Gaffer

I agree that we shouldn't acknowledge average players like those mentioned on here, but I would still applaud Laudrup or Gazza if they returned to Ibrox. The difference is that they deserve it.

Tomorrow can't confirm that we have a potential title challenge. We've got to put a few more wins together before that's the case. However, tomorrow can confirm the end of any sort of title challenge if we don't get the 3 points. There is no doubt that tomorrow, like every other game we play for the rest of this season, is a must win game. Im quietly optimistic about tomorrow and I'm desperate to have confidence that we can out a really good run of victories together. If we can put another two victories on the board with our upcoming games against Hearts and St Johnstone, I'll be helping Stewarty push his bandwagon about because I'll start to believe. I'm pretty sure a few others on here would join me too.

I appreciate this is good news, but if even a fraction of our supporters put their money where their mouth was, we'd have reached the target easily by now. I'm still unsure about the prospect of fans being in control of the club, but I am in favour of us controlling a significant share of the club and thereby protecting it from future parasites. That's why I joined Club 1872 and it's why I'd encourage others to do the same.

I won't boo any ex players. This is not out of respect for what they've done for us, but more because I don't care about them enough (i.e. at all). If anything, I'd be inclined to applaud certain Rangers players onto the pitch, but for that to happen they'd have to be special like Gazza, Laudrup, Durrant, Cooper, etc. Naismith and others are in the past as far as we're concerned so hold no interest for me in the slightest. Like every other Hearts player they are the opposition and that's all. And as with all games against all our opponenents, I prefer to applaud my own team than boo the opposition.

What a brilliant response from Finlay Noble there. There's someone who knows how to do the right thing, but also turn a disappointment into a positive for his club. His supporters and everyone else at his club must be delighted to have someone like that in the chair. Nice one! I will make a point of going there when I'm next up in that neck of the woods, but I'll be sure to pay for a ticket and spend money there. That attitude deserves it.

We need to restructure our own league first, but really there's no reason why Rangers couldn't just do this right now. We could arrange a series of friendlies with 5 or 6 other clubs throughout the season, resulting in a winner of a "friendly cup". There's no question that we would all go along to watch these games if we picked our opposition sensibly. I've never worked out why we don't do this but I'm sure the bright sparks on here will enlighten me. Anyone?

But what's the answer? My preference is to go to a bigger league and play each other twice. I think it would help develop younger players, but I can understand many clubs want Rangers to visit them twice each year for the additional revenue. So, would you prefer a small number of teams, or fewer games against Celtic, etc?

True, that's why I'm amused at the potential "chaos" the journos are predicting about post split fixtures. If our competitors really knew about us, they'd be delighted that we play more home games. Surely though Pete we've now sorted out a way to win at home!?!? If we go and smash Hearts at the weekend, I think we can be reasonably optimistic. I think it's fair to say that none of us ever really know how we are going to go this weekend. We wouldn't be surprised if won 5-0, given our attacking prowess. But equally we wouldn't be surprised if we got beat 5-4 when you see how fragile our defence is sometimes. I can still remember that feeling of going to Ibrox during the NIAR years, knowing we'd win, but just how much by. It was fun, but not nearly as exciting as going these days. It makes our prediction league a complete lottery, but I would say that since I'm near the bottom of that table.

We need to keep it close and then take at least 4 points off them in our head to head games. If we do that, you just never know how they'll deal with that. Very few of their players have had to deal with that level of pressure because they've won it so easily each year up to now. Let's test their mental strength and hope they crumble.

That's exactly why I am optimistic. We've lost most of our home games and yet we are still within a reasonable touching distance of Celtic. That's how poor they are. We don't need to have a transformational improvement. All we need is to start winning at home against the other teams in this league (i.e. the bottom 8/9 teams) and we can challenge.

For me, the rest of this season is about us 'knowing' we can beat them next season. If we can go on a run until the end of the season, including beating them, we will then know that next season is achievable. If we can build that belief in this team I think we will have a great start to next season, not to mention dozens of players' desperate to join us in the summer. Any player, no matter who they are, would be desperate to be part of one of the best football stories ever to be told. That's what our club is on the verge of here.

Centreback is definitely the area we need to sort out in the summer. We need at least one signing for the first eleven. Only Alves and McCrorie look solid enough to me. Martin might grow into it and he deserves a little time to fit in with our team.

I am nodding my head in agreement with you Bill and then I realised that this is 30 years we've had this issue. Thirty years! I dont think many will disagree either. Souness was an inspirational appointment, but I wonder if that type of impact is even possible to achieve these days. Maybe it's time for a quiet man like Murty to grow into the role, but whatever happens we need to build value in the club and that means building value in players and winning things. I don't see that happening with over thirties players.

These guys have been given a chance but I just don't think they've done enough to take a place from someone else currently in the team. Who would MOH, Dodoo or Hardie replace? Equally, for the sake of our younger players we need to change the mind set here. Being under 21 is no excuse for not being good enough, or committed enough. Morelos, Windass, McCrorie, Etc are all guys who made the step up so our youths need to start measuring themselves against these guys. Very often the difference between someone who makes it and someone who doesn't is just attitude. Murty has shown a willingness to give players a chance. The bottom line is that they've shown nothing to merit a first team place. All three are decent players and will no doubt have a career in football, but they are unlikely to have a career with us. I can't quite put my finger on the issue with Hardie. He has many of the required attributes but doesn't seem to put it together enough for me. Maybe it will click at some point, but it'll have to happen soon to have any prospect of a new deal.

When Walker speaks, it just sounds like white noise to me now. It's the same with Sutton. I think I've developed an effective filter because I just don't hear anything either of them say.

Players have to take their chance to shine in training. A number of our managers have declined to use him so I think it's fair to say he's had chances. Some players can play for other teams but can't handle the pressure of playing for Rangers. I'm not saying that's definitely the issue with him, but there's nothing I've seen of him to suggest he should get more first team action for us. If he had everything as you suggest, I'm sure he would have been used more.

I'm agreeing that we should keep him, but all I'm suggesting is that if it was me I'd not be giving him a longer contract. As Ian says though, the powers at be in the club will know what the right move is, but it doesn't stop me or others on here offering an opinion. Many of us are happy to give opinions even on subjects we know nothing about

I feel the same coop. He's decent and has definitely pulled off some amazing saves to keep us in games, but he suspect sometimes. Weighing everything up though, there are other areas of the pitch that need to be strengthened before the goalie will make much more of a difference. Let's tie him down for his best years and then focus on a striker, a number 10 and a centre half.

Would you give him more than 18 months on a contract though Ian? I agree with what you've said. I like him and he's done a decent job for us, but I can't see him developing enough to keep other players out. If we keep progressing financially the way we are, you'd like to think we could afford a strong centre half. I just don't see him being in our first team next season if that's the case.

Completely agree with you! if this is a real bear that's working in this manner it is shameful. This was done to ensure maximum publicity for the insinuations and for any decent supporter it now reflects very badly on the accuser. It's so disappointing that we have people like that associate director with our club. We have too many other enemies to deal with without nonsense like this within.

I agree that we are building some trust in the DoF these days. There is obviously money to spend on securing the best players. Bates is decent but he's got a long way to go before he'll be a first team regular. If Alves was fit, or McCrorie was fit, he wouldn't be in the team. I think Bates is right to negotiate the best deal he possibly can, obviously, but equally he has to think what's right for him in terms of playing time. I like him but I don't think he's likely to make it with us. Maybe he'd be best playing with another club where he's likely to play each week. I would love him to prove me wrong, but he will need time to do that. I'd like him to get a year extension, or two at the very most, and see if he can grow into a first team player.

Gersnet is such an education as well as great entertainment!

I laughed at this. You are of course right, but never underestimate how difficult it is to get a team of professionals doing what they're supposed to be doing. A lifetime in business taught me that. Very often the issue is a political one where some members of the team are either unclear of the scope of their responsibilities, or where they want to interfere in someone else's business. The sense I get I see that Mark Allen and Murty work well together. That makes everything else so much easier.

I'd agree with you. I don't think this is just about the role, I think it's the person doing it. When we were all discussing the DoF role, I remember lots a big football names being talked about. It just shows that it is not necessarily a 'football person' that's required, but more of a skilled administrator and someone who can create a strategy and analyse the player data. I just can't see Alex McLeish, Walter Smith, or the other names we spoke of being able to do this role as effectively as Mark Allen has.

I'm glad you used Brown as an example, because he proves the point about midfielders. I think he's looking a shell of the player he was and I'd expect him to continue to deteriorate quickly next season. Do you really think that Southampton would 'prefer other players' if he was still as fast, sharp,and strong? I doubt it. I agree however that it would be good to get Nico off the wage bill, but why settle for replacing him with another older player? I don't think we're disagreeing too much. I think we agree that he is towards the end of his career and that he is now likely to deteriorate. All we are disagreeing about is how long he'd be able to perform for us in the SPL. I don think think we would get more than a year, which to me would be a valuable time to improve a younger player. Its these same decisions that negatively affected us coming up through the leagues. We need to stop being a retirement home and start developing value in our players for the longer term good of the club. A year of game time is valuable and we need to give it to someone who can generate value and offer more of a longer term return on investment.