JohnMc

I think Rudden was injured and missed much of pre-season training. He's been getting a starting place recently though. McPake has just turned 18 and playing his first ever season of first team football. He'll be getting some fairly rough treatment in that division I suspect so he'll need to learn to adapt. As supporters we love to see a player beat a man, but sometimes keeping possession, holding the ball up or making a short pass is the professional thing to do, McPake will be learning that this season. This is where so many promising young players at Rangers have stumbled, that step up from youth star to first team regular is a huge jump. I fully support sending these lads out to learn their trade and make their mistakes. As for McCrorie he needs to figure out what position he plays. He's not currently strong enough for centre half or tactically aware enough for holding midfield. Awareness can be learned and strength developed.

Surely the target this season is winning the league? I mean that's always the target but this season it feels like a realistic ambition. So while I agree there's no need to panic after yesterday it's still very, very frustrating that we dropped points to a Hearts side low on confidence and really struggling for form. We'll drop more points this season, that's inevitable, but yesterday's performance deserves criticism I feel. Had we been peppering their goal, missing chances and simply been unable to stick one of our chances away then we could shrug our shoulders and move on safely knowing it was just 'one of those games', however that's not what happened. We were poor yesterday, lacking creativity, lacking direction, lacking composure and being too easily knocked off our game by a physical approach from Hearts. I personally don't feel we can compare ourselves to five years ago anymore. We've rebuilt, we've had a full season under Gerrard, now is time for this side to step up and play. Rangers sides that don't win matches they should win will always be criticised.

Put bluntly Glasgow Council are bust, the equal pay issue has forced them to 'sell' or 'lease' almost all the physical assets they have to either raise or save money. From a number of perspectives this makes sense. It removes future costs from the council and provides an asset for the club and its ambitions. If it also signals a better relationship with our council too, then so much the better.

While I agree he's far from the finished article and his contribution looks negligible at times the only league match we've lost this season he didn't start, we've won every other match and at times are playing fantastic football. Perhaps his contribution is more tactical than someone like me can see.

From one angle the Morelos penalty looks soft, but from every other angle and from the Aberdeen player's reaction it's a clear penalty. I saw the Tweet and actually thought Ewen Murray was trolling the BBC, but looking at his replies to incredulous supporters it seems he wasn't.

I didn't see the match. That's what loan spells are all about for me, all young players will make mistakes, it's about learning from them. Let him make his mistakes at Hibs, return to us a better more experienced professional.

At first glance it seems that Robbie McCrorie, Jake Hastie, Glen Middleton, Cammy Palmer and Stephen Kelly are benefiting most from their loan spells so far. Kelly is having a great season with Ayr and McCrorie seems to be getting plenty of practice at QOTS. Allan McGregor looks pretty solid currently but it wouldn't be a big surprise if his place was under review in 12 to 24 months time. McCrorie is surely being groomed for that challenge. Cammy Palmer is the son of a church minister, there's your useless fact of the day. He's should be great with crosses... Ross McCrorie isn't making it into a struggling Portsmouth side though, that's a concern.

While I agree that comparing eras is difficult I think you're way off the mark if you think players from the 50s and 60s would struggle today, indeed I'd say it's the other way around. While the media like to focus on the 'maverick' players like Baxter and Jimmy Johnstone and their excesses off the field there were hundreds of top players who looked after themselves and lived life like athletes of that time. One difference was these guys still lived in the communities they were raised in, they earned similar salaries to their peers unlike today's players. So pictures of players in their local with a half of bitter and 20 Capstan give the impression of players not looking after themselves, when in fact they were as advanced in terms of fitness and conditioning as the era allowed. A lot of players were part time too, so the level of dedication and work ethic was actually very high back then. I'd actually venture that many of the top players today couldn't play in that era. The sheer brutality of football then would have counted against many of today's players. One reason I think Messi isn't as good a player as Maradona for example is the level of protection Messi gets compared to players in previous eras. As much of a genius as Messi is, he'd never have been allowed to make some of the runs he can today, he'd have been kicked up in the air by a full back and the full back would have got a talking too from the ref, nothing more. There's a video somewhere on the internet where a camera followed the German forward Jurgen Klinsman playing a match for Inter Milan. Klinsman had this reputation for diving, at that time in this country diving was viewed as cheating, pure and simple. We'd far more respect for the defender who fouled a forward than for the forward who dived and tricked the ref. Anyway, when you saw what he put up with in an average Serie A match you realised just how brave and strong he actually was. His diving was in response to the incessant and extreme fouling he received. That was the norm during the 1980s, it was even more so during the 70s and 60s.

It's the great man's birthday today and an excellent excuse to look at some of the wonderful moments he gave us. I think this remains my favourite. I watched this from the front row of the Rangers end, the geniuses who designed Hampden hadn't matched up the end of the roof with the front of the stand and it was pouring all match. The front row was also subterranean giving us a worm's eye view of the match. Oh, but all that was forgiven when Mr McCoist slotted home what proved to be the winner. Football has always been a great escape for me, and for the rest of that match I might as well have been on a Spanish beach in July for all I noticed the rain.

I enjoyed it, thought it was pretty fair overall.

Am I correct in thinking Ricksen had has best spell with us when pushed into midfield or is my memory playing tricks on me?

What a horrible disease. Very sad news.

I watched the 2nd half of the NI v Germany match last night. In the half I saw Germany were the better side, they played some lovely football and could have scored more. I believe NI could have scored in the 1st half though I didn't see that. What was striking though was that Northern Ireland really gave them a game. NI should have scored themselves in the 2nd half and they didn't stop pushing and attacking until the very end. Now Germany had the better players and, in my opinion, deserved their victory, but they knew they'd been in a match and had NI got an equaliser you wouldn't have put scoring a winner past them because they had some momentum and were very clearly 'up for it'. The Northern Ireland side has no real stars in it, I mean they don't have a Gareth Bale type player. Their second half subs were the guy McGennis who used to play for Aberdeen and Kilmarnock and a lad from Linfield. Yet they were still able to give Germany a proper match. Northern Ireland support might have left disappointed by the result last night but they won't have complained about the effort or desire on show. I had the misfortune of watching the Scotland v Russia match on Friday. The difference in style, attitude and application was stark. Indeed the difference in support too. The gradual demise of Scottish football is a thread all of it's own, but the inability of Scotland to put out a side that will at least compete and challenge a better side is a disgrace that nothing can excuse.

If our main problem is a lack of cutting edge then surely a new striker is a good idea? It's funny whenever I mention a new striker people assume he'll be the 3rd choice, why couldn't we buy a new first or second choice striker? Defoe doesn't have a full season of 90 minutes every week in him at his age, in my opinion, Morelos will pick up suspensions and both could pick up injuries. We'll be playing two games a week until Christmas, we can have all the wingers in the world but if we don't have someone to score the chances we'll be kicking ourselves. Perhaps Gerrard feels Kent or Arfield can play up front.

I wish we'd spent the money on another centre forward and a better left back, but I'm in the minority on that I think. Kent started last season erratically but finished strongly, let's hope he finds his form quickly. I'm one of those who felt he often flattered to deceive, and whilst exciting to watch he didn't provide a final product often enough. His signing is a gamble, but hopefully one that will pay off.

Aren't Ojo and King on loan?

Assuming it's true and the sums of money mentioned are accurate then I think it's fair to say the board are 'all in'. I don't care if it's not a lot of money in England or Spain or China it's a massive amount for Scotland and a hell of a gamble. Be interesting to see what length of contract he gets as I assume we're aiming to 'turn him round' for a profit in 12 to 24 months. I suppose if we win the league this season then it'll be viewed as astute. To be frank it makes me nervous to see us spending like this, the board have much bigger balls than me.

Symon's problem wasn't following Struth it was being up against Stein. It can be difficult to stomach but Stein built a side that were one of the greatest in the world, he was at the height of his managerial powers. Had Baxter not broken his leg in 64 who knows what might have happened, probably more importantly had we beaten Bayern in Germany in the Cup Winners Cup Final in 67 Symon would have been un-sackable. It's all small margins, Symon managed arguably our greatest ever side, a side that reached two European Finals, and yet is viewed today by many as someone who came up short.

For me our issue yesterday was creativity. Players like Aribo, Defoe and Arfield didn't impose themselves and weren't able to hurt Celtic where it matters. The starting line-up puzzled me as much as everyone else, why we chose this match not to play any recognised wide players I'm struggling to understand. Three 'central midfielders' simply didn't work, Aribo looked bewildered at times, Arfield was off the pace and for the first time Defoe looked his age. Would it have turned out any different if we'd started with Morelos, Jones and Ojo? Perhaps, although I'm still not convinced by Ojo, at least it would have stretched the Celtic defence and put pressure on their rookie full-backs. One day though we'll figure out how to use corners and set pieces. Has any side ever been so ineffectual from so many set-pieces. Hey ho, we didn't and when Celtic's chance came they took it. There are going to be set-backs throughout the season, how we react to them and if we learn from them, will be the genuine acid test. Thankfully we can largely ignore football for a couple of weeks now.

Portsmouth's keeper, born in Perth apparently. Seems to have spent all his career in lower leagues and non-league English football. I had to look him up!

For his sake I hope he takes after his mother.

I think I said Katic should be freed, or used as a makeweight when trying to sell Grezda. Maybe my memory is playing tricks with me... ?

Rangers supporters are not beyond criticism, especially from ourselves. It's far from sanctimonious to complain when 3,000 of our own supporters are prevented from attending our biggest match of the season so far. The memory of your great uncle was besmirched not by posters on this thread, or by Speirs, but by the gangsters, drug dealers and murderers who use their name today. Perhaps your ire would be better directed at them.

Nah, it was discussed by the media because he'd spent enough time here and hadn't been capped by Spain, but he was never called up. Funnily enough I'm more relaxed about residency rules coming in than the grandparent rule. If someone came to Scotland as an 18 year old and made their life here I'm comfortable with them becoming 'Scottish' in every sense. We're just as bad as the Irish now when it comes to capping players. We actively scout English youth sides looking for any links. There's a lad at Watford of whom great things are expected, with one Scottish Granny, he's now in the 'Scottish international system' despite never having set foot here and both his parents being English. There's a boy at Feyonord too, who we've similarly 'scouted'.

Why are our side called 'Colts'? Surely Rangers sides are 'Swifts', that was traditionally what we called the sides below the first team. Oh, and I'm with Compo, the Glasgow Cup is the finest looking trophy in football.