Walterbear

It would not be unreasonable for Rangers to state publically that we hold the referees accountable for the safety of our players where they do not uphold the laws of the game in a reasonable manner , to list the incidents in certain matches we have been concerned about (you wouldn’t even have to name the referee) and ask the SFA what instruction and advice they intend to offer to referees to improve the situation. There comes a point where the club has a duty of care to its employees.

The Motherwell player even stated before the match he would be happy to fight Morelos during the game and after. And nothing is done by the authorities. It seems in Scotland you can assault and threaten players during, before and after matches, we can spit on opponents club crests, wipe our snorters on their crests, allow fans to attack opposition players on the park, hit them with golf brollies, tie scarves to the opponents goals, allow players to taunt opposition fans after scoring goals, allow managers to give F You gestures to fans, invade the park and threaten fans, and all with the apparent blessing of the referees and the SFA who do and say absolutely NOTHING. You can perhaps put isolated incidents down to sour grapes or disappointment but the list of incidents is now compellingly indicative of a serious institutional problem. I would hesitate to use words like bias or malice but there can be no doubt now there is a wilful negligence by the authorities when it comes to officiating our matches and dealing with surrounding events and incidents. It’s extremely difficult to explain. No professional organisation in any other walk of life would get away with this level of negligence and incompetence.

The performance of the referee can be separated from the performance of the players. We know we need to improve the squad and that is the subject of lots of other threads. If the referee does his job properly then Motherwell don’t win that game because they would have had at least 2 players sent off before they scored and 2 after (to accompany Alves in the early bath). It was a scandalous performance by the referee. It’s not ‘manly’ or ‘brave’ to elbow people in the face or go over the top in tackles, punch them on the back of the head or scyth down from behind. It’s cowardly in th extreme and it’s not the job of Rangers players to ‘man up’ and do the same to our opponents and get themselves a red card. Their job is to play football with strength and speed within the rules and spirit of the game. It is the job of the referees to stop the level of dangerous play in our game and they are failing abysmally. Right now every team can see that the referees will not apply the rules which is why the talentless thugs are deploying these tactics and it does no good for our game or the well-being of our players. There were offences committed yesterday which would not be tolerated in rugby league which incidentally is more of a mans game than football. The SFA are presiding over yet another farce in our game. I can accept being beaten by better teams in case folk think this is sour grapes and for the last 20 mins Motherwell were the better team but I can’t accept the level of incompetence being shown by the football authorities. If Scottish refs cant do the job properly then we really should be looking abroad at bringing in good referees. Footballers can play in different countries so why can’t we have foreign refs? Given the amount of money fans of Rangers put into the game we surely deserve half decent referees? It’s truly scandalous the level we are at and does nothing to improve our game. The officiating keeps our football at the level of former Blackpool and Hartlepool hammer throwers. We need young talent in our game. If I had a talented kid the last thing I’d do is expose him to Scottish football. Perhaps this is one occasion where Rangers can officially echo Rodgers words and call out the SFA.

You do wonder what kind of society we live in when someone like Keith Jackson who is at the bottom end of journalistic ability earns 4x the salary of a good nurse.

Agree. Rossiter is never going to do it. Liverpool mate of mine was surprised he came here because he was a real prospect as a kid. Even when he's played for us however he's not done that much. Clearly there was potential but we were sold a pup.

I'm not casting aspersions on individuals rbr and I'm sure 99% of 1872 act with good intent but there is something seriously wrong with the governance of the organisation as a whole which allows something like this to happen. It needs some serious non-exec directorship imo and it's clear that the rules/constitution/governance is not correct. I agree with the need for one voice but it must have the confidence of fans and needs some serious corporate oversight. It's not the first time management related events at 1872 have been in the spotlight recently.

Not involved in these groups at all but from the outside it looks like 1872 have been careless at best.

I'm trying to have a conversation too. Can you give examples where you were unimpressed with his handling of players and the media in Portugal?

Fair point but even that never occurred to me. I guess then folk like spiers would be ok with 'whose the fenian in the black' or other such ditties. Never quite understood why our fans can't just sing 'Celtic blood' - as in club not race graham.

He is relatively unknown, he never coached top flight but yet he was weak with his players and the media. Any examples or shall we file under 'trolling' ?

I must have used the word thousands of times meaning 'Irish Republican' before I was 're-educated' that it meant 'catholic'. I'm sure it means 'catholic' to a lot of folk in certain areas but as I dont live in these places it p*sses me off (as someone who has no time for sectarianism either side) to be told by people like Spiers what they think I mean when I use a word. Actually I don't use it in public anymore. I've always held the belief these journalists and activists indulge themselves because they are in their comfort zone, it's an easy hit and it' pays their mortgages. They would have more credibility if they called out sectarianism and bigotry on both sides but they come across as the Thought Police. I'm sure if they lived in different times or perhaps in a different culture they would be extremely dangerous people.

FWIW I think Pedro was sitting back to let the players take responsibility. I don't buy the amateur psychologists and body language interpreters views that he is a broken man. Utter garbage. Eventually they (players) have to fight for themselves and if necessary put a foot in and not expect the manager to fight their battles and I think there was some evidence they did that tonight. Long way to go but he deserved that for all the bullsh*t he had taken from the media. Brilliant to see Candeias run to him. If we can show more aggression on the front foot and play with self belief like DJ did we will improve further. Must get through the series of games finishing with the double header against the sheep with an uplift in fiorm and points. And btw fir a team that couldn't score last year we are looking much more clinical although again lots of improvement from certain individuals required.

Afraid that would involve a bit of hard work and journalistic skill. Not something you associate with the Scottish football press.

You can only imagine what state the place will be in after a few months. The mattresses will be running down London Road.

Probably very good in bounce games but always appeared to lack self belief. If forester had played him in against Celtic and he had got a goal in that game it could have been a major step forward. There's a player in there somewhere but not for Rangers.

My guess is there will be HR legal issues in all of this so a difficult one to go public on. I think it's actually quite straightforward. PC is the manager and PC has dropped a player. I don't think the club needs to respond to any article Keith Jackson writes about player leaks which he is doing purely to damage the club. He knows nothing about football. When was the last time he wrote a sensible article? He is part of this Scottish clique of players and media which has harmed our club and our game generally with their lack of knowledge. His article on Morelos tells you all you need to know about him and how stupid and ignorant he is and what a rubbish newspaper the DR is. Any Rangers fan who buys the record is contributing to the damage of our club.

If any player is leaking information and Pedro knows with certainty who it is then there is no option other than to remove them. There is a forum for open discussion within the team as Pedro has made clear and he also made clear earlier in the season he would not tolerate leaks. I suspect it is a Scottish player who is doing it and probably one who is finding it difficult to adjust to a new transformational regime and who has a firm personal view on how things should be done. Very unlikely to be someone Pedro brought to the club or to be a youngster or learning new ways. I for one want to take the club up a level in everything we do and make it more like a top European club in terms of training, discipline, athleticism, tactics, nutrition, use of science, etc etc. If there are players who find that difficult and who don't support the manager fully then he cannot support them either. If PC fails then certain Board members are also responsible. Unfortunately those Board members are also funding us which is the mess we are in. The sooner King gets this off field stuff with Takeover Panel sorted and we have proper funding and better corporate governance where decision making is separated from personal debts then the better it will be for the footballing side. On balance I imagine PC has been set a target by the Board for major improvement by January and thus may explain him upping the ante (for example his behaviour at Ibrox last week). I assume the Board being quiet about absolutely everything these days (and Id like to know more about what Stewart Robertson is actually doing) is because they are working on a bigger picture on a number of areas (commercial and non-commercial) behind the scenes. I would also imagine Pedro is the kind of person who has told them to leave him alone and get in with it in his way. But on this player issue they have no option other than to support the manager a) because it is the right thing to do. b) because they put him there and gave him a reasonable pot of what little money they had.

I want to dance like Fred Astaire and play football like Jim Baxter mate.

Our realistic target is second and a cup. Sorry if that is defeatist in your eyes but it's absolute reality. The league doesn't finish at 7 games. Who would you replace him with?

Are Patrick in the semi of the league cup. Wonder who beat them? You seriously believe Warburton left us in good shape?

I'll tell you what's a disgrace. People not remotely understanding where we are and what caused it and then picking on the one person who is showing more guts and passion than our so called lifelong fans. we were robbed against Hibs at Ibrox in case you forgot.

Disingenuous. If we were second you'd still be having a go. If you think we should be first then you are not undrstanding anything about where we have come from and where we are.

whilst you do Pedro down he stands up to the scum. Our effin board should show some balls and back him up and get these cvnts out our stadium and broadcast loud and clear the scum behaviour of their players is not acceptable. Pity you can't support our manager who has a massive job on his plate. Fact is we have replaced utter dross with a skeleton of good players, cleared out an entire team of under achievers but still need to do a lot more. Get a grip mate.

We beat them over 120.

If going to Madrid gets him fitter quicker then its fine by me. I suspect the manager and coaching staff understand the situation and medical options better than us (or Kris Boyd).