Thinker

Geez, you can't win can you? Criticise 12-12-18 and you're resistant to change; Offer an alternative and you're muddying the waters. IMHO, 14-14-14 isn't much better - but is the number of teams in each division really the big issue? I'd say the main thing needing tackled is the re-merging of the SPL back into the SFL so that TV / sponsorship money reaches all 42 teams. Tinkering with the divisions is a secondary problem that can be tackled any time. When you think about it, the only possible reason for pushing through league reorganization this season is the current position of Rangers. The authorities either want to bump us up the divisions to appease TV, or (spitefully) make sure it's us that misses out on a promotion rather than any other club. I think we all suspect the latter, but I've heard non-Rangers say they're convinced the head honchos want us in Div2 next season. Time will tell.

I can easily see 8 teams voting against the plan. Why would the 8 Div2 clubs who would go into the new merged bottom division opt for 2 games against us next season when they would otherwise have had 4? And, just like us, they'd be dumped into the bottom flight playing against lower quality opposition.

There has to be some point to winning Div3. The obvious solution would be to give the Div3 Champions (whomsoever that might be ) a play-off place. If we can get through play-offs against the 3rd, 4th and 5th placed Div2 sides (for example) no one could claim we lack "sporting merit"

I hope not! I thought we just agreed not to re-challenge the embargo - but I might be wrong.

Clearly they shouldn't go anywhere near the titles, but as others have said - we're not dealing with logical people here. It ought to be cut-and-dried. EBTs are loans. They're not contractual. The anti-Rangers out there may try to claim they're "contractual payments masquerading as loans" but that doesn't hold water in in any meaningful legal way, Legally they're loans, and loans don't have to be declared under Scottish football's player registration rules. I have a feeling they'll come out with some crap about the spirit as opposed to the letter of their rules being broken. Then we'll have to take them to court where the letter of the law is everything - like we did with the transfer embargo - and see what the repurcussions are.

I think his worth to us depends on how he's responded to the set-backs in his career. He's worth a look but definitely needs to be carefully assessed first. Prior to his move south I wasn't convinced he'd be good for the team. He came across as being too big for his boots and I felt he could have turned out to be a disruptive influence - more trouble than he was worth. I'd have thought being taken down a peg or two in England would be good for him - could straighten him out as a professional - but it might have had a more negative psychological effect. Maybe it's put too much of a dent in his confidence. That was my take on him - maybe I misjudged the guy.

I think he was going to roll out the "rangersitis" line that he's used a few times but got side-tracked.

Not sure what that's meant to mean - does it simply indicate we're in the clear financially, or does the reference to newco have any negative implications?

Wel... almost certainly not. Every game we take the field in Div3 I expect a victory. But is it realisitic to expect what has been so far an extremly inconsitant team to win 23 games on the bounce? I won't be putting any money on it, put it that way.

Has it ever been satisfactorily explained why HMRC let CW run up such a massive unpaid tax bill? Considering every negative detail of the BTC almost instantaneously found its way into the media through their leaky "confidentiality" sytem, they managed to keep the unpaid PAYE and NI under their hat for a hell of a long time. Had it come to light as quickly as Hearts' debt, something could have been done about it and nobody would be able to wheel out the excuse/smokescreen that "Whyte bankrupted Rangers" to cover HMRC's misdeeds.

Yeah, it would be tempting to write something like: "You see what we're dealing with here!?" But sadly it isn't. If all the anti-rangers propoganda merchants were as transparent as this guy we'd easily be able to debunk them in front of a neutral audience. Unfortunately we're up against Machievellian businessmen, lawyers, journalists and the like. :O/

Got to agree regarding this article of Leggo's. Seems like he's deliberately trolling. Having said that, I hope Tommo is paying attention to the fact that Leggat's radio slot got pulled due to Timmy's ire. Threatening behaviour?

Doing our own stewarding?

There wouldn't be the same impact. They'd fill their sty-dium if they played us, and they're not short of money anyway.

Probably the issue that caused me most concern about Green was the TUPE fiasco. It's a system that's supposed to protect the rights of the employee, so when he claimed that players would be in breach of contract if they didn't transfer as he wanted, he was way off the mark. Badly advised, maybe.

"if true" being the most importatnt part of that sentence. Aluko's tweet indicates he doesn't seem to be aware of what's happening.

It would be moronically stupid for the real Brown to write that... Are you sure it's a spoof?

I don't think the SFL's 16-10-16 proposal is particularly well thought out. Like you, it's having Longmuir in charge that I find appealing. If they merge the governing bodies, then that would be a start. And if they use their heads they can use the 12-12-18 proposal to everyone's advantage: To get a second flight of 12 would clearly require 2 extra promotions via the play-offs. Since Div2 and Div3 are set to be merged (as it stands) there's no real benefit to winning Div3 - effectively all the teams will be promoted. Therefore, it would make sense for the Div3 Champions to get a place in the play-offs to enter the second flight. If this were to happen, in just over a year we could be going into the "play-off 8", having had an embargo-free winter transfer window. That would be a solution everyone could accept, IMO.

Victim of a "witch hunt"! To quote Bart Simpson "The ironing is delicious".

That's the real head-scratcher. I've heard it suggested that it'll open the door for HMRC to have a go at some of the English premier league clubs. I wonder if they'll be threatened with the stripping of any trophies won during the periods under investigation...

I guess that puts us back into the quantum state of guilt/innocence that everyone outside Rangers likes to call "as-good-as-guilty". Or maybe they've learned their lesson this time...

I really miss his contributions - they were always interesting, amusing, and extremely well written. I could be wrong, but I think his disappearance co-incided with a time when there were a couple of politically charged threads dominating the board. Going by some of his previous posts, it seems like the sort of thing that would have turned him off the forum. Maybe we could start an e-petition to get Andy back on gersnet?

Barcelona altruistic? They and Real Madrid regularly screw over the rest of the Primera Liga teams.

What an absolutely brilliant piece of writing! It deserves to be published for the wider audience. You should send it in to the letters pages of some of the major papers.

Or this... [video=youtube;GJQ-ZircSO0] Best. Themetune. Ever.