buster.

Yes, priority should be given to developing our own and loan signings should only be considered when clearly better than what we have and/or are a better fit. Hopefully we will have more talented players coming through in the coming years and it lessens the need for taking on loans.

I think every effort should be made to get both boys and girls to play football (or any other sport for that matter) and that shouldn't be for what are essentially businesses (football clubs) to do. Clubs play their part in the development of 'elite prospects' (mens) in mutual interest with SFA but the government and the sports governing bodies should be generally encouraging sporting activity and providing places where everyone can engage in it. At a level such as where Rangers Ladies play, then RIFC could encourage and modestly provide, eg. kit, training space or whatever but not directly fund competitive ambitions IMO.

Wrt to McCoist/past regimes I doubt that there was a coherent 'plan' in place on either the football side or the board side A sort of negative double whammy.

Scottish womens football may be an emerging participative sport and if it is then great. However SWF will not be an emerging market in terms of making money...... edit ........at least not for football clubs.

If self-financing/sustainable then it makes sense but that would probably mean limited ambtions. Limited ambitions on a womens football level would make sense for me as I envisage taking part as being enough. However I'm sure the Ladies will have competitive ambitions which would need funding. This is where I don't think it would work wrt RIFC who need to channel scarce resources to the mens game. If Glasgow City Ladies can be successful without an apparent parent senior football club, then I see no reason why Rangers Ladies couldn't become in the main, independent from RIFC with perhaps occasional links/provison of X or Y. --------------- Regard the BBC coverage They seemed to take a decision to promote/basically force feed their viewers with womens football coverage whether they liked it or not. This didn't relate to a sudden increased interest in the game but was more a decision based on political correctness/promotion. Prior to that they had decided to cover 'foreign football' a lot more. However this decision had more of a valid representative reason behind it based on actual trends.

Fair enough --------------------------------- I have went on about the infastructure so much over the past months that I hardly touched upon it in that post.... but that is the important aspect of answer#10 and one where the board deserve an awful lot of credit.

Infrastructure is hugely important and it is certainly now being treated accordingly. This may not be popular or PC but unless self-financing / sustainable, I'd drop the Ladies team from RIFC responsibility. They could set-up independently and reach the level they reach but at the end of the day, very few are interested and IMO it's next to unwatchable for more than 10 minutes.

Club executives are responsible for finalising agreements and signing contracts but a manager will have a financial budget to work within and will liase with executives regards player 'targets' and when applicable, during negotiations with club/player regards fee/salary and how it fits with overall plan (if there is one).

I'd imagine his Well Being will be 'off the radar'.

Hodgson was still experimenting and took risks coming into the tournament, eg. bringing only one wide player and loads of centre forwards (said this weeks ago) so when you have to break a tight defence down he is more or less forced to go with Sterling. It wasn't just personel, it was shape and forcing Rooney into the side. Although tbf, Rooney didn't do badly in the midfield over the piece. With all the force-fitting and changing of players, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a bit of a disconnect/tension that eventually affected the group on-field when in adversity. This leading to what was a pathetic team effort last night. All that aside, England aren't as good as they think they are and despite their bi-annual embarrassment, the arrogance and unrealistic expectation levels with which they every tournament always returns 2 years down the line.

England in shock, maybe but they simply aren't as good as they think they are. Not in the present or historically Since 1966 this is how the trophies have been divided WC Brazil 70, 94, 02 (W).Germany 74, 90, 14 Argentina 78, 86 Italy 82, 06 France 98 Spain 10 EC Italy 68 Germany 72, 80, 96 Czechoslovakia 76 France 84, 00 Holland 88 Denmark 92 Greece 04 Spain 08,12 Now the beaten finalists WC Italy 70, 94 Holland 74, 78, 10 Germany 82, 86, 02 Argentina 90, 14 Brazil 98 France 06 EC Yugoslavia 68 USSR 72, 88 Germany 76, 92, 08 Belguim 80 Spain 84 Rep.Czech 96 Italy 00, 12 Portugal 04 Number of Finals for European nations since 1966 (both WC and EC) Germany 12 Italy 7 Spain 4 France 4 Holland 4 USSR 2 Czech 2 Belguim 1 Portugal 1 Denmark 1 Greece 1 Yugoslavia 1

"So much effort being put into posts that so few will read." Churchill

England 1-2 Iceland Comedy Gold

Rousseau: Changed Pred for England game Glad Italy got that second goal The Italian tournament side has arrived and the Spanish era is well and truly over.

Lee Hodson Snipped from his wiki page "Following two separate injuries to (Watford) club captain Jay DeMerit early in the 2009–10 season, Adrian Mariappa moved to central defence, and Hodson started to play regularly in the Championship at right back" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Hodson

8 groups 12 qualify (ie. 4 best 2nd placed sides) 12 + 4 (teams in Europe) = 16 for next round

Fine, I'll change a prediction BEFORE a game whilst you can keep looking for non-existant points AFTER it. ....

I think all tables throughout the prediction threads update to the latest scores, so nae luck

Rousseau Changed Pred for tonight

I'm a nobody on a messageboard but I think this is one issue that could be left out of the ongoing series of Q&A. The general position was already known, people have their opinions on it and it's up to AMcC, if/when he wants to attend Ibrox.

Not watching the game but a glance at the teams and I see that Coman is on the bench. He might be the player that gets in behind a tired Irish defence in the second half.

Just had a butchers and it seems set up nicely for those in between you and me ! Very early goals have a habit of being the only goal but it's a longtime to have the French battering on the door.

Poland are a difficult side to beat. Since November 2013, they have been beaten only 3 times in 28 matches, by Germany, the Netherlands and.... Scotland The loss to Scotland was a friendly in Poland and the two group games in qualifying were draws. The Scotland win came in Strachan's 'honeymoon period' where he actually seemed to be taking us forward but it seemed to end half way through the qualifying process after the win against Ireland. Poland against Portugal promises little in terms of entertainment.

The authorities have tried to address a number of issues in one fell swoop. - format of League Cup (+ sponser) - Summer football - Winter break But it seems like a half hearted, desperate, marketing push in several directions that doesn't really solve any problems. Or rather offers new things and throws up different problems. eg. As MW has said, the winter break of 3 weeks is of little benefit as far as he is concerned and brings up a similar situation as to the break prior to the SC Final. This should be the first and last time we enter at this summer group stage, so the "Blue pound" wasn't a material factor in this set-up, not to mention had we won the SC Final, we wouldn't be playing in it.

Lewondoski Muller Pogba Hazard Ibrahimovic 0 goals Will Muller and Pogba break their ducks today ?