JohnMc

That defence, well, I guess we're not going to be sitting back trying to hit them on the break then.

I think the term you're looking for is mass hysteria, it's incredible and baffling in equal measure. If Rangers were appointing the under 18 coach from Spurs or Southampton there would be nothing like the excitement this seems to be generating. Yet both those clubs have a far better record of producing young players than Liverpool do suggesting their under 18 coaches might be quite good. I mean if we feel the way forward is to find a young, ambitious, but untried at first team level, coach then Mikel Arteta for example would make much more sense. This is a hell of a gamble. I find it surprising because we're genuinely not that far away from competing for this league. The side needs more belief and back bone and some leadership, we need a stronger back line, but we're the highest scorers in the league despite another tumultuous season off the park. We need stability, nous and experience in my opinion. People have compared this to the Souness appointment, wrongly I think. Rangers were fifth that season on goal difference, only one goal better off than sixth placed Dundee. The season before we were fourth, 21 points behind the champions. We need a catalyst for radical change, we were a long way behind Celtic, Aberdeen and Dundee Utd at that time. We're not now, we're just poorly managed. The fact Gerrard was a very good player means nothing. We'll be asking him to coach players who aren't as good as he was and not capable of doing what he could. It might interesting to look over the city for a moment. Rodgers was reserve coach at Chelsea for a few seasons. Well thought of he was offered the managers job at Watford. Taking over when they were in danger of relegation he kept them up. He left shortly after to take theReading job, a club he'd been at before. Reading didn't work out well and he left after 6 months with them fourth bottom. Rodgers made mistakes at both clubs. As neither is in much spotlight outside of their own towns this largely passed unnoticed. He was able to learn and when he landed the job at Swansea, a club well run with a clear structure in place he flourished. You don't get to make mistakes at Rangers, the spotlight is always on, shining very brightly. So far this mass hysteria has passed me by. Who knows though, it's clearly contagious so I might succumb soon.

Warnock was interviewed a couple of years ago and claimed then he'd never manage in the EPL again. He explained that the type of players required to play at that level don't respond to his type of management. It was a remarkably honest interview. He said he's an organiser and a motivator and that works at Championship level and below. So if he does get Cardiff promoted he might become available, and if doesn't he might stay there for another season. I suspect the lure of possible European football might be quite appealing for him although he apparently lives in Cornwall and commutes!

To be fair he is the last guy that stopped Brendan Rogers winning the league.

Ken Dodd assisted by Cilla Black is preferable.

You'd love to be a fly on the wall at one of our board meetings. 'Okay, what are we looking for in the person next to manage Scotland's largest and most successful club?', 'well Dave we need someone with no previous managerial experience, someone who has never played in the league we compete in, someone who has never coached in our league, someone with no connection either professionally or emotionally to our club, someone with links to organised crime and someone who'll command a significant salary from day one'. 'Sounds good, right pass the criteria onto that director of football fellow I've the red eye to Cape Town to catch.'

If it's someone already out of work surely they'd just start now? And if for some reason they didn't want too surely their name would have been leaked to quell our growing unrest? So it's either someone already in employment elsewhere or someone so underwhelming we'll bin our season ticket renewals. Or both.

Dornan neatly encapsulates almost everything that's wrong with politics in this city. He's got a 10,000 vote majority so I've little expectation he'll be voted out anytime soon. The good people of Glasgow Cathcart need to have a long, hard look at themselves, they voted in Mike 'Firestarter' Watson before.

Taking Rangers first. Advocaat was welcomed and feted until the wheels came off, even then he gets very little criticism. For the most part his sides were a joy to watch, until the weren't. PLG was welcomed like a conquering hero, indeed with hindsight part of his problem was one of expectation. Too many of us expected Rangers to be playing like the great Arsenal sides. But things only turned sour for him when results and performances were poor. Lastly Pedro. What can you say, right up to the end he had has supporters willing him to succeed and pleading to give him more time. I wasn't one of them but that's not because I'm a xenophobe it's because I didn't think he was a very good manager. If we have a fault as a support it's a lack of patience, but we're hardly alone in that. If a Rangers manager wants to keep his job his side needs to win. I think that's the same at the biggest club in any league. There's hardly a side in Scotland who hasn't tried a 'foreign' manager, mainly without much success. That can't be just down to us all being small minded, closet racists and more likely down to the quality of player we produce and the type of football they're suited too. Mark Wotte was warmly welcomed when he was appointed Performance director at the SFA. On this site the name of Preud'homme seems to be many's favourite to take us on. If he got the job will he be hunted if we lost to Falkirk in the League Cup and Celtic in the league, probably. But so would a 'British' manager. There's a debate to be had around why a football mad country like Scotland can't get it's act together collectively or individually. But to right it off as xenophobia doesn't help that debate in the slightest.

There was an interesting interlude at half time around Naismith being booed for, and I paraphrase "the crime of putting his family and his career first" as Richard Gordon put it. Now, I don't hold any antipathy towards Naismith and don't blame him for leaving, but if Gordon doesn't realise he's booed for his comments following his departure rather than the departure itself then he's really not doing his job very well. Considering how much time they spend talking about Rangers you'd think they might invite someone on who understands us. Of course no other club's supporters have ever booed an ex-player when they've returned to play them. Ever. Confession time. In a previous life I knew Annie McGuire, she was actually all right.

Yes, we were better, and the changes Murty made largely worked, so credit there. However, considering the experience that Hearts side had (every single Hearts player yesterday was either a full international or an under 21 international with the exception of Randall who is on loan from Liverpool) I was amazed how poor they were. They sat off us and seemed unable to string more than three passes together. We were better, it would have been hard to be worse, but a better side than Hearts would have caused us a lot more problems. Every side we've to play for the rest of this season is better than Hearts.

Yeah, I agree, the hope for the weekend must be that player pride will motivate them to fight as if their lives depend upon it. Preventing them winning the league, if even for only a week, would feel like some kind of moral victory.

Put me in the 'don't read too much into that performance' camp. Hearts were abject, yet were still only the width of the post away from a draw. We showed a bit of spirit and energy and dominated possession for long spells but were toothless in the first half and profligate in the second. Murphy, Candieas, Holt and Dorrans showed up and took control which was pleasing. Am I the only one concerned about McCrorie at centre-half? He clearly has talent but I'm not convinced that's his position and a better more attack minded team would have caused us more problems today. Him and Martin together don't look solid to me, their goal yesterday was an unchallenged header.

I'm genuinely not seeing vitriol. I read far more vitriol towards players, directors and other fans from other Rangers supporters frankly.

Other than his 'entitlement, we are the people' dig what is it you disagree with? I mean it's not going to win a Pulitzer and the Record/Mail's issue with King remains to the fore but I'm not sure I disagree with his article. The club remains a mess.

I know, just imagine how much better everything would be if they'd only adapted to Caixinha's "new methods"...

What are you talking about Craig? What has this got to do with Miller and Wallace?? You're taking my reply to Darther and extrapolating it into completely different threads. At 13.03 yesterday Darther made a post directed at me that I felt was total nonsense. He suggested my work situation was similar to that of professional footballers when in the real world they're totally different. Anyone who thinks that Rangers players follow the same guidelines in their work as 'normal' people is delusional. Extra leeway in many areas, payments off the books, blind-eye turned to misbehaviour and a litany of other benefits are regularly bestowed on pro footballers in an attempt to keep them sweet if they are producing the goods on the park. Frankly, anyone who thinks pro-footballers have to live by the same rules as the rest of us has very little understanding of how the sport actually operates. Employment law is followed when it suits them.

What do you base that on Buster? Miller and Wallace are both very popular and respected by the players, Wallace is captain and operates as the players 'spokesman' internally. We all hear rumours and supposed 'in-the-know' stories and so far everything I've heard has said the players are with Miller and Wallace.

I'm surprised the St Mirren manager isn't in the running. What he's achieved there is remarkable. Getting out of the Championship is not easy, as we well know, he did it at the first attempt with arguably the league's 4th highest budget and he did it with games to spare. He's got no experience at a 'big' club, and has never even managed in the SPFL, I accept that. But neither had Greig, McCoist, Warburton, Caixinho or Murty far less Struth, Wallace, Souness or Smith. Anyway, clearly our directors are looking elsewhere.

I don't disagree with anything you've said. Really the only point I've been trying to make is that it seems negligent to keep losing the rare young players we bring through. Bates is just the latest example of a pattern.

It would have turned this 47 year old's head!

Really Darther? C'mon, you simply can't compare professional football to 'normal' work no matter how hard you try. You can compare it to 'showbiz' or music maybe but not anything that you or I would recognise as 'work'. I don't know what you do for a living but I'm willing to bet no one scouted you to do it when you were still at primary school, you didn't have a succession of peers and adults telling you how fantastic you were going to be all through your early teens and no one offered you £100k a year plus to do it when you were 18. It is in no sense of the word a "normal workplace" and players asking to double, triple or multiply by ten their salary happens fairly regularly. It's a short career, it's ridiculously overpaid and far too much importance is placed on it, but it is what it is and that is most certainly not normal.

Darther, football isn't like 'normal' work, and you must know that. There is little point in making comparisons between professional footballers and call centre workers or joiners.

Bates is just the latest, I was really highlighting the pattern of letting our better young players leave and the potential folly of that. I think we'd all agree that Martin and Alves haven't shown themselves to be considerably better than Bates and Wilson and neither offers much long term either, unlike the two we've allowed to leave for nothing. We seem to be able to produce about 1 player every couple of seasons currently, but so far all have left the club before they should have. It doesn't strike me as great business or football business.

I understand all that, however surely his first choice was to stay and play for Rangers and if he's earning that kind of salary then a deal shouldn't have been beyond us I'd have thought. In the end he needs replaced, as does Wilson, and there's no guarantee those brought in will be better or cheaper. In the end there seems little point in having a youth system and scouting if we let half of them leave for nothing.