Scott7

At least Hagi has a go. He’s compelled ‘keepers to make some decent saves.

Showing your age, old bean. Good name on his displays so far. Doesn’t look like a player. Now watch him rise to great heights. Nothing like a condemnation from me to see a career take off.

Correct. The stage 2 man could be Gerrard if his current players don’t let him down and Liverpool don’t intervene but more likely someone from the managerial stratosphere. Could Potter from the high flying Seagulls fill both roles?

I renewed my TV Receiver Licence under protest. Several protests, actually, one of which was the BBC Scotland fiasco with regard to Rangers. Here is what BBC Audience Services say. Rangers continue to operate an exceptional ban on one of our journalists which severely restricts our ability to report freely from Ibrox. We hope you’ll understand that, in order to maintain public trust in the impartiality and independence of our reporting, it is the BBC’s responsibility to determine who should report, on its behalf, on any particular story or organisation. It would be inappropriate for us to allow any other body or organisation to pick and choose which BBC reporters should or should or should not provide our news reports. We have offered to return to Ibrox to provide match commentaries and interviews etc. while we try to find a permanent solution to the overall dispute, but Rangers have said this is unacceptable. We continue to speak to the Club as we seek to find a mutually agreeable solution to the current impasse. I’m conflicted here. While I understand that others have different needs from the Broadcaster I personally don’t want any Sportscene/Sound people back at Ibrox because they will just carry on where they left off but it’s the principle that matters. I’ll be answering the letter to see if I can persuade them to reply more substantively and more accurately. (What “ban”?) In addition, they are silent on the Manchester United/Dundee United scenarios on which I invited comparison. One of the non Rangers matters I raised was the futility of the BBC Scotland Channel. They tell me it’s the most watched digital channel between 7pm and midnight. After BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV/STV, and Channels 4 and 5. What an achievement. I wonder who came sixth. ALBA?

This is brilliant stuff. There’s a book in it, surely. A good Rangers team. One tradesman, one mercurial talent and the rest high level performers. The Portuguese journo got it right about Greig. The only D’ited players I remember are McAlpine, of course, and Rolland.

Plucky Gunners get last second equaliser at home to mighty Crystal Palace for whom French Eddie scored again. Whose jaicket’s on the shooglier peg? Arteta’s or Solskjaer’s?

I was nearly persuaded until the last bit.

Lundstrum is winning MOTMs mostly on his own merits but to some extent the deficiencies of those around him are being revealed.

Understandable unless you’re John Greig. He used to come off the park at the final whistle, strip covered in mud but the man himself looking as if he could do another ninety still carrying the remainder.

There is no metric for its horribleness.

Unlikely. He’s done well enough so far but the importance of the title win last season perhaps puts enough of a gloss on his achievement to disguise the absence of any of the domestic cups on his sideboard. With the money at Newcastle’s disposal they must be looking for someone with longer experience and greater success. If the job is offered to Gerrard, should he take it? Failure anywhere would damage his main ambition to get the Liverpool job but you could argue that failure at Rangers is worse than failure at Newcastle. He should take the chance if it comes.

I like Wolves but the winner was a big deflection. Make you sick if you’re a Villan or if like compo and rousseau you predicted 2-2 draws.

I would have voted Roofe. He changed the goal threat when he came on but a sub can’t be motm unless he scores four in twenty minutes to overturn a three goal deficit. Having said that, the bloke I voted for didn’t play the full ninety.

Morelos is making an art of missing chances. My granny would have scored from Roofe’s pass and she wasn’t a good player. Alfie’s still pretty good at winning the clearance and holding the ball ‘til the support comes trotting up bringing the defence with them. It’s only when the defence is formed up and ready that anyone else starts looking for the pass which always has to be backwards to a static receiver.

Oh, yes. Unless you can defend like the Arsenal used to.

The Hearts’ goal had been coming for about twenty minutes. Rangers’ defenders need a tackling and clearance coach. The last part of every match has the team struggling to hold a lead. The Hearts’ goal wouldn’t have mattered if Rangers had scored from three chances in the same period - Roofe unlucky, Morelos wasteful.

I read a topic in another place about players who had played for both Rangers and Hearts, though, obviously, not at the same time. The list was quite long with Jardine, Macdonald and McCann prominent in most people’s memories. No one mentioned Eddie Rutherford outside left for Rangers in Iron Curtain title winning teams who went to Tynecastle, maybe reluctantly, in exchange for Colin Liddell who didn’t play all that many games and didn’t achieve very much. It seemed strange at the time. Maybe Mr Struth thought Colin was related to Billy Liddell the great Liverpool and Scotland left winger and hoped he had some of his immense talent. Do you mind on it, @compo? Were you bewildered like me?

I am anxious. But not as anxious as I was about Hibs which is strange because Hearts are better.

Double post. One list of nonsense is plenty.

Good to be back to normal and here are the normal inaccurate predictions. Watford 0-3 Liverpool Villa 1-2 Wolves Leicester 2-2 United City 3-0 Burnley Norwich 1-2 BHA So’ton 1-1 Leeds Brentford 2-2 Chelsea Everton 2-1 Hammers Mags 0-3 ‘Spurs Arsenal 2-1 Palace

Looks a bit like a semmit. The sort of thing Jock Shaw would wear under his real shirt.

A parcel of spalpeens in the nation.

That’s a pretty good Scotland XI. Cropley, at times, did resemble Cruyff.

Like Caldow, an instant success in the jersey. No settling in. No getting acclimatised. Just run onto the park and perform. Both had experience with Juniors. Caldow at Muirkirk and Scott at Linlithgow Rose, was it?

Cunning plan, compo. Stein knew where he was going and didn’t fancy Fallon as a ‘keeper so he was preparing the ground. Of course, the absolute peaks of Simpson’s career were his FA Cup medals with the Magpies. That and his clean sheet against Elgin City in a Scottish Cup tie.