CammyF

Especially when a growing number of those who are paying their wages have lost their jobs, or have the threat of losing their jobs hanging over their heads. Cammy F

Yip, we played the CL and UEFA Cup run last season like a European team. The Scottish and to a certain extent British attitude is to attack at home and defend away. Liverpool have shown that this doesn't need to be the way and we copied that last season. In the UEFA Cup, not losing an away goal in the first leg is crucial, so 0-0 is better than 2-1 and probably 3-1. If you don't lose a goal at home and can score first on the return leg, you are in the driving seat. This next part is controversial as the difference last season was that we had two centre forwards who were ideal for away European games. Cousin and JCD had pace, strength and could score at the crucial time. They were experienced and knew how to draw fouls and retain posession. We currently don't have that - Miller, Boyd, lafferty and Novo all have their positives, but none of them can say that they had the ability to play the lone striker like JCD and Cousin could and both those players were ideally suited to that type of formation and tactics. Cammy F

If we win the SPL this season, it that is a HUGE IF, it will be despite Walter Smith, nit because of him. We have had three opportunities to open up a gap on Celtc recently and he's bottled every chance we've had. We had a chance to win the first domestic cup of the season on Sunday and he bottled it. The only way I want Smith to stay is if it stops Ally McCoist becoming the manager. We need a change, but we require a proven coach who can demonstrate both signing prudent players whilst also bleeding youngsters through from the youtrh teams. A club like Rangers should have an eye on up-and-coming coaches from all over Europe. They should have a short-list of candidates who could become the next Rangers manager. The only short list SDM has is a fag packet with Ally McCoist sribbled on the side of it. No leadership, no ambition, no fight, no future - Rangers FC 2009 Cammy F

In these financial climates, why not give the palyers new contracts that state they'll be paid 'x' for a victory and nowt for a draw or defeat. Wonder if that would see a change in our fortunes..... As for bonuses, totally sickening. Cammy F

Like many I haven't rewatched the game, and what I can remember from the night itself is being proud or finally witnessing MY club playing in a European Final. The game itself was a blur, I can remember that we held our own in the first half without creating anything. We then had a 10 minute spell in the 2nd half where we had two or three half chances and a penalty claim turned down. After that, Zenit capitalised on our weaknesses and scored a wonderfull opening goal. Like Sunday, as soon as that goal was conceeded I knew we had lost the game. In saying that, we threw on Boyd and Novo and Nacho had a great chance to level just before they broke away and scored the killer goal. TBH, I fully expected Rangers to play they way we did in Manchester and being a fickle fan, I would have taken a 1-0 victory playing that way and celebrated like there were no tomorrow In hindsight, we could have been more attack-minded, but we could have lost by far more goals - just look what Zenit did to Munich in the semi-final. If I have any regert is that we didn't attack Zenit a little bit more. I did say in the build up, and I'll say it again, we were unlucky to come up against our old friend Dick Advocaat's team in the final as he would ensure that his players didn't take us too lightly given the huge support we would have. Against any other team in the final, we would have had the 'surprise element' that DA took away from us! However, you can't compare the final of the UEFA Cup against Zenit to the CO-OP Cup Final against Celtc, completely different scenarios. Cammy F

Sunday was a cup final, a one off game, so playing 4-1-4-1 of 4-5-1 was totally unacceptable. A cup final is supposed to be a show-piece, a game that is played to a finish with a trophy at the end of it. Walter appears to believe that the only way to win a trophy is to hope that we score in the first 90 minutes and hold on to win, or to hold out for extra-time and penalties. Given Sunday's opponents, a team that have a very shakey defence, we should have gone 4-4-2. Walter is a manager who doesn't know his best 11, doesn't know his best formation and worst off all, doesn't trust or rate players he signed in the summer. We are all discussing the symptoms instead of focusing on the problem. The problem is Walter Smith and his coaching staff. The problem is that our players aren't coached properly and aren't trusted to play in their natural positions. We have no natural width in the full back positions (SW apart) and none at wide right either. We show-horn players into a team / formation rather than creating a formation round the palyers we have. I don't think anyone will argue that we have a splattering of talent in the squad; Mendes, Ferguson, Davis, Fleck, Novo, Boogie, Aaron et al are all decent players but are played out of position or have some how, lost their form. The prime example of this is Charlie Adam. A player who burst onto the scene scored ~15 goals from midfield (no penalties) domestically and in the CL. He looked a player but has gone backwards since Smith, McCoist and McDowell have arrived (he isn't the only player that has gone backwards). To move forward we MUST replace the current coaching staff with coaches who'll get the best out of these players. Cammy F

Tell you what, if I were the current Rangers captain, I wouldn't only be berating some of the players, I'd be kicking them up the arse as well. These imposters are playing for THE RANGERS for fooks sake. Cammy F

OK, but even if he was trying for a mere 15 minutes, that was 15 minutes more that the majority of our players. We can argue on the merits of BF and Mendes, but the one constant is the coaching and management of the team. If BF and PM can't play together then it is the managers job to either alter his formation or tactics to ensure that they can play together to drop one of them. As I have said a few times, clueless and gutless sums us up at the moment and the manager is at fault and to blame for this and must be removed if we are to win the SPL title. Cammy F

Have I missed a Tim? Pitty, like playing with them as well. Cammy F

That is three games plus injury time that we've failed to score against Celtc - resulting in losing five points and the first domestic trophy - criminal given how poor they are. Cammy F

So as captian, he shouldn't berate players? Gough berated players continually when Captain. Players of a better standard than we currently have. It just appears that Ferguson is blamed for all our faults. I know he is not the players he was, but he certainly aint solely to blame for our inept performers Cammy F

Tap in against ICT away :fish: Agree with what you are saying mate - said on another thread, been really dissappointed by him and Davis this season. Cammy F

Far less offensive than their Aye-Ran-Away ditties to be honest - I wouldn't get myslef wound up with this 'p1ss take'. In fact, should be the least of our worries at the moment. The best and only way to shut the fookers up is by beating them (winning the league). Cammy F

Maybe 'Doddsy' is more easily impressed than this Bear. Honestly, I have been hugely dissappointed with both Mendes and Davis - thought that both of them would improve our midfield, but they haven't. As I have continually stated, I can't remember leaving a game this season and waxing lyrically about either of them. These players cost us a lot of money and owe us big time IMO. Cammy F

But he wasn't that impressive in Barry's absence thats what I'm saying. When was he impressing exactly? The OF victory apart, I can't recall Mendes dominating a game for start to finish. Did having Barry Ferguson in the team make players like Gio, Arteta, Albertz, Reyna, Rino, Tugay et al 'fade'? Maybe you have to ask why players like Mendes have faded rather than just blame Barry Ferguson's presence in the team. Cammy F

We reep what we sow - for years, we 'HaHa'ed' along to 'It's A Grand Old Team' when we were the donimate force in Scottish Football. Just something else they have stolen for us. Seems so long ago that we were doing it tho.... Cammy F

Yip, its all Barry's fault ..... The only game that Mendes truly shown in when Ferguson was missing was the OF victory at Parkhead. The player that we are missing is Kevin Thomson - the only midfield battler we have in our ranks. As for Boyd, he does have defensive duties as well. It would interesting to hear from the coaching staff who was supposed to be marking Darran O Dea at set-pieces as he had the freedom of Hampden at the goal Cammy F

Agreed Cammy F

Name me a game where Mendes has been outstanding for the entire 90 minutes? I certainly can't remember leaving a game and thinking that he is anything other than a 'decent' player. He was anonymous yesterday. Cammy F

IMO Davis hasn't kicked a ball for us since he's signed. Now, I fully understand that he is being played out of position, but, again, only my opinion, he has been a major let down. The same goes for Mendes, I can't remember leaving a game this season thinking 'that Mendes is some player'..... Yesterday, Ferguson was carrying our entire midfield covering for the obvious failings of the others (as above). It is easy (far to easy) and far to prevelent in our ranks to decry Barry Ferguson. Everything is his fault, he is the new Rangers whipping boy. What I saw frm BF yesterday was the one of the few in blue who knew what losing to Celtc in a cup final meant. He was one of the few who actually did his best to win the game. If only the others had followed. Too many in our ranks are now imposters and don't know what it takes to be a 'Ranger'. Previously, we've had people like Gough, McCall, Brown et al who would ensure that everyone playing for Rangers knew what it meant, now we don't have that and it is obviously missing. Gutless and clueless and simply not good enough Cammy F

Can't agree, I wouldn't bat an eyelid if Boyd never plays another minute for Rangers - his attitude stinks. Totally immobile, caught offside too often, has no pace and his saving grace, his scoring record, doesn't look too great since he refused to leave Rangers in January (comfort zone anyone????????). Mendes and Davis were woeful, totally inaffective and over ran by the Celtc midfield. They aren't 'ball winners' and don't have the appitite for a 'battle'. We urgently require a Stuart McCall or Ian Ferguson in our midfield. Worst player on the pitch? well, there were a few contenders..... Cammy F

McGregor - Little to do, distribution again terrible, could have done better at the opening goal - 4/10 SW - gaining in confidence, offers more going forward than Broadfoot but Broadfoot is the better defensive option - 5/10 Weir - getting worse every game he plays - 4/10 Broadfoot - Steady game 5/10 Papac - One of our better players -7/10 Lee McCulloch - did what he was asked to do but offers nothing positive to Rangers 3/10 Barry Ferguson - another of the few who had a decent game 7/10 Pedro Mendes - worst game in a Rangers jersey, major dissappoitment 3/10 Steven Davis - total wasted wide right and totally useless yesterday 3/10 Kyle Lafferty - another of the few who had a decent game - why was he subbed? 7/10 Kenny Miller - terrible but to be fair was played in three positions during the game -4/10 SUBS : Novo - does what it says on the tin - now deserves an extended run in the team - put more into the game in his brief appereance than most did in the entire 120 minutes - 7/10 Dailly - why? Boyd - the return of the traffic cone - lost any momentum we had with his introduction 3/10 Cammy F

It was just after 11 o’clock on Sunday morning when I received a text informing me that Majid Bougherra was going to miss the League Cup Final and as expected, Kirk Broadfoot would deputise for Boogie. Given that Lee McCulloch had become the sole Rangers media representative in the week leading up to the Hampden showdown, it didn’t take a brain surgeon to determine that he would be starting the game. As news filtered through that our starting 11 was as we’d all predicted with us going 4-1-4-1 the mood in the public house where we were indulging in a few pre-match libations suddenly changed for optimism to pessimism. Sorry, that isn’t really correct, it was more of a ‘here we go again’ mood. Everyone decried the lack of ambition within the starting 11 and this didn’t abate when the substitutions were revealed. Here we were going into a final with only one forward, no recognised wide midfield player (and none in reserve) and playing one man upfront against one of the shakiest Celtc defences that we have encountered. The stench of negativity had finally spread to the foot soldiers, as the vast majority of the fans I spoke to pre-match were all of the same opinion; our chance to win the treble, the first domestic trophy of the season and score a major physiological victory had just evaporated with the announcement of the team and squad. The game itself was as predictable as our starting 11. Two teams devoid of talent, skill, aggression, guile and ideas played out a terrible 90 minutes and the first goal in extra-time was always going to be the winner. The opening goal we lost was a direct result of school-boy defending. A ball that travelled the entire width of the penalty box and was then headed back over our keepers head into the net. The referee would have been entitled to have blown the full-time whistle there and then. We were never going to score one goal, never mind two. In fact, we could still be playing at this moment and we still wouldn’t have scored. In fact, I received 4 texts the minute the ball hit our net, all four said exactly the same thing ; ‘That’ll be that then’. There were few players who could hold their head up high after yesterday’s debacle. Only Papac, Ferguson, Lafferty and Novo gained pass marks with Whittakar put in an acceptable performance, the rest were terrible. Gutless, clueless, heartless and skillless about sums up our entire club at the moment (from top to bottom), we are run by a board of surrender monkey’s, our management team are cowards and our squad of players just aren’t good enough (as well as not being coached properly). No Rangers team should enter a cup final with one forward, with a centre-forward at left wing, a centre-midfield player at right wing and with a mish-mash of a back four. The introduction of Christian Dailly is the single most baffling substitution I have ever witnessed in over 25 years of following Rangers. In the spirit of parity, if we had been winning 2-0 or even by a single goal, I might, just might, have been able to understand this substitution. But to bring Dailly on at 0-0 when we needed to score is indefensible. The introduction of the enigma that is Kris Boyd destroyed any momentum that we had managed to create. The lad may be able to score goals, but he takes away from any positive that brings with his terrible attitude, suspect fitness and all round lazy persona. A lot of fans have questioned those why decry Boyd and wonder how losing or replacing your top scorer can help the team? Well. Just look at Sir Alex Ferguson and his decision to sell his top scorer, Ruud Van Nistelroy. Manchester United only won one EPL title with RVN in their ranks even though he was continually theirs and the EPL’s top scorer. SAF decided that the team would be better without him and he was in the minority when he made that decision with so called experts calling his sanity into question. The result? Man U’s total domination of English football and progression to the highest level in European and World football…… However, this decision actually gives an insight into Walter Smiths current mentality and thinking. It shows that he doesn’t trust nor believe that his latest crop of signings are good enough and can’t be trusted. The non-inclusion in the squad of genuine wide players like Beasley and Aaron shows that Walter either doesn’t rate them, or doesn’t trust them. This being the case, why did he sign them? We all know that left wing has been a problem area for us and yesterday, Walter came up with a novel way of trying to eradicate this issue. In the 2nd period of extra time, he decided to play not one player out of position wide left, but two and both at the same time. For some inexplicable reason Walter deployed both Steven Davis and Dailly wide left at the same time. This meant we left gaping holes down our right which Celtc fully exposed at the second goal. The above added to the continual overlooking of players like Edu and Velicka and with other recent signings like Davis and Lafferty continued to be played out of position shows that our manager doesn’t know what he is doing. All of the valid points raised above are a sacking offences in my opinion and show that Walter Smith MUST be replaced (and not by McCoist – he and Kenny Mac are guilty by association) NOW. We are still in with an opportunity of winning the SPL title, and now there is no ‘ifs’, ‘buts’ or ‘maybes’ about it, we must win the SPL title. If we are to win this title, then we must replace the manager. There is no way, under his stewardship and coaching that we are going to win all our remaining SPL games, something we have to achieve to win the title. So the question is who could guide us to the title? Well, lets be brutally honest here, all it would take is a manager who had a tried and tested formation, how played players in their correct positions and who could coach them the basics. Now, I am no expert, but there are bound to be numerous coaches out there who are currently looking for a role that fit the above criteria. Another positive is that in reality, we probably won’t have to win all our games, as Celtc are as bad as we are. However, this doesn’t negate the fact that if we don’t change manager (and we won’t), we won’t win the SPL. The current regime is engulfed in negativity that cascades from the top and as said above, is now even starting to effect the foot-soldiers. We are a club in series decline and there is no sign of this abating. This isn’t the result of the woeful performance yesterday, this is an opinion that has been structured witnessing one of the most gutless Rangers teams that I have supported. I came away from Hampden yesterday gutted. I was bursting with frustration at the tactics, the team selection, the performance and the realisation that whilst they are absolutely garbage, we are worse. The halcyon days are gone and there is no sign of them returning. The moonbeams have been extinguished. All that is currently on the horizon is dark clouds and long periods of total darkness. Cammy F

I've signed up (I think)... Cammy F - Ludite Loyal RSC

A day that will life long in my memory not only due to this being my first ever Old Firm Cup Final but due to the dramatic nature of our eventual victory. I had been lucky enough to have seen Rangers win this trophy previously (against DUFC in 1982) and was due to go to the final in 1983 which would have been my first OF final. Thankfully (sic) I was taken unwell and was in hospital with a bout of appendicitis and missed our 2-1 defeat at the hands of our bitter rivals. The League Cup has been a very successful competition for Rangers over the years and last season penalty shoot-out success against Dundee United marked our 25th victory in the League Cup. Another amazing statistic is that over the years, we have only ever lost 6 League Cup Finals (out of 31) a truly staggering statistic. We also suffered an embarrassing final defeat but weââ?¬â?¢ll gloss over that at this juncture and itââ?¬â?¢s worth remembering that this result wasnââ?¬â?¢t the greatest OF victory, we defeated Celtc 8-1 ââ?¬â?? before anyone tells you that this game doesnââ?¬â?¢t ââ?¬Ë?countââ?¬â?¢, Celtc count their solitary goal from that game in their official club history. I believe weââ?¬â?¢ll all remember the titanic finals against Aberdeen in 1988 and 1989 (3-3 and 3-2 respectively) of the fantastic 4-3 victory over Hearts at Tynecastle. The victory over Ayr United in 2002 will also be well remembered for an outlandish piece of showboating from Andre Kanchelskis : [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQJtZF_6Fyc]YouTube - Kanchelskis stands on the ball[/ame] And if like me, you attended that 1995 final at Hampden then you are entitled to claim this as a victory, well it was a moral victory in my eyes! Anyway, I digress, back to the League Cup Final in 1984 a season that ranks as one of the most traumatic in our history. John Greig eventually bowed in increasing pressure and resigned as Rangers manager and was replaced by Jock Wallace. Due to our disastrous start in the league, the cup competitions were (once again) our only true hope for any silverware. The road to Hampden started with a convincing 8-1 aggregate win over Queen of The South and this was followed by impressive victories over Hearts (3-0 at Tynecastle) and St Mirren (5-0 at Ibrox). These results, coupled with return fixtures ensure that Rangers qualified for a two legged Semi-Final against Dundee United. A credible 1-1 draw at Tannidice saw Rangers entertain the tangerines at Ibrox with a place in the final in the balance. From what I remember of the home leg, Rangers played extremely well and won the game 2-0 with Ian Redford scoring the decisive goal with a beautiful chip over the onrushing Hamish McAlpine. Davie Mitchell scored in both legs of the semi-final but wouldnââ?¬â?¢t feature in the cup final itself. In the run up to the final, Jock Wallace had made an immediate impact and Rangers would embark on a 16 game unbeaten run that would eventually come to an end when Dundee won a Scottish Cup replay 3-2 at Ibrox and ended our chances of a domestic cup double. As this was my first OF Cup Final, I didnââ?¬â?¢t really know what to expect. Would it be just like the league encounters? I was soon to find out. I wouldnââ?¬â?¢t sleep the Saturday evening (evening forgoing the Boys Club Disco to ensure that I was match fit for the Sunday). The supporters bus was a buzz of excitement and the journey to Hampden seemed to fly past and before I knew it, I was climbing the stairs on the way to section J. It is impossible to describe the build of noise that this climb generate, or on how louder this gets, reaching a crescendo as you took your place on the terracing. What would stick in my mind that day was the huge gaps in the Celtc end (see you tube links below) and just how louder and mope passionate the Rangers fans were. I know itââ?¬â?¢s romantic to think this way, but in some perverse memory, it felt that we did contribute to our eventual victory as the Rangers fans were ferocious in their backing of the team that day as I had ever seen them. Just like the journey to the game, the game itself flew by and if Iââ?¬â?¢m honest, all I can really remember of the game is the goals, well our goals anyway. Referee for the day was our old friend Bob Valentine and he award three penalties in the game, two to Rangers and one to Celtc and all three were converted. Our first goal was scored from a penalty just before half-time nicely tucked away by Ally McCoist. Rangers scored their 2nd goal on the hour mark after Sandy Clark won a long ball from Peter McCloy and headed the ball into the path of McCoist who slipped home past the despairing Bonner. Celtc equalised and sent then game into extra time, but not before a show of petulance from the Celtc team as they protested a booking to Roy Aitken in an overtly provocative fashion. In fact, a senior Policeman had to intervene. Unsurprisingly, this incident wasnââ?¬â?¢t included in the referees report and the players went unpunished (some things never change). Anyway, into extra-time we went and Rangers were awarded another penalty when Roy Aitken fouled Ally McCoist in the penalty area and the referee correctly pointed to the spot. Another booking for Aitken leading to a red card? You would have thought so, but no, Aitken escaped further punishment and after the dust had settled, Ally McCoist stepped up to face Pat Bonner. The keeper guessed correctly and parried McCoistââ?¬â?¢s kick back out onto the six yard line where Super Ally was awaiting to, at the 2nd attempt, deposit the ball into the net. This is where your mind starts playing tricks with you especially over the ravages of time. From my vantage point, it appeared that the Celtc fans had been celebrating for numerous seconds before Ally put their ââ?¬Ë?gas at a peepââ?¬â?¢. In reality, they had barely the time to jump for joy before Ally reduced them to tears. Well, that was it, bedlam, delirium, ecstasy et al ensued in the Rangers end and I remember being shunted about 10 stairs down and about 20 foot to my right in the celebrations. In fact, one of my friends that I was at the game with lost a trainer in the celebrations but decided that it was a price worth paying! The final whistle sparked further celebrations on and off the pitch and John McClelland led his troops up the famous Hampden stairs to receive the trophy. A huge cheer greeted him as he showed the glittering prize to the rank and file supporters. We had won the cup and my first OF final couldnââ?¬â?¢t have gone better. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih0JoTykCqY&feature=related]YouTube - Rangers vrs Celtic Hampden 83/84 part 1[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG1KwL7P1U0&feature=related]YouTube - Rangers vrs Celtic Hampden 83/84 part2[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXIeCC0O0k&feature=related]YouTube - Rangers vrs Celtic Hampden 83/84 part3[/ame] http://www.napit.co.uk/viewus/infobank/football/scottishleaguecup.php http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/old-firm/classicmatchreports/2009/02/10/league-cup-final-rangers-3-celtic-2-march-25-1984-86908-21112643/ Cammy F -