Gribz

Do we have a percentage sell on clause with Villa?

I have always thought wingers should be able to play either side. If they are on their natural side then its a case of hitting the touch line, but if on the other it is a case of cutting inside. Laudrup was a genius that he could do both hitting touch line and cutting in on BOTH wings. I wasnt surprised to see Beasley start. Tanandice is the sort of ground where we have done well with wingers going back to Huistra. Plus the guy has a world cup to think about which should play to our advantage.

Nacho for me aswell. But great to see Beasley playing well, these 2 can be the answer to a lot of problems for us. With Edu coming back things are looking good.

Do you not this these things come naturally though when players know what they are doing in correct positions? Players will get confident and all aspects of their game will improve.

Agreed, must be given another year. And you have hit the nail on the head by saying he can score in any game. he has done so against the worst SPL sides and in tough games away in Europe. What you see is what you get with Novo. He can also play wide left, right and upfront. Miller and Boyd are first pick at the moment but if they drop form then Novo and Lafferty upfront together would be an interesting combination.

2 games in a row playing 4-4-2 with players in natural positions and we beat St Johnstone 3-0 going on 6-0 then go to Tannadice and batter a supposed title contender! A proper midfield 4 of 2 central midfielders (although I still dont think McCulloch is at his best there, but Davis is), with 2 wide men and look at the difference!

Credit were credit is due and Brum have been great to win 5 on the trot. They have a tough few fixtures coming up but to be on 27 points at the moment gives them a mass of breathing space and with the bottom 4 or 5 teams being that bad Birmingham are probably safe already. Ferguson is playing well and I think 1 of the reasons is he is just getting on with his football rather than it all being about him. Im glad he is making that twat Paul Merson eat his words, about 2 months ago Merson said he cant see Brum staying up due to the poor signings like barry Ferguson, then on the weekend he retracted that and said he is playing superb.

Many guys would have been hunting for the nearest exit after him being put back as No.2, so I admire the way Alexander has went about this. IMO Alexander should have started the season as number 1 but now with hindsight WS was right to bring McGregor back in due to his superb form. Keepers is the one position we have been blessed with since I have watched Rangers. To hold onto these 2 would be great but I can see 1 of them moving on either January or the summer.

I thought the reason was purely because not getting auto promotion wasnt an option. I found it a bizarre appointment. Strachan would need time in that league to get used to it.

Cuellar is a more clever player than Bougherra IMO. I can see Bougherra being a bit like Boumsong and be rash in the EPL which would make quite a few errors. If he was good enough before he would have went played for a side better than Charlton and Sheff Wed. He is too good for the SPL but he isnt good enough for a top 6 EPL team.

Gibson made a silly knee jerk reation by sacking Southgate. They were 3rd and a few points behind Newcastle with Southgate. That took the wind out the sails and Strachan needs time to get his team in. They will have a big fight if they are to get in the playoffs as Leicester and Notts Forest are flying at the moment.

Great win for Arsenal, they were awful in the 1st half and Wenger gave them a bit of a Sir Alex style talk at half time which made the difference. They still have a game in hand against bolton at home which should be a banker 3 points which really has them in a nice position so they are well in with a shout, they just need to stop dropping silly points. They have Burnley away on Wed and thats the sort of game they could lose or draw. I still think Wenger needs a top keeper, and he would be sensible to give Sol Campbell a 5 month deal in January as cover at centre half. As for Liverpool, they will be lucky to finish 6th this season. Villa are by far a better side and Man City dont lose as many games as Liverpool.

Agreed. I dont think he is near a world class manager but I dont think he is poor. Id say he has a typical Scottish style and opts for a 'safety first' or 'no lose' mentality first which can be quite depressing when RFC should be wiping the floor with at least 8 SPL teams. He can get it right in certain games then comes out with some baffling choices. He passed step 1 back in 2007 by making the team hard to beat again and bringing back some steel and pride, that was job done. He then had to advance that to the next stage by making us challendge for the title and winning domestic trophies - job done albeit it in some bizarre fashion in odd games. Next was to advance that and make us the top side again and do something in Europe but this is where he has went backwards and we are a worse side this season than the last 2 years. With hindsight maybe people think he should have left with his head held high last season with the title in the bag, but when you are in WS shoes and to think that his Rangers days would be over again - that would be tough to take for someone like him so I cant blame him to have desire to stay on, I just wish he would get a few more basics right.

I see what your saying but would look at the other side of the coin on a few points. WS brought his own team in around 91-92 by signing Goram, Robertson, McCall, Mikhailichencko to name a few and the following year was his team that was 1 goal away from the CL final - there was no luck there he just got it right that season and showed no fear. Celtic were dire until 1994 but in the 95-96 season Celtic went the full season only losing 1 league game yet we still won the league. I dont agree with the PLG comment as I give credit to WS for steadying the ship. This was right after he had done the same for Scotland after Vogts leaving the national team in a mess, so to say he was lucky twice doesnt wash for me.

All the best with this Nithsdale and I hope you dont stop until you have won this case. This bit is laughable: Do DUFC do stadium tours (not there is much to see)? If thats the case then surely its 12 quid for entry to the ground?

Agreed with most of Dannys comments, I'll add to the same players: Lafferty: Strange one as he seemed to play very well with N Ireland recently until an injury. WS isnt doing him favours playing him wide. He just cant play that role at all and makes him look nothing like a footballer. Needs to firstly shake off all injuries, get match fit then have a run of games upfront through the middle. Thomson: Agreed with Thomson. Ive never seen the fasination about him especially about being captain. I thought he was a decent holding midfielder who can put in a good tackle here and there but he still has lots of improving to do. I suppose its amazing how many fans see different things from different players but thats what makes it so good. But unless he up's his game by 5 fold then Edu and Mendes should walk back in to the midfield. Miller: Have to say Im a fan of KM. I like his work rate and pace and he is probably a good touch away from being a proper good striker and maybe needs to do a bit of work on his finishing. He has been hot and cold this season but when on form he has taken his goals away well. Davis: Same boat as Lafferty for me - being played out of position hampers him. There was one game last year away to Inverness where he started the game poorly on the right, but when Burke came on to play wider than him he moved inside of a midfield 5 and looked the part. No doubt he has quality and he maybe suffering from playing with McCulloch and Thomson in midfield. Bougherra: For me he just wants a move. Shame, as he will be yet another who leaves only to regret it as he wont find his feet so easily at a big club IMO. Still our best player at the moment and thought he did very well at Falkirk last weekend. Id like to see him play midfield or RB to give us an attacking sense. Weir: Should be being used sparingly this season as it could affect him and the defence later on in the season. Been a breath of fresh air since signing but we should be looking at a long term partnership. Naismith: Worse than Thomson for me. Ive never seen anything of this guy that suggests he is capable for playing for Rangers. I dont even know what his best position is (if he has one). Id rather see Lee McCulloch move to his natural striker position than play Naismith. Rothen: Makes Capucho look a success. BUT I give some foreign players the benefit of the doubt that maybe their style of play with techinical ability isnt suited to the SPL. Id say Mendes gets hampered by that. I also think some players should be praised a bit rather than just looking on the doom and gloom. McGregor: Was fortunate to be first pick at the start of the season but has proved himself as Scotlands top stopper. Would be able to walk into the EPL IMO. They say keepers win you points over a season - non more so that at Falkirk last week where he had 2 terrific stops and the 2nd led to our 2nd goal. Wilson: Came in and looked like he has played over 50 games for Rangers. Dont want to put too much praise or pressure on the lad but certainly a shining light at Ibrox at the moment. Boyd: As Boyd's biggest critic Ive been impressed by him lately albeit against poorer opposition. I just hope its not a repeat of Ricksen and Lovenkrands upping their game when contracts are needing re-newed, but I cant see it as Boyd is too much of a Rangers man - I just think he is maturing. His 2 finishes last week were clinical even though he didnt do that much else in the game. Needs to keep it up though and he still wouldnt be my first pick against tougher opposition, but against bread and butter SPL teams like Falkirk, St Johnstone, Kilmarnock etc he must start.

It just makes you wonder what situation we would be in "if" our current or previous manager had got the basic decision right of playing players in the proper positions. I think there is a laid back mentality somewhere at the club stretching from players to management that thinks because We are Rangers then the hard work doesnt have to go in as much and we just have to win a 2 team league. If we got 20% more out of every player fitness wise id say the imnprovement would be huge. I still think we have decent players and a good squad that just need coached and set out properly.

Id say he did the same with Scotland - did well with what Walter had set up. Calscot mentioned above that he thought McLeish went to Rangers to soon, I always thought that about Eck for Scotland, it was never going to be long term and he was still developing as a manager.

Yip agreed. And there is no doubt we had better players and squad than those teams, it was purely down to some baffling WS decisions in Europe. Craig Moore was a regular midfielder those days with Alex Cleland playing as a right midfielder - says it all. The only year WS got is right was in 92-93 with a solid proper 4-4-2 with everyone in their right positions and we were 1 goal away from the Champions League final.

Linked with a move to Man U in January to solve the defence crisis. Would be a bit of a shocker considering he is training with Arsenal at the moment.!

Id say Everton fans have higher ambitions than Birmingham fans especially 10 years ago when WS was there. Lets see how the Brum fans are once McLeish gets 20-40 Million to spend. if he isnt a top 10 club regularly they will be on his back. But fair play to Eck so far this season, he has turned them around and got lee Bowyer playing like he used to at Leeds.

Thats the point i was going to make. If you move to a different stadium then renaming isnt such an issue, but changing the name of a current ground doesnt go down well with fans and they revert to the previous name anyway. Its a commercial thing so they can call it what they like if it brings in money, but Ibrox will always be Ibrox until its brought down.

Complete failure this year. We cant blame bad luck although we did have a little bit of that in 1 of our home games. But going into the group everyone was optimistic about finishing in the top 2, we fancied our chances of coming runners up to Seville. We were saying we were due a bit of luck following the group of death 2 years ago. We ended up performing much worse this year in 1 of the weaker groups. To not even have a chance of a 3rd place finish going into the last game is unacceptable with this standard of group. This has been as bad as any CL season under WS. WS has made some baffling decisions again and it lies with him. Ibrox should be a fortress yet even SPL teams are coming there having a go at us in the last 2 seasons.

Completing a contract then not having it renewed is different to the sack.

Bit of a confusing one. He is out of contract next month so why would he be sacked? Wouldnt they just say they arent renewing the contract?