Gaffer

Based on what I've read, the 'damages' are limited to £1m, but what SD argued (and I think the judge appeared to accept they may have case for) is that these breaches shouldn't be regarded as damages and therefore are not limited by that clause in the contract. It wasn't a definitive conclusion which is why Rangers made that point in their statement. I did however interpret the judge's comments as being more inclined to agree with SD, and therefore it opens to possibility of increased compensation. However the limits don't really matter in some ways because the burden is still on SD to demonstrate their losses and I can't see how it can amount to much anyway, despite the judge's remark about 'millions'.

It's the same outcome (i.e. we don't finish teams off), but it's a very different issue. As I said, we are creating the chances now and that's shown by the stats. We just can't finish them. Either way you're right that we need to improve but it's a much easier problem to solve than the one from last year.

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Having reflected on the game, I am really pleased with how the team is shaping up. - Our midfield is excellent. I can't imagine many teams being able to close them down and we will easily play it through teams that open up or try to press us. Unfortunately, only Celtic are likely to do that in our own league. Aribo is a superb player, but the combination of him, Davis and Jack looks so fluid and comfortable. Others will have a hard time getting to that three. Jack is a different player and although I always liked him anyway, he's gone from good to great over the summer from what I can see so far. - Our defence has strength in there but frailties still exist. Edmundson looks so solid and at this stage is the best of our centre backs. He did make a couple of mistakes but he has the attributes to become a world class defender (yes, I said world class!). His passing technique is already up there with the best and reminds me of Gerrard and Beckham in style. Goldson has been so consistent but now he's suffering from too many lapses in concentration. He needs to be dropped the same way Katic is if this continues. - We are creating chances in abundance. We would have drawn or lost that game if we played them before (and of course we did), mainly because we failed to create chances. However, we are now creating the chances, but lacking the finish. I see others saying that our final balls are poor. Some of them are, but last night we created 11 clear cut goal scoring chances, and if we had VAR last night we would have had 4 (because neither of the chopped goals were offside). 11 chances should be more than enough to win any game so that's a massive improvement. Our normal operating range of chances even last season was 3-7. In the games we played so far that range is 8-15. These stats are important because it's sometimes natural to think we are suffering from the same issues when we are not. We are now creating, but we need someone to finish them. - Morelos is our best forward, and his link up play is a surprising and welcome development. He's beginning to show a maturity in his game which makes him more valuable. However, we've but got plenty of players already to develop the play. What we need is someone to finish the chances and that's why Defoe is the best option for us up front. Defoe has the uncanny ability to pop up in the right place and needs no space at all to get his shots away. Out of the two, he would score more goals. Unless others start to convert more chances (and in which case I'd stick with Morelos), we will have to get Defoe on earlier to secure the goals and wins. - Our attacking midfielders are struggling. Arfield and Ojo aren't working well enough together. Our game plan last night was to cross the ball early and then try to get on the second ball. For that to work, either Ojo or Arfield needs to be on the edge of the box with the other attacking the first ball along with the striker. Too often they were both picking the same option. That will come from playing together or communicating better, or both. They are both very creative though and when they click it could be devastating for our opponents. For Jones to be effective he needs to develop his ability and skill set to cut inside with more creativity. He was too predictable. Last season Middleton was given plenty of chances to be more creative in cutting inside but was unable to demonstrate it, so I hope Jones can develop this side of his game, otherwise our system is not going to work. Stewart is very accomplished in the role but he looks to be only comfortable on the right side of the two attacking midfielders. We need that left side sorted out. Indulge my fan boy tendencies here, but this slot is just crying out for Kent. - Our overall style of play is a joy to watch, but it's so noticeable how much fitness plays a part in its success. It was clear that we can last for around 60 minutes. Even at full fitness we can only expect the players to keep up that level of intensity for maybe 75 minutes. That means that we have to either go flat out and then manage the game better. We either have to be smarter when we are pushing forward with speed, or at least have periods where we just play keep the ball in the final third. One way or another we need a way to last the full 90 minutes, otherwise I fear we could concede late in games. When teams pack the defence as most will do against us, it takes so much more out of our players and it shows. -This team and squad is light years ahead of previous seasons and I'm even more confident now that we will smash this league. If we develop the sharpness to finish the numerous chances we are now making we will have a few 5-0 victories this season, which all bodes well for my predictions. And while I'm on the subject of predictions, let me state now that both Aribo and Edmundson will bring in record transfer fees because these boys are the real deal.

Some of our play is excellent. Progres look shattered already so I hope we can take advantage in the second half. Aribo is unbelievably talented and I still can't believe we've got this guy. Edmundson looks an incredible signing. Is he possibly the best passer in our team? Davis is the puppet master and is a pleasure to watch.

Just thought I'd point out that the BBC site is apparently showing that Ojo was the scorer. Nice to see them keep up there usual low standards.

What a goal that would have been. Goal of the season easily if Morelos had scored it. The combinations all the way up the park were superb.

Simple. We couldn't afford to buy our way out of it completely.

What a goal. And what's even better is that I predicted he'd be the first goal scorer.

I'm so pleased that Gerrard is playing our strongest team.This first eleven has proven itself to be the sharpest in pre season so they deserve to be on the pitch. That should serve as a warning to those who have been lacking focus or concentration. Defoe is the only one who could reasonably expect to be on the pitch and isn't.

Ideal conditions to have Progres run about chasing the ball. This should suit us.

I'll be shocked and stunned if Neil Cameron has any influence on anyone. I thought it was an entertaining piece, but not something I expect anyone will dwell on. It was a fairly basic piece of writing with nothing new or any great insights. I couldn't even tell you what rag he writes for either. Someone opined earlier that's he's an irrelevance and that pretty much sums him up. This will be an old story by the time Aribo scores our first goal tonight.

Cheers. I never really thought of him as high profile which is probably why I did always think it was MoJo. As I said in another thread, the main point for me about this signing was because of his association with Celtic and the fact we got one over on them by signing him. It was a real GIRUY moment, but I do remember a few bears not being so happy.

Who was the first high profile catholic to sign? I honestly thought it was MoJo. I do however remember people expressing the anti catholic view at the time, and threatening to rip up their season tickets. It was especially visible that first day at Ibrox. I haven't seen the wider article that mentions our worse than Nazi politics? Where is it published? I thought it read largely positive but I've only read what was published here, and not the other points you've mentioned.

Can't we just take a pre-emptive strike and confirm that we will take zero seats at away grounds this season? I know this will upset those that follow us away from home, but surely everyone would agree that this is in the best interests of our club, and as it is surely going to damage our competition, it's also gives us a competitive advantage. I wouldn't give any other club one single penny. I don't forgive any of them, and I certainly won't forget what they conspired to do to us.

For what it's worth, I actually enjoyed his article. I don't agree with all of it, but it was entertaining and in my opinion largely correct.

I committed to look at the details around the previous deal, and if ever there was a need for a @Rousseau gif, it's now (feel free to insert as appropriate). Bloody hell, it's actually unbelievable and I'll be honest that I thought I had found a fake version at first. I recognise the current board's desire to make quick progress commercially, and therefore why they paid a fee to renegotiate, however I suspect that they were tempted to go down the criminal actions route. If that was me, I'd have been confident of a strong case against those that approved of that deal. I have never experienced any organisation with the audacity to even propose those terms, never mind someone then stupid/corrupt enough to accept them. I've not looked into the governance during this period, but how could this possibly have been reviewed and approved? Any director would be breaching their fiduciary duties by accepting this. There is absolutely zero chance of defending this as being in any way of interest to our football club. I don't know how much time it would have taken to reach a conclusion through criminal proceedings, but perhaps that was the main reason for choosing to cut losses and renegotiate instead. I'm furious that people have escaped appropriate punishment for this, but I do understand our board's rationale. I suppose that's just one we have to accept and move on from. If I then put myself in the position of SD, and if was holding on to a legally binding contract like that original one, I wouldn't have agreed to dilute it to the current contract for just £3m. I'd have felt confident in getting way more than that, so I suppose in one way it shows good negotiating tactics/skill from our club. However that just makes me further suspicious and probably reinforces my belief that SD knew that the board could have tackled the original contract in a more damaging route for those involved. I suspect there were lots of verbal threats/suggestions which we will obviously have to avoid speculating on. Ultimately, we were screwed in that original contract. We then paid a reasonable sum to renegotiate to a point where we feel we can dilute it down further. It's going to take time though, and we should all expect to be in this fight for at least 18 months more. I am so glad I took the time to read the source materials. I knew it was bad previously but didn't appreciate how bad. I am so grateful to those who have come in and rescued the club we all love, but this is a serious lesson to us all not to just blindly trust those in power at Rangers again. I can't forget what I've just read regarding those contractual terms and it concerns me that this was allowed to happen right under our noses. It must never happen again.

Thank you, and I decided just to bite the bullet and read it. It does look like the judge saw right through Blair's attempt to pull a fast one over a previous judgement, but I'm so glad I've read this. There's actually nothing in this that is out of the norm of one of these types of disputes. I can also see why SD are likely to win these, and probably keep winning them. The issue then is why would Rangers continue to go into these sessions knowing that we are likely to lose? To me the answer is simple, and it's the same reason almost all of these instances occur. Even while we go through these with compensation payouts, it's probably financially better (and I suspect gives greater satisfaction) rather than to give SD what they want. Also, each time you go through such a case, there's a good chance we will win relatively small victories which then eat away at the interpretation of the current contract. I hope we keep going with this. One thing to note however is that there are a couple of areas where SD's lawyers have played a blinder and it just shows the advantage they have in the money they are paying for their side. We can't ever compete with that so it will be death by a thousand cuts until eventually the value of this contract to SD is diluted to the point where we will propose another but final payout to SD. SD's lawyers have all the experience so they will just be trying to secure the best possible outcome when that inevitable time comes. It could be as soon as 18 months at this rate. I'm going to look at the previous contract too now because I was astonished at us paying £3m to renegotiate. I am intrigued to see why it was so bad that we were willing to pay such a fee. In comparison with our income that seems hugely disproportionate and that makes me curious. I should add that as far as I can tell, the judge stepped out of line when he suggested that this had cost 'SD millions'. There was nothing presented that would give him enough evidence to suggest that so I'm really surprised he said that. Also, there is one particular clause that Rangers are relying upon to limit the compensation to £1m, and despite the official statement from the club this judge has ruled that this limit may not necessarily be applied. I do agree that SD may be hard pushed to prove losses more than this, but in my opinion that statement form Rangers is misleading on that one point. They could have acknowledged what the judgement said but then assert their view that losses are unlikely to breach that amount, but instead they chose to word it in a way that contradicts what the court papers say. That's the one point that will make me now check the source facts from now on, rather than rely on the club's interpretation of what happened, and I'm disappointed that this is the case. Thanks to @rbr for encouraging me to read what I could have a few days ago.

There's still nothing that leads me to believe that we are in a worse position than we were previously, and in fact there's nothing to suggest that we are in anything other than a decent position in this fight. Is there anything we should be concerned about? The way this looks, we are in a better position financially so what is the problem? In the businesses I'm involved in there's are numerous court cases, none of which will have a material impact on the finances, share price or reputation. I realise we are all on a heightened state of alert given previous issues at the club, but I can't see why I should be concerned here. Does anyone have anything that suggests otherwise?

I think many of us would appreciate it if you could explain. I think I understand but possibly not if others are so worried about it.

I know we've said this a lot but it is amazing how differently people see certain players. For me it's the other way around. Goldson for me is rock solid and our best defender. Katic can be excellent for 85 minutes in a game, but he can get caught out of position (although he does have the pace to get away with it most of the time) and does lack concentration too often for my liking. With Katic, I've noticed he can be excellent if we are constantly under threat because he's switched on. It's when we aren't under much pressure that his brain switches off. It happened 3 or 4 times in crucial games last season and that's why he was dropped. I like him though and he can develop that side of his game. I hope he does because offensively he's a real threat, much more so than Goldson is (despite his recent goal poaching).

Although I'm a member, I don't keep up to date with anything they do so that's a disappointment if that's the case, or even the perception. Now that an increased fan ownership is unlikely, I think Club 1872 needs to reconsider its role. There have been some instances where they've put out some good statements and I've really welcomed that. I'd hope they would focus more on that now. I'd be very happy if my money was put towards things like this wheelchair access rather than shares, afterall shares will just be diluted continuously anyway whereas giving the fans a comfortable environment could be a legacy. And while they're at it, maybe they can sort out the pie situation. Anyone else think we have the worst hot food in world football? Twenty years ago I thought we had some of the best food around, but it's now inedible.

I agree Pete, this I should nonsense. Firstly, it won't be millions. This is complicated enough without ridiculous reporting like this from the usual suspects. I still think we are likely to be better off. As I said earlier, our board is making mistakes but they're not stupid. I want us to fight this disgusting man.

Can club 1872 not help with this? That's really disappointing to hear about your experience, and I'd hope that's exactly the type of cause that Club 1872 would want to fight for.

I agree. It normally will work if both sides are thinking rationally and commercially, but it's clear that this is much more than just about money. I didn't realise that we actually paid £3m to create a new contract. That's astonishing. Without knowing the rest of the detail, it just shows how bad the previous deal was. If we knew that SD had the right to match any offer, it seems stupid to me not to have given them that chance. We could then have continued to boycott the main store but allow the club to make money via the popups, etc. The board members involved in this aren't stupid so they must have thought this through, but in the absence of any details (which we shouldn't really see anyway), it does look like we've shot ourselves in the foot. I hope this doesn't drag on though because I've been enjoying the football and this shouldn't detract from that.