JohnMc

Best Pod yet, excellent work all involved. Big well done!

I love stories like this. Certainly the area where Ibrox Stadium now sits wasn't developed by the late 1870s although Copland Road and Broomloan Road were both developed and linking Govan Road with Paisley Road by then, and the Ibrox Railway Station was open. We moved to the area in 1887 and our ground appears on the ordnance survey map of 1889. 

I love grounds that are located in the middle of towns and cities. Surrounded by houses and businesses, genuinely part of their local community. I dislike the newer grounds that have been built in the last 30 or so years on the outskirts of towns. I understand why and I accept they've some benefits in terms of access, parking and so on, but they're soulless places pushed to the periphery. Ibrox, for me, is the perfect stadium. A mix of the old and new located in a city surrounded by people, homes, roads and businesses. I know The Hummell Training centre is an impressive facility but it's location isn't, it's miles from our home and overlooking hills and farms instead of the places our support live and work. I'd prefer the Albion was still used, but I accept why that's not practical. 

So it's all more ironic, when you look at the old maps, you realise that Ibrox was that 'edge of the town, middle of nowhere' stadium at first. The city built around the ground, not the other way around. I guess land was cheaper and more available, much like now, the further out you went. We were the McDiarmid Park or the Falkirk Stadium of our day. 

The other thing we often overlook is Govan was a totally separate town when we first moved there. At the turn of the century Govan was one of the largest towns in Scotland, but it was separate from Glasgow in the same way Paisley is today. I wonder how we'd all react if the club announced it was moving to a new stadium, outside of the city at the edge of the green belt.

1 hour ago, buster. said:

History tells us that this type of signing always brings with it a relatively high chance of serious injury.

 

My point being you shouldn't go for too many similar of profile.

Even the younger player brought in (Rossitor) could have been put into the high risk category as it was well known he had suffered a lot of injury problems.

 

What will happen if you do this is the situation we've refused to learn from for many years #PayOffCentral

 

It would seem as if the football operation is trying to change things at last but the need to stop 10IAR may end up delaying the implementation of change.

I'm not sure what you mean by this type of signing. What in Murphy's history makes you think he had a high chance of injury? He's had no record serious injury during his career and was 28 when he joined us so hardly at the end of his career. I'm not even sure it's a fair criticism of Dorrans, he's played consistently over 20 games a season at Championship or EPL level for most of his career and was 29 when he joined us.

A squad needs balance, we need experienced pros at, or close to, their peak to balance the younger promising players surely? I'd have thought Dorrans and Murphy both fall neatly into the former with the added bonus of them being local boys who'll take no time to adjust to the environment both on and off the field. 

Dorrans and Murphy have been really unlucky with injuries, I don't think you can blame them or those who sanctioned their signings for that. I'm disappointed Dorrans is being moved on, I thought his cameo appearance at Villareal gave us a glimpse of what we were missing. It could be that he's simply not ever going to get back to the level of fitness we require though. Murphy was very effective before his injury, he's an intelligent player, not a flashy one, but I hope he regains his fitness and stays with us. 

McCrorie also struggles to pin down his best position. I suspect we all see him as a defensive, holding midfielder, yet he played as a centre half almost exclusively until about 2 years ago. His height is a great asset, I think that's one of the reasons we always played him against Celtic. Protecting the defence and adding height when defending set pieces. Our midfield are quite small as are our forwards. When we play against a side with a six foot plus centre forward we're relying on someone like Tav or Arfield to mark him as the centre-halves pick up each other. 

Anyway, the story above linking Crystal Palace with Morelos is concerning. They've got money to spend and if they're also going to lose their most popular and arguably influential player to Arsenal they're in the market for a crowd pleasing forward or two. We're in no position to turn down £15 million, we'd struggle to turn away £10 million I think. 

Who do we replace him with if he goes? 

If, next summer, we announced the Bosman signing from Portsmouth of a young midfielder with ten under 21 caps we'd probably look at that as a decent bit of business. That's what McCrorie will be this time next year. As long as he can command a regular starting place it's a good move for him at this stage of his career. If he can't get into the Portsmouth side he won't be getting into ours anytime soon. I like McCrorie but he's a squad player currently and he needs game time. Good move all round I'd say. 

5 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

We capitulated to a shit Hibs side in that final, which is why I don't understand anyone going on about our semi final win.  

 

 

It was a great game that's why people go on about it. I've no recollection of the 1992 Scottish Cup Final, but I'll remember the semi final for the rest of my life. It's entirely possible to view one match on its own merits, whatever came before or afterwards. Big Konterman's 25 yard screamer at Hampden will stay long in the mind, but I'd need to Google who we met in the Final afterwards. We didn't win the Champion's League but I'll always remember drawing with Marseille as a great match. Drawing with Celtic at Ibrox when Butcher, Woods and McAvennie were sent off is one of my all time favourite matches. We didn't win it and we ultimately lost the league to them that season, doesn't detract from the experience of that match though. 

Yes, I worry his work ethic might not be enough to compensate for any lack of ability. He's an athletic big lad, in theory at least he should be able to break with speed, but I agree you need a bit more than that. We'll see what happens in the coming weeks. 

15 hours ago, Gaffer said:

It's funny how differently we can remember players.  I thought McKay was really good in some games, but most of the time was just a passenger and certainly never appeared to me to put in the effort required.  His inconsistency may however be ok for a club like QPR that isn't expected to get many points each week.  I hope both player and manager do well at QPR though.  MW didn't handle his departure particularly well, but I still liked what he didn't with our style of play and he was a real gent and I'd like to see him become successful.

He's a polarising type of player. He certainly wasn't the hardest working but he created chances in every match, often they weren't taken though. He was effective in Warburton's formation and clearly Warburton is able to get the best out of him, something no other manager has been able to do. McKay clearly has a flaw in his make-up, but for a couple of seasons he was our most effective player in a side playing very watchable football. 

Is Jack injured as well? 

With Arfield's international duty keeping him back from early season games Docherty has a chance to prove he's worth a place. It'll be interesting to see if he can take it. It's funny, but he's one of those players I really want to see succeed. For some reason you get the impression he's a grafter, a player who's trying his best to make it with us. I know that's not always enough, but I hope he does. 

Barrie McKay was superb under Warburton, he's able to get the best out of him, that's a good move for QPR and the player. 

Personally I hope it works out for Warburton and all the ex-Rangers players at QPR. For various reasons it didn't work out for Warburton with us, but he got us up playing very watchable football and gave me one of my most enjoyable ever matches that day at Hampden. Good luck to him. 

How many Catholic Primary Schools do we have to play before we get to play non-denominational schools?? 

Actually a quick read of their website tells me they were very closely associated with their local church. It's terrible when football clubs are associated with religion, I expect the Scottish press to roundly condemn them...

6 hours ago, craig said:

Literally just finished reading it last night, in his own words, in his first autobiography.  The very two chapters where he discusses it in detail.

I've not read that, do you recommend it? The documentary on Amazon is worth an hour or so of your time, you get a real sense of who he is and the drive inside him. 

1 hour ago, craig said:

Sometimes you wonder whether people have never seen it all before.... where a decision seems to have been made, only for it to be reneged upon... indeed, very close to home, as in the very same person this thread is discussing, about 15 years ago asked Liverpool for a transfer request and said he wanted to move to Chelsea..... only to then renege and stay at Liverpool merely a day later.

Have you watched the Gerrard documentary on Amazon? It's an interesting insight on that subject. 

The problem with footballers and football managers is their unwavering self-belief. Every manager who has gone in at Newcastle in recent years has believed they're capable of 'turning' them into a force again, Gerrard is no different. Gerrard's relationship with Benitez being strained Gerrard might just fancy showing he could take Newcastle further than his old boss could. With Gerrard's family still in England a move south is almost certainly something that will happen at some point soon. 

Gerrard is smart enough to know that if our season starts badly, say we're put out of Europe early, lose in the League Cup and drop league points and find ourselves trailing that he'll come under pressure. His current elevated status among our support won't last long if we're losing away to Motherwell and Livingston again. 

All that being said unless there's been a fall out with our board I can't see Gerrard moving this summer. He's demonstrated throughout his career a degree of loyalty that's uncommon today. Okay, it's easier being 'loyal' to a club who are one of the biggest in the world and that are consistently challenging for honours, but it's still fairly rare. Based on nothing but my opinion I think Gerrard would like to win the league with us and have a crack at the Champion's League. If those two things happen I expect we'll struggle to hang onto him.

As someone widely recognised for my sartorial elegance I feel I'm qualified to comment on this. 

Rangers - sponsors logo too big, not convinced by the breast plate/sleeves stitching, still though it's blue with an okay collar so right away it's better than every other strip. 

Aberdeen - the Adidas stripes down the shirt is reminiscent of an old 80s strip, so points on for retro appeal, but criss/cross collar is shocking and the away strip looks like a dodgy own-brand tea cake wrapper. 

Motherwell - artificially improved by the lack of a sponsor logo it'll resemble dug's dinner whenever Lanarkshire's 3rd biggest bookie is resplendent across it. Too many hoops, just stop at the one, it's not hard. Away strip is better. 

Celtic - each season I'm amazed that they can take the most hideous design ever put onto a strip, namely green hoops, and somehow, remarkably, they manage to make it worse each season. What happened to the sleeves? What is that collar? I long ago realised that there is some sort of inside joke in the shirt design fraternity where they see how far they can take that strip before people stop buying it. It's astonishing to think that their away strip will almost certainly out do it in terms of mouth opening awfulness too. 

Hearts - simple v-collar, always a good call, and a cool shirt sponsor. It's hard to fault this seasons Hearts' strip, but that won't stop me. It's maroon, again so that's a problem and the Aztec cave painting highlights in the shirt make no sense. Maybe they'll have a blue away strip. 

Hibs - best you can say is it's traditional. They've taken the simple white v-collar and fucked it up by messing about with the back. Just leave it alone you knobs. Is that their sponsor, are they really sponsoring themselves? Kinda sad. 

Ross County - a masterclass in how to take the finest ingredients, a navy top with red highlighting, and fuck it up. What the fuck is that monstrosity?? Hoops!! I know drug abuse and loneliness and afflict many people in the Highlands but that's no excuse. Tow this into the Cromarty Firth and sink it. 

St Mirren - no, just fucken no. What the fuck is that?? Black and white stripes is not hard, what are you doing here and what is that collar and your away strip is cerise. Just stop. Did that Irish manager design them, is that why they sacked him?? Hideous. 

St Johnstone - FUCK SAKE! NO!! STOP PUTTING FUCKING HOOPS ON SOLID STRIPS AND WHATS THAT BIT OF WHITE UNDER THE ARMS ABOUT?? WANKERS. BINN, FUCKING MOST APPROPRIATE SPONSOR SO FAR. 

If Kilmarnock, Hamilton and Livingston aren't even on that list Lord knows what miscarriages of design they've cooked up. 

Excellent, as ever. 

You might well be right RR, and of course matching fan expectations does make life easier for a board. Certainly the transfer fee has a bearing on what you might expect of a player. Clubs not matching their rivals can get criticised, particularly if form is poor. I always laugh when a manager is sacked and pundits state that he was backed by the board in the transfer market, as if it was all down to the manager that the club wasted their budget that summer. 

I agree though that if there's any possibility it could add a couple of million to a fee it's a strategy worth pursuing. 

It's not particularly accurate either. Allan McGregor, Naismith, Whittaker, Davis, Cousin and Jelavic have all left Rangers for the English top flight. I accept that since the banter years began things have changed but we're closer to where we were again. Nobody would be all that surprised if Goldston, Tavernier and Morelos ended up in the EPL. 

I'm less concerned about pundits talking up his price, I struggle to believe that it makes much difference other than heighten or temper fan expectations. Tierney has Champion's League and international experience, is young and under contract so anyone wanting to buy him will have to pay a decent fee for him. I'd be astonished if it's £25 million though, indeed I'd have thought £10 to £12 mil even in the inflated English market is good business for Celtic. That said football transfers are mental these days. Chelsea sold a full back to Torino for £9 million earlier this month and I'd never heard of him (Ola Aina anyone?), indeed he only played 3 times for Chelsea. I guess if a 22 year old Chelsea reserve player with half dozen caps for Nigeria is worth £9 million then maybe someone like Tierney is worth double that. 

It does make you realise though that if Morelos can sort his discipline problem and score consistently in Europe he's potentially worth £20 plus million. 

The Teirney stuff is bizarre and lacking in any self awareness. He's a decent player, with a concerning injury record playing in a secondary European league. To suggest Arsenal aren't good enough for him is deluded. I'm amazed a club the size of Arsenal are even considering buying him. I genuinely thought he'd join a good Championship or smaller EPL side and if he does well there then a move to one of the big English sides might happen. Hutton, who was a better player at that stage in my opinion, struggled at Spurs, it's a big jump from the SPFL to the big English sides. If he leaves Celtic I hope he does well, if he stays I hope his injuries are chronic and he spends next season in the stand. In the end Celtic have him under contract and can play hard ball at this stage of the summer, that might change as the summer goes on. 

Sportsound stopped dealing in reality a long time ago, it's fanzine levels of balance these days.  

One of the things the film gets across well is the sheer brutality that Maradona faced in every match he played. Italian football was still fairly defensive during that period too, 'catenaccio' was still the over-riding culture in 80s Serie A. For me that's why he's the greatest player ever, I just don't think Messi in particular would have been allowed to play at that time. 

I wonder if the gradual decline in Italian club football (and I accept these things are all relative) is connected to the rule changes in football that have removed much of the physicality and fouling from the sport. 

I think we need four strikers, even if we're playing one up front. Assuming Morelos and Defoe start the season I think we need at least one more experienced striker and then one younger one. If one of our strikers gets an injury, and that will happen during the season, you need options from the bench. You also require competition to keep everyone on their toes and lastly having a variety of playing styles helps too. We've potentially a lot of games this coming season, rotation might be very important. 

Liam Burt was highly thought of when he first went pro with us, but he's been hampered by injuries. I'd be surprised if Celtic fancied signing him though.