54andcounting

Rangers' youngster Robbie Crawford is hoping Ally McCoist continues to give the youngsters a chance this season http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/rangers-youngster-robbie-crawford-ally-1983428? Ally gave a dozen or so youngsters a chance to make a career for themselves at the club, do you think he'll abandon this idea and favour his signings (like Black last season) confining them to the bench/stand, destroying their confidence and destined to never kick a ball for the first team again?

Lets play them and halve the gate money...half to help Hearts out and half to the Rangers Charity Foundation.

Every tenner helps

...and 18 days til we play Elgin City AGAIN!!!

This is not good.... The Premier League is to request a court order forcing internet service providers to block a popular football streaming website before the next season. The League wants ISPs to cut off access to FirstRow1.eu, which operates from Sweden. The BBC understands none of the ISPs plan to challenge the court order. If successful, the action will be the first sport-related site block in the UK. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23004880

RANGERS captain Lee McCulloch will be ready to kick off the new campaign next month â?? despite being allowed to miss the start of pre-season training. McCulloch will not join up with his team-mates at Murray Park on Monday as he will be in Turkey doing his Uefa Pro-Licence. The 35-year-old has a year left to complete the highest level of coaching qualification available in Europe and will attend the Fifa Under-20 World Cup. But he will return to Scotland on June 29 and will join up with the squad on July 1. And he should, if fit, be available to play for Ally McCoist's team when they play their Ramsden's Cup first-round match on July 27. McCulloch said: "I'm looking forward to going to Turkey for the next stage of the Pro-Licence process and it'll be a valuable experience for me. "I'm grateful to the manager for allowing me to join the rest of the squad a little later than I would have normally in order to take a step closer to gaining the qualification. "I've been working hard during the close season to ensure I'm in the right shape for the new campaign and I'll be doing some work on that front while I'm away as well. "In that sense, I don't feel I'll be too far behind the boys when I meet up with them again and I'm really looking forward to the new season starting." Speaking to the official Rangers website, he added: "I'm excited about building on the successful year we had in the Third Division last year and I have been impressed with the signings the manager has made as we look to do that. "Being at the Under-20 World Cup will help me a lot. Some of the most promising young players in the game will be competing and I'll be watching them at close quarters. "The course I have been doing finishes next summer and then I'll be qualified to take on coaching jobs at any level, which is great as that's my aim once I retire from playing. "I saw my friend David Weir being named as manager at Sheffield United last week and it's a great opportunity for him that he deserves. "I would love the same sort of chance as him in the next few years and going to Turkey will hopefully take me closer to that." Meanwhile, Rangers have announced Kane Hemmings is to leave at the end of the month after the club decided not to offer the 21-year-old forward a new deal. And Head of Sport Science Adam Owen has joined former Ibrox captain Weir at Bramall Lane as assistant manager for performance. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/mcculloch-i-will-be-back-in-jig-time-128303n.21408335?

Big Derek: Silky Smith will not be last Rangers arrival THERE has been a negative reaction from some people to Ally McCoist signing Stevie Smith for Rangers again this week. The complaint I have heard from many folk is that Stevie is always injured. But since he has left the Ibrox club he has played pretty regularly for Norwich, Aberdeen and the Portland Timbers. Personally, I am pleased for the player and think he will be a good addition to the Third Division champions' squad. Ally has not simply brought the defender back to the Light Blues in the hope he will be fit and able to play. He has watched him in training just about every day since the start of the year along with Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller. He knows exactly what sort of shape the former Scotland Under-21 player is in and what he will bring to his team in the coming two seasons. I think Stevie will give him great options. He can, for example, play him at left-back and put Lee Wallace in at centre-half if need be. Or he could play the two of them wide on the left flank. Both men can play in midfield positions as well as at the back. Bringing in Stevie gives him several different possibilities without costing him huge sums of money. When Stevie was younger he had blinding pace, got up the park well and delivered great balls into the box. With Cammy Bell, Nicky Clark, Jon Daly, Nicky Law and Arnold Peralta all coming in to the club, he strengthens the squad even further. But I still don't think Ally is finished his recruitment drive. I think he will be very keen to bring one, or possibly even two, centre-backs in. I know he has Daly, Lee McCulloch or even Wallace who can play there. I just think, though, that he will be keen to land a specialist centre-half. Although he can play in the rearguard, Daly is primarily a centre-forward. McCulloch, too, is best in midfield or up front. I think Ally will try and bring in a couple of big bruisers who can shore up a backline that did not always perform well last term. I do not imagine that Dorin Goian or Carlos Bocanegra, who are both on high wages, will be returning to the club once again. Ally doesn't require a cultured footballer to play in the Second Division. He just needs somebody who can clear the ball. Having said that, Ian Durrant has been raving about the young lad Luca Gasparatto after his performances in the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens this summer. Apparently, the Canadian centre-half was the best defender at the international tournament. I wouldn't be surprised if he, or one of the other young lads who performed so well last season, featured heavily in the first team next season. I saw that Scott Arfield, the former Falkirk midfielder who has been released by Huddersfield Town, had been linked with a move to Rangers last week. Arfield was certainly a good player a few years ago when he first came through in this country. But I think Ally is pretty well served with players in his position. He has Ian Black, Kyle Hutton, McCulloch, Lewis Macleod, Law and Peralta who can play there. Ally has money to spend and can bring more new faces to the club before the season kicks off. But I think a centre-half is his priority, not another midfielder. Last season he admitted his squad was not experienced enough or strong enough. He had to bring in players who were available in a short space of time. Despite winning the Third Division by a comfortable margin, Rangers were not the best team defensively. But I am sure none of the fans will be complaining about the quality of the signings he has made. I predict they will all start after September 1. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/rangers/rangerscomment/dj-silky-smith-will-not-be-last-rangers-arrival-for-mccoist-128287n.21404261?

Yeah I thought the same thing Nice place to go visit tho' ...maybe should have put this in the lounge... On the hunt for an unsung corner of France, Carolyn Reynier travels to western Gers and discovers some unassuming communes and little-known wines http://www.completefrance.com/french-property/locations/georgous_gers_1_2245915?

You know when you 'google' something? and it takes you somewhere where it has nothing to do with what you're looking for? It happened to me - and timmy is orgasmic over speirs for what he wrote (I didn't read his shite this time btw) timmy thinks speirs is talking sense, they regard him as some god who doesn't hold back. LOL Just about sums up 'I'm a Protestant' odious

Blue seats all the same shade of Blue for a start...shouldn't be too difficult if you dump the cowboys

Huddersfield Town now...and it's that controversial collar again ...these dummies look more like it compared to chancers who modelled the Dundee ones

Well for the 2nd division the manager should be on what most other managers in the 2nd division get...bonus should be based on what winning the 2nd division is worth. (that includes the coaching staff) The money we'd save would put us on the right rails for winning the top league at our first attempt on return. No wonder Ally doesn't do walking away (as long as the pay is good) Whyte was a crook...how Super Ally can take £750,000 a year out of Rangers is not right. Bloody criminal imo

Maybe I'm taking this 'a bit too far'...anyways

Don't know why mate, but I found this line had me in stitches. Hope you're not offended.

As a youngster reading the football newspapers pages meant seeing how your team faired..nowadays sports writers like Spiers can't write anything to do with it, yet he has a job as a sports writer???...his hate filled bile and his like stopped me buying papers long time ago and yet this relic continues in a job? get him tae fuck!

dB? I was wondering...did the SFA give Airdrie United the 'Airdrieonians' name because of our situation? They are now Airdrieonians (Airdrie) we are Rangers..they are NOT Airdrieonians...just wondering due to the way we've been treated recently by all and sundry since our meltdown. Airdrie fans waited eleven years to get their name back....we didn't have to wait 2 mins. What's your opinion on the above? What do you think why Airdrie United got their name changed after 11 years of trying?

Following on from my 'Rangers Guide To Division TWO'. http://www.gersnetonline.co.uk/vb/showthread.php?56798-A-Rangers-Guide-To-Division-TWO Here's a wee map of where we go to achieve 'Phase 2'...the journey continues

Wouldn't do that mate..we are better than that

If he only gets to look that's ok if he interferes where interference is not needed then that will be a time of worry

That would make me very very happy

Thanks D'Art...but I just can't click on the link, it's nothing to do with giving him a 'hit' or anything, it's just that anything he has to say is cringeworthy. His anti-Rangers stuff is really sad for someone in his position. He's a tortured soul.

New Burnley Home Kit 13-14 Puma This is the new Burnley home shirt 2013/2014, the new Burnley FC kit was officially unveiled on June 18, 2013 by the Clarets. The club finished 11th in the 2012/13 Championship season. The kit sees a return to hooped socks and uses Pumaâ??s revolutionary Cell Technology. (what's that?) Seems most of the Puma releases have that collar.... Maybe the Gers top will have it....if so a Union Jack would look ok in there.

...recently changed to Airdrionians http://www.acadvertiser.co.uk/coatbridge-airdrie-sport/2013/06/03/airdrieonians-name-revived-after-sfa-approval-65864-33421801/

It's another trip into the unknown for Rangers in season 2013/14 despite the fact some familiar faces will join them in the third tier of Scottish football from August 2013. Arbroath One of six trips to the county of Angus for the Gers in the League in 2013/14. Both the Light Blues and the Red Lichties were last top league teams (Scottish First Division of 18 teams) in 1975 and Arbroath actually won 3-2 at Ibrox on February 2nd 1974. A game that can still be enjoyed by Gayfield regulars on Youtube. WARNING: This video contains commentary by Arthur Montford. Brechin City The county of Angus was where Rangers started the long road back from the depths of Scottish League football with a Challenge Cup win at Glebe Park in 2012. Now they face two trips to the home of the most famous hedge in British football in 2013/14 as a Second Division side. Our league season kicks off against them at Ibrox on Saturday August 10th. Forfar Athletic Angus based Forfar shocked Premier League Rangers in the late 70's as a Second Division side in a League Cup semi-final tie at Hampden and it took a last gasp equaliser to prevent 'The Loons' winning 2-1 at the national stadium. Rangers full time fitness took them home in Extra Time and they won 5-2 but Forfar were at it again in the early 80's when they gained a 0-0 draw with Rangers in a Scottish Cup semi final before the Glasgow giants won the replay. Dunfermline Athletic Two teams from Fife for the Gers in the new season.The Pars back in the third tier of Scottish football for the first time since 1986 still won't stop big attendances at East End Park when Rangers come calling. The Pars knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup at the height of the Souness era in the late 80's. How Jim Leishman wishes he had players like John Watson and Mark Smith now. These were the local heroes that gave Athletic a 2-0 win in the Kingdom in the cup.Gers captain Terry Butcher also took the East End Park away dressing room door off its hinges in fury after that defeat... of course Tel has calmed down a lot since then! Defeat at 2nd Division Berwick Rangers in the Scottish Cup in 1967 was Rangers darkest hour and a half but the first non-top tier team ever to beat the Gers was a Fife side. Cowdenbeath won 3-2 at Ibrox in the League Cup Quarter Final (1st leg) in 1949 before finally losing to the Gers on a 5-4 aggregate. East Fife Following the first League reconstruction in Scotland in 1975 many supporters would have said 'Methil No More' and predicted the end of any sort of League fixtures between East Fife and Rangers. The current East Fife side were no doubt inspired to beat Peterhead in the 2nd Division Play-off final in May 2013 with four league games against Ally McCoist and Co awaiting them if they survived another season in Div Two. Airdrieonians More shades of the 70's in this fixture. Airdrieonians and the Gers served up many meorable games at the old Broomfield in the decade of flares and Mrs Thatcher coming to power. The sides also met in the 1992 Scottish Cup final at Hampden, Rangers won the match 2â??1. Stranraer Rangers relegation to Division 3 last season meant Stranraer benefitted with a promotion to Division 2 and the Gers inherited the Stair Park club's fixtures in 2012/13. Two visits to Wigtownshire will constitute yet another culture shock for Rangers fans in the forthcoming campaign. Ayr United Regular Scottish League opponents for Rangers in the 1970's. Many fans of a certain age will remember the Somerset Park slope, Scotsport cameras and an acute angle, Quinton Young, John Greig and many other great old players. In the new season many Rangers fan will be visiting the Horse Racing town for a match for the very first time. Stenhousemuir The Warriors greatest away win of the Post War era was almost certainly their 2-1 victory at Ibrox in a League Cup match in the early 70's. Rangers will be hoping that Ochilview will just be a quick stop on the road to the First Division in the new season.

Each to their own I guess