JohnMc

Maybe, but it's semantics and I doubt UEFA will see it that way. I also doubt the club will make a defence based around whatever the banner meant, I suspect they'll point to the fact the club aims to be as inclusive as possible and the banner wasn't sanctioned and has been criticised and hope for leniency.

"Further, the club has also been charged by UEFA for the throwing of objects at the home match with Fenerbahce. This is becoming a regular occurrence, not just at Rangers matches, but across stadia in Scotland. Indeed, our players and staff were targeted with missiles at Parkhead on Sunday." Literally in that statement.

I've no idea what 'defend Europe' means either, but it's open to interpretation. Keep - retain, maintain, resist Woke - fuck knows what they mean, dog whistle term for something that wasn't around in the 1950s. Foreign - something not of this country, not of this culture, different from 'us'. This is the problematic word for me. If it had said 'keep woke ideologies out' it's political, the use of the word foreign changes the meaning for me. Ideology - a concept or system of ideas. Out - away, not near us. As I said only those who wrote it know what they meant, but its ambiguity is a problem, it can be read a number of ways and one of those ways is as racism.

Did you actually read the club's statement?

Hey, it's bad enough Dell is bringing women to the fitba, just how woke is he?

In that case you should ask the club. I don't think that's what the banners was about but who knows, maybe it was.

Knock yourself out, Dell. I mean it's got very little to do with the banner and the charge, but if it's important to you raise it.

Sorry, is 'over the Atlantic' not 'foreign' then? I mean you read it how you want, but the word 'foreign' is used and its meaning is fairly clear and agreed upon.

That's as strong a sentence as I can recall the club ever making publicly. I personally wish they'd made it right after the match instead of waiting for a charge from UEFA, but better late than never. Whether UEFA should be sanctioning clubs for banners is moot, it's their competition, they make the rules, so if we want to play in the Europa League we need to adhere to them. As for what the banner meant, only the people who created it know what they actually meant. Of course what someone means and how it's taken are not always the same thing. We've been over this countless times before on forums and I suspect we probably will again. That's the danger with language, it can be misunderstood, or indeed understood all too well depending on who is hearing it. The term 'defend Europe' when playing against a Turkish club from the Asian side of Istanbul could be taken all sorts of ways. Likewise while playing against a club from a predominantly muslim country a message like that could be read in various ways. As for 'keep foreign ideologies out' how anyone can read that as anything other than racist is beyond me. Whether someone was trying to make a bigger social or political point or was upset at the LGBT flag on the Govan stand and the planned Iftar only they know. But I suspect any gay supporters or Muslim ones might have felt the banner was aimed at them, whether that was meant or not. I imagine personal politics will come into play on this. Often objections to 'political' messages depend a lot on whether you're in agreement with the message or not. Either way it's such a shame that we find ourselves talking about stuff like this again.

A hotel, a school, a shopping complex and a car park? Are we moving to somewhere else then? I'll settle for a fit centre half and a left winger.

I'm not quietly confident, but then I rarely am. I don't think Mourinho is the manager he once was, since he left Man Utd I've never felt his heart was in it, it's been more performative than productive. Even his attempt at mind games yesterday felt like an after thought. That said if we lose an early goal, or two, and if the crowd get nervy and restless it could be a difficult evening for us. If the crowd stay behind the side, even if there are setbacks, we should be ok. This is a Rangers side that's mentally fragile, and a little physically fragile too, but with a rocking Ibrox behind them they are capable of achieving a great result. It's always worth remembering we're still in Europe in March, that's not something I'll ever take for granted.

When clubs sell players the transfer fee is rarely paid in one go, it's paid in instalments over a period of time agreed by both clubs. That's the 'future transfer fees' this refers too. McQuarie aren't some kind of back street payday loan shop, they're not lending this money without satisfying themselves it's getting paid back. Many, many businesses need finance at different times. There's a seasonality to football, with income coming in the summer and then long periods where there's little income. It would be much better if we didn't need to borrow during periods of low cashflow, but it's also not a sign of impending disaster. I'm certainly not seeing it as a positive, I'm just pointing out that maybe it's not hugely negative either. I certainly think describing the board as shysters is over the top.

I'm all for caution but I think your concern is over the top. The shares issue is clearly turning existing loans into shares ahead of the 'sale', I really don't think it's anymore than that. The loan is for cashflow, we've relied on directors providing money at this time of the season in the past, we can't now, so we've borrowed. It's not ideal, but it's not criminal. I really think describing our current board as 'crooks's is really unfair. They've made mistakes, no doubt, but there is no comparison to Whyte, none at all.

This level of pre-match analysis and understanding of the professional game is further evidence of why everyone should ignore anything I post on football. What a result.

I assumed a 4-5-1 with Ridvan wide left and Cerny wide right. I don't think it suits Dessers playing up front on his own though, even though he's in good form. If the tie is still in the balance at the end of the match i'll be happy.

The mistake Clement made was to publicly say he thought he could fix the injury situation in the summer. In reality it didn't change much, the players who are prone to injury continued to pick up injuries, although of the newer players really only Cortes has been out for long spells. I've just realised our game kicks off early on Thursday, so I'll miss most of it. That might prove to be a blessing but I'm annoyed about it just now.

I don't think they've shown much in the way of patience. They've employed 6 managers so very little patience there. Every 'plan' for running the club sustainably seems to get ripped up the minute results and performances attract supporter criticism, so no sense of patience there either. We've gone through CEOs, Directors of Football, Sporting Directors and so on. At a time when we should have had stability and patience the board have reacted to every onfield set back and started again. I suspect the Americans will be more patient with their plan, whatever that might be. I suspect they'll be far less swayed by supporter emotion.

I think you're confusing patience with loyalty. In those 10 seasons we've had 6 full time managers and 5 caretaker managers and I'd hate to try and count how many players. Only 1 player has been here all that time so that gives you an idea on player turnover. The Rangers support are pretty loyal, we keep turning up, travelling, and supporting, but we're not patient. That's not always a bad thing, but it is a reality.

I disagree with your first point. The vast majority or our support are perfectly happy to stand back and not get involved in any way in the actual running or ownership of the club. I don't think this is just a Rangers thing, it's a British thing and can be seen at clubs all across this island. Culturally many of us are simply happier with the 'rich benefactor' model of ownership. This is why we're more patient with owners, but even then our patience is guided by on-field measurements, not the actual running of the club.

I sometimes wonder what might have happened if the support had actually backed the manager(s) and the players over the last 3 and bit seasons, instead of turning on them after every set back and poor result. I find it staggering that anyone would claim our support aren't impatient, that's a real lack of self awareness on display. There's literally a thread describing at least 10 of players as 'no hopers and non triers'. Six of those players are full current internationalists, but aye, no hopers. We are literally the poster boys for impatience, we will turn on players after a couple of poor games, a manager will get a month, maybe 6 weeks and if we're not performing the knives will be sharpened. Anyone who doesn't think we'll turn on these proposed new owners with a fury they can't comprehend yet if they fail to back a manager or sell a favourite player simply doesn't understand our support. We are passive in terms of wanting to actually get involved in running and making our club better, but very vocal in making our unhappiness known when those who do fall short of our perceived standards. The Rangers support, of who I am proud to call myself one, have many good points and are unfairly maligned by others, but let's not pretend we're a patient support, we're most certainly not.

Watching the highlights there Propper was being held and impeded at the corner we scored our second from, the irony being the Killie defender and Propper blocked Dessers' marker giving him a free header. Karma. I wasn't able to watch the match as I was working, only catching the last 15 minutes. I turned on my phone to read texts from my eldest and some friends that started off full of hope and anticipation, went to 'poor start' then to 'bloody hell this is awful' before transforming back into hopefulness and cries of 'Barry is going to turn Dessers into a star'. Really only football can provide that emotional response in less than 90 minutes. I know Nisala was hooked early and everyone was saying he'd a poor game but I didn't think he was at fault for either of their goals. Propper fell/got clipped depending what angle you watch for the first and Raskin hung him out to dry with a short return pass at the second. Whatever, the change clearly had the desired affect. Delighted we won, hopefully we'll not give the opposition a 2 goal start every game though. Here's a stat that might surprise you. Rangers have the best form in the league currently. We've lost 1 game out of our last 6, Celtic have lost and drawn games, Hibs have drawn 2 in 6. Surprised me as well.

Amen.

"Diabolical", Cammy? What chance has any director got when that's the reaction. Anyway, fuck it, what's done is done, no going back now.

Sports Direct is a bona fide business, and a very successful one too. Douglas Park and John Bennett are bona fide businessmen, successful ones. I don't think you're being naive, I think you're being hopeful, you're being optimistic. I think we're all guilty of doing that when it comes to football. Despite all evidence to the contrary we cling to hope, we 'keep believing' to quote the great Marvin. I think some supporters had become so dismayed with the team in recent months that they're welcoming any change, without properly analysing it. They're hopeful because they wanted managerial change at almost all costs and now it has arrived. The new management team are a known quantity too, so why not be hopeful. I'm different. I'd resigned myself to a poor season because I'd accepted the need to rebuild the club. To lower costs, to change the make up of the squad and to allow someone time to try and build something. I'd accepted it couldn't be done in 6 months and was willing to give the players, management team and directors time. So I'm disappointed by this change and I'm disappointed we've ripped up the plan. Barry Ferguson was a wonderful player and a good captain for the club. But I've seen nothing to suggest he's capable of being our manager and he certainly hasn't achieved anything to warrant getting the position. Now, neither had Gerrard, or Souness. Both were gambles that paid off. While John Grieg didn't and neither did Ally McCoist, or to a lesser extent Stuart McCall. So I can understand why many people are hopeful, are feeling positive and looking forward to games again. It's not been a lot of fun recently, I absolutely get that. But I think the message I'm getting is the bulk of our directors now want out, they've had enough. I think if we'd just shown a bit more support and accepted there would tough times during this it would have come good. That's my 'hope' showing, my blind faith despite evidence to the contrary. I'd rather the club was owned by people who care for it deeply, that's my preference and I remain extremely nervous about the 49ers and what they want with us, whatever random Leeds fans might think of them.

This 'leap of faith' and 'something has to change' narrative is based on nothing but hope. We're not fighting relegation, the bailiffs aren't at the door, the debt we have is owed to people who, certainly until very recently, love the club and don't want harm to fall on it. But so many want them chased out of the club because on field performances have been poor at times. Our support's demand for instance success remains unquenched. Gerrard took 3 seasons to win the title. We gave Gio a year before hunting him out the door, Beale get less than that and Clement got 16 months. At least new owners know that we're not interested in structure or building something, we want instant success or blood. Fire a manager every year and that should keep a decent percentage of our support happy. Our club was taken to the brink of extinction not that long ago, did we learn nothing from that? So many of us seem willing to gamble everything once again. Clear out the people who care and bring in the venture capitalists. What could possibly go wrong... Ironically I think our current directors have had enough, the appointment of Ferguson was the signal that they simply want out now. They're no longer even trying to improve things. They've given the support a big dose of staunch liberally sprinkled with nostalgia and hope it buys them enough time to clear off without losing a fortune. It's worked, many are brimming over with anticipation for a new dawn under the former Alloa manager's stewardship. We're no longer a serious football club, we're some kind of reality TV, soap opera. It's telling that the only people I've seen who seem happier than some of our support at the events of the last few days are supporters of rival clubs.