DMAA

We've had next to no-one who is a long shot specialist for a very long time. Next season, although not stick on starters, we'll have Middleton and Hastie in and around the squad who can both fly them in from distance. In my opinion in an ideal world you've got top quality players making up the backbone of your starting line-up (your Barry Fergusons and de Boers), but with room for some young talent too. I've said before we won a treble and got 97 points and 101 goals with both Maurice Ross and Bob Malcolm racking up 30 odd appearances. You don't need every position to be perfect, yet it sometimes seems like perfection is the standard required of young players by our support when they break through. For too long Rangers have clogged up the squad with fairly average older players who's value and performance are only going down year by year. There needs to be space for them to break through and (maybe more importantly) we need to actually be buying young players that fit that description like Hastie if our own academy doesn't produce them.

His first goal was a brilliant finish too, powerful left foot shot in the bottom right corner. The thing about him is that his shooting is so good they can’t stop the goals even when they know exactly what is coming. If you pause the video above at the time he shoots he’s totally surrounded by that time. Reminds of of Albertz in that way.

I agree with you. In my opinion we need to spend more money on one of these positions than anywhere else, by that I mean the "inside forward" and/or the number 10. Despite being top goalscorers we've lacked quality and goals there, Kent & Candeias relied on Morelos because they just didn't do it in the goalscoring positions.

It does, but his poor stats back me up. I said way back in August that the end product just wasn't there. Of course he did well to score against Celtic, but he hasn't been good enough to create proper chances consistently and score goals consistently. These things are really important in his position in a 4-3-3. Don't get me wrong every game is different and you need variety, but in many games this season I'd have preferred Middleton who might not be as involved in the play but has the quality to get you a goal or set someone up. As Frankie said he didn't even play well last night but scored two fantastic goals. So different from Kent who gets plaudits for looking busy and beating guys where it doesn't matter but ending the game with nothing to his name.

Sorry I missed that, I was on my phone at the time.

All gisabeer said was that Kent doesn’t have that in his locker. He doesn’t, Middleton is clearly a better goal scorer than him, never mind long distance shooter. Kent has been our most overrated player all season.

We can’t conpete with the league they play in either. Don’t forget ambitious players like Gray want to be playing in the best league in the world. I’d be amazed if he didn’t have a chance to do that.

I’ve been gradually selling mine. They have fairly appreciated in value in recent years, especially if connected to 9 in a row.

I'll be waiting with bated breath to see that in print...

The express says “Rangers kept Motherwell out the loop as they made behind-the-scenes moves for Hastie.” Did Rangers do anything out of the ordinary? Sounds time like they are casting us in a bad light for signing a player on a bosman the same way everyone does. @johnnyk it sounded to me like we did it the right way

Agreed. I hope and expect Middleton to have a big future with us.

Utterly pathetic. Another club trying to manufacture a rivalry with us to in order to trump up a sense of self importance.

Your right, but there was a similar controversy with that council

I’ve read of examples of outrageous bias towards Celtic from the council, most of it to do with the land around Parkhead and lennoxtown. However the change of route of the orange walk being the cause of this undermines the protest for me, it’s a trivial matter in comparison to other things mentioned on this thread.

Closing in on the title. I take a lot of heart from the quality of this young team right now.

Any info on us apparently signing one of the best (very young) players coming through at Hearts?

You'd think so but football is more complicated than that, being a former player doesn't make you a better judge of a player on the evidence imo. Even Gerrard sanctioned Sadiq when even I could tell from a 5 minute youtube video that he was a very strange signing.

Home shirt is a outstanding, one of the best mock-ups I've seen. Am I right that the kit sponsor for next season is unconfirmed as of yet? Can't wait to see the back of 32Red. Tacky sponsor that have ruined our kits for the past few years.

Voted ??

Yes I was taking it from @johnnyk

It’s very interesting. His agent sounds like a bad egg. But given Hastie is a boyhood Celtic fan some people were being a bit unrealistic expecting him to jump at it, he was always going to see what was on offer down south. In any case it’s a great thing that the club is looking to snap up the best young talent regardless of their affiliations. They have certainly benefited from doing the same. I for one hope it’s true and goes through.

Can’t say I’ve seen enough of Souttar to comment tbh. I like that he’s 22 and has genuinely stood out at Hearts, however Scottish clubs won’t give us reasonable prices anymore imo.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories at all (or one of the big defenders of Morelos), but this is what drives me mad. If you asked anyone in society outside of football (and Scotland preferably) to review the footage of some of the Morelos incidents and this one they would never believe which one was penalised and which wasn’t.

You’re talking about exceptions. The general rule is that better quality players cost more.