JohnMc

Do Bayern have much of a youth conveyor belt then? I thought they bought the best players from every other German club and were hated for it? 

1 hour ago, RANGERRAB said:

I actually don't think McCoist is wrong but there is not a cat in hells chance of Ashley investing in Rangers or any club. He is getting out of football altogether 

I actually agree with Rab and Ally on this. I don't think McCoist is as out-of-touch with the greater support as some of us think. There is a percentage of every club's support, and some cases quite a big percentage, who will back anyone who promises to invest money. We're no different. It's not that long ago that a fairly well known supporter's group were championing Craig Whyte, and a good number were very supportive of Charles Green for a long time. Indeed one of the reasons I switched full-time to Gersnet was reading some of the stick both Gunslinger and Forlan's Sister got on another forum from posters who refused to believe those in charge of our club were harming it. 

If Mike Ashley said he'd learned from past mistakes and he wanted to invest £50 million in Rangers and win the league and take us back into the Champion's League there would be people in our support who would back him, there's nothing surer. Not everyone is as aware of business and boardroom and off-field personalities as your average Gersnet poster is. I wouldn't want Ashley anywhere near Rangers, but I learned a while ago that not everyone thinks like I do! 

Thank you. Who else does he represent that we can sign!!

Who are his "representatives" then? 

2 hours ago, Gonzo79 said:

Some of the songs and flags sung and flown at every Rangers match suggest there are many who feel otherwise.  Your 'bear' comment is a bit odd - why the inverted commas?  

 

I have no problem with wearing green, eating green vegetables, watching Father Ted or listening to Rory Gallagher, for the record.  

If I'm being entirely honest I do avoid wearing green whenever possible, which is 99% of the time. Father Ted is the most anti-Irish programme ever made, it was literally banned by RTE for years. 

Other than that Germinal currently speaks for me. 

Cummings is surely being sought to provide competition to Morelos and options for Murty. With Miller injured and possibly finished we've only got Herrera and Hardie as recognised forwards at the club. No one has seen enough to know if Herrera is good enough and judging by his lack of appearances Murty doesn't think Hardie is capable. That's not good enough for a club like ours. Cumming is similar is size and style to Morelos and can be interchangeable should Morelos get injured, suspended or lose form. Plus I suspect there will be interest in Morelos from clubs with more money than us in the not too distant future. 

Martin can come in an do a 'Davie Weir', we need a couple more experienced professionals at the club. 

1 hour ago, Rousseau said:

 

Maybe he's just not good enough anymore, or it's perhaps a gamble considering his age and injury problems? The management team will know more than any of us.

 

Whatever they decide to do, I'll trust their decision. 

 

He could well be a decent option for us, but it could also be the opposite. 

You have way more faith in the decision makers at Rangers than I do. Nothing I've witnessed recently has given me any reason to think they've the first idea what they're doing. 

44 minutes ago, Frankie said:

I think (just as we seen last August), if we wanted to sign Naismith, he'd be here by now.

Under difference circumstances I'd have agreed with you but having watched the management of our club procrastinate, dither and blunder over the last 12 months I'm not sure you're correct about that. 

I do think there's no desire to sign him though, rightly or wrongly. I think it would have leaked if we were interested or pursuing him. 

At 31 I doubt Naismith is past it, and even if he's lost a yard of pace Naismith's game wasn't based on speed and power. With Pena gone and Kranjcar struggling we need some guile. Naismith offers that and can play as a second striker very effectively. Indeed a busy, explosive type player like Morelos would do well paired with Naismith. Players like Tav, John, Holt and Windass would love playing with Naismith, he sees runs, he finds space and he creates openings for players like them. 

He also brings experience, our starting 11 against Celtic was one of the youngest and least experienced I've seen Rangers field. We need some experience in our side. 

I've no idea if the Hearts story has any truth in it, but he clearly wants to come 'home' and I can't think of any good reasons why Rangers wouldn't facilitate that. 

Wasn't Sinclair closer to the 'Strachan philosophy', and one a number of English sides subscribe too as well? Strachan's point, after the last Scotland qualifier, about us not producing players who were as a big as other countries was mocked by most people afterwards. It also seems more amusing coming from someone of his stature who enjoyed relative success as a player. This is something he's spoken about before. But he's not alone in believing the top class player not only has to be technically great but also physically 'big'. It might surprise some to know that Arsene Wenger believes in this too. Have a look at his successful sides and they'd barely a player under 5'11" in them. The recent Barcelona side has turned this on it's head. The triumvirate of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta proving that ability always trumps physicality. 

Ironically McCrorie, at 6'1", would be Sinclair's perfect player. 

2 hours ago, buster. said:

 

The late George Barnett, a Rangers fan who died last month is also on the poster.

That really is disgraceful. 

Copyright is funny, if the guy has permission from the photographer to use the images he's probably in the clear, but those featured can still request he removes their image from any publicly available material. But where would he have got an image of someone who was just a supporter, not a player or director? And who gave him that permission? 

33 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

 

JohnMc agrees with one of my posts?

 

You are making progress Grasshopper. 

I wonder if he asked, and received, permission from John Brown, Ally McCoist, Andy Goram, Paul Murray, El Hadji Diouf, Dave King, Alastair Johnston and Stuart McCall, among others, to use their image on the poster? I mean this is a grubby, money making exercise, it would be so sad if he hadn't permission and was forced to remove all copies of it and compensate those whose image he used without prior approval. Hope nobody tells Andy Goram or Bomber about this...

14 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I suppose that's what the Winter break is all about: giving the players a rest, both physically and mentally -- hopefully with the latter they can get over their Ibrox hoodoo, although I don't want to jinx it!

 

The most important thing is we get them back to full fitness for the next League game.

This.

There's confusion over the winter break. Some pundits laughably think it's to do with avoiding bad weather and have a moan when it snows or freezes in February. It's nothing to do with weather and all to do with giving the players a break. It's meant to allow players who have been playing with injuries to get them addressed, either through an op or through rest. As supporters we're often critical of players commitment without realising that most players play with ongoing injuries. Either playing through the pain barrier which can lead to their performances being compromised or with pain killers which can lead to injuries getting worse. 

Hopefully these are nothing too serious and both can get over them within a couple of weeks. 

How come it didn't work out with Thomson coaching at Hibs? That seems the most obvious fit for him. 

Vignal is the intriguing one for me. He's hardly part of an 'old boys' club, having only played one season for us, on loan, a good while ago. He apparently lives in France again too. Isn't this all the work of Craig Mulholland rather than the Director of Football? 

It strikes me that we're seeing the Walter Smith guide to rebuilding Rangers. Get a core of experienced, better Scottish players, from down south or rival SPFL sides, add some other British players in as well and then supplement with exciting continentals and emerging youngsters. In his 1st transfer window, the January one, he signed Weir, Ehiogu and Kevin Thomson. Then in the summer he signed Naismith, Broadfoot, Cuellar, Dailly, Whittaker, Steven Davis, McCulloch, Beasley, Darchville and Cousin. 

They strengthened a squad already containing Ferguson, Boyd, McGregor, Hutton, Hemdani, Papac, Novo and Adam.  

We don't have the money to do exactly the same thing but guys like Murphy, Docherty, Jones, Kenny McLean and Kevin McDonald along with possibly Naismith, help achieve a similar thing. Supplement that with a couple of wily French players coming to the end of their careers and I'll expect us to make the Europa League final next season.  

PS, whilst I'm in fantasy mode I also want to see us make a move for Steven Davis again. He's got 18 months left on his contract. Contact him now regarding a summer move, offer the captaincy and a future coaching role at Rangers. He's 33 now so he's probably not got another big move left, but I suspect he'll not be short of suiters if Southampton don't offer him a new deal. Davis is the type of player who can play until for another 3 or 4 years easily. 

The little 'x' is visible now, thanks for that. 

Good stuff on the site change guys, a lot of work and co-ordination went into it, well done. One question, there's a yellow rectangle with a message in it from Frankie on my screen and I can't get rid of it.

I understand Frankie really wants people to submit content but I probably don't need the constant reminder!! 

I'm guessing this is one of the 'stickies' I've seen mentioned. How do I minimise it? I can't see any way of making it disappear. 

I'm on Chrome on a MacBook. 

1 hour ago, pete said:

You sneaked that in while I was typing and eating a sandwich at the same time. Great minds think alike as they say.

Hah, either that or 'fools seldom differ'! 

Rousseau, don't be surprised if Pena is quite keen on a return to Mexico. Whatever his goal to game ration is he's struggled to find a regular starting place, we've struggled to understand and adapt to his 'game' and with Pedro gone his chief supporter has gone. Murty has used him, and used him well at times, but this might be a mutual thing rather than us simply looking to offload him. Pena's biggest problem is one of expectation. The fee paid for him and the stories that followed him created the impression that he was going to be a big, big player. That's not his fault of course. On balance moving him on seems like the wisest course to me. 

Think I'd ask for a chunck of it now just in case our Pedro isn't in the job come the summer. 

I know nothing about Goss, but as he's clearly not getting another contract at QPR this is a 6 month trial he's on. If he's in and Nemane is out then it's cost neutral and probably worth a punt. I think I'd have preferred if we'd tried to sign the St Mirren youngster that looks like he's joining Celtic though.

No doubt that JN will get paid more with Rangers than with Falkirk also he prefers the club. But he could be here for only 5 months, any new manager will bring in his own assistant.

To be fair he could get sacked at Falkirk before the season ends the way they're playing. Jimmy Nicholl won't get too many more opportunities to work at Rangers, no way would he turn that down. He's in his early 60s, still plenty of miles left in the clock.

I don’t think he is nearly creative enough to play an advanced CM role.

 

Would still have him as a squad player though

He's not a holding midfielder but that was where he was asked to play before. Playing front of McCrorie in a similar role to Holt is much better suited to him I think. But I agree he's not a 'front of the diamond' or whatever that advanced midfield/deep attacking position is called this week. We're stretched in midfield and we'll pick up more suspensions and injuries as the season goes on, having him back even as cover, like you say, isn't a bad thing.

I disagree. It's a lot more than just irony as to why Morelis draws. Attention to himself for misses whilst Dembele never, ever got into those positions.

 

It isn't irony to be calling the player getting into scoring positions a "diddy" kit the same publication suggesting Celtic shouldn't accept any less than £18 million for the player who was invisible in the same match against supposedly inferior defenders.

 

How anyone can put that down to simple irony is beyond me.

Well it maybe more Craig but that doesn't mean it's not ironic.

I don't buy into this idea that the press can somehow convince English sides that a player is worth a lot more than he is. Dembele will have been well known to English sides before he joined Celtic and they'll have kept an eye on him since. Likewise I suspect more than a few will be aware of Morelos too. In the end it won't be the Sun's headline writers that decide what a struggling EPL side will pay for him. The Dembele for £18million line is a tabloid staple. It gives them a few days of headlines and if it happens they get a few weeks of 'how will Celtic spend their millions' and if it doesn't they get a few weeks of further speculation or how Dembele is unsettled/wants away/wants to stay/Celtic are asking too much for him... take your pick.