ian1964

Without sounding like the paranoid BHEASTS,it could only happen with Rangers,a terrific battling performance and a great 3 pts despite the Hertz players trying to kick the Rangers off the park and having to contend with the Hertz players feigning injuries,Ian Black,time wasting,etc:,the stuff of CHAMPIONS!!!!................but no!!,''where did all the extra time come from?'', '' why did Naismith celebrate after scoring such a late dramatic winner,inciting the Jambos to launch coins,lighters at the Rangers players and assistant ref? ''. You couldn't make this shite up,why not highlight the great performance and result?,anti Rangers???. BIG BAD RANGERS!!!!

WALTER SMITH has urged the SPL to follow Fifa's example by scheduling fixtures to assist leading clubs with their Champions League commitments. Rangers return to domestic action with a noon kick-off against Hearts at Tynecastle today, some 62 and a half hours after the dust settled on their 1-0 win over Bursaspor at Ibrox on Wednesday night. It is the first of five successive away fixtures the Scottish champions will play in the SPL immediately after being in Champions League action, with trips to Celtic, St Mirren, Dundee United and Inverness following their remaining Group C games. Having seen a benefit from Fifa's decision to switch international 'double header' qualifying matches to Friday and Tuesday evenings in order to allow players more recovery time ahead of their clubs' next games, Smith believes the SPL should consider offering similar dispensation to those teams representing them in Europe. "I don't want to get into fixture arguments with anyone," said the Rangers manager, "but, setting aside our own situation at the moment, they should have a look at the overall situation in regard to Scottish clubs playing in Europe to see if they could move games back a day. "Valencia, for example, have managed to get their league game at Barcelona moved back a day before they play us in the next Champions League fixture. They seem to be able to do that whether it is televised or not. "For us to play at Aberdeen last Sunday, then in the Champions League on Wednesday and now practically on Saturday morning certainly gives us a test, especially when other Scottish clubs are playing Saturday to Saturday with no midweek games. "You have to ask an awful lot of players to get the same intensity into their game. The same applies with international games when the boys go away for what are normally high-intensity and high-profile matches. Coming back from that is not easy. "From that point of view, it has been a big help having the international games a day earlier. It gives players time to recover for the following weekend with their club. That is recognition that something can be done to help clubs. "I would hope in the future the SPL would do what they can to help any team in Europe. It would help all of the clubs." Smith previously locked horns with the SPL on the issue at the end of the 2007-08 season when Rangers played their final six league matches in a 19-day period prior to the Uefa Cup final. He dismissed the prospect of asking the SPL to make any changes to Rangers' schedule over the coming months. "We asked previously and were knocked back," added Smith. "I don't want to make a big fuss about this as it is done. The fixtures are out and five of our fixtures after Champions League games are away from home. "Circumstances like the ones we face this week are awkward but we just need to get on with it. Our games at Tynecastle are always high tempo and I'm sure this one will be the same. So it's a matter of us making sure we play in the same manner we have done in our last three or four games." Smith's immediate concerns ahead of today's match lie in defence where both Madjid Bougherra and Kirk Broadfoot will be assessed this morning after suffering hip and foot injuries respectively against Bursaspor. Andy Webster returns to the squad as a potential replacement for Bougherra. Nikica Jelavic, ineligible for the Champions League, is one player who will be untroubled by the presently hectic nature of Rangers' fixture list. The Croatian international striker is building what looks like a formidable partnership with Kenny Miller who spoke in glowing terms of his new team-mate yesterday. Miller, who was named Clydesdale Bank/SPL Player of the Month for the second month in a row, said: "As much as we miss Nikica on the European nights, it's good to have him eager and hungry to get back on the pitch when the weekend comes around. "He has settled in really well and got off to a good start. I feel the two of us have a good understanding already. I've been among the goals and he's scored a few already. I think the partnership can get even better. "The type of player he is, he will find the SPL easy to settle into. Goalscoring is his main strength but he is also good technically and holds the ball up really well. "Look at my second goal against Dundee United a couple of weeks ago, when he went through at 3-0 and no-one would have blamed him if he'd tried to score himself. "But he picked the right option, cut the ball back and gave me a tap-in. I don't think Kris Boyd would have cut it back to me in that situation, although he'd probably have scored, to be fair. But it can only help me to play up front with someone like Nikica." http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Walter-Smith-says-SPL-should.6561908.jp?articlepage=2

Having not seen any of the two CL games,due to work reasons,I'm not really in a position to comment on performances/tactics as such,but from where I'm sitting we seem to being doing extremely well and if we can get another scrappy 1-0 against Valencia this would put four points between us and them,how good would that be?.If it's not broken,don't fix it.

Your welcome mate:thup:,hopefully I'll catch the Valencia game:)

I couldn't get to see the game over here,but a great result all the same,anti football shines through again eh!!!,top of both SPL & our CL group,FANTASTIC.

Aye,Naismith for me

I don't think we can take anybody lightly,however I do agree we should '' get right in aboot them '' as we can get a win against them to set us up nicely in our group.

JOSH MAGENNIS has vowed to try and get pal Kyle Lafferty RED CARDED tomorrow. The Aberdeen striker hopes he's let loose on Rangers at Pittodrie. Magennis has a special plan for hot-headed Northern Ireland buddy Lafferty if he is. He said: "I hope to see Kyle's MAD side on Sunday because he's quite easy to wind up. "So I'll stand on his toes or something, get him riled up and hopefully he'll get sent off early." Lafferty has admitted his two-year Gers career has been blighted by too many negative headlines. If Dons' summer signing Magennis gets his way, there will be another one on Monday morning. The ex-Cardiff frontman - also pally with Gers stars Steve Davis and Andrew Little - grinned: "One game Kyle's head will go and he'll get sent off, then other times he'll score a hat-trick." Lafferty staked a strong claim for a starting slot with a stunning hat-trick in the midweek Co-op Cup rout of Dunfermline. Gers gaffer Walter Smith is keen to see �£3.25million hitman Lafferty prove his critics wrong and become a Gers success. He said: "Kyle knows himself that he needs to settle down a wee bit and he's trying. I hope he succeeds. "He has been a wee bit misguided at times, but he wants to do well here and what he needs to improve is his level of consistency." Striker James Beattie returns for Gers but Maurice Edu is a doubt with a knee injury. Nikica Jelavic missed training yesterday but should be fit. Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/3152824/I-want-to-get-Laff-sent-off.html#ixzz10VtcDgDK

Agreed. Jelavic,as we know,won't play on Wednesday so will be a certain starter against the sheep,so who will partner him?,probably Miller,but I think I'd be tempted to leave Miller out and play Lafferty,with Wednesday in mind,but I think WS will play him up top with Jelavic. Whoever plays we really need to give this mob a doing up there and it is long overdue,we should have too much for a poor sheep team.

SHEEP 0 The Champions 3 Miller,Jelavic,Lafferty :spl:

They can't forget all about it as the PAIN is there reminding them:)

When Fergie speaks, we listen, especially on the goggle-box where he still refuses to talk to the BBC. Thus, the quick couple of minutes Sky's Geoff Shreeves manages to grab with him, pre-match, take on an almost Frost/Nixon aspect. On Tuesday we were pre another Champions League. "Wonderful, marvellous, the greatest competition in the world," purred Fergie. He was talking up the first group match in front of the sponsors' board but we savoured his words as if he'd unlocked the secret of life's inner meaning. Then he signed off with his customary "Well done" to his grand inquisitor, strolled to the dugout, a wave here and an autograph there, and settled down to watch ... Well, what was that? Man U reserves plus England's fallen idol and Scotland's captain versus the anti-football specialists? The future of the greatest club side in the world versus our doughty representatives, defending as if their lives depended on it and turning row Z-ing into an art form? Hmm. It certainly wasn't the Battle of Britain, as billed. It definitely wasn't one of those "big European nights" that Sir Alex Ferguson so cherishes. It was all that was wrong with the Champions League. A tournament that rarely lives up to the hype. A contest that doesn't get serious, or even interesting, until March. A goose that was laying golden eggs just fine until UEFA, in their foolishness and greed, decided to stretch its neck. But it's easy to blame the organisers. What of Tuesday's participants? Man U will argue they at least tried to attack, to score goals and to win - that Rangers didn't really have designs on these things. Afterwards Walter Smith offered up an eloquent defence of his hard-up club's tactics, pointing out that, as with England's Premiership, only the super-rich few can win the Champions League. So Rangers have to park the bus. What a quaint phrase. Who coined it? Noel Coward, I think, when he was summarising an Anderlecht-Panathinaikos group match a couple of years ago. Another phrase popular among the likes of Coward and Alan McInally is: "Such-and-such set out their stall." When we first heard that one - perhaps back when Smith would argue the Champions League was more of a level playing-field - we were in no doubt that it involved a statement of defensive intent, but the statement bit was key: as if the team were handing out pamphlets warning of 90 minutes of pinch-faced parsimony from a basic wooden shack - the aforementioned stall. Now, when their frustrated opponents talk of a stall being set out - and both Fergie and Rio Ferdinand used the phrase on Tuesday - we imagine the structure having been dragged into the centre circle to stand next to the bus, with a "Back in 90 mins" sign in the window. This was how Rangers played the game at Old Trafford. Actually, there was more. There was a stall and a bus. By AIDAN SMITH http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/football/Aidan-Smith-Rangers-didn39t-just.6539053.jp I feel your PAIN

Just read it,thanks Barry,great piece,well written and heartfelt.I'm sure the great dane will take strength from this.WATP.

Link doesn't work for me over here,work computer!!!!

Superb,the BHEASTS are hurting,also exposing themselves to anybody who already doesn't know about them just what sad,bitter and twisted people they really are.Quite incredible,they are shameless.

Boruc signed a two-year deal with the Florence side after agreeing a �£1.7million switch, but he has been unable to oust number one Sebastien Frey and has had to content himself with a place on the bench. He has revealed he is beginning to wonder if he took the right path after quitting Parkhead and looks sure to look for a new club in January should he fail to win over head coach Sinisa Mihajlovic. Boruc said: "I came to play. If this will not change, I will change my club. "I accepted the offer because Fiorentina are an important club and I wanted a change after so many years at Celtic. "However, it is difficult to say whether I made the right choice. "I can't continue on the bench in Florence.I am glad to be back in the Polish national team and played well in our recent game in Ukraine. "I will fight for my place, but, if the situation doesn't change, I will simply change clubs." Mihajlovic has insisted Boruc will be given every chance to challenge Frenchman Frey, who was widely expected to leave Fiorentina during the transfer window. Mihajlovic said: "Frey and Boruc are both number one choices.I have been picking Frey because he is already a leader of this team and knows Serie A well.For the moment, this is my choice.However, if Boruc plays well when he gets the opportunity, he could keep the gloves."

2-1 Scotland,terrific goal by Maguire,final minute

Ht-1-1.........

Jambos comments http://www.hmfckickback.co.uk/index.php?/topic/78778-minutes-applause-in-memory-of-jock-stein-nhc/?

The establishment!!,it's a conspiracy, MIB

I like it,looks smart

Aye they have mate. They've got a feckin cheek asking anybody to respect anything,they should get their own house in order first. I still don't see it as point scoring and I hope the Hertz fans do respect this,just the BHEASTS annoy me with their request

How many young Gers in the team does anyone know?

Scotland v Austria (Aberdeen/1700) Our under 21�´s need a win this afternoon to qualify for the play-off round in Euro under 21�´s. We go into the game level on 14 points with both Austria and Belarus but a win will ensure a better head-to-head record against both teams regardless of how many goals Belarus rack up this afternoon against Azerbaijan. http://en.uefa.com/under21/standings/round=2000006/group=2000017/index.html Live stream http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/

The reason they wont do a minutes silence [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW24N1G0WIk&feature=player_embedded]YouTube- Celtic Fans Remembrance Day | Scotlands Shame | Falkirk v Celtic 2009[/ame]