Gribz

Was the release value decided, when he originally signed or did he get a new deal at some point with it changing then? If the latter then why was it set at such a low value for the best centre half since Gough?

The pressure is really on SDM now to spend. I cant blame Carlos one bit for moving to a top 6 Premier league club on 50k a week and jumping off our sinking ship - good luck to him.

I didnt know Christophe Berra was scottish. I cant believe Callum Davidson is back in the squad. Not sure if id have Whittaker near the squad. No Maloney or Hutton? McCullochs form has obviously been picked up on. Not at all sure about Barr, Morrison, Commons or Clarkson. Im glad its only a friendly as if this was a qualifier against the Dutch id be panicking.

This is a huge point and why I said the other day Celtic are far more organised than us, they know there likely XI whereas we are still at guess work. Its ok having 1 or 2 vertisile players which we have had for a few seasons but the unbalanced squad means our midfield will be make-shift until 2 new players are signed, but even then you still get the feeling WS will stick with his favourites who have no ability.

Get used to it mate. McLeish signed a few average run of mill SPL guys aswell except they were just younger. Its what Murray has turned Rangers into and the level we can buy is dropping and dropping. As someone else mentioned, we'll sign the likes of Quashie (who hasnt kicked a ball for 15 months) for the midfield and that will be our midfielder we crave.

Lol, eh answer is up already

How many centre halfs have we went through in the last few seasons including them we still have? The list is huge and shows a need for a settles partnership: Bougherra Weir Dailly Broadfoot Papac Webster Cuellar Ehiogu Boumsong J Rodreiguez Fan Fan Konterman Moore I Murray ..... ..... Im bound to have missed a few

Business wise if you look at it in a way to make money then of course its a good bit of business for the shareholders. If we could get players in on the cheap and sell them on for huge profits a year later then its a good way to gain additional revenue. But for me football is a different business (or should be) and Rangers shouldnt be a selling club and have to rely on this type of things. Carlos seemed a genuine guy who wore the shirt with pride unlike Boumsong or even Cousin. We desperately need to sign 2 midfielders. I am not holding my breath for any promising signings. Just last week after the management met with the fans (or them by invite) we were told 2 creative midfielders were the target. Yet we were also told Carlos wasnt for sale. The question then bares who do we realistically want to sign. Id like to see us get Davis plus the guy from PSV - Vayrynen, plus id be happy with Lovenkrands coming back. But if we did get these attack minded players id still expect a flat formation and these guys to be benchwarmers. Basically Im losing faith a bit in the management and Ive been one who has been backing them.

Agreed and you have to applaud them for this rather than playing 10 men behind the ball. Falkirk showed no fear at all against us andteams have been doing this for a few seasons now as they can obviously see the holes and gaps appearing. Shame our own board and management cant see it.

I hope we do get him. I dont fancy any of the current centre halfs to partner Bougherra. Webster still has something to prove but Weir is 38, Dailly and Broadfoot arent good enough.

What is this Bamboo club - is this a club where all players seem to go to??

Sorry Calscot, it looks like you will have to start listening to what Maineflyer has to say a bit more Having him miss the CL qualifiers was obvious. The 1st leg we could maybe believe but to miss the 2nd leg plus the Liverpool and Falkirk games with a minor injury (Coisty stated he was days away) when he needed match practice was obvious.

Someone at Ibrox this week obviously is comfortable but in this case its a few days later rather than weeks.

I dont know where to start except that im gutted and I can imagine it being the final straw for a lot of Bears simply for being lied to. If the club could just admit he was an option selling him its not as bad, but just 2 days later we sell him - no way has this deal just came out of the blue on 2 days. But this was staring us in the face as soon as we went out of europe - we HAD to raise some cash. I believe Carlos wanted to stay another year but this deal has been on the cards for a while and the CL was the defining factor. Why else have we been linked to so many defenders!!! I dont blame Carlos one bit for moving to Villa - Id want off a sinking ship if it was me. Good luck to him and he has joined a team who are going places. Id rather be going to Blackburn or Man City away than Hamilton or Kilmarnock away. The club is in a shambolic mess. Thats almost 18 million for Hutton and Cuellar and we dont have a midfield yet. Its just a shame we only got 7.8 million for CC. The calf injury was obviously a smoke screen. Here's Celtic signing a Barcelona youngster the other day yet we offload our best player and cant even raise funds for a guy who cant get in the Fulham team! What is going on a Rangers!!! Why arent we looking at picking up young promising players from bigger clubs??? Oops thats right we can only take SPL players.

Agreed Craig, I like the 4-5-1 when it can be turned into a 4-3-3 aswell. We just need the wide players. Novo is ideal on the right as he is also a striker then Lafferty or Beasley would be my choices on the left. Having a mobile goalscorer like Velicka in the middle could complete the trio. But I still think there could be a shout for a 3-5-2. We have a lack of full backs plus our options at RB are terrible. We prefer 5 in the midfield to dicate games and we also want 2 upfront - 3-5-2 would be the answer but again this HAS to be played correctly and unlike Smiths first reign when he had people all over the place.

Absolutely no way is he even a 'great' striker!!! Great strikers can control a ball and have a bit of movement about them - they know the basics. To compare Boyd in the same class as Henry, Rooney, Drogba and Torres (who are world class and great) is laughable.

Outwards Im afraid:

Glad I never bet. Man U were the better team. I was thinking Nani would come on leaps this season and he looked the park yesterday, he is even quicker than Ronaldo. Last season Nani was like Ronaldo 3 or 4 years ago - he has all the tricks but does too much and doesnt have the finished product. Sir Awex put all that together for Ronaldo and now he will do the same with Nani and he will be an awesome player this season. What can I say about Ryan Giggs though, he was superb throughout the game playing upfront. He has lost a yard or 2 of pace with age for the wing but he is still quick and he could easy do a job upfront for them this season now that Nani is coming good.

Agreed Ian but the sad thing is Id actually we rather went 4-5-1 until we get the midfield sorted out. Playing 4-4-2 with the current players is a nightmare and Falkirk passed us off the park on Saturday. Unless WS decides to put Thomson, Hemdani or Furman in the middle with Novo and Beasley/Lafferty on the wide roles then we are going to struggle with a 4-4-2.

I actually thought yesterday Davis will sign soon and Boyd or Cousin will be sold to fund it. Davis is a safe bet but if WS plays him on the right I will go off my head. He HAS to play in the centre. Id have still liked Vayrynen. I watched PSV play Everton off the park yesterday and he played quite well in the final 3rd of midfield.

The difference is Ian, we arent being paranoid, these decisions went blatent in there favour. As I mentioned Gersnet wont be afraid to admit if decisions go our way. Jon, all we have to do it just update this thread every week. Currently its: FOR'S: Rangers 0-1 Celtic AGAINSTS: Rangers 0-0 Celtic The only thing we need to remember is how it changed the outcome of the game i.e. gave 3 points, lost 1 point etc. Yesterday gave Celtic 2 points as they were on course for a draw.

A sticky would be good enough with two scores - 'for's' and 'against's'. Then we just look at the tally and how much points its cost at the end of the season.

People say they even themselves out over a season, i doubt that so this thread will confirm it. Im sure us lot on Gersnet are honest enough to admit when decisions will go Rangers way. For instance I admit Falkirk may have deserved a point yesterday the same as St Mirren deserved a draw today, but we still got the 3 points off our own back. So they are 1-0 up from the Refs.

Dirty bassa's. I watched the first half but decided to go for a run and come back and hope to see it still 0-0 at the end. Cant believe they are getting these things go there away again. Thats 1-0 on decisions to them already. I think we should keep count so when they get paranoid we have these points to throw back at them. Roll on Aug 31st

I'll put it up again in a few months and see if you believe it 3rd time