buster.

If you declare that only those who think in a certain political way can be considered as Real Rangers supporters, guess what happens...

I think it fair to say that the current level of general hatred towards Rangers has never been greater (at least in my memory). It's a spiders web that IMO has never been wider,... some are obvious, even traditional, others are relatively new in their level of bitterness, etc. You have to ask why and it's not one specific answer. It's a complex answer where our own actions or lack of them play a part. Confrontation is a part of life but the cliches, boxing clever and picking your battles come to mind. I've stated on several occasions that generally, we don't do politics very well and we have tended to go where the opposition have either guided us towards or have been comfortable with.

The confrontational approach on so many different levels won't have a happy ending. --------------------------------------------------- That has very much included the significant and damaging confrontation points within our support over the past decade and more.

Yes, and the new system hasn't yet been properly tested. The next two games will provide that.

At a general but connected tangent... At a football club level, when Paul Murray used the term "building bridges" he was roundly lambasted and ridiculed from what I could see of the online Rangers support. I said at the time (2015 IIRC) that broadly and looking to the medium to long term, he was right. However difficult to stomach for some, we should have set about working on those divides that were surmountable. The confrontational approach on so many different levels won't have a happy ending.

IIRC he's contracted until 2022. I think the key is if he has vastly improved his ball retention during his season on loan. If he hasn't, then I don't think SG will consider him for the first team. If that were to be the case then it'd be a choice between a sale or another loan. Given finances and the need for creating a transfer budget, it'd probably be a sale. Here's hoping he shows up well in pre-season because there is a Stuart McCallish aspect to Docherty that a squad can always do with.

Getting business done early can't be easy when you don't know if you are going to get European group stage cash or not. You can add the Morelos situation and you are looking at somewhere around 20M that might come in, or not. The obvious way forward would be to simply ignore the what if's until they were to happen, or not. Hence the budget will be limited but the important thing is spending what you have well and building a team, not accumulating individuals with X or Y problem. IMO Kamara, Hastie, Jones are good value additions. I'm not keen on Stewart but at least he won't be burdened by huge expectation and anything he offers will almost feel like a bonus. I'd be curious to know if SG would prefer to keep or move Morelos on. My hunch is that when he was given the latest extension, the idea was to try and keep him for another season (unless huge offer came in) but that the latest red card has made SG doubt the wisdom of so doing and business will be done for a lesser than huge fee.

It's more about which way SG wants to set-up. If it's to continue as per the last few games and Defoe is fit then Defoe starts.

Thinking about it,...another possibility is a loan deal to a Scottish top flight club. eg. 6 month / can't play against us / we get a better idea of how much he has come on in relation to SPFL.

Fair enough Pete but that isn't really the point (perhaps I should have used debatable offside). The point being they didn't even mention it. In this case, a decision that determines goal or no goal opposed to what they did talk about, which was two penalties. To be complete they did harp on about second yellow (red) to Considine, apparently it wasn't.... and Defoe's clash with Keeper which surprisingly Mr.Bio Mechanic judged not to be worthy of a citacion. Given that a rumour I heard on ra grapevine alleged that Claire Whyte was actually Michael Stewart in drag , that probably means JD is ok for the Hibs game, hamstring permitting.

Sportsound Podcast from Monday night show Last week they simply omitted to talk about our win in Edinburgh and the new approach from SG&Co. This week Our performance level : not mentioned Two penalty decisions : Main focus Incorrect Offside : not mentioned #editorial_Joke

The sheep will have enjoyed their two Cup wins against us in Glasgow this season in a relatively similar way to which we enjoyed that UEFA Cup run in 2008. The other similarity being it most probably won't ever get that good again.

TBF, you teed up the obesity gag very well

In recent years the CL KO stage has thrown up some great games which is in stark contrast to the mundane fair it serves up in the Autumn. If anything, it will give further encouragement to those who want to make the CL into Elite clubs membership only affair....although the fact that Ajax are still involved helps the case of the provincials. Two really interesting ties. Liverpool lost all 3 away games in the CL group but have only lost 1 away game in the League, to Man City. However they won both away games in the KO stages and scored 7 goals at Bayern Munich and Porto. The last time Barca lost at home in the CL was May 2013 and are unbeaten in 30 odd.

Todays reality is that players from the EPL will tend to be veteran Bosmans or on loan.

This closed doors business is a sad state of affairs.

#OCD ------------------ IMO it's not so much that they raise their game but more we too often haven't been creative or good enough to get by predictable tactics. The biggest positive from Sunday for me was that the management team found a way. That said, we didn't score in open play and they were missing players that previously helped moved them up the pitch of occasion. We need to follow that up and be the first team to beat Hibs under their new manager.

Even if he were sold, it would probably be to an English team. Scottish provincial sides don't have that kind of money and the only way I could see it happening would be if it were part of a deal that meant a player coming to us.

Well done to him That is some going for a player on loan and must surely indicate a good attitude on and off the park,....... on top of the goalscoring.

It's Shinnie, McGinn and GMS who have tended to be their main players to carry the ball forward. Yesterday was their Sadiq moment in terms of availability.

I think you'd have to factor in the media environment of the mid 80's compared to now. That said, my point was more related to pragmatic management style.

Go listen to the pod

Can't help but feel had Walter Smith been a manager of say Dundee United (not coach) that we could have said similar about him.

Thing about Soapy is that he does have some potential to become a decent ball playing centre back but he is still at the stage of making too many mistakes in big games....What that means in a Rangers shirt is failure and at best, the bench. We need a central defensive partnership that is primarily solid. This season we have conceded 25 league goals in 35 matches with a +53 GD. Last season we conceded 50 league goals in 38 matches with a +26 GD Goldson has been ok to decent and is probably in the managers thoughts to continue his starting place, it's a matter of who to put beside him. We need better than Souttar currently is and CH is a position where we need tried and tested starters. IMO Katic is good enough to be one of the two back-ups but we need a bit of quality to slot in beside Goldson.

That generation of players were probably closer to the supporter and the empathy that underpins opinions of those individuals had real substance.