buster.

This is silly season for rumours/clickbait. Unless accompanied by real quotes (beware of journalists that make them up , eg. Boris Johnson) then it's not worth taking seriously.

Just as aside, Lewis Ferguson is another who was in the Rangers youth system.

Defenders: Michael Devlin (Aberdeen), Declan Gallagher (Motherwell), Scott McKenna (Aberdeen), Ryan Porteous (Hibernian), Stephen O'Donnell (Kilmarnock), Liam Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday), Greg Taylor (Celtic) Midfielders: Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Ryan Christie (Celtic), John Fleck (Sheffield United), Ryan Jack (Rangers), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Callum McGregor (Celtic), Kenny McLean (Norwich City), Lewis Morgan (Celtic), Graeme Shinnie (Derby County) ---------------- The difference between the level of player between the defence and the midfield is about 2 tiers of a league.

In the event of a three way tie, GD isn't the first criteria used to determine order. In your 1st scenario I think we'd actually go through In the second, we'd be out and Porto would simply need to win, margin not important. ------------------ https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/Regulations/uefaorg/Regulations/02/60/88/40/2608840_DOWNLOAD.pdf Article 16 Equality of points – group stage 16.01 If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied in the order given to determine their rankings: a. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; b. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; c. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; d. higher number of away goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; e. if, after having applied criteria a) to d), teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to d) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the remaining teams to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria f) to l) apply in the order given to the two or more teams still equal; f. superior goal difference in all group matches; g. higher number of goals scored in all group matches; h. higher number of away goals scored in all group matches; i. higher number of wins in all group matches; j. higher number of away wins in all group matches; k. lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points); l. higher club coefficient (see Annex D).

If he was to became the Finnish Boumsong then it would be good business IMO. If in a title race as is looking likely, I'd agree if you said Jack or Morelos.

With Ross Wilson now in place, it'll be interesting to see if we see a change in the way we go about our business. Although we may have to wait until the summer to get a better idea. I'm hoping for 4M up front for Grezda

Was just glancing through the odds and noticed that bet365 have us at 5/2 to beat Celtic over 90 minutes in the upcoming League Cup Final. Excellent value and odds that will almost certainly shorten in the coming weeks.

My post was from our club's interest in mind but IMO, the point holds at various levels, ie. to make it more difficult for relatively bigger clubs to hoover up talent from smaller clubs. More difficult would probably mean more expensive when it came to development fees although it could also be linked to squad numbers, rules about loaning players out, 'feeder clubs'. Football was always a mix between business and sport but the mix has skewed to extreme levels. In some respects, extreme capitalism has ruined football as a sport. Not so much the talent or skill that you can see at certain levels, but as with much of society, finance has disproportionately drifted to the top with the predictable fall-out. We could once look at Europe and genuinely think about winning the top prize. Today we have the European Conference League coming into view, a UEFA version of the Irn Bru Cup. Provincial clubs in Scotland could once genuinely compete with the Old Firm and win titles, not always but their times would come and go. IIRC it was the 80's when clubs retained all of their home games attendance receipts opposed to sharing them as per the current Cup competitions. Since that point, nada. Now while the sharing of home gate receipts will feel extremely unjust to many, the flip side to it was that the then football environment allowed us to genuinely compete at the very top level. That isn't coming back anytime soon but the rules and regulations around youth development should be looking to protect and encourage those who develop and not those who have the money.

I reckon the main reason that the central defenders are featuring so much in these MotM threads of late is the semi-settled and effective combination currently in possession of the jerseys. Hopefully it can stay that way next month. Mention in dispatches for Barisic, especially for that pass (assist) to Morelos. It's not the first time those two have combined in the same way, IIRC one of those inswinging long balls up the touchline and behind the defender paid dividends up in Aberdeen last season, in our 2-4 victory. Kamara gets my vote though. Made a a bad mistake early doors that wasn't punished but went on to be very tidy and fluid considering the surface and space available. Good to see another midfielder carry some of the weight yesterday.

If only, he had half a brain...

League games postponed because of League Cup semi-final and final were Home games. Game at Easter Road being on the Friday means we lose a possible midweek date and hence a game less than Celtic.

Very much so ! The previous two blocks were made up of 7 games each, the next is 10 games. It's not only volume, the difficulty scale raises significantly with League trips away to Aberdeen, Hibs, Motherwell and Celtic. Not forgetting a National Cup Final and the business end of the EL group. Sun 24/11/19 PRE Hamilton Acade… 13 : 15 Rangers More info Thu 28/11/19 UEL Feyenoord 18 : 55 Rangers More info Sun 01/12/19 PRE Rangers 16 : 00 Hearts More info Wed 04/12/19 PRE Aberdeen 20 : 45 Rangers More info Sun 08/12/19 LEC Rangers 16 : 00 Celtic More info Thu 12/12/19 UEL Rangers 21 : 00 Young Boys More info Sun 15/12/19 PRE Motherwell 13 : 00 Rangers More info Fri 20/12/19 PRE Hibernian 20 : 45 Rangers More info Thu 26/12/19 PRE Rangers 16 : 00 Kilmarnock More info Sun 29/12/19 PRE Celtic 13 : 30 Rangers So far so good but this up and coming block will be pivotal.

If they are able to hoover up the elite talent from most other clubs with fewer resources then it'll be more likely they'll have the younger players who are made of the right stuff to make the first team squad. An 18 year old Billy Gilmour is now making the Chelsea bench in EPL matches. - If he were still at Rangers, where do you think he would be in terms of breaking through to the first team ? - Have his 2 years development at Chelsea been significantly more constructive than they would have been in Glasgow ? If so, why ? Given the current expectations placed on the team and management relative to the challenge faced, is it realistic to expect a pathway to open up UNLESS we produce exceptional talent complete with the necessary strong mentality. -------- My take is that we have to win the title and get that monkey off our backs in the short term. Then hope that the current crop coming through do produce and the likes of Kelly , McPake, Kennedy etc. continue to improve to the point of joining the first team squad. IMO taking everything into consideration (including finances), the necessary timescale being we win the title this season (at a stretch the following season) and we start to get several youths into the first team squad for 20/21.

Bit like some of our games.....slow start but all right after a bit Same defensive line-up has got 4 consecutive clean sheets Sun 20/10/19 PRE Hearts 1 - 1 Rangers View events More info Thu 24/10/19 UEL Porto 1 - 1 Rangers View events More info Sun 27/10/19 PRE Rangers 2 - 1 Motherwell View events More info Wed 30/10/19 PRE Ross County 0 - 4 Rangers View events More info Sun 03/11/19 LEC Rangers 3 - 0 Hearts View events More info Thu 07/11/19 UEL Rangers 2 - 0 Porto View events More info Sun 10/11/19 PRE Livingston 0 - 2 Rangers

Would be nice to see that graphic repeated on the 29th of December. Well done lads !

We've sort of turned up but forgot our make-up. To be fair, beautiful fitbaw was never going to be on todays menu. Very glad to see the first go in and I think a previously struggling Aribo got a bit of confidence from the goal. Good to see Arfield play a big part in goal. To state the bleeding obvious,...a second goal would be good.

Great interview with Neil Alexander,.... thank's to all involved.

Opportunity for Aribo to continue the upturn in form and that he can cope with the physical nature of Livingston's game. Slightly surprised Kent starts but he has the International break to recover. I see Dykes is starting for the first time in 3 weeks so our central defenders should be issued with gum shields, if not motorcycle helmets.

Was a difficult question.............. Answer spanned several managers, from John Greig to Graeme Souness,...started in 1981 from when we won 10 European home games on the bounce until Borussia Mönchengladbach forced a draw in 1986. It was unusual in that it included five ties that we lost despite the home victory. 1981–82 Cup Winners' Cup 1R Dukla Prague 2–1 1982–83 UEFA Cup 1R Borussia Dortmund 2–0 2R 1. FC Köln 2–1 1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup 1R Valletta 10–0 2R Porto 2–1 1984–85 UEFA Cup 1R Bohemians 2–0 2R Internazionale 3–1 1985–86 UEFA Cup 1R Osasuna 1–0 1986–87 UEFA Cup 1R Ilves 4–0 2R Boavista 2–1 3R Borussia Mönchengladbach 1–1

Those days are long gone but I still have my old field beret as a keepsake. I'll bring it with me and give it to you in Gdansk next May.

Last 32: Man Utd (SG would love it) Last 16: Inter Milan (major scalp) Last 8: Zenit (Retribution now that we can score goals as well as defend) Semi: Celtic (It would be epic and them getting a run would mean Thurs/Sunday for them as well) Final: Arsenal (Tierney can emulate his heroes from Seville and pick-up a runners-up medal)

Can we just have the same result

It now comes down to Ross Wilson to organise this part of the football operation. I'd just note that quite a few development players from outwith the Scotland have been signed in recent times, so there is obviously some kind of infrastructure in place / implemented under Mark Allen.

It'd be interesting to list every incoming transfer over the past X years and find out about how the deal developed, ie. who first saw/scouted, who did due diligence, who did deal, who had final say, etc, etc. It's reported that Jonatan Johansson was the man to bring Alfredo to the attention of the club. I hope we've asked him to keep his eyes open regards the Finnish league and beyond.

Alfredo represents the type of business we need to do on a relatively regular basis, if we are to match then better Celtic on the pitch. They spend somewhere in the region of 9M on a forward who can do the business. We spend 1M on our main forward but is every bit as good as their 9M man. It's not so much the amount spent, it's about getting value.