buster.

Is he the Cameroonian Uche Ikpeazu (style) or Steven Naismith (appearence record) ?

Our record against Portuguese clubs is better than you might think. It contrasts sharply to our record against their Iberian neighbours, the Spanish. I had a glance at the record yesterday and we won all of our first five Home games against Sporting '71, Porto '83, Boavista '86, Maritimo '04 and Porto '05. Since then, we have drawn the Ibrox encounter with Sporting both in '08 and 2011. Even better we got through in six out of those 7 ties, including the CL group of 2005. The only time they had success against us was back in 1983 when we were put out on Away goals. Ties have tended to be close. Three of the seven were settled on away goals and one on penalties. One of those away goal wins was the famous occasion en route to the ECWC success of 1972 when Willie Waddell had to show the referee the rule book. You could say that this is a historic record and it has nothing to do with tonight and although you'd be right to say that,...I've found these type of tendencies often do have relevance. When we got Danish opposition in the qualifying round this summer, a quick look at previous encounters showed three previous European ties against Danish teams and that we'd never been beaten (5 wins and 1 draw), Lyngby '92, Herfolge 2000 & Copenhagan in '03. What happened against Midtjylland (league leaders in a country with a higher co-efficient than Scotland) ? As you all know we won both home and away scoring 7 goals over the tie .....But against lowly Progres, how many away goals did we score ?...Same as two years ago, zero. We find it very difficult to beat Spanish teams but always (4 games) draw against Villareal....bla bla Rangers results in Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangers_F.C._in_European_football

The relevance is that in the negative what if scenario (equally valid to present the positive what if...) it gets to 10 then IMO it'd have potential to be a tipping point of sorts with finance very much the main driver. I agree regards continuing to rebuild and strengthen but when Dave King spoke of structured losses, it was for a limited period whilst we got the club into a position where it could produce/improve players and generate enough income so as to get onto an even keel. That limited period more or less tied in with the three to five year timescale for a title win...... forecast of Paul Murray in the spring of 2015. The structured nature of the losses (mostly debt converting to equity) and the development of our football operation outwith the first team (eg. youths and structure/Ross Wilson appt., etc.) show there is a plan and it's not simply all in or bust. However the plan with regards the finance requirements, can't be structured in that way indefinitely and it's my opinion that we'll need to win the title by next season or we'll see significant downsizing. Or in other words, if they get to 10, they'll probably continue to win it for a while because they'd be so far in front financially. At a football level, IMO we are in with a decent chance of winning it this season and if we were to do so it would release a pressure regards XIAR (it's there regardless of individual opinions) and help us to open up the pathway for the likes of Stephen Kelly and other youths that we need to start adding value. I'd add that if we could win the League Cup in December, it'd be a hugely positive step towards a positive what if.

Just read the Forbes article and whilst there are several parts of it that I take issue with / don't agree with, the final line about and I paraphrase...'winning or else' is along the same lines as my question about what happens if we don't stop 10IAR ? That isn't a mad question. As a football fan, I think we have a real chance of doing it this season with the squad and management/coaching team we currently have but looking at the situation from a financial POV, it's not something to be ignored.

We have some decent individual midfielders but Clarke is yet to put together a collective midfield that really works well for us. The ominous lack of International class options at centre forward and the central defence make it very difficult to see any relative success in the short to medium term.

Very much so. As I said earlier, it's not rocket science to see that most of what is going on is geared towards the first team stopping 9IAR and potentially 10IAR....and the main risk that I can see is fall-out if we weren't able to achieve it......It's something that isn't being talked about at a fan level for understandable reasons but from a business POV, it's more than just an outside possibility. The bookies would probably tell you that it's probable. Beyond that, the headline issues for me are: - Player trading - Retail - European group stage reliance / what modification of tournament set-up will mean (new 3rd trophy / Euro Conference) We need to normalise retail, start making substantial profits from player trading whilst having a team that can win the title and make European group stages more regularly than we ever have......A considerable challenge to say the least. I tend to think this is the season we have to win the title and IIRC it would fit exactly with what Paul Murray said back in April 2015, that it could take up to 5 years.

Maybe Ryan Jack really wants to go but I can't help but feel that we as a club should do the same with the player as part of managing his physical well-being. We desperately need Jack fit and healthy for the fixture list we have coming up.

Ryan Jack is pretty much taking over games by himself and IMO is now our most important player. If he's not there we are not the same team and we struggle to keep Alfredo well supplied. If I were a scout for the likes of Crystal Palace at Ibrox to watch Morelos, I'd go away thinking as much or more about Ryan Jack. If he were a Celtic player, we'd have already had the 20M headlines.

Historically, you could argue that we are today, more or less where DK was expecting back in early 2015 with perhaps, the dark shadow of SDI / Mr.MASH still being here an unexpected and costly ongoing negative. Where the potential issue or risk is, at least for me, is the coming years if we don't stop 10IAR, a probable downsizing and all that will come with it. We have a very important year or two ahead of us.

I think the risk regards our finances is being generally understated by our support and overstated by others, which is predictable. Partisan viewpoints are of limited value when it's objectivity that is really needed.

QR2 opponent still up in the air......... HT: Progres 0-1 Cork City edit. Just into 2nd half and it's now 0-2 (level on aggregate)

As Bearger points out, McPake is in the squad for tomorrow. Gerrard said he pulled McPake from the development game on Tuesday because he's in his plans for todays game. There won't be a better competitive game to give him 30 minutes. Would be great if he could make a real impression. #GoodEnough=OldEnough

I'm going to revise that to 46,305

I was hoping Steve 'hair island' McLaren would be brought back with John Carver as number two in an effort to bring back the fun

@der Berliner Don't know about a 4-4-2 but my eyes are telling me that your 20-40-10 is being refused by my cerebral processing plant.

It's difficult to know how teams will perform in summer qualifiers and some of the bigger teams (in terms of budget) can be caught relatively cold. Obviously that can also work against us but with SG&Co in charge, a feature has been getting up to speed quickly. If we do get to QR3 and get a 'big team' then bring it on. It's an opportunity for the players to show how good they really are. As for juggling group stage football and the League challenge. You can only go with whatever comes along and if we were to get to the EL groups, then it'd be a very welcome financial boost. IIRC financial projections have been made presuming that we qualify for European group stage football in 3 out of 5 years. The squad is a lot stronger now and better equipped to deal with various fronts. Group qualification may mean more quality being brought in. Not to mention that being seen regularly in the group stages brings prestige and other benefits. Here is a list of the League games that would immediately follow EL group fixtures in the event of us reaching that stage. St.Johnstone (A) Hamilton (H) Motherwell (H) Livingston (A) Hearts (H) Motherwell (A)

From an ex-Para who typed the OP to an ex-bootneck who wrote a book on the above....

Four years of being told that Tierney is a wonderful player who is attracting the attention of every big club out there. BUT... from what I can see there has only been ONE club who have actually made a bid. He is a decent player but if he was as good as the usual suspects say, he would have been the subject of REAL interest and many ACTUAL bids long before now. Could he be a candidate to be a youngster who suffers a degree of burn out and serious injury issues ?

If you can't establish yourself as a first team pick at Livingston, you aren't getting anywhere close to our first team, at least anytime soon. Hope he goes on to develop into a decent player.

Chelsea: How about Next ?

Interesting post, Gaffer !! I think our chances of winning the League will come down to how well our management team are able to use the squad they now have and adapt for the various challenges that will come our way. It might be a fine balance between adapting formations/players successfully and headlines about 'tinkering' but I think it's the way we should go.

It seems to be a feature of his game,...even when taking shots on goal. Last season, I remarked on how he tends to carefully pass the ball towards goal when shooting in what looks like studied care to hit the target. His goal against St.Josephs was a side foot volley that guided the ball towards goal rather than the more conventional whack. I'm not one for stats but his ratio of shots on target to shots must be very high.

Barjonas can fair give the baw a whack. Go to 3mins 30secs for a Barjonas piledriver whilst on loan at Raith....

All round lunacy...........