stewarty

SFA statement now. But its broken their website.

Celtic have released a statement that puts pressure on the authorities to review their position on titles, etc. Scottish football is about to eat itself. Again.

And what to do now? We've got a month till our first competitive fixture and barely anything lined up until then. And another thing I'm concerned about is the trend that both Warburton and PC have shown in terms of how they prepare the squad from a fitness perspective. We all know that Sports Scientists control this to a large degree and I'm sure there will be plenty of evidence that shows that the players are as fit as they should be at this stage, and haven't put the stress on their bodies that pre-seasons of old might have done. But I can't help but think that one of the reasons that Rodgers got so much success last season was because they worked so much more on fitness/sharpness to allow them to play the all-energy pressing game that puts the opposition under so much pressure. We certainly couldn't cope with it, and the with the lethargic way we've approached this fixture, I'm concerned it'll be the same again.

Given the level of investment, I don't think he will be sacked, but any goodwill he had built up in a relatively short space of time over the summer, has gone completely. Many will now have made up their mind and wont be changed from it. As we saw in his first few games in charge, there are question marks about whether he is able to get his ideas across - this will only increase. My other worry is that the exact same game plan that was too good for Warburton, will be enough to beat Caixinha, with clubs domestically knowing they just need to sit tight and we wont have a clue what to do.

Quick, someone revive the Totty thread...

I'll bet she was delighted with her Rob Kiernan t-shirt...

I mean that I'm sure the club will clarify timescales for the delivery of new stock and give some form of explanation - such as lead time for manufacture, or whatever. I'm sure they will also promote the amazing response from fans since Thursday's announcement.

Lets hope thats the case - I'm sure the club/ Puma will clarify. Otherwise it could suggest some slippery tactics on behalf of SD, which would not be a good start to the revised arrangements.

Agreed - I was struggling to see how that would work, although it seems to be pretty common for some managers to favour particular agencies... Mr Waburton and Frank "The Best In The Business" McPartland spring to mind...

No home tops delivered, apparently.

Well, not until he's willing to acknowledge where he has crossed the line and makes the appropriate amends. Same goes for the BBC, although I had hoped with the positivity of recent days that we may see some movement on these matters, sadly I think its still a long way off.

Not sure... possibly both. The club may need to formally announce due to the size of shareholding... someone else will know the rules more than I...

I'm hearing there will be an announcement circa 2pm

The trouble with some of the stuff that Jackson ran with, was not that it was unfair to hold up to the light any issues we had, for there have been many, it was the fact that he acted as a cheerleader for our detractors who love nothing more than to stick the knife in whether justified or not. And it often smacked of a personal agenda given the widely reported fall-out with DK personally. I remember him jumping on the "where's the £30m" stuff after a while. Now whilst it was perfectly valid to question our long term financial strategy and how we would bridge the obvious gap with our rivals, the way those words from DK were twisted from day 1 of the regime change was as clear a sign as any that our detractors love nothing more than to manufacture controversy. We can argue about whether DK is the best public speaker or perhaps says more than he should on occasion, but given the way all of the off-field matters are starting to come together, I think its churlish of Jackson to not at least acknowledge that some of his witterings were also misjudged.

Sounds good. Pink for Admin/Mods, I would imagine.

Agree with all the sentiments about quality over quantity. The focus is very much on a sense of online community and it would be good to develop that further and to potentially generate funds to keep the Gersnet hampster wheel turning... E.g. through some merchandise - polo shirts, t-shirts, etc. Something to wear at games that would help us identify fellow members?

It says a lot that a quick run down of the obvious is worthy of a thread on its own merely because of the publishing outlet.

I read a stat the other day that only something like 3 teams in the last few years have gone from the 1st qualification round to the group stages. If we get there, it'll be a good achievement in itself - especially for a significantly revamped team such as ours.

Yeah thats what made me think that the wording used might be an indicator that this was being looked at.

Quote from the 32Red Director: We have enjoyed three fantastic years as the official club sponsor of Rangers FC and we are thrilled to confirm a further two year agreement that will see the 32Red brand feature on the front of the players shirts. Possibility of a sponsor on the back too??

As has been said previously, this is a no-brainer for McInnes. £1m is good money for Aberdeen too. What was it Pedro said about cycles???

Do we have an idea of what formation he might use? What has he favoured in the past?

Agreed. I think there is potential in several of the players from last year, but a lot comes down to providing a clear structure and role for them. One of the problems with Holt in particular, was that our midfield options were so limited, that our inflexible 4-3-3 system meant that he had to be a box-to-box type player. Something that he is just not equipped to do. If you break down his role and create more structure in the team, I think Holt and others could thrive. Whether they do will come down to their attitude and whether they can avoid injuries in the case of Windass.

Pretty niche audience he's catering for...

HJK Helsinki‏ @HJK_Helsinki 1h1 hour agoMore El @RangersFC todavía no lo ha hecho oficial pero el fichaje de Alfredo Morelos está al caer #HJK Though looking at it, I'm not sure if this is an official site... Translation from Spanish(?): HJK Helsinki @HJK_Helsinki 1 day agoMore @RangersFC has not yet made it official but Alfredo Morelos signing is down #HJK