to me.

Says who? What do you base that on?

McCabe started the season well and was being lauded by the Wednesday support. However they've struggled since promotion and he's been on the bench a fair bit since the first 6 or so matches. McCabe has potential but he was far from the finished article, he may still go on to be a good player.

Yes, I do. I think there is a massive over-reaction currently, months and months of frustration are boiling over. Our pride was hurt last night but realistically we're a third division team currently and we were matching ICT (who are 5th in the SPL) until the 2nd goal. People point at our players as being of SPL class; maybe. Wallace, Alexander, McCulloch and Sheils are. I don't think Little is, he's better than Div 3 but I'm not convinced he's SPL standard, Black should be but hasn't looked it anytime I've seen him, I thought he was nothing but a clogger last season and my view hasn't changed much since. The rest simply aren't, not yet anyway. Perry, Cribari, Hegarty, Macleod and Hutton are not of that level, a couple of them might reach that level in the coming seasons as they develop but I don't think Hutton and Perry ever will. They are both good enough for Div 3 and probably Div 2 though. Inverness are a solid SPL side. They watched what happened to Motherwell in the last round and learned from it. We played well in patches last night, we created chances, but we defended badly. Our defence simply isn't good enough for that standard of football. As for Ally I think change now would be a knee-jerk reaction. Throughout his career McCoist has shown an ability to learn, to improve, to know what he needed to do to make himself better. We forget that at one point in his career the thought that McCoist would become our finest ever striker, an icon of Scottish football and arguably the greatest ever Ranger was so laughable as to be absurd. But he did, he has an inner steel and self analysis and the rare ability to learn from his mistakes. For me Ally has earned my loyalty, my trust and my support. A change of manager is no guarantee of anything. When John Grieg left Rangers his replacement was one of the best managers of the day, a man with an wonderful track record, experience and respect. He failed. Our goal this season is the league and promotion, anything else is a bonus, I believe Ally and his team can achieve that. Take stock then.

There are lots of factors that affect TV viewing figures and match attendance figures, you are right to point that out. I can't prove it but I don't think Celtic reducing the price of tickets for their SPL matches will make much of a difference to their attendances. We currently have a support that is better engaged and willing to turn up in greater numbers for whatever reasons. Price is a factor but it's hardly cheap to go to Ibrox. Quality of opposition is a factor too though, a big one, it's hard to argue they've played better clubs both in terms of ability and also in size of support than we have this season, yet we're still drawing bigger crowds. To be honest I've never heard anyone challenge the idea that Rangers are a 'bigger' club before, even the Tims I know seem willing to accept that. Perhaps you are right, maybe they are bigger than us now. Do you think that's the case? It is difficult to gauge just who is watching the TV games, but it seems fair to say our games are the most attractive to an audience, I can't prove if that audience is supporting us or not though. I don't think I contradicted myself, money isn't always an indicator of the size of club. Man City and Chelsea can pay more than just about every other club in the world but I wouldn't say either are bigger than us, even in their own league Liverpool and Man Utd are both bigger clubs than them. Celtic paying higher salaries than Rangers for the last few years simply demonstrates they've been better run.

Thanks. To clarify 'biggest and most popular' I'd point at current TV viewing figures and indeed attendance figures for the season so far, I read some on this site this morning which showed our 3rd division matches attracting average audiences in excess of any SPL clubs. I accept that Celtic are currently wealthier than us and that could be used as a guide for 'biggest' I suppose but I meant in terms of support and interest in Scotland. I can only think of one player we've lost to Celtic and he was still only a youth and a Celtic supporter. If you mean guys like Commons then that's a straight fight on money, being willing to pay more isn't a reliable guide on size or popularity in football.

Some people on here see being the captain of Rangers as a very one dimensional role, it's not, it's an important role but not so much for what happens on the pitch. Frankly short of the toss of the coin and speaking to the ref if there is a problem the captain of any team doesn't have much to do during a game except ensure their own standard of play. The management and coaches set up the team, the formation and tactics, each player knows before he goes on the pitch what's expected of him and getting messages onto the pitch during a match is done relatively easily. If he happens to be an inspirational player in some way then that's a bonus too. The captain's role is far more important away from the pitch. It's the captain's job to ensure new players are welcomed and settled, young players assimilate into the first team squad, guys out of the starting 11 have someone to 'bitch' too, injured players still feel part of the squad. He needs to act as a shop steward for the players in discussions with the management and owners, he should be the guy players go to if they've a grievance or concern and should be able to provide the club management with a trusted point of contact to the squad. He needs to speak to the media, and ensure others do too, he needs to make sure players are available for supporters clubs, for hospital and school visits and the other community work done by players we rarely hear about. To do this well he needs to be experienced, trusted by management and players alike, respected, with a strong enough personality to stand his ground when needed but the intelligence to know when to give and take. On top of that the captain of Rangers should understand what the club means to its support and ideally should be steeped in the club themselves. I accept we've had a some very good captains who weren't though. Being the captain of Rangers still means something, or it should. Whatever our current predicament we are still the most successful club in the world and the biggest and most popular in the country, being the captain of Rangers is an honour, it should be the pinnacle of any players career. For what it's worth I think Lee McCulluch ticks a fair number of those boxes.

I'm not offended I'm disgusted. I've reported it, I'll leave it to the admins, if they are cool with it then fair enough.

That's an appalling thing to write, I think you should reconsider it and delete the last sentence.

Why would Ally want to play route one football though? The Rangers teams he played in often had a 'big centre forward' but they could hardly have been accused of being too direct? Ian Durrant remains one of the most subtle and beautiful footballers I've ever seen, I can't conceive of an occasion where he would coach anyone to lump it up to the big lad, it simply wasn't in his make-up as a player why would it be as a coach? McDowall was an agricultural, and at times brutal, journeyman centre forward who thrived on the physical side of the game, is it his influence? He seems to be rated as a coach by many people though. I've also been frustrated by some of the football we've played this season. I really thought we'd try and pass teams to death, have them chasing shadows, giving away fouls and tiring themselves out. That's not how it's worked out though and I don't know why, on paper we look like we should manage that.

Yeah, that kind of reads like you blame me for their failings! The fact they aren't very good or don't write in a style or content you agree with doesn't really change who and what they are. I mean Graham Speirs claims to be a Rangers supporter, ironically he's one of the few who makes that claim publicly, it doesn't mean I (or many others) agree with what he writes. English isn't a Celtic fan for what it's worth, he's no Rangers fan either mind. One thing about Rangers fans is we don't speak with one voice, the Tims all seem to be a bit more 'on-message'. Perhaps they are more used to taking instruction rather than thinking for themselves. I'm not sure what you mean by 'nobodies'?

There is a difference between being a Rangers fan and not being a Celtic fan to be fair. Ewan Murray, Jim Traynor, Michael Grant, Tom English and Bill Leckie aren't Celtic fans but they aren't Rangers fans either. I'd say Gary Ralston, Paul Smith, Stewart Weir, Ronnie Esplin, Iain King, Keith Jackson and Scot Burns are bluenoses to a greater or lesser extent.

There are plenty of journalists who didn't and even some editors too. I think sports journalists don't like upsetting clubs, it's not really in their interests which is why they tend to do it as a pack rather than as individuals. However outside of sport, business for example shouldn't have the same fear, the business section getting a fatwa from Parkhead is hardly going inconvenience them. To be fair so few of the papers even have a proper business section these days.

I tend to agree with Leggat on this, it is exactly the kind of tenuous link some of the media love. The Herald or BBC Scotland not covering it doesn't surprise me or concern me to be honest, it's not really news and I wouldn't expect a broadsheet paper to make a big deal of it, likewise the BBC, however I'm really surprised some of the tabloids haven't. If there is criticism to be dished out then it's the Record and The Sun it should be directed at I'd have thought. To be totally frank why someone hasn't forensically dissected Desmond's finances and investments is a mystery. He's so deeply entwined with the previous disgraced and discredited Irish government and all that went bad with the 'celtic tiger' he must have all sorts of skeletons rattling around.

So did the QC actually receive any threats, any packages, indeed was he the victim of any harassment at all in the end? It's hard to know where to begin with this kind of stuff, if any of it is true then it's appalling and should be condemned by all of us as the club has done. Did 'anti-terror' police actually believe people with the ability and know-how to carry it out were going to attempt to kill or injure the QC? Were these people arrested, were they questioned, what happened to the investigation, what stage is it at now, how did they come about this information? What evidence is there that someone paid someone else to burn down Starks Park? Did an attempt take place, were those involved arrested and charged? Also why is this being reported now, has something happened in the last couple of weeks to reignite this. Has someone with a vested financial interest in selling a book, for example, perhaps been struggling to shift a few copies of late? I imagine being called in by anti-terror officers and told of credible threats on your life is a deeply unpleasant and frightening experience, one that you won't forget in a hurry and would make you wary of being involved in football again. I hope they catch those responsible and they are jailed.

When a Scottish club puts the mighty Barcelona to sword in their own ground it should be a matter of pride for all of Scotland. Put your pettiness to the side, they were flying the flag for Scotland (not literally, obviously) and that victory should make us all proud. I'll be shaking the hand of every Tim I meet today and telling them so.

Hahaha! <applause>

Right, he's won titles in Serie A and the EPL and you don't rate him? What does a manager need to do for you to rate them?

Someone asking Craig Whyte to lie. Well I laughed. What's the endgame here for Mark Daly, is there anything that can be done on this or is it just more muck-raking for the sake of it?

Can't you see the irony in what you are saying though? You aren't normally comfortable with political stuff but because you support this particular political viewpoint you're happy with it. But if it was a viewpoint you disagreed with you'd hope it was shouted down. So what's the difference between shouting something down at the game and shouting it down online?