buster.

IMO this appointment is primarily for football reasons. On the face of it Rodgers is a coup for Celtic but taken as a whole it is also a financial gamble. Even with increased ST sales, the CL qualifiers this summer become ever more important to them. They will be played at a time when you'd imagine their squad to be undergoing fundamental change. We simply have to concentrate on what we are doing regards building the infrastructure and getting value for every pound spent. It's not all about the size of warchests and newspaper headlines. We should know that only too well. We are in a good place and have forced them into taking a gamble.

Their supposed ST boycott re. Res.12 has just died a death with the appointment of Rodgers.

And rightly so. To ban it not only was wrong but was always going to backfire.

Can't see English clubs being at all interested in or taking seriously a British Cup #non-starter

Looking at these stats, it would be wonderfully symmetrical if we could finish the season how we started it, ie. a convincing Cup win against Hibs.

This season 2-6 R R 1-0 H 2-1 R 4-2 H 3-2 I'd tend to put less emphasis on the first and last. First was very first game of season and wonderfully wild. Last saw us have nothing to play for. Other three saw the home side win and our two wins at Ibrox were hugely important and games we turned it on (4-2) or had sufficient quality (1-0 / Tav free-kick). Fair to say Hibs had chances in the 1-0 game to do better and we had the same at Easter Road. For me it depends on who turns up on the day as both sides are capable of beating the other.

I think from kick-off Hibs wil attempt to pressure us as high up the pitch as they can and attack in an attempt to score first and then surf the wave. So maybe we'll have opportunities to counter-attack in more space than we are accustomed to having.

The first of those 13 games provided the only draw. It was the Challenge Cup game at Ibrox that we won in extra time. 12 games without a draw,.....wWhat price 2-2 on Saturday ?

Hibs have scored 9 goals against us this season and I can only remember one coming from a set-piece (corner 2-1 game at Easter Rd.). Sometimes if the delivery is very good there is little you can do. I think we'll try to base our game on possession and keeping Hibs at arms length as much as possible. That worked well against Celtic, although I think Hibs will get in our faces more (first half) and make it more difficult than Celtic did. Hibs can be decent middle to front and Ball will be a big miss......but so can we be very decent going forward and if we have the tempo, we'll be difficult to keep out.

Agree with Frankie's reasoning behind what appears to be an open contest that either side could win. I thought MW was unusally candid in the interview I saw when he said something along the lines of 'we'll only know on Saturday if we have got our plans right and are at our best'. It might have been part of the old mindgames because there is little worse than going into this type of game appearing over-confident in the media. In this respect I thought MW judged the run-up to the semi-final perfectly and let Celtic build themselves up. The only thing I'd be confident about is there being several goals in the game. Thereafter we'll have to see who gets them with the first being more important than usual. I think Hibs will start strongly and if they get the first goal will grow in confidence but at the sametime may prove to be mentally fragile if we can score it. We have to look towards Barrie McKay and hope that he turns in another inspiring performance, he seems to respond when needed and is always brave and shows for the ball regardless of circumstance. Wallace and Tav should enjoy the size of the pitch with Kenny Miller always liable to pop up with a goal. Bla, bla, bla may serve us to vent opinions or whatever but as MW says...we'll only find out on Saturday. ps. Love the term 'pitch geography'

There are different ways to look at it. I reckon it'd mean the Scottish game getting more attention down South with The Warburton Way at a resurgent Rangers taking on whatever Rodgers offers in response. That this might actually make the job more appealing to MW medium term. If Rodgers is appointed and given a relatively large transfer budget then it may make our task harder but it would also represent a financial gamble by Celtic. I think MW and the footballing operation have shown that they are deserving of our confidence within reasonable parameters/timescale regardless of what Celtic do.

The prospectus for the December 2012 IPO didn't include the modified terms regards voting rights within RRLtd because they seem to have been pushed through and adopted between the prospectus being issued and the actual IPO share issue. 'Representing' Rangers on the RRLtd at that time were Green and Stockbridge. Green was apparently he who signed up for the one-sided retail deal, stadium re-naming rights etc. Stockbridge signed off on payments (first seen was in Dec 2012) to Keith Bishop Associates (represents Mr MASH and had a director named Llambias) for 'invisible work'.

They'll want to put out some confusing and contradictory 'noise'.

"Sports Direct were unavailable for comment when contacted by STV." The usual suspects/blogs will be getting briefed as I type to bring us the spun version.

Sometimes I think that the foundations to what is a large empire are weaker than many think and that tanks would be an unrequired overspend.

An important step along the way to what DK said he was looking to do in a statement in October of last year. From October 27th 2015 http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/statement-by-dave-king/ "Sports Direct continues to litigate with the Club in an attempt to enforce its wishes and demands. This seems based on the simple logic that Sports Direct can outspend the Club in legal fees and thereby deal with the Club as it pleases. I assure supporters that the Club will not be cowed by this threat and the recent lack of communication (as a result of the gagging order) belies the level of robustness with which the Club’s interest has been and will be protected. Furthermore, I have sent letters to Sports Direct in my capacity as a director of Rangers Retail Limited taking them to task for poor business practices and corporate governance failures. The Club believed that it was entering into a joint venture with a large public company that would behave as a partner should and would conduct its business affairs in an appropriate fashion. In my 40 years of business, I cannot recollect having dealt with a public company that is run more like a wholly owned family business and appears unconcerned with other stakeholders – partners or otherwise. It remains my intention to ensure that Sports Direct is legally and financially held accountable for its failures."

Encouraging sign that helps show the limited effect that this particular reincarnated Celtic-Minded vehicle is actually having. Just been on RM and I see that The Lawman has been debating on the SFM blog. Questionable approach IMO given that he would never change the minds of it's members on the issue but would help draw attention to the confrontational question at a time when they are desperate for that attention amongst what they see as 'potential ST boycotters'. As it stands the Celtic supporters that are trying to convince the world about resolution 12 can't even convince their own club. Many of the Celtic support aren't buying or renewing ST's but it is more to do with football issues and if they are happy with the managerial appointment they'll mostly sign-up. The Res.12 group are disingenuously claiming that slow ST uptake is down to their crusade.

Young players on loan deals are often more miss than hit for various reasons. I'm glad we've managed to sign Rossiter as our own player and we stand to benefit on the pitch and eventually the balance sheet if things go well. I think it helps focus the player and his responsibilities.

Having read the RTC site of occasion I very much doubt that Spiers is the person behind the moniker indicated. If you go beyond the individuals, there is no doubt that at the time the blog was successful in terms of becoming part of the overall narrative and served to be a rallying point for the Celtic-Minded and new friends. The focus for the blog changed in the New Year of 2012 and it's purpose developed into an online vehicle to push for fans of all clubs (except Rangers) to jump on a bandwagon of sporting integrity and push their own clubs to vote Rangers out. It wasn't the only place the call came from but IIRC it was the first place to instigate it. The blog became a successful vehicle in it's secondary aim and the individual RTC who was very much at the centre of it up until the beginning of 2012 seemed to step back and allow it to be used for another particular purpose. I mention this because the blog that was born from the RTC was The Scottish Football Monitor which is a rebranded but similar vehicle that is used to push an anti-Rangers line and encourage fans of all other clubs to jump on their bandwagon. Presently this is the support for 'Resolution 12' and once again it's about focusing on fans and encouraging them to threaten their own clubs with boycotts if they don't take action regards issues connected with res.12. Re-branding it the Scottish Football Monitor is about trying to develop into an effective 'pressure group' of sorts within Scottish football that pushes 'Celtic-Minded' politics but supposedly speaking for all colours within Scottish Football. They have recognised the increasing importance of social media, seen the success of the RTC (re.bandwagon) and are trying to develop. However, they struggle for credibility and coverage because they are too easily recognisable as being something that isn't consistent with their claims. ie. it's a Celtic-Minded site with mostly CM politics, subject matter and heavy slant.

Some of the best 'serious discussion' is funny.

For yourself ok but generally speaking that doesn't ring true because it has drove many of our fanbase to a reciprocal feeling that presently goes beyond what could have been considered as normal levels of hatred. The 'building bridges' idea was never going to be about making friends with rival fans. That won't happen, you may aswell ask the USA to broker the peace between Israel and Palestine in a fair and even handed way. It'd be about other 3rd parties and would probably take time.

The enviroment in which we ply our trade is very real and the directors of the club have a very real responsibility to shareholders to ensure they do their best to protect and grow our business within that enviroment and any others that they seek to take us. This means that where possible there has to be a considered effort to create a careful and constructive positive balance in relevant relationships with 3rd parties, whether governing bodies, other clubs, media organisations etc. If some of these efforts fail then so be it.

Maybe but I'd have thought all finance regards a squad rebuild would be channelled towards getting the best quality possible 20 or so players together so as to give us the best chance at competing 16/17........ .....and that any decisions like that will only be taken further down the line in August. Giving players the opportunity to stake their claim. We should have a better idea when pre-season starts and we can see how the squad is shaping up.

Over 2.5 goals and both teams to score, 11/10............(70% of pot) Over 4.5 goals, 5/1...........................................................(20% of pot) Hibs HT/Rangers FT, 22/1..............................................(10% of pot)

Matt Crooks has already joined..so IF Barton was to sign then I very much doubt we'd be dedicating any more serious money to this position.