JohnMc

It was Stuart Armstrong dB. But you need to make time to listen to the pod now!

I was really surprised at just how negative Aberdeen were yesterday. They'd no creativity or invention in their side and were relying on set-pieces, you didn't even fear them on the break yesterday. That said they were without McKay-Stevens and McGinn two relatively creative attacking players, and Shinnie. As someone said last night Shinnie is a big player for them, he's their leader and one of their best players and they'll really miss him next season. I'm delighted with how Gerrard has us playing and his first season has gone pretty well. I doubt we'd be as entertaining had McInnes taken the job. Yet I still think McInnes is a decent manager, doing what he can with what he's got. I'm not sorry he didn't take the job with us, but I'd be happy if he took the Scotland job for example.

For those interested in transfer news and some background on Barasic, Grezda and Lafferty you really should have listened to last night's Gersnet podcast. Just as well you can listen to it again today. How would we all feel about signing an ex-Celtic player...?

The one thing that's impressed me about Aberdeen is their fitness. For all we've dominated them they've kept going to the end of the match, as such I agree we need to score first and draw them out of their defensive set up. If we can do that we should win with something to spare, if we don't they always look like they can score from set-pieces.

The 2011 census results said 27% are RC, 27% said Church of Scotland or other Christian and 38% stated no religion. Remainder are Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish or Buddhist. There have been Irish Republican marches in Glasgow for a long time, I remember them going through Milton in 1980s at the height of the 'Troubles'. There was usually bother at them then from stone throwing to full scale attacks on them.

I can see now that it's two thin red stripes on the collar, not gold, duh!

I've given up predicting who'll make it and who won't, the jump from youth football to first team requires more than ability to bridge. Our right back caught my eye, as did McPake but whether they've got any chance of making our first team in any regular capacity is anyone's guess. They all need to be starting to play first team football fairly soon to keep progressing in my opinion, I doubt that'll be with us though, I suspect a season at Falkirk or Morton on loan await a few of them. The wee Dembele lad at Celtic, who's had a lot of hype already, can clearly play, but he looks tiny when you see him at that level. I actually thought the other black kid Celtic had looked a better prospect, but as I said I'm no judge of these things.

My understanding of Chromecast is anything will 'cast' as long as it's being watched on the Chrome web browser. I don't understand how a specific website could prevent the browser from 'casting'. I can see how an app wouldn't work though.

I believe Stewart hates Levein almost as much as he hates Rangers, I understand the feeling is mutual. The graphics man did his job well as Findlay got his red card rescinded. What do you want to bet Clarke is less angry if his side lose this weekend?

Is it gold trim on the home strip? Quite like the red one but not the black one, it looks like something St Mirren rejected. Sponsor's logo is too big on all of them.

Fair enough. Membership of the Orange Order in Scotland is put at around 50,000, although the last 'big' walk in Glasgow had around 10,000 participants. The population of the city of Glasgow is around 600,000. It seems to me that most people in the city have no direct connection, I don't think I'm spreading falsehoods by stating that Barca. I'm not particularly popular on here, or in 'real life' either Barca, but it's kind of you to assume otherwise. You are correct, my statement was entirely anecdotal and based on what I see and hear among my finite group of acquaintances. I don't think it's stretching credibility to state that organisations like the Orange Order are less popular today than 10 years ago far less 30 years ago. That's not just here but in Northern Ireland too. For a variety of reasons fraternal organisations have become less popular in the last 30 years, be they trade unions, youth organisations, churches or the Orange Order. I'm not trying to slander them, it's just the way it is, I think.

That's interesting. It was more around doing more to discourage the 'hangers-on' at these events and then the creation of organisations like "Scottish Protestants Against Discrimination" which is hyperbolic and viewed as such by a good number of people who might otherwise have some sympathy towards organisations like the OO. Holding rallies and demonstrations tends to inflame and annoy, rather than get the 'not bothered' onside.

It's not an exact comparison though BD, is it. If you were standing outside your Orange Hall for example and some sort of Independence march went past and someone following it spat on you then I think you could in all reasonableness request no more of that type of march go past your premises, and the police would probably back you on that. All future 'walks' haven't been banned as far as I know. I think Glasgow Council, indeed most councils and the police, would probably be quite happy if there was a complete ban on Orange walks. That's the direction of travel currently, bams spitting on priests will only speed that up.

Okay, I live in Glasgow, I also work in Glasgow and my children attend our local school. I feel I'm qualified to comment on this. As someone who still has an involvement in our local Church Of Scotland I can say I don't in any way feel I'm discriminated against by the local council. Firstly let's be very careful about conflating the rerouting of an ABOD march with discrimination against Protestants. Someone spat on a priest in the street, let that sink in. Spitting on someone you don't know and who in this case had clearly hadn't done anything to deserve it is abhorrent. Surely no one disagrees with that? That person was following a 'walk' when he did it. For all the various loyal orders can say they have no control over who 'follows' them on the street they have to take some responsibility for the people they attract. This isn't a new problem for them either. I understand there's a distinction between the OO, the bands they hire and the people who walk alongside them. But for the vast majority of people they see them as one, all connected and only there in the first place because of the 'walk'. So, the 'banning' of this particular march is no surprise and frankly the wise thing to do. I can understand entirely why the council and police made the decision. That's no conspiracy. I lived in Northern Ireland in the 1990s and I watched the Orange Order make exactly the same mistakes then as I'm watching them make now. It's astonishing how resistant to learning they seem to be. In Glasgow today the majority of people have no connection to loyal orders. Most people won't care if they don't see another Orange march in their life. That's the harsh reality. As someone still involved in organised, mainstream Presbyterianism, I can tell you that Glasgow City Council are the least of our concerns. I'm now late for the Easter service.

Listened this morning, well done, really enjoyed it.

I agree, if Kilmarnock can fill 3 sides of their ground good on them. They've had a good season and they might, conceivably, still be challenging for second come that match. Certainly they'd want to secure third and European qualification and you have to say that's a pretty impressive season for them. Plenty of sides have been grateful for the blue pound over the years, but if they can fill their own ground they should. (I might revise this post if we're one win away from the title that day...).

Urquhart scored a rasper against us in a friendly and Grieg signed him that evening. I don't remember him playing but my Dad's not the most complimentary about him. I worked with a guy years ago who believed we'd have won the European Cup that season if Derek Johnstone had been fit. We beat Juventus and then PSV Eindhoven and were drawn against West German champions Cologne. We lost 1-0 away and Johnstone failed a late fitness test so Urquhart started, Derek Parlane wasn't fit either and started on the bench. Apparently Urquhart missed a number of good chances and we eventually played out a 1-1 draw. Anyway, it's all if and maybes, but he maintained that if Parlane had started and more importantly Derek Johnstone, we'd have beaten Cologne at home. That would have seen us face Notts Forest in the semi final, an exceptional side but in a 'battle of Britain' type match you'd have given us a good chance. The final was against Malmo of Sweden. Imagine a European Cup final between the champions of Sweden and Scotland, the marketing directors at UEFA would have had a coronary. So we started the match with guys signed from Shettleston Juniors and one from Inverness Caley just a few months before. Changed days.

The last one to join us certainly. We famously signed Billy Urquhart from the Highland League the following season, that didn't work out as well as Bobby Russell. I had the pleasure of playing in a charity match with Bobby Russell once, he was still the best player on the pitch and he was about 50! Darian MacKinnon of Hamilton came from Junior football. Rab Douglas, the former Celtic and Scotland keeper, was signed from the Juniors by Livingston, but he's very much the exception.

The OP disqualified signings from the Juniors, or him and Sam English would be straight into the side.

Peter McCloy - player swap from Motherwell Graeme Souness - £300,000 from Sampdoria, still a bargain though Davie Weir - free transfer, say no more Harold Davis - was told he'd never play football after being shot, signed for a nominal sum from East Fife. Dado Prso - free transfer from Monaco, that bandaged head towering over their defence... Ally McCoist - £185,000 from Sunderland in 1983. Sunderland had spent £400,000 on him just two years before. Scott Arfield - free transfer from Burnley, okay still a bit early in his Rangers career Marvin Andrews - free transfer, industrial in style but effective and popular. I'll find three more later...

McGregor came to us straight from a boys club, I'm not sure he qualifies for this team.

Baxter's transfer fee was a Scottish record at the time. I mean we can agree he was worth it but we paid top dollar for him. Likewise wee Doddy cost £65,000 in 1968, that was a big fee back then, again a great player and a good servant. Gordon Smith also cost £65,000, still a decent fee in 1977 but he was good value and left for over £400,000 just a few seasons later. Ian Ferguson is still the most expensive player St Mirren have ever sold. Would we spend £900,000 on a young Scottish player today? Ian McMillan is a fascinating player. He only left Airdrie because they refused him a testimonial after 10 years playing for them. He remained part-time at Rangers, working as a quantity surveyor during the day and training a couple of nights a week. Yet he starred in what some say was our best ever side. Great idea for a thread, really thought provoking.

The frustrating 11 is different from the 'I just didn't like them 11'. Frustration suggests players you thought should have done more, didn't give us what we thought they could or would. So here goes... Oleg Kuznetsov - bloody hammer throwers... Basil Boli - Boli genuinely looked like one of the best defenders in the world at Marseille, he looked like he'd won a competition to appear on the pitch when at Rangers. Bruno Alves - What a CV, what a disappointment. Joey Barton - could also make it into the disliked 11, but he had ability, he just didn't seem to have it anymore. Niko Kranjcar - we were building a midfield around him, we built a medical centre around him instead Vladimir Weiss - possibly the most frustrating player we've had in recent years. Fast, great at taking a man on, total inability to know when to pass, shoot or cross. 99% of his runs led to nothing. Charlie Miller - literally one of the best players in the world when he was 16, ended up a Dundee Utd player, what an utter waste of talent. Duncan Ferguson - Should have been a Rangers legend, had a side built around him, led the line for club and country, terrified defences across Europe. Went to prison instead. Derek Ferguson - all the talent, all the ability but a dodgy shoulder and some poor lifestyle choices. Kyle Lafferty - still the most frustrating player. It's there, he shows it in glimpses, then it vanishes for months on end. Seb Rozenthal - Our first South American forward when South Americans were still exotic and exciting. Was probably hugely popular with the nurses in Ross Hall...

These threads are fun, but they're always skewed by age. Some of the guys most of us never saw play must have been spectacular. Alex Smith played 406 times for Rangers, retiring in 1915, Sandy Archibald and Dave Meiklejohn both played well over 500 games at a time when medical treatment was considerably poorer than it is for professionals today. Guys like Alan Morton, who features in what I think is the most iconic photograph of any Rangers player, amassed 31 caps for Scotland in a period when we only played 3 matches a season. What a player he must have been. During the 1960s we had a side that made two European finals, we could genuinely say we had world class players. Baxter most people know about, but players like Willie Henderson, Ralph Brand and Bobby Shearer are largely overlooked these days. Even players who don't only appear in black and white, like Jardine, Derek Johnstone, the always underrated Willie Johnston, a man who scored 2 goals in a European final and was genuinely a player who would get you up off your seat when he got the ball, and Tommy McLean another player who we forget as a player only remember the crabit, negative manager now. Plus how can any Rangers select not feature John Greig? 755 appearances, captain of club and country, treble winner, European winner, a player who stayed with us for his entire career when players of his ability were in huge demand in England. Anyway, I realise it's about favourite players, not the best ones. Allan McGregor, that save in Germany, countless others too Hugh Burns, I loved Shug, at a time when we didn't have a lot to love... John McLelland, came to visit my BB when I was about 12 simply because someone asked him too, we all got our picture taken with him and Gregor Stevens and he donated a Northern Ireland strip he wore at the World Cup to raise funds. A proper Rangers captain. Gregor Stevens, see above. Ian Durant, pre injury simply the most exciting player I'd ever seen Rangers produce. That goal against Celtic from Copper's run and flick, the big hair when he first broke into the side, the performances in successive Skol Cup Finals, possibly my favourite ever Rangers player. Graeme Roberts, that game, the conducting, the sheer mentalness of it all. Souness, my formative years watching Rangers weren't littered with success, Souness arrived and suddenly stuff my Dad and older guys said made sense. What a player he was too. Laudrup, quite simply the finest footballer I've had the pleasure of watching in the flesh. Gattuso, I loved his industry, his work rate, his perpetual anger and aggression, he was the most Scottish Italian ever. McCoist, this shouldn't need explained. Derek Parlane, he left the club when I was 10, DJ was a much bigger name, but Parlane looked cooler, hair longer than Rangers players were normally allowed, even as child you knew he was a cool. Scored a ton of goals too which meant his name reverberated around my primary school playground. I doubt I ever saw him play in the flesh, yet somehow he epitomised my formative years getting into football. We'll do our most disliked 11 in another thread I hope...

Any player who signs for Rangers needs to understand that the minimum expected is winning the league. Obviously we won't always achieve it, but that's what the support expect. We're the best supported, most successful club in the country, I don't believe we have a divine right to win it, but we do have the resources to win it and that should always be our expectation at the start of the season. Now, we live in difficult times. The last 10 years or so have seen the balance of power swing east, they've currently got more money, better resources, more power and, frankly, a better squad. But, as I said above they've got a managerial change, and whoever is in charge next August is starting afresh. Some of their better players will take to the new manager and continue to play well, but some won't. I tend to agree with you about trying the same thing over and over, however I don't think we are. I fully expect us to go into the new season with Gerrard still in charge. He'll have had a full season managing us at SPFL level, something no Rangers manager has had since 2007. There will be a stability and continuance about the side for the first time in a decade. Now is exactly the time to add seasoned quality over potential in my opinion.