ian1964

The former Ibrox director is confident that Rangers will keep getting stronger under Gerrard and Dave King. Paul Murray helped win the Battle of the Blue Room then watched as Rangers toiled in their next battle against the Blue Brazil. The former Ibrox director only has to look back four years to scoff at cynics who reckon Rangers are not making 
progress under Dave King and Steven Gerrard. It is a year to the day next week – May 2 2018 – when Murray stepped down from the board he served diligently from 2007. But he remains close to the club’s powerbrokers. He helped expose the sham of the Craig Whyte regime before assisting King and the Three Bears in wrestling control from the Mike Ashley axis that was holding sway. It has been a long road back to recovery but the Gerrard regime – financed by King and other investors – is beginning to bear fruit, Murray insists. In a rare interview, he said: “We took over the club on March 6, 2015 and the following day, with all due respect to 
Cowdenbeath, we played at Central Park and drew 0-0. I have pulled Jimmy Nicholl’s leg a few times about it because he was the manager at the time and the previous Saturday they had lost 10-0 to Hearts. “You must look at the 
progression from that point to where we are now – and that is only four years. “Obviously, we would’ve liked to have won the league by now. “Clearly, we have to win it at some point and any fair minded person would say the club has made progress, particularly in the last 12 months. “It has been down to relatively fine margins in key matches. That is different to last season where we had some pretty heavy defeats, particularly by Celtic. “That hasn’t happened this year. If that is the measure of progress, then we have progressed.” Murray has a point – in nine defeats this season, Rangers have lost by more than one goal only once, in the Scottish Cup replay against Aberdeen at Ibrox in March when they went down 2-0. Last season they lost 13 games in all competitions and seven games were by more than a goal, including 4-0 and 5-0 thumpings by Celtic and two-goal defeats from the likes of Hamilton, Motherwell, St Johnstone and Progres Niederkorn. Gerrard has helped restore credibility to the club again, particularly in a 14-match run that took them into the group stage of the Europa League. They are on course to finish closer to Celtic than last time around and a distance ahead of Aberdeen, who had established themselves as the second force in the Scottish game. But major silverware remains elusive and Murray acknowledges the club have still to rid 
themselves of the blight of 
inconsistency that has seen them win four games in a row only once this season. He said: “As a fan now as opposed to a board member, there has been a lack of 
consistency in some matches. “We have drawn too many big games, perhaps resulting from a lack of quality in key areas. It has been those fine margins in key matches where we have taken one point rather than three. “Steven is about to go into his second season and I’m pretty sure he will have learned from this campaign. “He will have learned about the teams we face, the football they play, the fact Rangers and Celtic have to win every game and when you go to places like Hamilton you have to grind a result out. “We have made progress and with a bit of investment in key areas and a bit more consistency we can go far.” How far, of course, depends on the cash made available to Gerrard this summer to finance the fine tuning Murray believes is needed to make Rangers title challengers again. Murray has taken King’s comments in a recent letter to season ticket holder, claiming Rangers were close again to becoming the dominant force in Scottish football, as more tongue in cheek than boardroom bluster. King has invested more than £40million to seize control of Rangers and underwrite its rebuild but Murray knows if the club are to kick on financially that means winning the 
Premiership and gaining access to Champions League riches. He added: “We said after winning control it wasn’t going to be a short-term project because of the damage that had been done to the club over many years. “It was going to be hard to repair and no-one was under any illusions about how long that would take. “You always want to do things quicker but there has been steady progress. Dave has been consistent in saying we want to get the club to a sustainable financial position and the only real way of doing that is to get regular European participation. “This year, I would imagine the Europa League was a bit of a bonus and although it has improved financially, the 
Champions League is obviously still the place you want to be. “They can keep the investment in the club for the short to medium term but to make the Champions League means winning the league at some point, which must be the focus.” Celtic may hardly be motoring over the finishing line to eight-in-a-row but they have put enough in the tank throughout the campaign to see it out. They will also regroup in the summer in a bid to continue their dominance, particularly with 10-in-a-row in sight, but Murray knows the strain of that goal can cut 
both ways. He said: “I was around when Rangers won nine-in-a-row and it works both ways. “It pressures the team who are chasing but it also pressures the team who are leading – in the sense you feel the 
expectation the closer it gets. “I remember Rangers’ quest for 10-in-a-row. We arguably should have won it but you could see the pressure starting to build on the players as we got closer to the finishing line. “For us, as fans, we have to focus on Rangers.” https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/paul-murray-details-how-rangers-14479414

They sat on the fence! hardly voting to help us and they to me are just as bad as the rest of Scottish football who hate us and proved it by voting us out of the league trying to kill us.

Safe founder Dave Sharp calls on the government to stop ignoring the issue of historical child abuse in football AFTER news that Celtic wants the SFA to look into sickening chants from Aberdeen supporters about child abuse, Safe founder Dave Sharp called on the government to stop turning its back on historical child abuse in football. In the last year, the issue of historical child abuse in Scottish football has come to the fore and we are seeing more convictions for these horrific crimes. As far as I know the number of people who have come forward who have been identified as victims now stands at over 150. Concerns have been linked to at least seven clubs, but the true scale of the issue is likely to be far greater. Why then, is it seen as acceptable by some to make light of the problem? Those responsible have jumped on the fact that Celtic has been linked to convictions and so far, no other club has. At Celtic games it is not uncommon to see lewd banners, effigies depicting priests and children, and songs being sung making a mockery of the issue. It is not something to make light of or to use as a weapon against a football team you don’t like. It has become so cancerous that it is not just a ‘west of Scotland’ problem – this attitude is spreading and can be seen and heard at at matches across the country yet the Scottish Government and the SFA refuse to comment or do anything about it. Along with the abhorrent behaviour at matches, social media is now awash with hatred, anger and even death threats for anyone who dares to speak out about their experiences. Survivors are regularly bombarded with the most horrific abuse and threats on their lives just for saying what happened to them, and the journalists who write about it receive the same. As the issue started to growing last year, more people were expecting the government to step in and investigate, but they have continued to say the child abuse inquiry will not involve spots institutions. For those of us who has been campaigning for years to get justice for other survivors, it was not surprising. We have always said that not enough is being done to encourage survivors to speak out, and this is another example. However, when you see people appear on social media, having never dealt with their issues and are trying to ask for help, being abused and hounded by people who support the same club as them its heart-breaking. Survivors cant win either way. On the one hand you have people who they beleive should be helping them but who are threatening them to keep quite and on the other hand you have people using the abuse to score points and incite hatred. I spent the first 16 years of my life in Catholic run homes and was violently abused. Many other boys suffered the same. When we see banners of priests and children, or hear songs being sung joking about child abuse, its sends many of us to despair and makes us feel as if our experiences are not being taken seriously. Seek And Find Everyone (S.A.F.E), which I helped to set up, has received calls from distraught survivors who are also football fans at all times of day and night, having struggled to deal with comments, songs or banners related to child abuse. What we are seeing now on social media is an explosion of hatred and anger and confusion because no one seems to be in control or willing to give any answers to the many questions and on any given day you can see child abuse survivors crying out to the SFA and people like Humza Yousaf the justice minister for help and for answers and they are just being ignored and this has to stop. This is what is fuelling all the anger and hatred and everyone can see it. Over the last year I have seen dozens of survivors suffer abuse on social media then they have just disappeared and have never been heard from again. This has become deeply worrying. Politicians and sports organisations need to step up, take ownership of what has happened and do all they can to encourage more people to come forward to report their experiences. Without that, we will never understand the issue and we will never get closer to stopping it happening to more children. https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17587988.opinion-safe-founder-dave-sharp-calls-on-the-government-to-stop-ignoring-the-issue-of-historical-child-abuse-in-football/

Thing is he has missed a lot of football yet played well again, he is still raw but he certainly has potential and scored a good goal

Katic got Rangers TV MOTM, I thought he was superb today, big and brave up against a big physical player and deserved his goal for the way he attacked the ball, there is still a lot to come from this guy, I just hope he stays in the team for the remainder of our games

3 players sent off! up next for Killie...………………………….St Pats FC?????????

MAC ATTACK ‘Worst ref display I’ve seen’ – Steve Clarke slaughters Steven McLean after Kilmarnock’s loss to Aberdeen Killie’s Kirk Broadfoot, Stuart Findlay and Rory McKenzie were dismissed by the whistler - whose dad Stuart is a Rugby Park legend - as their side lost 1-0 to the Dons. STEVE CLARKE has slaughtered ref Steven McLean after he sent off THREE Kilmarnock stars in their defeat to Aberdeen. Killie’s Kirk Broadfoot, Stuart Findlay and Rory McKenzie were dismissed by the whistler - whose dad Stuart is a Rugby Park legend - as their side lost 1-0 to the Dons at home. Clarke stormed down the tunnel in anger after McKenzie’s red card. And he let rip at full-time, calling it the worst EVER display he’s seen from a referee in a career in the game spanning nearly four decades. The former Scotland international told the BBC: "The game was absolutely brutal, there was no football. “Broadfoot’s red was a genuine attempt for the ball. We will appeal it. No complaints for Findlay’s. “Looks like nothing from McKenzie, we will appeal that one too. “I told the referee it’s the worst referee performance I’ve ever seen in my career. “He lost control of the game, his job is to control the game - he didn’t do that. "I think he feels the pressure because his dad played so many games at Kilmarnock. “I think it would be better for Steven and Kilmarnock if he didn’t referee a game here ever again. “It was a difficult game, but a good referee could have handled it.” Aberdeen icon Willie Miller also slammed the whistler’s performance after the game on the Beeb. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/4147079/steve-clarke-steven-mclean-worst-ever-kilmarnock-aberdeen-red-cards/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1555783060

Worth noting as well Killie got 3 players sent off today, who plays Killie next week????

Really impressed with Kamara, he could turn out to be the best signing we have made, actually for the price he probably already is!

Good win & 3pts, some excellent football played at times, and we should have scored 6!. On to the sheep game next week and we are due them a good thumping.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes and assistant Tony Docherty have been charged by the Scottish FA after both were sent to the stand during last week's defeat by Celtic. Docherty was dismissed at half-time and has accepted a one-match touchline ban for misconduct. McInnes was sent off after making a gesture towards Celtic fans during the Scottish Cup semi-final. He has until Thursday to respond to the charge with a hearing set for 3 May. The former Rangers player said he had been targeted with sectarian abuse at Hampden. "I had let it go the first time but I shouldn't react and I'll take my punishment," he said. "I was wrong to do so, I should be better than that." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47989827