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A long read but have fun... http://www.gersnetonline.net/newsite/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=645&Itemid=1 It’s cold and wet outside, the transfer rumours are starting up again and tennis/cricket seem to be taking over the sports bulletins – the football season must be over again! Let’s have a look over the season that, in Spring promised so much, but by last week delivered so little… Firstly, I think it’s important to say that last August, if we’d been told we’d qualify for the Champions’ League Group Stage, draw with Barcelona, beat Lyon 3-0 away, make it to the UEFA Cup Final, take the SPL title to the last day and win both domestic cups, I feel most bears would have been happy with that given the dearth of quality/success in recent years. Unfortunately, when one considers the way we threw away the chance to win the SPL title, our poor performance at home against Lyon and a pretty tame UEFA Final display, then that positive outlook starts to become a wee bit more unrealistic. Some will choose to point to fixture congestion, dubious game call-offs, key players becoming unavailable and/or numerous officiating mistakes but generally we have no-one to blame for not winning the league but ourselves. The season started brightly enough. We made several decent signings in the summer on a budget that we hadn’t seen for a long time. The jury was out on some of them but by early September after a faultless start in the league and CL Group Stage qualification secured, the signs were already there that we could provide a decent challenge to Celtic in the SPL while testing ourselves in the toughest club competition abroad. In contrast, the next two months actually foretold what would happen in 2008. September and October showed exactly the kind of inconsistency that would belatedly curtail our chances of league success. Defeats and draws against Hearts, Motherwell, Dundee Utd and Hibs suggested our squad wasn’t strong enough to compete in Europe while maintaining a high enough quality domestically. Was our league challenge already stuttering? Fortunately, we managed to improve our league form as the year closed while Celtic also struggled to match their reasonable CL form with domestic results. By Christmas we were top of the league again and on an unbeaten run that would cement our status as genuine challengers. Meanwhile, in Europe, we had lost our early advantage in our group by losing away to Stuttgart (DaMarcus Beasley injured for over 6 months as well) and eventually went out in disappointing fashion at home to Lyon – that game actually in some ways being decided by our striker’s late miss, just like what would happen in Manchester the following May. However, UEFA Cup qualification was a decent alternative and this gave us a few months to concentrate on the league. Our form improved in that regard and even although the impressive Alan Hutton had moved south to Spurs for a club record fee, the fans still felt confident we could regain the championship. After all, we wouldn’t do much in the UEFA Cup, would we? Yes, we could actually and soon the debate was what trophy we preferred to win or could we do the unthinkable and win a quadruple? Certainly, the initial signs were very positive – impressive, but unglamorous, wins against Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Sporting Lisbon, coupled with important league wins against Celtic, Hibs and Hearts meant we were suddenly in a position none of us could have dreamed of just 6 months earlier. By early April, we were effectively 10 points clear in the league and in the semis of the UEFA and Scottish Cups! Of course doubts remained about whether or not we could cope with the punishing run of games that we now faced. Earlier in the season, we had already struggled badly to juggle our European commitments with league matches. Again, these cracks were starting to show with replays needed to beat Partick and Hibs in the Scottish Cup while we just managed to win the CIS Cup with a penalty win against Dundee Utd. Nonetheless, March had been a good month and April was upon us. Indeed, this was the month that would prove crucial in determining the league title. Two games away to Celtic, extra time needed in both cup competitions and an away game against a Dundee Utd team aggrieved by the league cup final loss the previous month amongst the difficult schedule. Two points dropped at Tannadice early in the month was the first sign that perhaps we were struggling. Our defence didn’t look as sound as it had previously and fan confidence took a hit. This was compounded by back-to-back losses away to Celtic in two games affected by some strange officiating decisions. Further pain was literally inflicted with injuries to Allan McGregor and Lee McCulloch in the first match while Chris Burke and Steven Naismith had also fallen in the Scottish Cup semi. Not only were Celtic back in the title hunt but our squad was stretched further, creative players almost non-existent and the SPL adding to our woes by refusing to extend the season. The writing was on the wall. Suffice to say May was little better. Our incredible run in the UEFA Cup was ruined by an impressive Zenit side in Manchester (not to mention the actions of a few thugs amongst a historic 200,000 fans who travelled down for the game). Meanwhile, two positive wins at home with superb backing from the real Rangers fans couldn’t precipitate enough confidence and energy (mental or physical it seemed) to catalyse the players into managing any further wins in the games that mattered. The league was gone, our UEFA Cup achievements seemed distant and the Scottish Cup win against a determined QoS outfit little consolation for our woes. It was easy to become depressed and react overly negatively to this extremely disappointing end to the season. However, I think it’s important to concentrate on the positives – even if the above wasn’t easy reading. [CONTINUED]

Quite long, but well worth a read....... It was forwarded to me but I believe the source is the Times - I'll try and find a link later... ------------------------------------ (Part 1) Reporter Robert Watt has covered Scottish football for close to thirty years but it was as a Rangers fan he attended last week's UEFA Cup Final in Manchester. What had been a day to remember for all associated with the Ibrox club was only marginally marred by the result of the big match but some incidents of disorder in the city, subsequent exaggeration of the trouble and the ongoing 'spin' from Greater Manchester Police has prompted this heartfelt response. MANCHESTER - THE TRUE STORY The mood was sombre in the car on the way home from Manchester last Thursday. Defeat from Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup Final was being aggravated by a constant flagging up of a few ugly incidents in the city the previous night, everyone was queuing up to stick the boot into Rangers fans, then Manchester City Council, whose enthusiasm for the occasion had never risen above tepid, announced they had consequently abandoned plans for a public screening of Wednesday's Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea. "Surely an over-reaction," said BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans, to rapturous applause from within the car. "C'mon, there were 250,000 Rangers fans in Manchester and only 40 arrests, that's zero point zero zero zero something in percentage terms." The DJ's assessment of the numbers was perhaps slightly excessive but conservative estimates are that no less than 200,000 Rangers supporters had descended on England's third city. And Greater Manchester Police's subsequent announcement that only ELEVEN Ibrox fans were facing charges put all the 'riot, 'rampage' and 'war zone' stories into some perspective. The genie, however, is once more out of the bottle. Subsequent reflections on events have been outrageously hyped up, all the usual suspects - from attention-seeking politicians, journalists with an axe to grind, discredited anti-sectarianism bodies, the butchers, bakers and candlestick-makers who adminster the game and, not least of all, Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police - have jumped on the holier-than-thou bandwagon and put Rangers F.C. on the back-foot yet again. Let it be made clear right now, no right-thinking person would dream of condoning the actions of those morons whose response to the blanking of the big-screens in one of the fanzones was to hurl bottles at the screens and turn on the police. It is indefensible and nobody would lose any sleep if those responsible were to be locked up and the key conveniently mislaid. It is the reaction to it all which has been so disappointing, yet wholly predictable. For the bulk of the past 25 years, Rangers and their fans have been under attack from many sources and it is a relentless drip-drip-drip process which has eaten into any feelgood factor the fans have enjoyed, with every high being clouded by dubious side-issues, while their traditions have been rubbished and abandoned, songs outlawed and individual fans and supporters groups subjected to harassment or worse. Of course, Manchester was an accident waiting to happen from the moment Nacho Novo slotted home the penalty kick to beat Fiorentina and take Rangers through to the final. As soon as it became clear the Gers were Manchester-bound, the messages coming out of the city were unfriendly in the extreme. If you don't have a ticket, stay away; there will be no big screens and no fanzones; the pubs will be closed, drinking in public is not permitted; the police will stringently enforce the local by-laws. Welcome to Manchester? You must be joking! "It took the intervention of respected politicians like Ian Davidson MP, the Manchester business community and various representative groups from within the Rangers support to force both the council and the police authority to soften their stance," explained Steven Smith, media spokesman for the Rangers Supporters Trust. "Wednesday's brief disorder was disappointing but, had the local authorities had it their way, one shudders to think what might have happened." Realizing that a human tsunami was about to descend on the city regardless, Manchester made a dramatic u-turn. But already their position as reluctant hosts was exposed. Yet in a city which claims to be football-mad, home to one of the most passionately supported clubs in world football, they seemed incapable of interpreting the mood amongst Rangers fans. Put it this way, if United were in a European final at Hampden, how many of their fans would travel to Glasgow, with or without tickets? They would surely come close to matching the numbers who travelled south last week, although it is fairly safe to say Glasgow District Council would have laid out the welcome mat from the outset, unlike their Mancunian counterparts. No Rangers fan will need to be reminded that Greater Manchester Police have a history where their club is concerned. In 2003, when the Light Blues visited Old Trafford on Champions League business, every pub in the city was ordered to close, yet the visits of Celtic prompted no such clampdown, despite their fans' overt support for the terrorist organization which bombed the heart out of the city centre no more than twelve years ago. And in the summer of 2006, in a most abysmal abdication of responsibility, GMP ordered the cancellation of a friendly between Bolton Wanderers and Rangers because they claimed policing the match would stretch their resources. If they can't handle a pre-season kickabout, one wonders why they ever backed their City Council's bid to host a high-octane event like the UEFA Cup Final. When the Cup Final went out to tender, it would have been part of the city's sales pitch that they are experienced in hosting such events, no doubt citing regular glamour games at Old Trafford, the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the Champions League Final of the following year. Clearly they expected two foreign sides to arrive in town, enjoy a cozy get-together, then head off home with the minimum of fuss. In a perfect world, it would all work out that way but, of course, we live in a different world entirely. Walter Smith's men stunned Europe with their progress this season and suddenly Manchester City Council wanted to change the rules. Two things immediately bothered Rangers fans. With the City Stadium holding only 44,500 spectators, tickets would be like gold dust and, inevitably, a flourishing black market sprung up. Was it out of the question to switch the event to Old Trafford, with a capacity of close to 80,000? Whatever the logistical problems with ticketing etc, the increased revenue would surely have made the switch financially viable. And if that was impractical, why not set up Old Trafford for a big-screen showing, taking more than 70,000 ticketless fans off the streets? Furthermore, with the city being so accessible from all parts of the UK and beyond, the volume of incoming fans outstripped all the estimates of the local authority, they constantly disregarded the ever-escalating but wholly realistic figures being quoted by the more informed sources in Scotland.

by Lindsay Herron ALLAN McGREGOR has had a tidy-up operation on his knee which has been described as a total success and he should be fit to start next season. The Rangers No1 has been strucxk down with an ankle problem since April 16 when he was injured at Celtic Park and he is currently recovering from that. Alexander comes on for McGregorThe Murray Park medical team then discovered a knee problem and decided to have this looked at during this period. Some tidy-up surgery has been done and the prognosis is that the 26-year-old will be recovered by the start of next season. He will continue to be treated for the ankle problem over the close season with a view to being ready for pre-season. Meanwhile, luckless Andy Webster is to have a hernia operation today. He has been accompanied to England by club doctor Paul Jackson. It has been one problem after another for Webster, who initially jpined Rangers on loan from Wigan Atheltic in January 2007 and has only played one competitive match since then. He damaged his knee in his first training session which ruled him out for the rest of the 2006/07 season.Andy enjoyed his run out against Dumbarton He then played in the friendly against LA Galaxy at Home Depot Center in California and took part in pre-season. Webster then made his Rangers debut against Gretna and scored on September 1. However, he suffered an ankle injury in a closed door game against Ayr United and then he needed further knee surgery in October of last year. Now this hernia problem is the latest setback for the Scotland defender who has played just five matches in the last two seasons.

Looks like the worst kept secret over the last while was accurate and McGhee will be the next manager of the Jambos. OK, so they're going through the usual things of rejecting the official approach, but we all know what'll happen next. Its an interesting one, because while many will say that anyone who wants to work with Romanov is just mental, I'm sure McGhee will have a clause saying that he gets 100% control over team affairs couple with a nice clause guaranteeing a big payout if things go pear shaped and he has to quit. I wonder how he'll do there, meddling aside, as he never seems to last very long at any club he goes to and he had been rumoured to be in the running for the Celtic job if Strachan left.

As always, when Rangers are under attack, the critics play the sectarian card, although it is hard to see what part sectarianism played in any disorder last week. But some just can't resist putting Rangers' Protestant traditions in the firing line, their fans' so-called bigotry and the songs they sing are highlighted, as if a different mindset would induce instant sobriety and a more placid response to a frustrating situation. Big-screens have blanked on numerous occasions in the past, most noteably during the screening of World Cup games in various towns in England, and the reaction of those at the venues was almost identical to that of the Rangers fans in Piccadilly Gardens last Wednesday night. Yobs act as yobs because they are yobs, not because they support a certain football team or claim allegiance to any particular religion. If Manchester had occurred twenty years ago, Rangers' enemies would have focused on the club's refusal to sign Catholic players, placed responsibility for the trouble at the door of sectarianism and called on the club to open its doors to all. In 1989 former Celtic favourite Mo Johnston was signed amidst much controversy and the Ibrox dressing-room has long since become a multi-cultural workplace. Rangers have had a Catholic captain, a Catholic chief executive and a Catholic manager (although Paul Le Guen's ill-fated time in charge probably did more for anti-Catholicism than it did for integration!) but sectarianism is still the stick used to beat Rangers. "The signing of Johnston was a very significant point in how our club was portrayed," Steven Smith pointed out. "Rangers had done what so many had been calling out for them to do, the club had deprived the critics of their ace card, yet the attacks have continued incessantly and no less vociferously, perhaps even more so. The motives of our club's critics have been exposed as a sham." The harsh facts of life are that, regardless of the religious make-up of the team, Rangers will remain a Protestant club, just as Celtic will continue to be the flagship for the Catholic population despite the prominence of so many Protestants in their history, because the bulk of the fanbase comes from one community. This may change with the passing of time but, when kids are separated at the impressionable age of five and educated differently, the clever money will always be on the great divide being maintained. Any suggestion that a more ecumenical outlook from Rangers fans would have led to events unfolding differently in Manchester last week is, at best, misguided�or more probably and more sinisterly, further evidence of an ongoing demonization of Rangers and their supporters. As the journey homewards continued with growing exasperation from the within the car, the news that Manchester City Council wouldn't be screening the Champions League showdown at Piccadilly Gardens was nevertheless welcomed from the back seat. "The screens probably wouldn't work anyway, trouble would kick-off�and they'd blame it all on us!" Greater Manchester Police's subsequent denial of a victory parade for United's Champions League winners is confirmation, if ever it was needed, that the force just can't handle big crowds. The F.A. would do well to minimize Manchester's inclusion in any future bid to bring a major football occasion to England.

Reporter Robert Watt has covered Scottish football for close to thirty years but it was as a Rangers fan he attended last week's UEFA Cup Final in Manchester. What had been a day to remember for all associated with the Ibrox club was only marginally marred by the result of the big match but some incidents of disorder in the city, subsequent exaggeration of the trouble and the ongoing 'spin' from Greater Manchester Police has prompted this heartfelt response. MANCHESTER - THE TRUE STORY The mood was sombre in the car on the way home from Manchester last Thursday. Defeat from Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup Final was being aggravated by a constant flagging up of a few ugly incidents in the city the previous night, everyone was queuing up to stick the boot into Rangers fans, then Manchester City Council, whose enthusiasm for the occasion had never risen above tepid, announced they had consequently abandoned plans for a public screening of Wednesday's Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea. "Surely an over-reaction," said BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans, to rapturous applause from within the car. "C'mon, there were 250,000 Rangers fans in Manchester and only 40 arrests, that's zero point zero zero zero something in percentage terms." The DJ's assessment of the numbers was perhaps slightly excessive but conservative estimates are that no less than 200,000 Rangers supporters had descended on England's third city. And Greater Manchester Police's subsequent announcement that only ELEVEN Ibrox fans were facing charges put all the 'riot, 'rampage' and 'war zone' stories into some perspective. The genie, however, is once more out of the bottle. Subsequent reflections on events have been outrageously hyped up, all the usual suspects - from attention-seeking politicians, journalists with an axe to grind, discredited anti-sectarianism bodies, the butchers, bakers and candlestick-makers who adminster the game and, not least of all, Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Police - have jumped on the holier-than-thou bandwagon and put Rangers F.C. on the back-foot yet again. Let it be made clear right now, no right-thinking person would dream of condoning the actions of those morons whose response to the blanking of the big-screens in one of the fanzones was to hurl bottles at the screens and turn on the police. It is indefensible and nobody would lose any sleep if those responsible were to be locked up and the key conveniently mislaid. It is the reaction to it all which has been so disappointing, yet wholly predictable. For the bulk of the past 25 years, Rangers and their fans have been under attack from many sources and it is a relentless drip-drip-drip process which has eaten into any feelgood factor the fans have enjoyed, with every high being clouded by dubious side-issues, while their traditions have been rubbished and abandoned, songs outlawed and individual fans and supporters groups subjected to harassment or worse. Of course, Manchester was an accident waiting to happen from the moment Nacho Novo slotted home the penalty kick to beat Fiorentina and take Rangers through to the final. As soon as it became clear the Gers were Manchester-bound, the messages coming out of the city were unfriendly in the extreme. If you don't have a ticket, stay away; there will be no big screens and no fanzones; the pubs will be closed, drinking in public is not permitted; the police will stringently enforce the local by-laws. Welcome to Manchester? You must be joking! "It took the intervention of respected politicians like Ian Davidson MP, the Manchester business community and various representative groups from within the Rangers support to force both the council and the police authority to soften their stance," explained Steven Smith, media spokesman for the Rangers Supporters Trust. "Wednesday's brief disorder was disappointing but, had the local authorities had it their way, one shudders to think what might have happened." Realizing that a human tsunami was about to descend on the city regardless, Manchester made a dramatic u-turn. But already their position as reluctant hosts was exposed. Yet in a city which claims to be football-mad, home to one of the most passionately supported clubs in world football, they seemed incapable of interpreting the mood amongst Rangers fans. Put it this way, if United were in a European final at Hampden, how many of their fans would travel to Glasgow, with or without tickets? They would surely come close to matching the numbers who travelled south last week, although it is fairly safe to say Glasgow District Council would have laid out the welcome mat from the outset, unlike their Mancunian counterparts. No Rangers fan will need to be reminded that Greater Manchester Police have a history where their club is concerned. In 2003, when the Light Blues visited Old Trafford on Champions League business, every pub in the city was ordered to close, yet the visits of Celtic prompted no such clampdown, despite their fans' overt support for the terrorist organization which bombed the heart out of the city centre no more than twelve years ago. And in the summer of 2006, in a most abysmal abdication of responsibility, GMP ordered the cancellation of a friendly between Bolton Wanderers and Rangers because they claimed policing the match would stretch their resources. If they can't handle a pre-season kickabout, one wonders why they ever backed their City Council's bid to host a high-octane event like the UEFA Cup Final. When the Cup Final went out to tender, it would have been part of the city's sales pitch that they are experienced in hosting such events, no doubt citing regular glamour games at Old Trafford, the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the Champions League Final of the following year. Clearly they expected two foreign sides to arrive in town, enjoy a cozy get-together, then head off home with the minimum of fuss. In a perfect world, it would all work out that way but, of course, we live in a different world entirely. Walter Smith's men stunned Europe with their progress this season and suddenly Manchester City Council wanted to change the rules. Two things immediately bothered Rangers fans. With the City Stadium holding only 44,500 spectators, tickets would be like gold dust and, inevitably, a flourishing black market sprung up. Was it out of the question to switch the event to Old Trafford, with a capacity of close to 80,000? Whatever the logistical problems with ticketing etc, the increased revenue would surely have made the switch financially viable. And if that was impractical, why not set up Old Trafford for a big-screen showing, taking more than 70,000 ticketless fans off the streets? Furthermore, with the city being so accessible from all parts of the UK and beyond, the volume of incoming fans outstripped all the estimates of the local authority, they constantly disregarded the ever-escalating but wholly realistic figures being quoted by the more informed sources in Scotland. Quite simply, Manchester did not have its finger on the pulse and, even as late as Wednesday afternoon, with the town centre grid-locked with fans, heads were buried in the sand. The volume of humanity in the vicinity and the workload on an inadequately prepared area meant a breakdown in the system was almost inevitable. Part 1

I'd just love to see some decent interviews with WS in the wake of what's been a disappointing end to the season. Surely its not asking too much for some of our esteemed journalists to have some balls and ask him the questions that fans have been discussing amongst themselves all season? Or will he just get arsey again and question our right to question him in the first place? Yes we've made progress and possibly over-achieved according to his plan, but that doesn't excuse the way we've gifted Celtic the title. I'm not for hounding him out the door or anything, but I'd just like him to explain some of his baffling decisions this season which are scarily familiar to anyone who remembers his first tenure in charge. Is that asking too much?

WALTER SMITH insists the SPL's failure to help ease Rangers' fixture congestion sufficiently led to Celtic winning the championship as much as anything. In their 67th game of an extraordinary season, the Light Blues lost the title race as they were beaten 2-0 by Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Ally McCoist, Walter Smith and Kenny McDowallThe match was Gers' third in six days and now they have a gap of just 41 hours in which to prepare for Saturday's Scottish Cup final with Queen of the South. Smith's men have already played eight times since May began and the league's refusal to extend the season further because of Rangers' European commitments has cost them. The Ibrox manager has made his stance on the situation clear already and he feels better handling of the circumstances would have given his side more of a chance. Smith said: "I felt at one stage of the season that we had a good opportunity to win the league and that was more than I'd have expected in our first full season back at the club. "But we're obviously disappointed with the outcome tonight and disappointed we've lost out on the championship. "Having been in a good position previously, our disappointment is even greater because things haven't materialised for us. "I wouldn't say I think there was ever any point when things started to wrong for us as such. "After a run of 20 games unbeaten, I felt at that point we could go on to take the championship because of the levels of consistency we had shown. "But when we realised what fixtures we would have in the last couple of months, I knew we would have a battle on our hands.Ferguson battles with Mackie "Overall, a failure to handle a set of circumstances which were unusual for a team to have to deal with has led to us falling down as much as anything else. "Rangers, like any other club in the situation we were in, tried as hard as we could to get our fixtures spread out. "When it didn't happen, we had to play the games we had. We've done that now and the way things have turned out hasn't helped us." Smith saw substitute Nacho Novo sent off for a reckless tackle on Stuart Duff and had no complaints about the Spaniards dismissal. Rangers must now go into the weekend without the suspended striker, just as they did when they faced Dundee United for the League Cup in March. Smith knows he must also rouse his men one last time before the summer, regardless of the short period they have in which to prepare. He added: "We'll have to play the game and we would like to finish the season on a brighter note than we have done in the last week or so."

Walter Smith getting it in the neck. Walter has came in and has done a maginifecent job on limited resources. At the start of the season, i said we may not win the league but it certainly will be closer. Which is correct, of course i am upset about losing the league but no sour grapes, Celtic won it over the 38 games fair and square. We may not layed attractive football that everyone one wants to see this season, but this season was to balance things up, won us one cup, toke us to a european final and ran Celtic close in the league. Next season is where we start to play some more attractive football. Lets remember where we were just 12 months ago, thank you Walter for what has been a great season bar the trophies, i have every confidence that you will win the league next season. We have a cup final tomorrow as well, we will have to be behind the team, will be a tough game because Queen's have had a few weeks off, while we have played god so many games in that amount of time.

This season in the SPL we played 19 away games and won 9. We drew 5 and lost 5. That's pish! We don't deserve to win the league with that away record. We lost at Celtic Park x 2, Pittodrie, Tynecastle and Tannadice. With the exception of Celtic Park (obviously), did Celtic lose to any of these teams away from home? Did they fuck! We may have only dropped 3 points at home this season but by fuck, we more than made up for it away from home. Disappointing!

Successful Ops For Duo RANGERS stars Stevie Naismith and Chris Burke both underwent successful surgery yesterday but it will be a long time before they retutm to the first time. Sadly, Naismith is looking at 12 months out while it will be four to six months for winger Burke. Both players were seriously injured in the same match - the Scottish Cup semi-final against St Johnstone on April 20. Kevin Rutkiewicz caught Burke on the ankle with his studs after just seven mintue and then Martin Hardie stomped on Naismith's knee eight minutes later which led to cruciate ligament damage. The surgery team involved on both players were pleased with the results of the operations and now both players are on their way back home. Allan McGregor is the other main injury problem at Murray Park, also with an ankle problem sustained against Celtic last month.

What have you guys got on Setanta? I had Aberdeen v Rangers advertised all week on Goal TV which gets the setanta feed and they have just switched it to the Dundee utd v Celtic game live with the Aberdeen v Rangers game show right after it. Im going to watch the Arabs hopefully do us a favour and not look at our score until I know the first result.

First off im a Celtic fan and i only registered on here so i could convey my thanks to all Rangers fans who payed their respects to a Celtic legend. But most of all i felt really moved seeing Ally and Walter carrying Tommys coffin.I honestly can say if i could have, i would have cuddled Ally ,as it really touched me to see both Walter and Ally displaying great dignity and compassion towards someone who was a great rival for many years.Quite clearly these 2 Rangers legends were paying their respects to a friend,more than a rival,and for that i thank them.I am heart sick of all the religious shite between our 2 clubs and hope that some people can learn from this act of common decency and help us move on...sadly i doubt it though.God bless them both. i take it im banned now:sigh:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2008/05/15/celtic-legend-tommy-burns-dies-86908-20418297/ Extremely sad news. This when football is brought back to earth. Deepest condolences to his family.

Have we blown the League title now after dropping more points , we are handing timmy this league on a plate. i am not happy with the we we are playing , walter leaves it too late to go and attack teams and get the 3 points. We must bring in some quality in the summer and ditch this 4-5-1 formation tonigjt is a must win , if we do not win by at least 3 goals clear i think its over as D.Utd wont try as hard against celtic after all the mccurry carry on and the sheep will play out of there skin against us as usual. We need 6 points on the board and a barrel load of goals to go with it but if we go 4-5-1 , will we get them i dont think so. Come on Rangers one last push for the Treble.

The Prophet Of Doom? The question on all our lips this week and that dominates all ââ?¬Ë?Rangers mindedââ?¬â?¢ conversations is ââ?¬Ë?is the season that promised so much going to deliver so littleââ?¬â?¢? As we approach the final hurdle, it would appear that we are about to fall flat on our faces. There is no denying that our extended run in UEFA cup has had implications on our domestic form and results. Whilst being more than welcome, is it fair to say that the UEFA Cup excursions have had lasting implications on our bid to regain the SPL title? Is it arguable that without the games in the UEFA cup that we would have sauntered to the SPL title? I donââ?¬â?¢t think it is ââ?¬â?? our recent run of results, and most worryingly, performances show a team that has run out of steam ââ?¬â?? however, there was evidence a few months back that all was not running smoothly. The dip in form in the last few months was (rightly or wrongly) argued away by the fact that, at that time, we were still getting the desired results. Recently, the results have dried up and 2 victories in the last 11 games tells its own story ââ?¬â?? hardly the form desired when you are chasing a historic quadruple. Now we are in a situation that unless we win tonightââ?¬â?¢s game 7-0, the destiny of the league title is out of our own hands. Celtc winning at Tannidice is not a foregone conclusion, us winning at Love Street and Pittodrie is no formality either. It is frustrating that for the vast majority of the season, the destiny of the SPL title was in our hands, it was ours to grasp ââ?¬â?? now itââ?¬â?¢ll take results going our way to ensure that Celtic donââ?¬â?¢t win 3-in-a-row for the first time since Jock Stein was the manager. So how do we find ourselves in this predicament? Well, the players and management must take responsibility. For to long now, we have only had a ââ?¬Ë?plan Aââ?¬â?¢ ââ?¬â?? basically, go 1-0 up and defend for our lives. It worked for a while, but we have started to lose silly goals that have lost us valuable points. We donââ?¬â?¢t appear to have a plan B to turn to when we require a winning goal. Maybe this is exasperated since we donââ?¬â?¢t have a player in our squad that can single-handedly change the course of a game, or create / score a winning goal on a regular basis. Some of the close season signings who promised so much have failed to live up to expectations and we are short in so many positions. As we enter the last throws of the season, we can only cling to the hope that fate will intervene and that we will come out of this as SPL Champions. We can cling to the memories of Helicopter Sunday knowing that as someone once said ââ?¬Ë?football is a funny old gameââ?¬â?¢ and that it isnââ?¬â?¢t over until itââ?¬â?¢s over. However, I canââ?¬â?¢t be the only one wondering just what might have been if we were able to keep our heads and won the games we had in hand. If we had, we would be sitting pretty. I just hope we that we arenââ?¬â?¢t all ââ?¬Ë?kicking ourselvesââ?¬â?¢ on Thursday evening reflecting on missed opportunities and reflecting back to stupid results that mat have cost us our SPL title. Manchester As I said last week, everyone will have their own unique story to tell about their trip to Manchester (but thatââ?¬â?¢s for another day / time). It is a crying shame that the day was spoiled by a minority who have let themselves and the club down. I hope the club find those responsible and deal with them in the correct manner and I hope those involved are ashamed of themselves. The game itself wasnââ?¬â?¢t the greatest, but we held our own in the first half and actually dominated for the opening spells of the 2nd half. We had a few half chances to score and believe that if we had gotten the opening goal, we would have gone on and won the game. As it went against us, the game was effectively killed off there and then ââ?¬â?? we didnââ?¬â?¢t look capable of creating / scoring against an impressive Zenit side. I think we all realise that the better side won on the night and congratulations to DAââ?¬â?¢s Zenit side ââ?¬â?? they deserved their victory. Final Countdown Squeaky bum time has come and gone, we are now entering ââ?¬Ë?gut wrenchingââ?¬â?¢ time. I for one will be hiding under the sofa on Thursday (canââ?¬â?¢t get time off to go to the game ââ?¬â?? grrrr) awaiting the scores / results to filter through from Tannidice and Pittodrie. There is little we can do apart from ââ?¬Ë?believeââ?¬â?¢ and get as many prayers into whatever God you chose to believe in (if you chose to believe that is). I just hope Big Marv can spare has a couple of minutes and put in some prayers for us (it worked last time). Knowing Big Marv, heââ?¬â?¢ll do all he can to ensure that lady luck / fate shines on the people. Other than that, itââ?¬â?¢s strap yourselves in and get ready for the scariest rollercoaster ride youââ?¬â?¢ve ever been on. After the outcome of the SPL has been decided, weââ?¬â?¢ll barely have time to draw breath before heading to Hampden to play QotS in the ââ?¬Ë?show-pieceââ?¬â?¢ Scottish Cup Final. There is always something special about the Scottish Cup Final and it is a fitting way to being the curtain down on the season. This will be our first appearance in the Scottish Cup final since we defeated Dundee 1-0 after securing the title against Dunfermline. If you can remember, that game was something of an anti-climax as I think the players, and us the fans were physically and mentally drained after the exertions of winning the league. I canââ?¬â?¢t be the only one whoââ?¬â?¢ll not be disappointed if this seasons mirrors that one!!!! Cammy F

Hi again guys, just to let you know i'm not dead Well Manchester was a great trip, sea of red , white and blue every where you went. Driving down on the Tuesday was great, every second car you passed was decked out in the colours, tooting the horn and giving each other a wave, stopped at the services and fans singing, brilliant. I was in Albert square, was a fantastic day in there, my mates from Manchester came with us and said it was amazing, one of the best experiences they have ever witnessed. We toke over that city last week, although Manchester council/police couldn't handle it. There was hardly any police in/around Albert square, no police walking the streets. The bars and shops opened early doors so everyone could be drinking for 10 hours before the game even started, one PUBLIC toilet in Albert Square for thousands of fans, so police just let everyone pee against any wall that there was. The trouble in Picadili Gardens, i never seen but apparently the screens haden't been working all day, so surely they could inform people to go some where else before the game started. Also heard tat there was already riot police there 5 minutes before kick off so they knew the sreens werent going to work and there could be violence breaking out. Although i am still disgusted at our fans behaviour, actually did i say fans, i am disgusted at those people's behaviour. None of them who acted like that are supporters of our club, which Martin Bain got spot on, there is a rumour going around that football casuals done this, but i think thats just looking for excuses. Even with the screen not working, how can you get thousands of fans to another fanzone with a click of a finger. After the game there wasn't any trams/trains etc put on to et te fans get away from the city centre, it really was a shambles how the city handled the few days, they weren't expecting these numbers. Anyway like i said my second european trip and it was very enjoyable, hope everyone else had a good time, was gutted about the result but i'm over it now. I was gutted about last wednesday but Saturday there was just more sickening, great first half performance and we screwed it up. Don't really want to talk about it, i'm going to the game tonight and if we have got any chance of getting the 7+ goals we need, we need to start very atacking and get a few goals in the first 15-20 minutes, if we are not going to win this on goal difference we need to hope and pray Dundee Utd help us out, but why should they, we beat them in a cup final and after what happened last week , they have no right to help us. I don't know, there is still hope there, hopefully we can win tonight, preferably by a large margin, then beat the sheep and hope Celtic drop points, sounds s easy doesn't it. Saturday, i think we all know what the result will be Anyway i probably won't be on here before the season ends, got an exam tomorrow and thursday, wish me luck, have safe trips to Love Street, Aberdeen and Hampden guys. Keep Believing

I dont like to jump onto a bandwagon and blame individuals as I think the reason we have possibly thrown the title away is due to the players running out of gas and WS not changing things sooner. Why Kirk Broadfoot is playing RB for Rangers is beyond me. He was bought as a centre half and thats where he should play. Ive yet to see him play in the centre due to Weir and King Carlos, so il reserve judgment on him. However as a RB i really think he is 10 times worse than Gary Bollan ever was. Whittaker is the natural player for this role and seeing him in an attacking midfield role drives me mental. Davie Weir - the 38 year old has done superb to play so many games but you can see how tired he is. There is no way he should have played the number of games he has. Id have liked to have seen Papac play more in the middle with S Smith coming back in LB. Barry Ferguson - 1 good game then 6 bad games but a continual big mouth and he seems to be blameless. Yet when he isnt in the team nobody can stand up and take the mantle away from him. Id seriously consider selling him in the summer and I wouldnt mind if we went and got Scott Brown from Celtic as his replacement. Lee McCulloch - I was delighted we signed him last year and he started off well. But he is another who looks like he doesnt train. He has looked unfit since February. Management - Why has certain players not been used more when they would all have been fresh and fit? The club play them big wages and none of them have barely kicked a ball. I think Gow on the left, Buffel in the gap and Boyd upfront more often would have seen us score much more goals. Board - Giving Alan Hutton 1 million pounds to leave the club was disgusting when he wanted to stay until the summer. He was our best player and best attacking option. Mistake here!!

I know we have to go and take care of St Mirren first but whats everyones views on Celtic going to Tannadice and us going to Pittodrie. I just have the feeling Dundee Utd wont get out of 1st gear as they are pissed off with there game against us last week. We all know Aberdeen are going to give 200% against us. We do only have ourselves to blame for the last 2 league game results but its still not impossible. We need to thump St Mirren on Monday and they give ourselves a chance. But who knows, we might get a favour off Dundee Utd yet!!

Arsehole!

The heartache will soon soothe and we can look back on a terrific european run in a few weeks time. But first and foremost we can stand proud and turn our attentions to our bread and butter - the SPL. 3 wins against Motherwell, St Mirren and Aberdeen will bring the league flag home and still put it right up the SPL, Celtic and the others who are jealous of what we have done this season. A domestic treble and a UEFA runners up place is still a wonderful season and puts us in the Champions league proper next season. Lets get right into Motherwell on Saturday and give them a backlashing and wipe the smug smiles of timmy's faces. 3 games in 5 days (4 in 7 if included the SFA cup) is another massive ask but this time 9 days the lads will be able to put there feet up on a beach somewhere. We have to be more positive in approach though. After that Queen of the South can get a dooing at Hampden aswell

We all know they would be out in force after yesterdays game but I listened to Traynors program this morning along with listening to Talksport just now. Thats Twice now they have came on national radio having a go at the "Reverend McCurry". This is well out of order and they are using this as an excuse as if there is a link between the Church of Scotland and the Ref's decision. Fair play to Traynor as he shot the caller down. But you dont ever hear them come on and state "The Lawyer Willie Young". Pure chip on there shoulders.

Were the Gers fans singing a version of Liverpools "Won it 5 times...." against Celtic?? Was thinking we could easy sing "52 times, 52 times xxxxxxx we've won it 52 times" Maybe thats what we were singing?

Anyone got the commentary when PL scores against Celtic and the commentator says "Peter Lovenkrands he always scores against Celtic"? Think it is from the 2003 Scottish cup and possibly his first goal in that game. Don't think my mate believes it happened as I always bang on about it but haven't shown him it.

Well done Kev. Most improved player this season? Squad Gordon (Sunderland), Marshall (Norwich); Anderson (Sunderland), Berra (Hearts), Caldwell (Celtic), Dailly (Rangers), Hutton (Tottenham), McManus (Celtic), McNaughton (Cardiff), Naysmith (Sheff Utd), Whittaker (Rangers); Fletcher (Man Utd), Hartley (Celtic), Morrison (West Brom), Rae (Cardiff), Robson (Celtic), Thomson (Rangers); Boyd (Rangers), Fletcher (Hibs), McCormack (Motherwell), McFadden (Birmingham), Maloney (Aston Villa), Miller (Derby).