JohnMc

I agree. I've a friend in the steel business who met with Murray about a year to 18 months. My friend's a bluenose and talk inevitably turned to us and back then SDM told him he wasn't finished with Rangers yet. Murray is an egoist and a gambler. The last few years have stung Murray, his reputation in tatters, his influence greatly reduced and his profile diminished. It wouldn't surprise me if SDM fancied another crack at it. the thought of getting one over King probably holds some appeal too.

They're under-pressure, I agree about that. I also agree it's the first time they've been put under any pressure since Rodgers took over so it'll be interesting to see how they deal with it. However, I still think we've got more pressure on us. If we lose the league is pretty much done and the good work of recent weeks will start to be questioned again, Murty's job will be scrutinised as will his suitability to take us forward. That's the reality of being the Rangers manager. We need the win more than they do. There is also the growing sense of optimism in our support. We're actually looking forward to this match, there's a belief we can win it, that's not been present for a year or so, that also brings pressure. When we last played them at New Year we expected very little and were all pleasantly surprised by the performance. This time it's different, we expect at least the performance of last time.

Add me to the 'Morelos must start' chorus, he's better than Cummings and will cause any defence problems. I'd be amazed if Celtic don't come and play it tight and sit back trying to hit us on the break. In the end a draw is fine for them, we need the win so we'll be the more expansive side. That will suit them. The pressure remains on us, we need the result more than them, but they've got the experienced players. I like Docherty and Goss but Celtic's central midfield is considerably more experienced and that counts for a lot in these games. I expect a lot of niggles, verbals and confrontations, Brown will want to make this a battle, that's his type of game. He'll want Docherty and Goss forgetting about their game plan and trying to do him instead, a trick he learned from Lennon a long time ago. Discipline is the key for us this weekend.

Tony Cascarino, a somewhat surprising contender for best football biography ever written, tells a story in his book about being accosted and subjected to a foul-mouth rant whilst perusing the shops on Buchanan Street one day. He tried to appeal to his assailant that although he was obviously a Rangers fan and Tony a Celtic player he was just minding his own business on his day off and would he mind leaving him alone. The 'fan' got even angrier shouting at a dumb-founded Cascarino that he was in fact a Celtic supporter. Tony's not particularly complimentary about his time at Celtic.

Is this just a change of ownership for Dundee Utd? I'm assuming the guy Martin is a fan and selling the training ground to him is basically a way for him to inject money into the club. I hate to see any club get into difficulty, it's not something to be enjoyed. But, in the case of Dundee Utd I'm prepared to make an exception.

Surely it's directors that make a decision like this? I mean coaching staff and even the manager might make the suggestion but the directors 'own' the club and they decide what we wear. Today, UEFA and domestic leagues have a say in strips too.

Okay, put me down for it.

Anyone taken the Celtic game in a couple weeks?

As long as we keep winning there's a chance, and that's something that nobody expected even two months ago. The pressure's all on Celtic if we keep winning and I'm not sure how Rodgers copes with pressure, he's not had too since he joined them. To be clear, they are still favourites and rightly so. But, they've got injuries and their form has been patchy of late. All we can do is win the next match, and then the next one and then the next one... If we keep doing that anything can happen, we've seen that before. Even if it doesn't the turnaround since the start of the season is remarkable.

Booing players you don't like is one of the great things about football. Hurling vitriol at fit, talented, rich, gifted young men is one of the many pleasures football offers. In every other walk of life these people are feted and adored, so I find it therapeutic to denigrate their morals, personality and ability whenever I feel like it. The gradual sanitising of football attendance thankfully hasn't yet reached booing opposition players, and that's a good thing. As an overweight, balding, middle-aged talentless nobody I take solace in sometimes being able to shout abuse at my clear opposites. That being said I still have a soft spot for Naismith. I loved him when he played for us and have long forgiven him for what he said when he left. I hope he plays well for Hearts in the coming months, proves his fitness and form and we resign him in the summer actually. However.... he's an annoying wee bastard on the pitch. He noises up defenders, commits sneaky fouls, chats away to the referee and is a general pain in the arse to the opposition and for that reason and for that reason alone he may well experience some abuse and 90 minute hatred.

Sportsound was a fun listen last night. After the match Pat Bonnar, who remains someone it's impossible to hate, said something along the lines of 'Celtic enjoyed good possession' and was metaphorically set upon by Thomson, Gordon and McDonald. It was really funny. Stevie Thomson actually laughed out loud at the comment and Richard Gordon told him Celtic didn't touch the ball for the first 25 minutes other than to pick it out of the net. Even Scott McDonald was very critical of the performance and the tactics. To be fair it's not like they could say anything else after a 3-0 trouncing by a side who apparently didn't play all that well. It simply underlined what some have been feeling for a while, this season Celtic are beatable. There's a lethargy and an arrogance to them and if we can only stay injury free and avoid the stupid defeats there's a championship to be won.

We should play them in a friendly as a gesture of goodwill as no doubt they'll be stung on this. When we were going through our difficulties in recent years some of the Highland League and ex-Highland League sides showed us friendship and welcomed us, we should never forget that. None of our neighbours showed us that.

Yes, I'm getting that too but only on my phone when I'm not logged in. From my laptop when I'm automatically logged in I don't see it. I can't get out of it and can't use my phone to access the site now.

I'm staggered that anyone wouldn't want Steven Davis to sign. Not only should we sign him we should make him captain and offer him a coaching role with the youths. Davis captained a country of 1.8 million people (40% of who won't play for them) to the second round of the Euros, he's got 100 caps and has played his entire career in the Scottish or English top flight. He's 33, not 103, he's easily got another 3 years at our level in him. I read people saying we've got too many 'old' players! Miller, Kranjcar and Alves are veterans, but I suspect at least two of them will leave in the summer, Wallace and Dorrans are 30, Martin is 32 but only on loan. Everyone else in our squad is in their teens or 20s, we've got a need to add some experience. Davis is one of these players fans rarely appreciate. He's the quiet, thoughtful, worker building moves, offering angles, making space and covering others, he's essential to every good side. It's telling that the only manager who didn't want Davis was Martin O'Neill, a manager for who a midfield was something to kick the ball over and to take set-pieces. Davis would be a wonderful signing, a guy who knows what it takes to win leagues and cups and pull on the light blue jersey.

Someone has to 'pay' for it. Whether you pay for it through a licence fee, at point of consumption, point of purchase or by watching advertising all the 'news' content you consume has to be paid for somehow, it's not 'free'. I suspect you'll see a 'Spotify' type system emerge where you pay a monthly or annual amount and then get access to 'news' from a wide variety of sources. For what it's worth the demise of an independent press is a bad thing in my opinion.

Didn't they all go to private schools? Kheredine Idessane went to Stewart Mellives in Edinburgh and Richard Gordon to Aberdeen Grammer. I mean the sense of entitlement oozes from every broadcast so should we be surprised. Anyway, I don't mind English that much. I think he's sometimes just plain wrong and his ignorance of aspects of Scottish football is very clear at times. But he's one of the few willing to criticise Celtic publicly too. I also don't think he's wrong on this subject. I agree the bams in the tartan army don't want Smith because he left Scotland for us. But for different reasons I think he's the wrong choice too. I think a younger man, one more in touch with the current crop of players is a more appropriate appointment. It's worked well for Wales, Northern Ireland and Iceland.

I didn't think the side was getting much abuse last night. There were groans and shouts of frustration as moves broke down and possession was given away needlessly, particularly in the first half, but no more than usual. Windass is a frustrating player and when things aren't going well I think his lack of dig becomes an issue. Jason Holt didn't contribute more than Windass last night, but he worked hard, harried and put in a couple of crunching 50/50 tackles that brought a roar and the support to their feet. We love a hard tackle, particularly from a wee guy. Windass won't do that, that's not his game. So when you're in a scrap, like we were in the first half last night, and Thistle are working hard, closing space and getting in amongst us, a player like Windass looks like he's not contributing. But then we see the one piece of quality in the half from Candieas and Windass out sprints his marker to get in the box and bury the chance. That's his job, that's the important thing. Holt had the dig, that the fans love, but Windass had the quality to score the first and play a part in the second. That's what wins you matches. That being said playing for Rangers means you'll get stick from the support sometimes, you suck it up and get on with it, show some professionalism man.

Wow, some spectacular extrapolations going on in this thread. BigJaws, why do some people think it's okay to sing about the Ibrox Disaster, the death of the Lisbon Lions, pedophilia, a soldier brutally murdered in the street, Northern Irish murder gangs, the physical attractiveness of a player's wife or girlfriend, or their sexual morals, the death of a former player or the sexuality of a TV presenter? Social media isn't responsible for the ability of some people to lose all sense of perspective and reason when football allegiances are involved. That's been happening for generations. Social media has simply provided another outlet for it, one where anonymity is actually less likely than before. My great grandfather was a professional footballer and apparently my great grandmother only went to watch him play once as she couldn't stand the abuse that was being shouted at him. This was shortly before WW1. Some people are dicks when football enters the equation. Those same people are probably fairly normal in most other parts of their lives. But it's always been that way in my opinion.

I've no idea who the young player being discussed in this thread is, literally no clue. Football is a brutal business, particularly for youngsters.

I thought he was an absolute donkey and so completely out of his depth at Rangers he was going to be the ginger Scott Nisbet. I was being harsh on Nisbet there. I may have been a trifle hasty in that judgement. He definitely looked like a proper defender recently. That might be because we now have a manager who has some understanding of defending of course. On balance he's earned his spot and if he can keep it in the next few weeks then aye, he's earned a new contract offer.

Yeah, when I think back to what an utter shambles the club seemed to be, both on and off the pitch, when McInnes knocked us back, I wouldn't have believed we could have strengthened the side the way we have. Like most of us I really want Murty to do well and one thing this transfer window has done is bring a renewed sense of optimism to the support. There's a belief now we are going in the right direction. Every single signing makes sense, there's a core to the squad now of people who understand the league, the opposition and the what the club means to the support, that can only be a good thing. I think we're still missing a bit of craft, particularly in midfield, but overall I'm delighted with the progress we've made in the last couple of months.

Yeah, I'm not sure leaving the SPFL for the MLS can be described as showing a lack of ambition these days, indeed arguably it's the opposite. Wilson showed ambition when he left us for Liverpool, it didn't work out. Maybe he's realistic about what he can achieve in his career and playing abroad might be one of his ambitions. It's frustrating he's going but he can be replaced, indeed he already has been. Good luck to him.

Am I the only person that thinks he looks like a ginger James Tavernier?

Burt uses the same agent as Naismith and Whittaker. Burt looked like a great prospect a couple of seasons ago, I suppose it depends in his injury and how serious it was. Anyway, with Declan and Sean in the side there's space for a Liam now!

I'd the misfortune to listen to the tranny last night. I'd foolishly assumed we'd get an 'as-live' commentary from the studio and was stunned when I realised the Hibs/Dundee match was being covered. They cut to Rob McLean when we scored and they half-heartedly admitted Morelos was in decent form and having a good season. The second half was much the same, cutting away to other grounds if someone scored. The radio gave the impression of a more even contest than those in attendance have since told me it was. It's farcical that second against third isn't the match to receive live commentary.