Gaffer

This is good practice for us because this is the type of anti football sides we will be up against in the league this season. Jones and Ojo look dangerous though. It'll take time for them to bond with their team mates, but early signs are good for those two. If we get a goal, this tie is over.

This ^^^ 100%. Your point about using our youth system as a commercial angle rather than a conduit to the first team is excellent!

I think we all hoped he would have the required potential but although I've seen glimpses, I've not seen anything to suggest he can make it as a first team regular. I like him, but if they're not good enough we need to move them on when we can get the money for them. I know this will be an unpopular view but I don't see any of the current academy kids (over the age of 18) having what it takes, maybe with the exception of McPake. I hope I'm wrong, but we just have to hope that the new model has a better success rate with our under 18s.

Docherty has good strength and pace, and his passing is actually really good whenever he picks his head up. However he has a bad habit of running with his head down. Kids are taught these days to run without looking a thing the ball, and need to be able to demonstrate this by the age of 14. He has obviously progressed despite this problem. I hope it's a skill that can be developed by our coaching team because in my opinion it's all that's stopping him from making it to the next level.

Given that Gerrard has once again in his interview yesterday said "a few more will be coming in", where do we think he's trying to strengthen? The central defender is a certainty, but where else? I think he will want another striker, but if it's a first team challenger, where does that leave us with Morelos? I'd imagine right back is a concern for him too, but again is it just someone to fill in for Tav now and again, or are we predicting late bids for him too? Do we need another player for the advanced playmaker roles? We are already looking a bit top heavy there.

It's funny how differently we can remember players. I thought McKay was really good in some games, but most of the time was just a passenger and certainly never appeared to me to put in the effort required. His inconsistency may however be ok for a club like QPR that isn't expected to get many points each week. I hope both player and manager do well at QPR though. MW didn't handle his departure particularly well, but I still liked what he didn't with our style of play and he was a real gent and I'd like to see him become successful.

Clearly, he's still determined to do "Plan A" better. I hadn't appreciated that he meant with the same players too though. ?

But if the rumours are true, the players stepped well beyond the line in the way they dealt with the situation, and that's why the board had no option but to support the manager. The players are taking advantage of the fact that the club never (quite rightly in my opinion) disclosed the details behind the incidents. I suspect that they would receive little or no sympathy if the details of the fallout became public. The board can sack the manager, but players have to have a level of respect for the position, otherwise discipline breaks down. Whilst I agree with the decisions against the players, I still think it would have been right for the club to manage their exit with a bit more class too. This is all in the past though and Miller just has to accept his career is over. From what I hear, he doesn't have the skills and attributes to be a manager so he will just have to keep playing for as long as he can. Wallace on the other hand is an excellent coach and many feel he was coerced into his role in the incident with Murty. I hope he learns from this when he inevitably gets into coaching/management.

Those were the days, and what a team we had back then. Souness wanted to build from the back so he got Woods, Butcher and Stevens. I'm sure Woods still holds the record for the most consecutive minutes played without conceding a goal, but he owed a lot of that to the guys in front of him. Getting a goal against us was a tough challenge for any team in those days. I too feel like this was only yesterday.

I'm not sure what interview you're referring to but I'm talking about Thursday's interview. He was asked "Will there be any more signings?" and he replied "yes there will definitely be more coming in during this window, and some outgoings too".

Great pod!!! I really enjoyed hearing from two players who really seemed to speak frankly and honestly about their time at Rangers and in football in general.

In the Gaffer's RTV interview today he was very confident in saying that there will be more signings on the way, as well as those going out. It'll be interesting to see if that's in addition to our current top players, or if it's because he's expecting to replace Morelos, Tav, or others.

I share this view Bill. This has to be our business model rather than relying on funds continually from the board members. Although we'd all like to see big names arrive again at Ibrox, I just don't want us on that slippery slope to huge debts again. It's easily done. With the debt to equity confirmed and with this change in our recruitment strategy, the financial side of our club is looking really healthy, possibly for the first time in 40 years. Now all we have to do is start winning things again and we will be in a fantastic position.

Yeah, but can you imagine a Rangers manager ever looking like this? This made me laugh out loud and thank my lucky stars that I was born into the correct side of the city.

I thought he was, but I was saying to my son that he wasn't in any of the training videos I've seen on RTV.

I hope you're wrong because I'd love to see him back. £1m you think?!? Ok, let me see what I can scrape together among family/friends. I wonder if I can convince Club 1872 to help fund this great cause.

The Newcastle fans had a great opportunity to collaborate with us and in making life difficult for Ashley and they didn't. Instead they just poked fun and enjoyed the fact that his ire was directed at us. I do feel sorry for them though. They've missed an opportunity to work with us but now they'll really suffer more than ever. Going back to the original post though, MA makes money because his completely unfair deals are made watertight by some of the best lawyers around. He's great at shafting football clubs and their fans.

My only amendment would be Ojo/Kent (no surprise there from Kent's number one fan boy ?) for Stewart. I agree with your assessment of Defoe. Morelos should now realise that Defoe is the main man and he is the rival now. Morelos has the potential to be a top player and I hope this is the year he gets it all together in his head because he's got the talent. The signing of Aribo is hopefully the one we needed all of last season. We are now looking good, except for one more central defender. And our squad is much stronger in that 7 or 8 players could easily be pushing for spots in this starting 11. We now need to ditch the dead wood. One final thought I had was that they could arrange a bounce game in Portugal with Souness, Gerrard and McAllister in the midfield. That would be an education for our players.

I hope he's been a better role model as a manager than he was a player. I remember his on-field and off-field antics very well and he was a disgrace. I hope that's all in the past, but this latest outburst is terrible and what a way for talent to be treated. This must serve as a warning for other young players at Charlton. As @Uilleamsaid, I doubt he'd be making this big a deal if the player wasn't such a big loss to them. In some ways he's just reaffirming what we've been told by Gerrard and others at the club ..... this boy Aribo is an excellent signing. Maybe Gerrard asked Souness to help him sort out Bowyer again. Did he not hit him once before because of that fight he had on the pitch with Dyer? ???

I was agreeing with you until you mentioned Lafferty. I have never wanted him back and I'll be very happy when he goes. He's not good enough and lacks the attitude and skill we require. Taxi!!!

But that's exactly what it is. Some days it's diluted down to an anti Rangers podcast, but most of the time it is just blatantly pro Celtic. I've not listened to it for years but get reliably informed by those who do. I hope it becomes a political issue at the next general election because I might even get out and vote if someone promises to abolish the licence fee and forces it to fund itself. It'll die off then hopefully.

The only time fixtures matter is when we have to play Celtic shortly before or after an important European match, but even then we need to be able to cope with that. Every player should know by now the expectations. I'd be happy playing Celtic, Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts in our opening games because then we have an idea as how well prepared we are for the season ahead. I realise I'm one of the optimists in the forum, but I can't imagine there is a single bear out there who is anything other than desperate to get this new season started. I'd expect the lessons we learned last year (I.e. Consistency is key, and Celtic are not to be feared any more) will mean we have a great chance of 55 this year. I get the feeling from our own camp that everyone around the club is quietly confident and itching to start playing again.

I agree with your sentiment, but isn't this the role of the PR team at Ibrox rather than the support? In the large organisations I've been around there is a coordinated approach to building or protecting the brand. I realise football clubs are just small businesses but we have a PR team and I wonder what they spend their time doing. I don't see anything constructive from them.

Unfortunately I dont think will ever happen. I'd like to see a British league system and I actually think it would be as good for other nations as it would be for us. As for the national team, it would take some time before any Scottish players would be part of that, not that this is a problem for me. I don't much care for the Scottish national team (probably as a result of the way in which I feel we've been unfairly treated by the SFA and the other member clubs), and I quite happily support England in particular at big tournaments. I suspect the wealthier clubs would find a way to ensure that we would not become a threat to their dominance and if that meant some form of corruption I expect we'd face that in such a British style league. Money is power after all, and normally power and corruption go hand in hand.

As the resident Kent fanboy (I think I may have been the only one on the forum), I have accepted that I conveniently ignore the stats, despite demanding them in my professional role. I've said it before, but I just like him because in my opinion he's exciting to watch. I'll put up with your moaning and you can tolerate my ignorance of the facts. I just want him to rejoin us, and most of my friends and family are the same (although I also accept they may just be saying that to me to stop me going on about him). Arfield and Kent were the only ones I felt were "effective" in those forward midfield roles so I think we need all the help we can afford up there.