ian1964

When we signed Naismith I thought it was a good signing,although maybe a bit expensive,however I was looking forward to seeing him play for Rangers and develope but he has had a very tough time since he signed,I do rate him and hope he pushes on and establishes himself in the first team and will be like a new signing if he does reach his potential, he is still a young player and at least deserves a bit of good luck,heres hoping

Bougherra for me............if he stays all season ?, if not I think I'll go with BD and pick Lafferty also if he is played in his proper position ?

Fifty-five days after skipping out of Hampden with the Scottish Cup under their arm, Rangers return to match action this evening in the rather less salubrious setting of the PGW Arena in western Germany. In truth, not an awful lot has happened in the intervening period. There will be no new signings available to make their debuts in the friendly match against Sportfreunde Lotte, of the German fourth flight, and none expected to arrive during the squad's six-day stay on the continent. There has also been little activity in the other direction, and certainly less than the club would have hoped and liked by this juncture. Brahim Hemdani and Christian Dailly have not had their contracts renewed, Graeme Smith has escaped to St Johnstone before people forget who he is, and Barry Ferguson has been handed a once-in-a-lifetime shot at making it in the Barclays Premier League for the second time in his career. Most significantly, the man in charge has not changed. Speculation that Walter Smith would elect to bow out after leading Rangers to a domestic double, and it was hard not to think of Danny Glover's exasperated character in the Lethal Weapon franchise as Smith wearily dealt with the fall-out from Bevvygate, proved to be unfounded. Instead, Smith has returned for the sequel and another crack at the Champions League. Asked if he was "buzzing" ahead of the new season, the 61-year-old paused, stroked his stubbly chin, and searched for the right words. He is not one prone to public displays of emotion, and certainly not Tigger-like enthusiasm, but there is little doubt that Smith is relishing the fresh challenges ahead. "We're looking forward to our involvement in the Champions League again and being challengers for the other honours," he said. "This is the first time we go in as champions. For most of the staff here, it will be the first time they've had to defend the championship and that's always harder. "While the Old Firm always have difficult matches, the champions have to show up well and Celtic have always done that over the last few seasons. "It's our turn to show we can handle that situation and that's a challenge for everyone here. It's my first time in that position since I came back so I'm looking forward to that aspect of it." Financial necessity means Smith still needs to shed at least four more senior players from his squad but the windfall that comes with direct entry to the Champions League at least gives him control over who leaves the club. It means that, in his third full season since returning to the club in January 2007, Smith feels he is finally getting close to creating a side that meets with his approval. "It's starting to get there, domestically at least. The Champions League is a hard environment to play in and we'll need to make sure that we're right defensively. But domestically I feel we're getting a suitable level of player. "If you look at our midfield, Kevin Thomson, Steven Davis, and Pedro Mendes, are all good footballers. I would hope that would show in the level of football we're starting to play this season. "I felt last season we were getting there and playing some decent football at times and I would hope we would see more of that this season." The left side of midfield, however, remains a problem. Smith used more bodies than the cast of Ben-Hur in that position last season without finding a solution and admitted he is no nearer to resolving the matter ahead of the start of the new campaign. "We're no closer to solving that." he said. "We've still got pretty much the same problem, players who can offer us a lot in one sense and not a lot in another. "It's getting the balance from somebody who can play out there. If we were looking at the squad, that's maybe an area where we were short of somebody to come in and give us a reasonable balance. So we're just going to have to keep going as we have been, where a number of boys will be used depending on the situation." While Smith can not call upon any new signings for the time being, he is looking forward to the return of Thomson from injury, and seeing more from Steven Naismith too. "Thommo is back and he will be playing but it will still be September before he is fully match fit. He won't play a full 90 minutes until then. "He's with us in Germany and will train and play half an hour here and there. But he's not ready for a full 90 minutes. "That said, he's looking good, as is Stevie Naismith. He had a similar injury and has missed a lot of football. "It's always more difficult to come back during a season but he is looking terrific at the moment. His fitness is first class and he's a player I'm looking forward to getting back. "The one thing I'm really looking forward to this season is the progression, not just in the team but in the individuals as well." Across the city at Celtic, the summer has brought about a raft of changes, most notably in the manager's office where Tony Mowbray has replaced Gordon Strachan. Smith, though, does not expect the size of the challenge to increase or diminish as a result. "I don't think it will be that much different. Tony will have his own stamp of how he wants to play but Celtic were extremely successful under Gordon Strachan so the challenge is always going to be there. "When you look before I came, Rangers hadn't been challenging for a couple of seasons beforehand, so there had to be a change. Celtic didn't win the championship, so a change of personnel was made. "So the challenge will be every bit as great as has been in recent years. Celtic haven't lost a lot of players and have brought in a few. We look forward to accepting that challenge as champions." That challenge can wait for a few weeks yet. For now, the immediate focus is on the week's work in Germany and subsequent matches against FC Nuremburg and SC Wiedenbruck after tonight's season opener. "We want to keep everyone at the group at a specific level as much as we can and want to give them a specific amount of playing time in the three games. So we'll see quite a few changes in each of the games. "It's proved to be a good exercise for us when we're away. It wasn't so clever last year because the group wasn't ready for it but the previous year we enjoyed it and we're looking forward to it this year. We should see a far fresher squad now than we saw at this time last year." And a fresher manager too, it seems.

Good result for the young Steelmen http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/2552346/Well-8-Flamurtari-1.html

'' I never meant it '', aye right: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=vslwnc&s=5

Agree, youtube even made Sebo look a player

http://hardcoresportsradio.com/content/media/podcasts/a8cdbf9b-337e-443b-a8c3-ca30e65d4260.mp3

Martin O'Neill and Jose Mourinho are battling it out for the �£10m signature of Jermaine Jenas, according to reports. GettyImages Jenas (L) has a tough choice, Inter or Villa? Villa boss O'Neill is also keen to land Scotland international Alan Hutton as part of the deal, but will face competition for midfielder Jenas, who he sees as an ideal replacement for Gareth Barry. Inter Milan coach Mourinho tried to lure Jenas to the San Siro in the January transfer window but Tottenham refused to let him leave. Harry Redknapp needs to raise funds to buy players and the Spurs boss is considering cashing in on the England international. Redknapp is still keen to take Portsmouth striker Peter Crouch to White Hart Lane and needs to boost his transfer kitty to do so. O'Neill has already splashed out �£12m in the last week to land Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing. The 24-year-old said it took him no time to sign: "As soon as I spoke to Martin O'Neill I knew I wanted to play for him. The ambitions the manager has are even bigger than I realised. "The first thing I asked the manager was 'Are these players staying? Because I'd like to play with them'. "His response was that the likes of Ashley Young will not be leaving because he is trying to build a squad." http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=662034&cc=5739

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jrevVVxqGE]YouTube - Piotr Bro?ek w Meczu z Barcelon? 1 0[/ame]

The green & grey hoops is bad enough, this one is SHOCKING !!!

GLENN LOOVENS last night broke his silence on last season's Ibrox flashpoint - hitting back at Maurice Edu for branding him malicious. Rangers midfielder Edu accused the Celtic defender of trying to hurt him during the campaign's final Old Firm showdown which Walter Smith's side won 1-0. But ahead of Loovens' SFA trial on August 7 the Dutchman has warned his rival to stop attempting to make up the minds of disciplinary chiefs. And in a stiff self-defence of his character, raging Loovens said: "The SFA won't suspend me because I have done nothing wrong. "What happened between us was an accident over in a split second. "I know it might look worse than that when you put slow-motion pictures of the incident on television but I know what I was thinking at the time and Edu can't speak for me. "If I remember correctly Edu played on after we had collided so it couldn't have been that malicious. "It wasn't a deliberate act designed to hurt another player. "I've been suspended once in my entire career and I think that says it all about my temperament." Celtic could ask SFA beaks for a change of date to Loovens' trial because the scheduled hearing comes 24 hours before they play Manchester City at Eastlands in a pre-season friendly and Tony Mowbray's side will be travelling to England on August 7 . http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/2009/07/21/celtic-star-glenn-loovens-insists-i-didn-t-try-to-crock-maurice-edu-86908-21536559/ Aye you did ya dirty chunt...............YOU GOT CAUGHT

Sign him Walter

I'm not too worried about our squad tbh, I think we have a good squad and young squad with a few of these young players to make further development ie: Lafferty,Whittaker,Edu,Fleck,Arron ect and with Thomson coming back,so all in all I'm ok with what we have, although I do think if we can get rid of all the players that Walter wants to get rid of it wouldn't surprise me to see a late signing coming in. CL ?, I agree with Craig we should be treating it as a bonus and trying to finish 3rd in the group

It's not over yet mate, wouldn't surprise me one bit to see a post saying he is for the off ...........I am expecting it tbh

MADJID BOUGHERRA today revealed why he has turned down the chance to earn more money in the English Premier League to remain at Ibrox. The Rangers defender has declared he will stay with the SPL champions this summer despite Everton, Wigan and French side Bordeaux all expressing an interest in signing him. All three clubs would have been in a position to offer Bougherra a sizeable wage increase - but the Algerian insists he is more interested in enjoying his football and winning silverware than boosting his bank balance. He said: "I have decided to continue my adventure with Rangers. advertisement "I feel very content at the football club and with life in Glasgow. On reflection, it is much better for me to remain here despite the interest and offers which have arisen. "I could have gained more money by going elsewhere, but in my eyes that is not the most important thing." Bougherra's revelations will no doubt please Rangers supporters who feared the stopper might have been set to move on . Of course, they are unlikely to rest easy until August 31 when transfer window closes, but the fact the defender seems determined to remain at Walter Smith's side provides the Light Blues with a massive boost. The Rangers manager has conceded they could start the new season without a single new addition to their squad, which also lost former captain Barry Ferguson over the weekend as he completed a �£1m move to Birmingham City. Rangers fans' chief John McMillan believes it would be disastrous if Bougherra left, even although he has stated that he won't. He said: "Ferguson's departure won't cause any problems but Madjid Bougherra would be a disaster if he goes. "There is absolutely no player at Ibrox who is anywhere near capable of doing the job that he does and Rangers have to pull out all the stops to keep him." http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/display.var.2520978.0.0.php

He's just a baw bag though,he would say the exact same about Rangers

I think they are good,sometimes it seems too much,but then again the forum can be very quiet

Black Cats in hunt for Hutton - The Times Sunderland have made an enquiry about Tottenham defender Alan Hutton. Should Spurs let Hutton go?

I hope this happens to the MOPES again [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR6WUo44cGA]YouTube - aretmedia brataslava[/ame]

Meanwhile, Bordeaux, the French champions, had been ready to test Rangers' resolve with a �£3m bid for Bougherra as they seek to replace Marseille-bound Souleymane Diawara. However, Jean-Louis Triaud, their president, said his side will pursue other targets, such as Marko Basa at Lokomotiv Moscow, after Bougherra told them he did not want to return to France. http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/headlines/display.var.2520662.0.Ferguson_saddened_by_second_farewell.php

It's even worse than their green & grey hoops

It still amazes me how the foreign players get held in such high regard compared to Scottish players with Rangers fans, even now the likes of Mendes is a god with some fans,and yet for me I'd take Fergie before Mendes,you'll never see Fergie hiding or bottling out of tackles

I never seen Buffel on there :devil:

That's fair, and I do realise people have their own opinion,I was just wondering what makes a player a legend if not what he has achieved with his club ?

Only joking mate