JFK-1

http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/club-statement-62/

In another paper he was quoted as saying Griffiths would be a £15 million player if he were a foreigner. It never occurred to me that an accent could make that much of a difference in avalue and aside from that it's all the more ludicrous since if he were really of that level he wouldn't be there at all since numerous EPL and even championship sides could and would make them an offer they couldn't/wouldn't refuse at a lesser price since he doesn't have a more expensive accent.

If we outplayed them again and won the match in the first meeting which will be on their patch then already the faith will begin to crumble. Even if they beat us and still lost the league to us then again the crowd will turn on him. And as I said if he does do well chances are he will be back down South before next season starts. Then they need to start all over again with someone else who will want his own team in place. As I said, he was a poor choice in respect of any long terms planning. Makes me think he was a desperation stop gap gamble after what happened to them in the SC semi and the knowledge that we would strengthen close season. Though we all want it our manager wont be under pressure simply because he didn't win the league this year while theirs will be. Which can only work in our favour especially so if he loses that first meeting.

The length of time Rodgers is there is probably more up to him that it is to the board. Rodgers is only there filling some time hoping to rebuild his reputation a little before a return to the EPL. If he did relatively well this season and an offer comes in from the EPL he will be off putting them in transition all over again. In fact he would bail out mid season if the right offer came in. And if he doesn't do well and no offers come in well great. Him not doing well probably largely means we are doing well. Either way he wasn't an ideal choice as manager.

I see where you're coming from but I just looked up some SPL data from last season. The runaway winners also struggled against the two main rivals. First half of the season matches 1-22 there were two matches between the ultimate winners and Hearts both of which were drawn. A 0-0 in Glasgow and 2-2 in Edinburgh plus two games with Aberdeen where each won on their own patch. Scarcely any better than our record against the main contenders plus hibs were overwhelmed by us in at least two matches in which we scored a total of 10 goals while that very same hibs ousted both Hearts and Aberdeen from cup competitions and I don't even need to mention what happened in the SC semi. With that in mind we can't take last season as much of a yardstick and especially so since our team is now vastly different. One game wont be much of a yardstick either but i'm looking to the Hamilton game on Saturday for at least an idea of what's to come. If last season were any yardstick at all then a convincing victory over Hamilton will be a good sign since Aberdeen scraped a 1-0 at home against them and drew 1-1 in Hamilton. There was little consistency among the main contenders last season and if Aberdeen in particular had managed some consistency they could have won it and will probably never get a better chance now that we're back. As for anyone tipping anything outside the old firm as even a possibility then a pattern that has persisted for decades would have to be broken and for the life of me I can't see what anyone at all thinks makes this season any different from the past 30.

Well if you have to actually be in European competition to serve a ban then he wont have any problems if he stays where he is. Chances are it could be another 114 years before that would ever be an issue.

We all know Broon is wrong and so does Alim Ozturk. Forget Rangers and Aberdeen, Alim Ozturk says Hearts are biggest threat to Celtic http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/hearts/7220091/Forget-Rangers-and-Aberdeen-Alim-Ozturk-says-Hearts-are-biggest-threat-to-Celtic.html

Listed value of £2.55m here. http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/timo-letschert/profil/spieler/231378 Though I don't know if that really means anything.

Judging from something I just read he may not be interested in moving to Scotland. http://www.football-oranje.com/transfer-talk-van-den-berg-seal-reading-deal-az-deny-psg-interest-janssen/

Well at least he elevated himself to olympic standard staring levels. Would love to get them somewhere along the line in the league cup and see him try to pull that stare on Joey Barton during a handshaking walk.

And I totally agree with you but there are no lesser teams in the SPL with anything approaching the quality of an Andre Gray. There are factions who may try to argue Griffiths is of that standard to which I would reply if that were the case he wouldn't have been offloaded by Wolves to Scotland and would be in the EPL potentially making as much money a year as he will for the entire term of a contract where he is. I'm definitely not disagreeing that there is an issue to be addressed but the latest news infers they're trying as hard as they can to address it and as I previously said a single player can make a massive difference to a team. Here's hoping because I would see us going a long way if that particular issue could be addressed and a very long way if an out and out striker were also added even though we can't actually tell yet if Dodoo may possibly prove to be that striker.

Look as if he may fit the bill. Timely in the tackle and appears to have a great touch plus young and "off the radar" which is a feature of so many of our signings. And for his part it would be an ideal stage to put himself in the EPL shop window. Vague guess is that something must be in the pipeline given the manager just said he hoped to sign more this week but that obviously doesn't guarantee we will get what he is looking at. It has to be an improvement on anything we already have in the relevant position or we may as well just go with what we have and wait till the next window.

Totally agree that anything Broon has to say is meaningless and too many are reading too much into a friendly match with EPL Burnley deploying a multi million pound striker who was on fire. We're competing in the SPL, a league where a bunch of the teams in it recently struggled against lower league opposition while we blew such opposition away as if it wasn't there. A league in which ALL of the Euro entrants struggled against less than sterling European opposition and two in particular incurred losses to opponents from micro nations and there is a significant chance that none of them will make it beyond the qualifying stages of their respective competitions. As far as I can see the only major difference between the bulk of the SPL and the Championship is that some SPL teams may have one or two individuals of a significantly higher standard than the championship but all in all it's not a massive step up. The vast majority of that SPL wont be able to live with us and the few regarded as contenders aside from one will be every bit as inconsistent this year as they were last while I believe we will show more consistency than they can. Our team is still bedding in and working up to optimal fitness and sharpness while by all accounts the squad isn't even completed yet so we still don't know how good this team can be. A single addition can make a massive difference to a team. All we need to do is beat SPL opposition starting with Hamilton on Saturday and THAT will be the REAL mark of where we stand. It's going to be interesting to see how Hamilton set out their stall. Park the bus like the typical championship scenario? Try to play? I hope so. Rangers 3 - Hamilton 0 and Rangers top the league on GD on day one.

Season 2014/15 Aberdeen come second trailing 17 points behind. Season 2015/16 Aberdeen come second trailing 15 points behind. Great challenge. Presumably Brown thinks reducing the deficit from 17 points to 15 makes for a great challenge. Broonie logic.

The thing is maybe it was a priority. He has been saying for months now that he was looking for one but since it hasn't happened it may be the case that there is nothing available of a sufficient quality to make it worthwhile that we can either afford or can persuade to join us. They tried to sign Adrian Mariappa but clearly Mariappa ultimately decided against it. Obviously it's an issue we would like to resolve but does anyone think an on form Andre Gray would find it much more difficult against any SPL defence?

There may be issues with this type of thing unless it were an away match. We have 40K ST holders who have payed in advance to have a seat available at every home league match. Take one of those abroad and aren't they being deprived of a match they payed for?

If it's anything like the last time they played it wont go down well in the US. These are people who don't get the concept of a 0-0 draw.

I'm guessing he thinks sellick might not make top 6 at the split.

Personally I thought they should have given Moyes more of a chance. Ten months isn't a chance and you would imagine they of all people should have known that. It took Ferguson years to build a dominant team and when you look at the money Van Gaal splashed around while doing little better than Moyes it was a rash decision not to give him more time. Now they have Mourinho who was a cheque book manager at Chelsea and is already reputed to be looking to spend £100 million on a single player. And incidentally his best known strategy at Chelsea is exactly what they apparently didn't like about Van Gaal in that he set up predominately to stop the other side scoring.

Though it was a good goal he was a shade lucky to get it because he didn't catch the ball cleanly but what I liked even better was their build up. It looks like a perfect example of what the manager is trying to get our players doing and check how they had to play it all the way back midway into their own half at one point. One thing about Rangers is that we might not be putting in enough crosses such as the one this goal came from. And incidentally for any who may think some of our players are too old Ibrahimovic will be 35 this year. Both Kranjcar and Barton are younger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUqhh2r6xss

I'm simply not impressed by either Hearts or Aberdeen. Both dumped out of cup competitions by a hibs side we were superior to last season and are far superior to now while neither Hearts nor Aberdeen have done anything in terms of transfers to suggest they will be any better this year than they were last year. And in addition a Hearts team dumped out of Europe after being beaten at home by a team from Malta while Aberdeen look set to follow suit against a Slovenian side with a ground capacity of 12,000? We only have to get our squad fit and playing to their potential to beat any of that pair home or away. The Maltese managed it so I don;t see why we can't.

I get the feeling something has been going on in the background we don't know of because it's just too coincidental that both clubs took similar action on the same day. Plus the action from Rangers may have been a move to preempt the yahoos from screaming that we were doing nothing while good old hibs were taking action on their offenders. Here is the reality and i'm fervently hoping the cops have made something clear about this to both clubs regarding future actions. This is taken directly from the football offences act 1991. Which means an estimated minimum 5,000 hibs fans were committing an offence the moment they stepped on to the track far less the pitch because i'm pretty sure that "exuberance" doesn't qualify as 'lawful authority or lawful excuse (which shall be for him to prove)' And here is a further snippet from that very same act under 'supplementary provisions' Thus every single one of that 5,000 whether all they did was nothing more than stepping on to the track or field area is clearly guilty of willfully breaking the law and are thus liable to be convicted and fined. Same for ours presumably unless they could provide ' lawful excuse (which shall be for him to prove)" which if it happened in any individual case that a person could provide lawful excuse and was cleared you would hope the club would review their ban. I can envisage a scenario where some of ours might actually have a valid reason for being on the pitch given the assaults and aggressive behaviour from their fans of which there is ample evidence all over the net but as for theirs there can be no excuse. Exuberance is most definitely NOT "lawful authority or lawful excuse"

Tell him to put his money where his mouth is, offer to bet him we will be top 3 minimum. Anyone out there who seriously thinks that we will be nothing but say Dundee or Motherwell knows absolutely nothing about football. I'm not a gambler but if anyone said that to me I would offer a bet on it. I think what's happening is that vast numbers of these sellick specimens do indeed know nothing about football but think they do because they know a few rebel songs word perfect. Others know a serious challenge is on the horizon but are so bitter they just don't want to acknowledge it which will just make them look all the more stupid when the reality begins smacking them in the face.

Does anyone know if Mark Hateley is still living in Scotland or does he just like a visit to watch the games?

I would agree top 6 is an absolute must and even just 6 months or so ago I would have viewed top 3 as a hopeful bonus but given recent developments I think we have to view top 3 as not just plausible but a minimum expectation and I'm sure the manager himself would agree with that. Looking at least seasons top 3 only one among them can approach anything like the class we have been bringing in and none of them have so far brought in anything like the "name" players we have and to top that off only one of them feasibly could. Hibs beat both Aberdeen and Hearts in cup competitions last season and this season neither of those two will be any more formidable than they were last time out while we are far more formidable. Viewing it from that perspective I think we have to look top top 3 as a minimum expectation but again if it didn't come off for whatever reason I still wouldn't be aiming any flack at the manager. It is what it is and there can be numerous pitfalls which come down to nothing but bad luck which no one can foresee or prepare for. The manager must indeed be given time to complete his project which is far from completion right now and will still be a good way off this time next year.