JohnMc

There's a lot of work being done on the Copland stand this summer so Ibrox isn't available for concerts or events. We're not even playing any friendlies at home pre-season. Harry Styles, a troubadour popular with the young people, played at Ibrox in the very recent past which suggests our 'wizzos' are onto this little earner.

Schalke were certainly, although I thought they'd stopped haemorrhaging money in the last couple of years. Despite another poor season I assumed they'd still have the finances for a 20 year old Bayern B team player, who they know well, if they wanted him. They might simply be too strapped to purchase him, or have other parts of their squad requiring more attention, I don't know. It's always worth remembering that I have no inside knowledge, I've never seen this lad play, indeed had never heard of him until reading this thread. Take my concerns with a large pinch of salt. We've had some great players who signed from relative obscurity and other well established players who signed and yet failed to deliver. Basically I know nothing, I'm just killing time between meetings!

Specifically 4 goals, no assists and 'too expensive for the 3rd biggest club in Germany'.

Didn't Schalke have another shocking season, fighting relegation into the 3rd tier for much of the year? If he's as good as Tillman I'll be very happy, but his numbers aren't wonderful despite playing for a big club at a low level.

I don't know, Uilleam, I think the names of Waddell, Holmes and Murray are hard to forget and are closely associated with the managers they appointed, or removed. However, I'll concede it seems unlikely we'll be speaking about Bisgrove's time at Rangers 30 years from now. I agree that for most of us who is in the boardroom or executive level is of far less interest than who is starting at left back or picking the team. However, particularly with our recent history, debating and keeping a watchful eye on who is making decisions in Edmiston Drive is beholden on all of us. I would agree entirely that having success in one field is no guarantee that success will inevitably follow in a different one. Football in particular is strewn with the carcasses of men (almost always men) who were successful in business and then failed spectacularly in the business of football. I read yesterday's press release from Everton about the probable collapse of the sale of the club, I'm reminded that Moshri had a stellar senior management record and Bill Kenwright was an impresario of rare success. Yet both presided over a long period of decline despite a huge latent support and access to Sky's millions for decades.

That's not strictly true. Willie Waddell famously 'went upstairs' in 72, appointing Wallace as manager while he became General Manager, effectively the MD of the day. He was largely responsible for the redevelopment of Ibrox Stadium and the eventual title win in 74/75. As one of our greatest ever players, a high profile journalist, a title winning manager with a provincial club and a European trophy winner with Rangers, Waddell was as high profile an 'MD' as we could have at that time. David Holmes was appointed 'MD' by Lawrence Malborourgh after Lawrence group bought out Jack Gillespie and took control of the club. Holmes transformed Rangers, and Scottish football. While not someone who sought the limelight his profile was very high, and rightly so. He was of course replaced by David Murray, who purchased the club from Lawrence Group. Murray was acting 'MD' of all his companies. He enjoyed the limelight, courted it in fact, and had a profile as high as anyone in business in Scotland for a couple of decades. Even today, despite everything, he's more closely associated with Rangers than anything else. When Murray chose to step back from the day to day running of the club he appointed John McClelland as 'MD'. McClelland's main role was to take any flack that was aimed at Murray. Indeed that was the main role for everyone SDM appointed to that position. Campbell Ogilvie, who was never Rangers 'MD', has some illuminating insights into Rangers between Waddell and Holmes. We didn't have a single owner at the time, we'd a number of shareholders who each had influence but no overall control. According to Ogilvie the board was fractured, they rarely agreed on major decisions. The board were split on firing John Greig as manager for example, long after it was apparent it wasn't working out. Greig eventually did them a favour and resigned. Ogilvie tells of board meetings that regularly lasted 12 hours, where every single thing was discussed and debated and often no agreement was reached. Director's had their own agendas, cliques and alliances were formed, while the club slipped into a period of stasis, allowing Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts and even Dundee Utd to push ahead of us. The lack of leadership and direction was part of the reason we were unable to attract Alex Ferguson or Jim McLean as manager, despite both being very much open to it, despite what might have been spun since. Leadership begins at the very top. That's the case with every successful business. While supporters are much more concerned with the football related appointments, the replacement for Bisgrove might well be the most important bit of business we do this summer. History tells us what happens if we get that wrong.

There was a Danish left back joined Rangers in the 80s by the name of Jan Bartram. He was highly rated, ended up spending most of his career in the Bundesliga and became the first choice Danish international left back at a time when Denmark had a good team. He joined Rangers and it was a disaster, he clearly hated the place, he left after 6 months, during that time he failed to dislodge Stuart Munro as our left back, gave an interview to a Danish paper where he described Souness as a 'beast' and a 'bastard' and complained about the physical nature of football in Scotland. He wasn't a bad player, just a bad fit. Lammers feels like this decade's Bartram. It's better all round if he leaves, he's not a bad player, just a bad fit.

It's not about age, it's about fitness. I accept the two become more closely linked as a player ages, but simply being 32 shouldn't be some kind of cut off point. Steve Davis played 35 times in a title winning side at 34. If Barasic, Roofe, Lundstrom and Jack are away, plus this talk of Goldson and Tav leaving too, then we will be very short of experience, and a club the size of Rangers does need experienced players too. He's played 35 plus matches each of the last 3 seasons, that suggests his fitness isn't currently an issue. McLean isn't the kind of signing that gets the support excited, but he knows the league, he's played at a decent standard, he's Scottish which helps for European squads, and he's a decent player. I imagine his salary expectations are within our budget too.

It's entirely possible to state that Celtic have benefitted from big officiating decisions in games against us, including yesterday, without saying there's a conspiracy. I believe a number of referees are terrified to give decisions against Celtic and I think there are various reasons for that. I don't think refs are meeting in pub in Carfin plotting how to thwart Rangers, but I do think if a referee can avoid giving a penalty against Celtic in a tight game they will. If there's the slightest hint of controversy about a goal against Celtic they'll chalk it off. The personal and professional cost to a referee of upsetting the Celtic management, board, support and Celtic leaning media is high and as such they'll always err on the side of caution when faced with that. Who can blame them? None of that distracts from us needing to improve our side, but to pretend that big decisions in important games haven't gone against us with some regularity is surprising. Twice this season we've had goals against Celtic chalked off, both incorrectly, in my opinion. On both those occasions those goals would have given us a lead over Celtic, something we've not managed at all this season. Scoring first in these games gives you an advantage, it changes the momentum, it leads to changes in tactics, it changes the confidence of players. Who can say if we'd have won yesterday had the goal not being denied us, who can say if the first game a Ibrox would have played out differently had Roofe's perfectly good goal been allowed to stand. We'll never know. But to deny the evidence of our own eyes when it comes to these decisions, and to berate supporters for pointing this out I find bizarre.

My poorly made point was more about their ability to 'fit in' rather than what nationality they see themselves having. Bassey and Aribo were raised in the UK, so moving to Glasgow isn't as big a culture shock as if they'd been raised in Lagos. Likewise moving to Glasgow if you were raised in Belgium or Germany isn't as challenging as if you were from Malawi I'd guess. All that said I read an article recently about Jadon Sancho and his failure to blossom at Man Utd. The point the author was making was that because he was from south London he wasn't given the support and help he would have been given had he been from another country. He seemed to be suggesting south London is different enough from Manchester to warrant this. Man Utd expected a young English guy to settle fairly easily. Dortmund on the other hand had put every possible thing in place to help a young player settle in a new country and environment and so Sancho did really well there. This theory conveniently overlooked the fact Sancho had lived in Manchester previously when he was at Man City. Roy Keane speaks surprisingly well on this. As a player he was dismissive of some of Man Utd's signings 'struggling to settle' and this affecting their performance. He gave some of them a really hard time about it too. He'd moved to England as a young man and had settled easily enough. He recalled losing it with Sebastian Veron, who blamed his form on living in a hotel and his wife and family not settling in England. Then when Keane joined Celtic his family stayed in Manchester and he moved into a hotel somewhere in Glasgow. He's go back to Manchester for a couple of days after games and then return to Glasgow for the rest of the week. He admitted he was miserable. He hated living in a hotel, he missed his family and friends and that it did affect his form. Jim Bett's wife couldn't settle in Glasgow so he left Rangers, but she was able to settle in Aberdeen without a problem. Go figure that out. Anyway, in my experience Declan and Aiden from Coatbridge would find Govan just too big a jump, some cultural gaps are just too huge to bridge.

African isn't an ethnicity, it's a continent with hundreds of different ethnicities. Egyptians are Africans, Somalis are Africans and Namibians are Africans and they have almost nothing in common with each other. Your point is interesting. Aribo and Bassey are Londoners, both were raised there, Aribo was born there and Bassey moved there as a young child. They are Nigerian by heritage, but are basically English. Balogun is German. Again, Nigerian by heritage, but born and raised in Berlin. Dessers is Belgian, again Nigerian by heritage, but European in every other sense. Sakala was raised in Africa, Diomande was too. They'd be better gauges of how 'African' players can settle and adapt to life and football in Scotland. Culturally a number of African countries are anglophile and you'd imagine that gives the players a better chance of adapting. If they can speak English for a start, if they're from a Christian background, but that isn't definite. Sakala spoke English, came from Malawi which has a strong British influence, he seemed to settle quite well. Diomande, I assume, is Muslim, and was born in the Ivory coast, where French is the main language. However he spent a lot of time in Ghana, where English is widely spoken. I guess it will come down to the individuals more than anything else. How mentally strong they are, what kind of family structure they have around them, how well they play too.

We played 56 games, not including friendlies, last season. We played 65 matches the season before. This season we'll play 59 competitive matches. Last season Copenhagen won the Danish league, the Danish cup and played in qualifiers and group stages of the Champion's League, yet only played 47 competitive games. Club Brugge played 51, PSV played 52. We can argue about playing too much football, but if we reach the latter stages of both domestic cups and qualify for European 'league' football, which we should do every season now, then that's not going to change. So what's vital is not only that we are able to keep our players fit, so perhaps don't sign ones with clear track records of fitness problems, but also that we need real depth in our squad. I've no doubt we've asked players to play this season who weren't fully fit. Would it come as a surprise to anyone of we found out that Tav, Goldson and Lundstram had all played when carrying injuries? For us to be successful next season we need a squad that can rotate and rest players without weakening the team. We don't have that currently.

To be fair Balagun was signed as cover, he's done his job. I'd argue Sterling was also signed as cover and has played more than might have been expected. Butland and Dessers have both contributed and whatever misgivings I have about big Cyriel he's turned up, stayed fit and never hid, so fair play to him. Sima left at the end of December for AFCON and has been injured since, barring a short cameo. So his % isn't a surprise. I think Danilo joined us injured, eventually played, looked ok, then got injured, came back and got injured again. His % is no surprise either. Time will tell if he's a good signing or not. Lammers didn't work out, leaving in January was best all round, club did well to move him on quickly. He's done ok in Holland it seems, so hopefully someone wants to buy him. Really only Cifuentes and Dowell have been poor signings. Cifuentes was a bewildering signing at the time. We'll be lucky to give him away. Dowell is a decent player on the 38 minutes a season he's fit. He's averaged 19 appearances a season in his career, why anyone thought signing him for a club who play upwards of 50 competitive matches a season was a good idea is anyone's guess.

I'd have taken him when he was at Hibs. He's had injuries at Millwall, so he sounds like a perfect signing for us now.

Jack and Lowry played for the youths last week. I expect both are fit enough for the bench.

The Martin Ramsay book that came out a few months ago about the title winning season of 86/87 is worth a read for a number of reasons. I thought I remembered this season well. I was mid-teens, going to game regularly, leaving school and getting on in the world. Rangers had not had a good side for most of my time actively supporting them. Decline under Greig followed by false dawns and further decline under Jock Wallace, the players at Rangers simply weren't good enough. Then Souness was appointed manager. One thing I forgot about that season that Ramsay's book really brings into focus was just how many of that title winning side were at the club before Souness and Smith were appointed. Indeed it's no exaggeration to say that it was basically the previous season's side plus Woods, Butcher and Souness himself. Jimmy Nicholl rejoined, but he'd been at Rangers before. Graham Roberts joined during the season and became a first team regular, but new players like Jimmy Phillips, Neil Wood and Colin West made little impact. The real story of that season is how introducing 3 very good players transformed the side and lifted the existing players to heights they previously couldn't reach. Players I could have sworn had left the club that summer, like Cammy Fraser and Dougie Bell, actually played a decent amount of matches that season. The core of the squad that nearly finished 6th the season before won the league in style. Players like Davie McPherson, Stuart Munro, Derek Ferguson, Ted McMinn and Bobby Fleck along with Davie Cooper, Ian Durrant and of course Ally McCoist became a title winning side. Cooper aside none of that group of players were hitting any kind of highs in their careers prior. I guess what I'm trying to say is we don't have to rip everything up. There are weaknesses in our squad, but its core is capable of winning the League Cup, reaching the Scottish Cup Final, the last 16 in Europe and taking the title to the final weeks. Some judicious improvement might be all that's required.

Compared to PSV and Ajax the Feyenoord youth set up isn't that successful. I mean it's still better than ours, but that's a low bar. I thought bringing in someone from Belgian football made some sense. They've been pretty successful producing players in recent years and with a population around twice that of Scotland's copying whatever they're doing seemed logical. I've no idea if Zeb Jacobs was the right guy to implement that. I've no idea if he'll be a huge loss to the club. Perhaps whatever he's done over the last couple of years will bear fruit in the near future. Maybe his successor will get the credit, or blame, for that. Rangers and Scottish football in general aren't going to start producing seriously good players until the entire league is changed and it won't matter who we bring in to replace him. It is no coincidence that Celtic brought through a batch of decent young players when we were out of the top league. Since we've returned they've developed nothing like that number. Young players aren't getting a game when a couple of draws are a crisis and three defeats will see a manager sacked.

The Westfalenstadium was the inspiration for modern Ibrox. Most stadiums were oval shaped with a running track whereas Westfalenstadium was 'square' with 4 separate stands each close to the pitch. Rangers directors visited Dortmund and were so impressed they chose that style of ground for the new Ibrox.

Teams seem to have figured us out. Tav and Sterling barely got out our half all match, certainly significantly less than they were a few weeks ago. Other sides realise how important both full backs are to how we attack and have changed tactics to prevent it. We need to have a counter to that. I assume much more was expected of Cantwell and Lawrence last night, creative players capable of producing something that wins you a match. Both were poor, losing possession regularly and slowing us down instead of upping the tempo. Goldson's 'passing' was horrible last night and on Sunday. But, if there's no pass to midfield and no pass to the wings then it's either back to the keeper or across to Souter. Eventually though it goes long. His passing should be better, but the long balls shouldn't be needed in the first place. So many players seem to have lost form at the same time you do wonder if there's an issue we don't know about. A problem in the dressing room, a bug that's swept through the squad and drained players of energy. I'm grasping at straws here because I don't understand how the entire side, with the possible exception of Butland, can collectively lose form simultaneously. Everyone was rotten last night, defenders, midfielders, forwards and subs. Amazingly, despite the collapse, we can still win the league if we win all our games. I mean I don't think we will, anyone with eyes can see we're so far off it. It's massively frustrating, but I can see why Clement is talking things up and putting a gloss on things. He needs to work with the players he's got, throwing them under the bus at this stage won't help.

Robbie Fraser is 21 and has not been able to force his way into our first team under Gerrard, Gio, Beale or Clement. His contract is up next month and I think we can assume he'll be leaving the club.

That's interesting, thanks for sharing. I mean Ferdinand is unlikely to say appointing Beale was a mistake as that would reflect badly on him. But it does make you wonder if he started to believe his own hype and simply lost his way. We forget that when he first joined us we did well, he lifted the place, had us playing decent football and had a good January window. In the end he had to go, it wasn't working and I've no regrets over that.

Loved "Kd Lang lookalike". Applause.

It's hard to know which Dundee team to dislike more these days. I've been told on a number of occasions that Dundee is much sunnier and drier than 'the west coast', perhaps they're just not used to rain...

It's pouring in Glasgow, has been all morning and is forecast to continue for the rest of the day. It was similar last week in Lisbon, so not sure if it makes a big difference, but you'd hope it might favour us a bit.

Butland made some incredible stops, but his distribution was really poor at times, so not him. I thought Goldson was very good, but his OG excludes him from this, Soutar was steady and effective. Lawrence was excellent first half but faded in the second. Tav had one of his poorest matches in Europe I thought. Lundstrom was very good and then very bad at different points in the match. Some of his passing had me yelling at the TV. Diomande was excellent, but he came off before the end, as did Sterling who was also very good and Silva too, but both came off. So I've voted for Ridvan, who defended very well, got forward effectively, played every minute of the match and is making me eat my words about him with every passing game. Fair play to him.