Gribz

We have by far a good enough squad to get us through at least until January. And if there is no injuries the squad will still win this league so they can close it whenever they like.

Good draws for Man Utd and Chelsea. Tough one for Arsenal. Decent for Man City. On paper a nightmare for Celtic. 3 defeats away from home but their home form is always good against big teams. The difference this year is they have 3 big sides and not just 1. Therefore it means those sides will go to Parkhead needing something and play on the top of their game. Full Champions League draw: Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen Group C: Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen Group E: Chelsea, Schalke, FC Basel, Steaua Bucharest Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli Group G: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic

So how did they manage to agree to a new SPFL with no income from sponsors? How much are they going to be owe clubs? That organisation is so incompetent its scary.

I agree with getting away with short-term-ism in general. And if we had a squad full of Kenny Millers it would be a disaster. But if we are building a squad for the future with young players then having the experienced players to get them through stages of this part of the journey is fine by me. Additionally we have to remember we are still not even half way through this ladder and are in the 3rd tier, so attracting players isn't always going to be easy especially with the embargo we've had. I actually think Ally has bought pretty well this summer to add to the promising youngers players we have - now he needs to improve them. I could make an exception to 1 older type player for the short term - purely as cover for who we have. I wouldn't be surprised if Miller comes in a player-coach role.

Not if Inverness win the league this season. I said it a few months ago, IF and a huge IF they can be consistent in 4 more games they will be challenging. They have got Celtic away out of the way and picked up a point. Now they just need to beat the rest of the guff in that league. Celtic are not great at all and now they have CL in midweek we saw last season how they struggled the Saturday after CL games.

If the deal was right then Id see KM as a good addition. He has lost 2 yards of pace but should still cruise through this league. I wonder what Clark is thinking right now though. Banged in 40 odd goals and hasn't had a sniff. Perhaps he will after the embargo is lifted?

Like last season its taking me a few weeks to get familiar with the squad. Ive yet to see a match this season so haven't seen the new signings in action. But I like the look of BH team on the first post.

The so called greatest league in the world has its first heavyweight clash of the season and it put me to sleep! Is it just me or is the Premier League getting more over rated by the season. More times than not these big games fail to deliver. They are saying this game was played to early in the season, ive never heard so much junk in my life. If you aren't ready from match day 1 then when are you going to be ready. I remember Rangers used to play Celtic normally around the 3rd game of the season in the 80s and early 90s and it never disappointed, in fact when we won the famous 5-1 game in 1988 when Wilkins hit that peach, that was the in August and the 3rd game of the season. Ive got 4 cable boxes (2 for TV and another 2 for Premier League) due to the Premier league being on a different provider and Im ready to scrap 1 of them. There will be some good games over a season and I think this Sunday will provide that (Liverpool v Man Utd and Arsenal v Spurs) but the majority of the season will be run of the mill entertainment. For me it should be box office stuff, as due to my time zone the weekend games are Saturday night TV and every game is on a different channel yet I find myself flicking from 1 to another as Everton v West Brom or Hull v Norwich is difficult to sit for 90 mins. I find the Bundesliga much more appealing and have done for about 6 or 7 years so watch that as much as possible, the fact its been at its peak in the last year is great, but even 6 years ago I found it interesting to watch. It probably says something when the majority of the absolute TOP players go to Spain and Germany if playing in Europe. Chelsea have the chance to have a cracking team with great flair - Hazard, Oscar, Mata - yet Mourinho went to Old Trafford and played for a draw. Imagine Barcelona doing that? Teams like Swansea, West Ham and Newcastle (you never know what to get from them) are nice to watch yet when they are up against the likes of Stoke its hardly appealing to make you stay in and watch the game. Ive never been a Spurs fan but it would be refreshing if them or Arsenal could go on a run and challenge for the title. Even throw Liverpool into the mix...make the other teams go out to try win a football match.

Weeping at that list. Gascoigne and Laudrup were most favourites but as a unit that midfield was probably the best in our history...and you can throw in McCann on the left Kanchelskis on the right if you want to add width. Bar Mols' injury we'd have went far in the CL. Tugay made Brad Friedel's all time XI from the players he has played with, he rated him that good, and some of the names he left out were brilliant.

Im not caring about the Co-efficient points. Rangers have carried the SPL tally for years and the SPL and SFA have done as much damage to the co-efficient than anyone. For me to read an earlier post that we are on level par with Luxembourg says it all. UEFA are also making things more tricky for teams outwith Italy, Spain, Germany and England. In the past Ive been ok with seeing Scottish teams doing well in Europe, even Celtic on occasion against the likes of Blackburn and Liverpool during their UEFA run 10 years ago, although didn't want them to win it. But seeing Hibs getting a royal humping from malmo then Swansea tearing Malmo apart shows how bad Scottish football is and if the SFA and SPL think renaming a league will improve things they need to think again. Things are only going to get worse and a restructure was always needed to improve the game.

I can see it being a long time before a Rangers player is picked in a Scotland squad again. Levein kind of started the excuses and Strachan now doesn't have to pick any, although Wallace would be the only obviously choice at the moment. And now Scotland are actually playing well with 2 decent games Strachan uses that as a reason. Its pretty ironic considering Hutton isn't kicking a ball at club level!

Hi Zappa...thanks for your reply. I'll reply on this soon. Agree with ur first sentence....

Wenger out. Arrogant idiot who hasn't signed or addressed anything. Going by that they wont make top half! Impressive start from Man Utd and of course West Ham!

Yes agreed, by new deal I meant on a far less amount than the 15k.

Good piece of business by Palace. Speroni has been Palaces POTY for 2 seasons running but Alexander will be a capable No.2 and all the best to him. Id have preferred him to have stayed on at Ibrox on a new deal and thought he should still start as No.1 and let Bell try shift him but not to be.

Could be the most open Premier League in many a year. Man City and Chelsea have the strongest squads and Id say 1 of them will win it. But if Tottenham keep Bale then they could be an outside bet. They have signed some quality players. I can see Man Utd been knocked off their perch and fighting to make top 4. They really need a top class centre midfielder or 2. Arsenal still have a poor defence and keeper plus if 1 or 2 of their key players get injured they have no replacements. Good players like Rosicky and Diaby will only give them 5-10 games a season. Ive still put a bet on them at 10/1 to win it just in case they get Suarez and a defender. I like what Swansea have done in the transfer market but the 40 games they have to play in Europa league could take its toll. Liverpool will be slightly better this season and be top 6. But after that its a lucky dip. Id say the 3 that came up will go back down, promoted sides have done well for the last few seasons but these 3 are well short of the rest. Based on current squads before more signings Id go for: Winners: Chelsea Champions League: Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham (If Bale stays, if not Man Utd) Relegated: Cardiff, Hull, Palace.

Hanley doesn't get that knock on the head then we don't lose the first goal. Broon was at fault for both 1st and 2nd goals. England were there for the taken and their media probably expected a easy win. Well done to Strachan, he has taken an average squad in a mess and tidied things up with organisation. If he was in charge at the start of the WC group we'd have had a chance of going to Brazil, instead that gluepot Levein wrecked things.

U21's got a 6-0 hiding last night. Really cant tell what the score will be tonight. I think England will be taking it in a low gear trying to avoid injuries for the season

I thought we were a goner for good. Lets hope all posters who were posting get back on as the place was a nice level of busy-ness.

Or boycott a cup match! But personally if I was still a ST holder I wouldn't be handing it back over a clash of personalities and squabbles. They must start being man enough to get these problems sorted out.

The answer is a straight No for delivering on the park. But if you want to break it down you have to access Ally's full time in charge to date. In 2011 he raced into a big lead at the top of the SPL but was this down to him being a good manager or inheriting a good squad in the same way as Alex McLeish did? That's another debate. Id say it was a cross between the feel good factor of being a new manager, players wanting to impress and mostly inheriting the squad he did. Last year was the most difficult circumstances at the start with no squad. Eventually we got a squad easily the best in the division. Therefore I could expect a gelling in period with a few rusty performances, but as the season went on we got worse and had a few shocking results while playing some ugly football. Furthermore, plan B didn't exist when things were going wrong. Tactics, selections are all another debate. Season 3 - judgement time. So far, played 2: won 1 and lost 1 yet the defeat was shambolic. The excuse of not playing new signings is a terrible one considering we still fielded some full time internationals. What concerns me is Ally signing 8 new players and just throwing them onto the pitch picking up wins simply because we have a better standard of player than the opposition. I have yet to see anything from Ally that suggests he is good tactically. He has gathered too many of the worst results and performances in club history. At the same time nothing on the pitch looks like its going in the right direction. Compare that to a game I know Craig will remember under Paul Le Guen v Dundee Utd at Ibrox. We were down 0-2 which ended 2-2 yet it was going on 8-2. At least something on the pitch was looking promising even though it did end sour (another different debate). Its a bit like Liverpool fans last season, they weren't winning but could see what Rodgers was trying to do for the future.... But who knows...come September when new signings can all feature the opinions can change and Ally could be a hero again!

Personally I wish people just wouldn't respond to posts if they have a problem with the subject unless they actually debate the point rather than just saying someone is wrong because its not of their opinion. Gersnet has always prided itself on debate with respecting others opinions. Rather than moaning about a topic / post just leave it blank and if its as bad as people make out then the amount of replies in the thread will say more than any individual reply.

There are fans (myself included) who care as much about on the field issues as off the field. Nobody is saying one is not as important as the other, but its clearly easier to see the problems on the pitch than off it.

Brown MAY be right on a few issues and may know more / he may know less. But he loses credibility all the time with the way he speaks out like the hard man. If people think CG is poor at public speaking then if John Brown gets into Ibrox one day it will be awful.

To be fair I didn't see this as Ally bashing, I saw it as the point that I think SC meant - Ally got a budget and has spent this summer - so if there is danger of admin again then why spend? Its an emotional time again to be a Bear so there will be reactions from all angles. I personally think John Brown needs to keep quiet....I don't understand how its ok for one side of the fence to be so vocal but not the other.