ian1964

Derek Johnstone: Rangers are right not to give St Pats a guard of honour at Ibrox St Pats are coming to Ibrox as champions but there will be no guard of honour. That just doesn’t happen in Old Firm games. The times when we won the league, there was never a guard of honour. It is absolute nonsense, and if it was reversed St Pats wouldn’t do it either. It wasn’t something that happened in my day and it wasn’t something that we expected to happen either. For all the times we won the league, we were never given that by any side so I don’t know what it has become an issue these days and why we should be talking about it. The Old Firm have drifted so far apart in recent years. It is probably worse than when I played, so there was no chance of a guard of honour happening this weekend. The Rangers fans wouldn’t allow it, and either would the St Pats supporters if it was Rangers going to Parkhead as champions. There is no love lost between the two clubs, and certainly none between the fans, so there was no way on this earth that Rangers would give St Pats a guard of honour. They have won the league and the best team always wins the league. Well done, so let them get on with it. All that matters to Rangers now is beating them at Ibrox. Next year, St Pats will know that Rangers will be coming for them again. More than 28,000 fans have already renewed their season tickets for next year and that shows you how excited the supporters are about where Steven Gerrard is taking the club. That is 25 per cent up on this time l2 months ago and the only focus this weekend is giving those punters another derby victory. https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/17633149.derek-johnstone-rangers-are-right-not-to-give-celtic-a-guard-of-honour-at-ibrox/?ref=rss

Lifted from FF: Policing costsApril 17, 2016 - St Pats vs. Rangers £41,438.40 (SFA)September 10, 2016 - St Pats vs. Rangers £50,448.00 (St Pats)October 23, 2016 - Rangers vs. St Pats £70,864.80 (SPFL)December 31, 2016 - Rangers vs. St Pats £74,390.40 (Rangers)March 12, 2017 - St Pats vs. Rangers £56,143.20 (St Patss)April 23, 2017 - St Pats vs. Rangers £68,275.20 (SFA)April 29, 2017 - Rangers vs. St Pats £69,019.20 (Rangers)September 23, 2017 - Rangers vs. St Pats £63,386.40 (Rangers)December 30, 2017 - St Pats vs. Rangers £61,603.20 (St Pats)March 11, 2018 – Rangers vs. St Pats £63,182.40 (Rangers)April 15, 2018 – St Pats vs. Rangers £65,882.40 (SFA)April 29, 2018 – St Pats vs. Rangers £59,388 (St Pats)September 2, 2018 – St Pats vs. Rangers £57,760.80 (St Pats)December 29, 2018 – Rangers vs. St Pats £38,464.80 (Rangers)March 31, 2019 – St Pats vs. Rangers £44,313.60 (St Pats)Just to highlight the other benefits apart from the most obvious ones, that reducing the scums allocation, or if we can reduce it further saves us over a season on Plod costs.

Ajax’s Success undermines their case for Special Champions League treatment. While Embarrassing Celtic who never even Qualified for the Group Stages. Contrast Ajax UEFA Games with Celtic Ajax began their 2018-19 Uefa Champions League on 25, July 2018, in the 2nd Qualifying Round beating Sturm Graz 2-0 in the Johan Cruff ArenA, Amsterdam. It took 6 qualifying games to get into the Champions League group. Unfortunately they lost their semi-final to away goals against Tottenham Hotspur last night, 8, May 2019. What an effort for a team going through almost to the final from the qualifiers. This was thought impossible against bigger wealthier clubs. Note: Ajax finished 2nd in the Eredivisie to PSV Eindhoven. Celtic started 2018-19 Champions League 10, July 2018, in the 1st Qualifying Round away to Alashkert with Celtic winning 3-0 but unfortunately they did not survive the 3rd Qualifying Round against AEK Athens losing 2-1 in Athens. Then dropped into the Europa League. Ajax and Celtic Trying to Gain Advantage via ECA as Previous European Cup Winners Erwin Van der Sar, has with Peter Lawwell been pushing the ECA [European Club Association] to pressure UEFA to alter the Champions League format again to give Ajax and Celtic easier entry to the Group Stages. Herald links here and here. Ajax & Celtic are trying to get an easier entry to ECL group stages for past winners of European Cup, a different tournament altogether. However Ajax has proven this season that a team from outside the four big leagues that get four direct entries straight into the Champions League group stage can make it through the numerous group qualifiers to the semis. ECA Trying to Undermine European Leagues Organisation From Rob Harris, AP on 25, April 2019: European Club Association chairman Andrea Agnelli, who runs Juventus, is seeking to seize control of an overhaul to the continent’s competitions from 2024 by telling members to boycott a meeting convened by leagues next month and only attend its own summit in June. In a letter to the ECA’s 232 member clubs on Thursday, Agnelli criticized the European Leagues organization for trying to preserve the “status quo,” and instead set out a vision that would see the biggest changes to the Champions League since non-domestic champions were allowed entry in 1997. European Leagues President Lars-Christer Olsson responded in a letter to leagues and clubs, saying they are “grown up enough to make their own judgments without getting ‘orders’ from the ECA president.” Olsson said an attempt by the ECA to steer the future shape of competitions could lead to an “abuse of (a) dominant position” that should be investigated by competition authorities. European Leagues group represents the smaller clubs that are getting shafted by the ECA. As Mr Harris says: Even with four teams from each of England, Italy and Spain given a direct route into the Champions League group stage, Andrea Agnelli wants reforms that will entrench the status of the biggest clubs in the competition. We posted before on how Celtic/Lawwell has been doing previous ECA chairman, Karl-Heinze Rummenigge’s bidding in hope he gets the crumbs/payback for voting for the gorging of the larger clubs at the UEFA trough. It is bad enough that the bigger clubs, through the last ECA forced UEFA changes resulting in the big four leagues get free entry for their top 4 teams without having to qualify. Agnelli/Rummenigge were envious of the English Premier League TV rights money and wanted a greater chunk of the UEFA revenues. They got their way through threatening UEFA that they would push for a Superleague and destroy UEFA’s monopoly. Reduction in Competition in Champions League and Domestic Leagues The inequality of the ECA deal with UEFA has meant that the gap is growing between the bigger clubs and the smaller leagues clubs with the latter becoming mostly cannon fodder in the Champions League. Recent seasons has seen mostly high scoring poor one-sided games until the knockout stages and this season not until the semi-finals. The reward for the smaller leagues clubs getting hammered are increased TV revenue so competition is distorted in their domestic leagues. The inequalities are growing there too. The ECA/UEFA do not appear to care about the overall reduction in competition but the EU might. The latest CIES Governance and Financial Landscape of Top European Football Clubs report shows that UEFA revenue growth is much higher than any leagues including the EPL: So more revenue is going to the big clubs and their group qualifying smaller cannon fodder. The situation will get worse and worse. Ajax’s Success Undermines Case for Special Treatment while Embarrassing Lawwell Ajax success this season undermines both theirs and Celtic’s case for special treatment. Also it makes Celtic’s performance, a comparable club to Ajax, who have easier runs at the UEFA champions league group stages while Rangers returned from the lower divisions, look poor when Celtic never even qualified for the group stages this season. Whatever happens Mr Lawwell will still get his bonus. He must be praying his acquiescence with Agnelli/Rummenigge’s deal with the devil and Ajax’s lobbying will payoff and deliver him a special Sporting Integrity entry deal because four rounds of qualifiers was just too hard this season. Real Sporting Integrity By the KNVB To help Ajax in their semi-final games, the KNBV, SFA equivalent, agreed to the postponement all the weekend’s league fixtures to be made to allow Ajax two days’ full rest between the games. A KNVB spokesman said: “Ajax have to play two games in three days and this is impossible because the league’s regulations say a club must have two full days off in between games.” “It was not put to a vote in the end because maybe 17 of the 18 clubs would have decided to break the rules. The KNVB is responsible for this decision.” Maybe that’s why Ajax got so far, a football team with the support of their football authority rather than running scared and passing the buck to rival teams to undermine a team’s success. Pigs will fly in Scotland before that happens. ©footballtaxhavens.wordpress.com 2019 https://footballtaxhavens.wordpress.com/2019/05/09/ajaxs-success-undermines-their-case-for-special-champions-league-treatment-while-embarrassing-celtic-who-never-even-qualified-for-the-group-stages/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

We should keep Morelos for another season, unless an offer comes in we can't turn down!. He is still potentially a top class striker, he will learn from SG & the management and become even better, Morelos terrifies the opposition just now and that is why he is the target for opposing players/managers/media. He has to learn to put up with being targeted in Scottish football, which is being allowed to happen by the poor officials, egged on by the Rangers hating bias Scottish gutter press and accepted by Scottish football as a whole. He is still an asset as a player and some Rangers fans are buying into the ''he's a nutter'' being put across by everyone, we don't need to sell him. IMO.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/sports/champions-league-europe-restructuring.html

Is this the same ref who booked, resulting in a sending off, Halliday for a fist pump in the centre circle following a Rangers goal?

Better? just a C&P from main site! I really should know better!

https://rangers.co.uk/news/galleries/gallery-celtic-training-gallery/

Borna Barisic blasts Rangers exit talk as he reveals 'the truth' on relationship with Steven Gerrard Croatian's future was reportedly in doubt after Gerrard hit out at fringe players after a recent friendly with Liverpool. Rangers defender Borna Barisic has insisted Steven Gerrard hasn't told him he's for sale and stressed he sees his future at Ibrox. The Croatian international's future was reportedly in doubt after Ibrox boss Gerrard was far from impressed at the performances of Barisic, Eros Grezda and Kyle Lafferty in a recent friendly against Liverpool. Gerrard warned: "If there are players I don’t need, it’s easy to address that. I’ll show the players an honesty and respect. If there’s someone who I don’t feel I can give happiness to, in terms of game time, then I’ll tell him. Then the decision’s out of my hands." And Barisic also failed to impress the Rangers boss when he returned injured from a Euro 2020 qualifier for Croatia in March. However, the former Osijek player insists Gerrard hasn't read the riot act to him and he still believes he will be a key part of his squad. Barisic said: "This has been taken out of context. The only truth here is that I have been injured and I have found it hard to get into the team that is in great shape. "We've won five in a row and conceded just one goal, so of course it's not easy to get back into the team. "Rangers are a big club with great players and it's not easy to get back into the side. "As far as my relationship with the coach, it's all great with me. "I had two weeks out because of my injury with the national team. I got back training and played in a friendly match. "I admit it took me a while to restore my physical condition and that's very important in the Scottish League. "Now everything is ok and I feel great. I was on the bench in the last game and we have the derby with Celtic coming up this week." And Barisic tried to clarify what happened when he returned injured from international duty in a match against Hungary. He explained: "Yes, Rangers were angry, but there was a misunderstanding. "Everything was eventually sorted and now there's no problem in that regard. "We play Wales soon and that is a very hard game for us." Barisic is friendly with Celtic rivals Filip Benkovic and Jozo Simunovic. But, in an interview in Croatian publication Sportske Jutarnj, he admitted the friendship does have its limits. He said: "No, I did not congratulate them on being champions. "I didn't even congratulate Jozo Simunovic on his goal against Aberdeen." https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/borna-barisic-blasts-rangers-exit-15009554

GRAEME SHINNIE has struck a pre-contract agreement with Derby County. The Aberdeen skipper has signed a three-year deal and will link up with Frank Lampard's squad from next season. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/4213569/graeme-shinnie-derby-county-pre-contract-done-deal/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1557244019

Highlights up now https://rangers.co.uk/tv/view?it=17338&act=view&c=News

Brilliant

How long to go?