Darthter

Any idea when the panel will issue a decision???

The thing that makes me laugh through all of this is that media/pundits are going on about the amount of speculation affecting DM etc.....yet not a SINGLE word has been said by RFC in regard to DM or any other potential manager - 100% of speculation has been drummed up by the media & pundits - the very folk who are complaining about it. I could understand it a bit more if RFC had approached Aberdeen 4 weeks ago, then dragged their heels, but as far as everyone knows, there has been no approach or even mention of DM. The truth is that the media now nothing about what is going on....relying on hushed whispers from sources that they can't reveal (most likely the tea lady overheard some office based person ie. wearing a tie, talking about someone called "Derek"). AS someone said earlier, I would love it if, DM's name was intentionally left out there as a total decoy, giving the board peace to talk to the real candidates. I actually have a wee feeling that we may be totally surprised with the appointment - might just be eternal optimism though. As for Ferguson as No.2 - no way. Total failure in his managerial career so far. Was absolutely loathed & useless @ Clyde.....why would he be ANY good as a 1st team coach for Rangers???

I actually agree with what your saying here.....and out of the 5 potential reason, none of them are based on Unions or religion. I would say the most probably is D.....

I never said that unionists or all Gers fans were part of the OO.....just that the OO influence has had an effect over the years......Remember the excitement years ago about orange strips - that wasn't in support of Holland Over the years the OO & Unionism have become associated with the club, but I would argue not through the clubs doing.

Based on the images in the article, the reporters description "could" hold true. However, when the incident is viewed from different angles, which more context to the stills, it completely falls apart. In the article, there is ZERO mention that Jack actually played the ball PRIOR to May's challenge and in fact Jack didn't actually make a challenge to get the ball...he simply passed it away.

I don't doubt that he is being treated differently....but on what grounds is the question.

In order to substantiate that, you would need to show that the current batch of Refs (main point of discussion in this thread), are Anti-Union & Anti-protestant. In the case of Ryan Jack, is he being targeted because of his Unionist or religious views, coz it didn't appear to be an issue when he was @ Aberdeen??? Do you honestly believe that the Ref's 1st thoughts are about religion, or nationalism, when deciding about a red car??? When you look at the wide picture in Scottish football, all clubs fans seem to be complaining about the poor standard of refereeing.....the general standard is terrible.

Maybe you can enlighten as to the exact historic links that the Club specifically has to the Union??? As far as I'm aware, the Club itself was not founded on ANY political, racial or national principals (unlike other clubs in Glasgow).....those are connections that have developed externally and then been associated with the club. Being loyal to the Monarch is a separate issue from Unionism, and one that I have no issue with at all.

Total mince!!!! I've been a life long Gers fan.....I'm also an avid supporter of an Independent Scotland. The Team/Club, do not promote any Unionist or Independent views to the public/support....they are a football club, not a political vehicle. The Club supports the Monarch, who has to remain politically independent, and would most likely remain the Head of State in an Independent Scotland. I do NOT support Rangers because of any Unionist support. I follow a Scottish club, playing in Scotland, under the Scottish football association in the Scottish league. If supporters want to bring politics & national identity into the mix, that's up to them. In or out of the Union I & many, many others will still follow Rangers. I believe the Unionist links/connections stem from the association with the Orange order, who firstly have no formal link to the club, and I (personally) believe is a grossly outdated organisation whose beliefs have no place in modern society.

Look at difference in foot travel between the 2nd & 3rd images. It is clear that May is travelling INTO Jack's position. you can see in the 3rd image that Jack has raised his arm in anticipation of the challenge, but is unable to counteract his momentum. May's movement occurs AFTER Jack has played the ball away (ie. Late). Essentially there is ONE challenge being made, and that is from May. If Jack's foot hadn't landed on May, it would have been a free kick to US!!!

so your judging the best candidate for Manager on the Bookies odds??? I only hope that the Board are not following your selection process. This is a MAJOR appointment for the club. The Board should be doing everything in it power to bring in the best possible candidate. Bringing in a lesser candidate in order to save a few ££'s is NOT the way forward. If Mourhino or Guardiola stated that they were interested in the job, would you advise the Board not to speak to them coz, A: the bookies odds were too long and B: we couldn't afford them anyway??? The answer would be No...you speak to them and see if a deal can be reached (one way or another).

I think these photos clearly back up the question: "Where is the challenge from Jack???" When Jack played the ball, May was a good 2-3 feet away....

We all know that a 3yr contract means absolutely nothing - I would put money on PC & MW both being on 3yr contracts....if ANY manager isn't achieving the desired results, then they will be canned. The 1st step should be finding the best possible replacement.....the 2nd step is finding out if he'll come to RFC....the final step is whether we can meet their personal & contractual demands/requirements. DK stated that funds would be available to the new manager....they need to ask themselves if it is worthwhile using some of those funds in order to get the best person - I don't think it should be negotiable. The Board have to pull out ALL the stops in order to get the best possible candidate in place. DK has also stated that they weren't overly impressed by any of the freely available managers that applied. That would infer that compensation will be required to lure someone away from a current position & that they are MAKING funds available to do this. The Board should also be stipulating that they expect the new boss to work with what he has, given the level of investment/spending. Depending on those results, further funds can be released. Any new appointment is a gamble, but given the Boards time scale, they have sought to reduce the odds. DM is somewhat of a known entity, and I'm sure he will cement us into a firm 2n place - how many fans would be happy with that?? I don't believe his ability to solidify 2nd place is the issue in question - most fans would agree that that should be easily achievable - but the ability to actually progress the team into a much more dominant force, is of a much greater concern - far too many believe that DM doesn't have the skill set to do that.

The 2 are only connect by the media & some fans, looking for agendas.....I'm pretty sure both the Scottish Govt & footballs clubs have more pressing things to deal with than each other.

Don't see how that has ANYTHING to do with it....we're dealing with Football here, not national politics. Overall, the standard of refereeing seems to be appalling....Other teams are regularly talking about dodgy decision (except one). I have seen Ceptic on the end of a few bad decision, but they are few & far between. I don't disagree that on the face of it, we tend to get more blatant decisions against us, but at the same time we are not closely following what is happening to the likes if ICT, Hearts, M/Well etc. I'm pretty sure they will be able to pull out some shocking examples as well. I think one thing that REALLY goes against the Refs is the fact that they are not publicly held accountable for their actions. Managers & players are required to hold press conferences (media deals..), and are given the opportunity to discuss different aspects of game & explain why they did things in a certain way. Ref's are not....they remain silent. Maybe if they held a press conference afterwards, it would give them the opportunity to explain how they saw certain incidents etc.

Where was Jack's "Challenge".....he freely played the ball, May arrived late & got caught with the natural follow-through of Jack's foot. The only challenge (IMHO) was the late one from May. I think it would be an interesting question for Ref supremo's to answer if Jacks card is appealed, then rescinded - 4 reds in 4 months, with 3 being rescinded. I saw a stat elsewhere saying that Ryan Jack had received something like 3 (or 4) reds in 7 years @ Aberdeen, and 4 in 4 months at Rangers - how can a player suddenly become soooo dirty all of a sudden???

I don't think there is much doubt that DM should be able to stabilise the team, and should guarantee 2nd place....but my concern has always been, does he have the ability to take the team forward??? Will he be able to improve the team to a point where they can win the league or do well in Europe??? I don't think he can, and as such would be a very short term appointment. Folk have mentioned that he has build a fairly good Don's team on a VERY limited budget....what happens when he DOES gets a decent budget though & is dealing with bigger egos in the dressing room. He's gonna be dealing with (at the moment) several International fringe players, who are pushing for World cup spots, and therefore want games to show Int. bosses their skills etc. Basically, he's gonna be working on a completely different level to what he's experienced so far - will he still be able to manage that??? We must aim higher if we want to improve. They should be looking to bring in the BEST manager possible (that's willing to come to Scotland). Get the best in, and sort the money side later.

I don't think ANY flag should be on the strip, but if there is to be one it should be the SCOTLAND flag....we are a Scottish team, playing in the Scottish league.

I would tend to agree with that...but it's only one game (so far). For me, McInnes didn't show anything on Wed night to get me excited about his appointment. He would do an decent job with us, but it's a short term fix to a long term problem (imho).

What DK ACTUALLY said was that there was not an obvious, outstanding candidate from the "readily available" managers ie. none of the out of work managers were suitable. Therefore they then had to look more at managers who are currently under contract, which is more complicated & takes longer. He talks about it : 4:50 in this video:

Considering that they have pretty much been guaranteed Euro football for the past 4 or 5 years, I don't think it's much of a gamble for them. Also given that they haven't exactly splashed too much cash over the years, means they should have built up a tidy wee fund to cover any years when not in Europe. I would have thought with the return of merchandise monies, the balance sheet will be begin to look a lot healthier without relying on Europe, but until that starts bringing in significant sums, it makes it difficult to budget.

I disagree, to a point. Aberdeen didn't defend badly last night, but when we attacked we did it at pace & in numbers. Tav & John were excellent down each flank, putting in a mixture of early or by-line crosses. The biggest problem for me is that our main striker was busy else where (most of the time), rather than being in the middle of the box to get on the end of those crosses. Pena is not a striker, so it is unfair to expect goals from him...even though he has scored more than Miller!!! Holt & Jack were very industrious in midfield, and McCrory also put in an excellent shift. If there is one player who should be an automatic pick, it's Alves.....he is a class player, and brings a massive amount of experience to the team.

Miller ALWAYS puts is a shift....but he was meant to be out main striker tonight - how many shots did he get on goal??? 2 goals from the RB, and one from Attacking midfield. From memory Miller had one 1/2 chance shot a goal, which he fluffed. For a Rangers striker, that ain't anywhere near good enough. It's great that he's dragging defenders around, but he needs to be scoring. When he's doing that, we rely on everyone else doing his MAIN job for him.

The main thing that tonight has shown is that we HAVE some decent quality, and we have a team capable of winning games...and winning well. The only thing lacking is consistency. Players were doing their jobs....I noted in an earlier comment that Miller was staying in a more forward area, which is where he should be. There was one particular bit when we were defending a set piece & Miller came back to defend - he was taking charge of the defensive line....that should be Alves's job - in that area of the pitch, Miller does as he's telt. As usual Miller worked his socks of, but little of note as a result of it. I would have liked to have seen Herrera brought on a lot earlier than he was. The game was effectively won, so why not bring the guy on & let him get some 1/2 decent game time?? Same goes for Hardy...why only give him the last 10 mins?? All in a very good performance, now they need to not just repeat on Sunday, but carry on with the same level of attitude, commitment & performance. If they do that, who know what might happen......

Worth noting as well that Miller is staying in a more forward position.....let the midfielders take care of that area.