Uilleam

Ah! Matondo: an enigma: or a complete mystery why he was signed in the 1st place, if you prefer.

A few short weeks ago, Rangers was in poll position, in the the box seats, in the League, and we should be looking, today, at clinching the title, tomorrow, or next weekend. That we are not is mainly down to the players, aided by an horrendous injury list, if we were to be scrupulously fair. I have thought, on and off, for a while, that this season was, and is, a 'free hit' for M Clement and his coaching, etc. staff, and that this was known, understood, and agreed by him, and by the board, at Day 1. I concede that this is purely speculation, but when MB departed, did anybody really think that the team would have won the League Cup, reached the final of the Scottish, and been so in control of the League Championship that winning it was in its grasp? Did anybody really think that winning the 23/24 League Flag was a sine qua non for continued employment of manager and coaches? I don't think anybody did, and the reason for the general grumpiness, now, is that the opportunity to win the Title slipped, dashing raised expectations. (Continued capitulation to PIE FC did not help). I assume that manager and coaches have now a clear idea of who is worth their salt, and who isn't, who has the stones, and who doesn't, who is a malingerer, and who isn't, who has the talent, and who doesn't, whom they can trust, and whom they can't, who they can improve, and whom they can't, and so on.... If we can have a decent stab at putting names to these categories, then surely to God, a coaching team of guys who have played and coached professionally can see this with greater clarity. Next season is not, cannot and will not be a 'free hit', and the Key Performance Indicator must be: Win the fucking League.

Immeasurable, in large part, 'fitness' excepted. Or, at least, they may only be measurable by success on the park - ie winning the fucking league (for a change). (You can throw in success in the Cups, and reaching European Group Stages, or even QFs, too.) As a list of policy prescriptions, I don't disagree. There are eight in your list, and seven of these are, quite clearly, the responsibility of a 'Football Department'. ('Better financial management' seems to cut across all aspects of the Company.) Perhaps a Director of Football, with full responsibility for all of the areas you identify, although not, ultimately, financial management, despite having a contributory role there, is required. I think that that is a difficult position , especially eg when the usual model is to appoint a 'team' of coaches, so individual changes may be difficult. It's not quite like buying a better rb, or dm, or whatever. And, what just what is a 'better medical department'? It has to be reactive, obviously, but is there scope for it to be proactive, and help prevent injuries, or specific types of injury? This might get you towards something measurable, but different players, of course, have different susceptibilities, and might not give you the comparison you seek. This drifts into recruitment, and perhaps a more thorough and rigorous analysis of the players' careers, and like physical/medical/psychological examinations would be required. i

Key Performance Indicator: Win the fucking League.

Right. 15 minutes or so, to go. Somebody transform Raskin into Bryan Robson, and Scott Wright into Laudrup, and we could win it.

Collum only needs a half chance.....and he takes it....

Spring heeled Jack to the rescue!! Again!!

As clear an example of cheating from player and referee as one would wish to see.

FFS! A diver's dive.

I'm thinking an international terrorist group capturing the VAR people would help.

Too many of these guys, too many times, have displayed a clear lack of what used to be called moral fibre. We really need to show them the door.

What on earth was Lundstram doing? Did he have a bet on?

This should really be his last game. Probably will be with the ban.

Just what we need.

Maybe at half time?

Welll.......game on....I hesitate to ask?

Oh fuck!

I hope only that we can keep the score down

Well, that was coming.

Jack's the lad!!!

Every challenge Silva wins, he gets penalised. Don't go down easily, Fabio, use your strength........ What, now, boss?

Good to see the fhilth spurning chances that we generously allow them

We have nothing to fear but fear itself......and that worries me with some of the fearties we have on display

An interesting observation. I have long thought that graduates from the SFA Coaching Centre at Largs, who include some of the biggest names in European football, tend to fall into two categories: A. Those who take the coaching and learning seriously (non-Scots, generally) B. Those who attend merely to get their 'ticket', and forget most of what they have learned as soon as they walk out of the door (Scots, generally).

You gotta laugh. There was a school of thought, some years ago, which opined that Scottish sides did not do well against 'Continentals' primarily because the League was, well, pish, with little quality and competition. Prior to that the reason for failures, from ignominious upwards, was stated as the 'three foreigner rule', or the 'eight diddies rule' as it was sometimes, unkindly, called. (I am inclined to think that reaching Europa Finals -the fhilth, in 2004, and ourselves in 2008, and 2022- might undermine the former thesis, and confirm the latter.) That the 'best and most competitive' League in the world's representatives have failed to reach any of the three European Finals is explained, now, by the assertion that it is, in fact, 'too competitive', which militates against success in European tournaments. As I said, you gotta laugh.