Gribz

Frankie, in a 4-4-2 id rather Bougherra at RB than Whittaker. Dont rate Whittaker much but after his contract signing its obvious he will be the first name on team sheet. In midfield, Edu would be behind Ness, Hutton and McCulloch in the pecking order. Is Ortiz a winger?

Consistantly average merits a place ahead of better players?

Fixed that defence for you.....(in a dream world of course)

Still a fan of this formation if you have the players.

Yes agreed, 09/10 he was outstanding and set himself standards but last season was more often poor than not. Just wonder if he plays better inside right mid position. Plus getting a better replacement wouldnt be easy at all.

Throw Ortiz and Cuellar into that list and Id be well happy going into the season. Weiss and a another striker would be icing on the cake but the way Jelavic and Lafferty finished the season Id be ok with them starting as our frontmen. Id say the only players who havent been worth their value are Lafferty (yet), Beattie (mass error) and Edu (far too inconsistant, either absolute rank or pretty good) So lets say we get the Ortiz and Cuellar, starting XI would have to be maybe this?: ________________________McGregor_____________________ Whittaker________Bougherra________Cuellar____________Papac Naismith_________Davis_____________Ortiz_____________Wylde ___________________Jelavic________Lafferty_______________

A good one yes. But we have Davis, McCulloch, Edu, Hutton and Ness all natural there.

Gazza8 just posting on other thread Fleck might be out on loan to Motherwell. He's never got off the ground as it stands. Just hope he isnt another Burke who flattered to deceive. I do think he has potential though but needs a run in a good position.

I hope not. I dont like players playing out of position. Kerkar has signed so he is another poss for left mid, although Wylde would be first pick and Im hoping Weiss comes back.

Didnt realise he still played for us. :fish: From beeb: Still confused how we spent 1.2m on Beattie rather than giving Novo a 2 year deal at the time.

Agreed mate. And to think some people compared Boyd to Coisty!!

Its no coincidence IMO that the likes of Wilson, Bougherra and even Whittaker played well at centre half while next to Weir. He is an absolute mentor. However can he with stand another full season which is coming up? It makes sense to keep him on board and if he plays well then why not!! But if we see a lapse lke last season for afew weeks he needs to be taken out straight away. His contract should have included a coaching role of some sort, although being on the training ground he probably does this anyway. It would be interesting if we got Cuellar back and kept Bougherra to see how they would play together and who would be first choice partnership. Im also forgetting the possibility of Bartley here.

Cuellar by an absolute country mile. Im not even sure if Id be happy about the other 2 signing. Run of the mill SPL players although Wallace could be a decent replacement for Whittaker.

On paper its a disaster for Arsenal to lose Nasri but I think Wenger would unearth another gem somewhere. Nasri should only leave for Man Utd IMO, he would be silly to go to City just like Adebyeor and toure was. They are not a settled side. Agree with Craig, Nasri leaving is worse then Fabregas. Arsenal played better last season when Fabregas was out. Clichy is another who it looks like will be leaving. Wenger needs to get spending! A keeper and top centre half required ASAP. He needs to sell dead wood like Bendtner and Rosicky

Id have gone for some white seats and had wording patterned out on at least the Govan. Maybe Govan (top tier) Stand (bottom tier) or Ibrox (top) Stadium (bottom). and probably "club deck" on the obvious.

This is the way football clubs get themselves in a mess, pay silly money for players but cant improve their squad until they are off the books due to the 25 man squad rule. Bellamy is the only cracking player from that last but he is other side of 30 now and will start to lose a bit of pace. Spurs are the next team who have a massive squad yet want to improve whic means releasing Keane, Defoe, Palacios etc first. Yet Redknapp wants to keep Crouch ahead of Keane and Defoe! mental!

Didnt read that Hutton was released by Spurs. That is their loss, whenever I watched them he played well in every game bar one. Sunderland were linked with a loan move for him in January so might be back in for him. Im not even going to think of the possibility of Hutton and Cuellar in the same team at Ibrox next season. Its probably more likely they will be at Villa together especially if we are not going to raise our offer for Cuellar to 2.5m. Not bothered about Danns, hadnt heard of him and dont think he is better than our current first choice midfield.

This upcoming season is a big one for a few of the younger players in the squad who have broken into the first team. Wondered which player(s) fellow bears are most looking forward to between: Jamie Ness Kyle Hutton Gregg Wylde John Fleck For me the first 3 were all very impressive when featured last season. Ness - made his mark with a wonder strike in the OF game but had some fine performances around that game. Hutton - I felt he could have played a lot more especially when Edu was giving us torture for 8 or 9 games. I personally feel he could be the pick of the bunch. Wylde - Has a lot in his locker on the left. Good pace and drive and not afraid to whip in a cross, just needs to get the crossing more accurate, and now he has to big targets to reach in Jelavic and Lafferty. Fleck - Been on the scene for few years now and bar his first few games he hasnt kicked on. If anything he has went backwards. He might get a new lease of freedom under McCoist. Hasnt helped he was played out of position. There are others like Shinnie, Loy, Little, McMillan and that kid Davie Weir but Ive barely seen them. Good things were being said about Hemmings last season also, so interesting to see if he is another option. Id certainly like to see him upfront ahead of the returning Beattie.

Good summary Danny. For the Cuellar comment I can only assume this is a misinterpretation and its more of a case of 'we wont use 3 mill of the budget on player' rather than Cuellar isnt worth 3 mill. Agree the Whittaker situation is bizarre except from a point of view where you need home grown players. We MIGHT struggle to get a better Scottish full back although id have Foster and broadfoot at RB before Whittaker. Before Broadfoots injury he was coming onto a good game and his performance at Old trafford last season was excellent. Im not worried about missing out on targets like Danns, Ive never heard of the guy. Im comparing that one to missing out on Eagles last year - and what has he done since?

The Rangers News possibly has ran its course. I used to love picking it up in the late 80s when it was in a newspaper format. Then in the early to mid 90s it was cracking in the Mag format but I stopped buying it around 95 / 96 and barely seen it since.

Im being greedy but I think we should splash out on both and we have our centre half pairing for the next 3 years. Imagine we dont sign them and end up desperately signing the likes of Zander Diamond!!?! Arsenal have just signed a young centre half from Charlton who is supposed to be another 'one for the future' plus they are looking at Cahill from Bolton and another so Bartley will be down the picking order unless Wenger fancies him at centre midfield but he wont get in the midfield yet with Wilshire, Song and Ramsey all ahead in the list.

Another point missed out is there are probably 1000s of fans going to the OF game who dont live in Glasgow so they will still be able to get their carry out. Gav, on one hand they may be trying to cut down on the trouble, but the trouble is nothing new and has been going on for decades. Its just been escalated in the media of late and its another chance for this so called government to implement plans to take away simple adult rights.

He's 6ft 2 with curly hair, his teeth are fcked but we dont care..... Get him signed!!

Now McGregor is worthy of being the highest paid player at the club. How Whittaker fits into that bracket Im not too sure.

I see Whittaker as a poor mans Fernando Ricksen. They played in similar roles over the park. Last season I cringed at half the stuff Whittaker done and would find it madness and poor management to make him one of the clubs top earners. Broadfoot would be my pick at RB ahead of him when fit. Id even be happy selling Whittaker and signing Foster back.