Gribz

Had no idea he was there. I thought he faded after Newcastle.

Very true. So many seem to think because they are a top player in the SPL that they can do the same in other places. How many former OF players have done a Boumsong / Reyna and went downhill after leaving either Rangers or Celtic - lots! You just have to look at a list of some real class acts who have been successful in other leagues before and after the SPL. Laudrup, Gascoigne, De Boer, Gio, Arteta, Gough, Larsson, Di Canio, Lambert...to name a few.

And definatly better than Reyna.

Afraid i cant agree with that. I certainly wasnt 10 or 11 when he was there. He was an attack minded player so his game wasnt about tracking back and defending, thats what his team mates of tugay, Gio and ferguson were doing. Albertz was a fantastic passer of the ball also. When he first came to Ibrox WS started him off at LB and he was class there also. Remember the 3-1 NY OF game in 1997 when we won 3-1....he scored the first and set Bo Anderson up for the other 2. In the same season we beat Celtic 2-0 in the first OF game at Ibrox, his cross set up Gough for the first and Gazza for the late winner. Id probably say Albertz had as much assists as he did goals.

Dont see how McCann was criticised, i cant remember that at all. He was a great crosser of the ball, had pace and could beat a man. I thought he was under rated. Tugay probably didnt get a run in the team so much due to Ferguson, Albertz and Gio being banker starters - and rightly so. Albertz was entitled to a few bad games due being simply awesome and banging 15-20 goals in every season.

Gio was part of the best collective Rangers midfield Ive ever seen and probably ever likely to see. Yes we've had better individuals like Gascoigne and Laudrup but this list is frightning considering it was all there at the same time. Reyna Tugay Ferguson Albertz Gio McCann kanchelskis

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Ive always felt Brown has more talent but Thomson more professional. I think if Brown was a Rangers player he would have become far more mature under WS.

Are Middlesboro becoming the new Cardiff? If those 2 play each other next season it will be Former SPL XI v Former SPL XI. Im with a few others on this, if Thomson goes i dont see it being a huge loss other than its our squad nnumbers being depleated once more. If we could pick up 2.5m for him with 1 year left thats not bad. But for numbers, either 1 of Thomson or McCulloch has to stay.

If he ends up at Liverpool it is a terrible move for him especially when he could have got another 1 year experience with Champions League football. He has had Weir mentoring him all season and if he goes to Liverpool and makes a mistake all he will get is a pile of abuse from the gob of Carragher. Liverpool will struggle next season due to finances and back ground uncertainty. However Steve McMahon was on TV here last night saying his insiders at Anfield are saying something big will take place there over the summer - i.e. takeover. Which would mean they could be spending big on the team. Therefore will Wilson be near first choice!??

Should have been sacked 3 months ago. Nice guy, legend on the park but didnt know what he was doing this season at all. West Ham's squad on paper should be easily mid table and to struggle behind Wigan and Wolves is unacceptable. Hopefully Martin Jol gets the job although Bilic and Avram Grant are favourites with Sparky Hughes a contendor.

Was wanting Forest up aswell, they were brilliant earlier on this season when they beat West Brom 3-0 at the Hawthorns. But fair play to Blackpool, anyone who scores 4 at the city ground where they havent lost in 20 games is a job well done. I thought Leicester and forest were Wembley bound but it seems it could be Blackpool v Cardiff. The Championship is a great league. The joy of making the play offs only to go into despair about being knocked out.

I dont find this strange at all. Fair play to the St Mirren board for trying to better themselves. He had 10th, 11th, 10th, 11th place finishes in the last 4 years. Considering the standard of the lower half of the SPL (there isnt much between them) and Hamiliton, St johnstone were well above them then there is no reason for the St Mirren board not to think they could be higher in the league.

Yip agreed, was going to mention the last time we played 4-3-3 we got goals from everywhere albeit with better players. But its a system where if you put the right players in then chances will come from all over the place. WS wont share the 4-3-3 view though

The situation isnt looking too clever. And with a lack of full backs i wouldnt be disappointed in playing a back 3 domestically next season. If Bougherra stays then Bougie, Webster and Papac wouldnt be too bad with Weir and Broadfoot staying on as cover. However WS has unearthed 2 gems in Cuellar and Bougherra, IF and its a big IF we manage to get some sort of money together to bring someone in then I wouldnt bet against him finding another quality centre half somewhere.

Again Naismith was prefered to Novo Novo was excellent when he came on yesterday, his run for the 3rd goal was superb. It would be criminal if that was Novo's last game for us.

Disgrace of a decision to award them a penalty. However I dont think we should be conceding 3 goals at home to Motherwell anyway. They have had a bit of a freak week by scoring 9 and conceding 9 but we should still have won. However, the players already had their sun lotion on and it looked a bit like an end of season game for us but Motherwell were playing for a place in Europe which might explain the draw. Id guarantee if we needed to win that game it would have been a different story.

Lets see how Wilson does without a mentor next to him. Has he played any games without Weir this season?

Fully agree with all posts, Novo has been my fave player since Prso left and I also cant believe how under used he has been considering he plays every bit as good against Falkirk as he would against Fiorentina. I think he is under rated by WS. I dont fully believe the saying that impact players should start on the bench, they can make an impact from the first minute if they want to. Its only when the game is dying a bit when energetic players like Novo give a spark when coming off the bench. The OF game last week was made for him and his type of game that would have suited him from the off. And to be one of the low earners for over 5 years and not even complain about it shows he has his feet firmly on the ground. If he went to Middlesboro I think he would be a huge hit there.

We were awful first half and we barely got into their final 3rd until the goal. The long balls were cracking me up. Naismith was painful to watch, Ive never seen what he has to offer and dont even know if he has a preferred position but he shouldnt be a wide player when better options like Novo, Beasley, Fleck are available. Thought Thomson and Edu couldnt get into the game until periods in the second have when Edu seemed to push forward a bit. But Davis should have been in the centre from the start. And Id say we missed McCulloch playing centre mid, having a bigger physical pressance might have allowed more time on the ball to break. When you think of it it was 2 unlucky goals to concede, a wicked deflection for the first then a howler from Alexander for the 2nd. Kenny Miller was still good even though he looks like he is running on empty from a long season, very unlucky twice in the 2nd half. Thought Whittaker and S Smith struggled althought Smith did have a cracking tackle on Keane in the first half to prevent his shot. There was a few times when Whittaker was attempting solo's just outside his own box to beat his man - he got away with but thats a dangerous game.

Probably the best debate on here for a long time, good posts with no bickering. 8 months ago I would have seen both sides to the argument and probably went along with totti, Gisabeer and Gav IF we were in the position to make an improvement. I simply couldnt take anymore hidings in Europe and dodgy tactics. But what WS has put himself through for the club this season has been brilliant, admirable and he has gained more respect. After going out of Europe he turned it around, worked with no contract, no money and had bankers telling him to sell his players. There are a number of clubs around the UK in freefall with money problems and some with threat of relegation - Portsmouth and Hull are 2 examples but they collapsed even when taking a gamble on changing their boss. Crystal Palace are another and their manager legged it to the other side of London at the first chance (Typical Warnock). Yet what did WS do? He installed morale and confidence into the least talented Rangers team in over 2 decades to still romp the SPL! Nobody will deny we only have a handful of players who would be picked in a bigger league. As things stand we need to remain top of the SPL for another 2 seasons to bring the debt down but there can be no more Kanuas performances in Qualification. Its all about being patient and persevering until things take a turn off the pitch - yes the odd Saturday is going to be ugly with boring matches against St Mirren and Co but this is as much down to the poor standard of the SPL more than how bad our times are! There isnt a better man in place who will give us the chance of winning the SPL. We are not going to get anyone better like a Alex Ferguson, David Moyes or good Euro coach. At the same time there is no point going sideways and appointing a Billy Davies, another SPL manager (thats going backwards) or giving McCoist the job, because will they actually improve us?? And absolutely no way do we want to end up in Celtic's position by splashing cash on a supposed "footballing" manager and giving him money to spend only to pip Dundee Utd to 2nd place! There is a minimum of 10 million coming in from Champions League money, and if Celtic continue to play as good as they currently are then that CL money could almost double because they wont be in the group stages. Then we just hope for a kind draw! So Im hoping the players go off on a long relaxing break in the summer, come back fresh and do it again next season. There is only a few of them going to World Cup and those who are in South Africa probably wont go past the groups stages - no disrespect to Algeria or the USA.

IMO we won the league in December by giving teams a thumping left, right and centre and banged in goals for fun whilst played well. That gave us a platform of confidence and belief for the rest of the season and even let us have the odd blip in performance. Obviously winning the title in the last minute like 2003 and 2005 gives a extreme ecstatic feeling and they are great. But you cant have them every season. Plus I sometimes prefer to win it early, it shows we are the top team in the land by a distance. Added to the fact we get to go to Parkhead and rub it in their faces makes it brilliant ââ?¬â?? Great decision by the SPL to pencil in the last OF game after we had won it!

i think what today shows is Ally McCoist is far from being the right person to suceed WS. When AM picks the team there is fat too many cracks at the back.

So we either go to Parkhead as Champions or go there to win it on the their patch! Sounds good all round to me. :spl:

Agreed, he has always played well at his other clubs, he just hasnt had any luck at all at Ibrox. Id be very happy with a Bougherra and Webster partnership assuming Bougherra can be persuaded to stay.