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Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has launched the search for a new manager with Alan Pardew’s departure for Crystal Palace imminent. The sportswear tycoon and Rangers shareholder, currently on holiday in Barbados, had already put the wheels in motion amid fevered speculation over the identity of the seventh permanent boss to occupy the St James’ Park hot-seat during his seven and a half year reign. Many of the names thrown up by the rumour mill have already been discounted by sources on Tyneside with current skipper Fabricio Coloccini and former York boss Nigel Worthington at the top of that list, while former Palace manager Tony Pulis and ex-Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood are also understood not to be in the running. Managing director Lee Charnley is the man conducting the search on Ashley’s behalf, although the club is unlikely to make a snap decision and it is understood Pardew’s assistant John Carver and first-team coach Steve Stone will oversee team affairs for tomorrow’s Premier League fixture against Burnley and the FA Cup third round trip to Leicester two days later. Carver, who will be without striker Papiss Cisse for three games after he accepted a Football Association violent conduct charge for elbowing Everton defender Seamus Coleman on Sunday, could be considered an outside candidate for the job on a permanent basis, although current Hull manager and fellow Geordie Steve Bruce may have stronger claims. There has been popular support for the club’s football development manager Peter Beardsley, while St-Etienne boss Christophe Galtier has been linked with the club on several occasions. However, Ajax manager Frank de Boer has ruled himself out and Ashley’s unwillingness to pay compensation makes a move for Derby’s Steve McClaren, who signed a three-year deal in August, unlikely. Pardew continues to thrash out personal terms with Palace as the Selhurst Park club search for a replacement for the sacked Neil Warnock. Newcastle granted Pardew permission to speak to Palace on Monday night after the Eagles agreed a compensation package with the St James’ Park hierarchy. Pardew is expected to double his salary in securing a move back to the club he served as a player between 1987 and 1991. Both Pulis and Sherwood, meanwhile, have been heavily linked to the vacancy at West Brom as they look to appoint a new head coach after sacking Alan Irvine on Monday night. The Baggies said in a statement that they “expect to be able to name Irvine’s successor by the weekend” – when they face Gateshead in the FA Cup. Assistant head coach Rob Kelly, along with Keith Downing, will be in charge of the Baggies for their New Year’s Day trip to West Ham. Irvine left after just six months in charge, with Albion 16th and a point above the bottom three following Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Stoke. The Scot had vowed to fight for his future after the game, but the Baggies opted to place the 56-year-old on gardening leave. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/english/mike-ashley-starts-hunt-for-next-newcastle-manager-1-3647717

A Newcastle phoned in to Colin Murray today to talk about Ashley\Pardew etc. The fan was talking about Ashley and how he will always take in more from player sales than he pays out for new players, and that Pardew had probably gone as far as he could under that mentality. The guy says "you can bet any money you like that Ashley wont pay for a 'grade A' manager to take us to the next level". They then both agreed that it wouldn't be overly surprising if he approached McCoist with the job offer, which would get rid of the headache of buying him out, especially if he took backroom staff with him. Could it happen????

Neil Warnock: Crystal Palace sack manager after Southampton defeat Neil Warnock has become the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season after being dismissed by Crystal Palace. The 66-year-old joined the Eagles for a second time in August 2014, following the departure of Tony Pulis. The move follows Crystal Palace's 3-1 defeat at home against Southampton on Boxing Day. Palace currently sit in the Premier League relegation zone, one point below 17th placed Hull City. Assistant manager Keith Millen will be in charge for Palace's trip to Queens Park Rangers on Sunday. Warnock won just three of his 16 Premier League games in charge. The Sheffield-born manager was in his second spell as manager of the Selhurst Road club. Warnock took over at the start of the current Premier League campaign after Pulis departed the club 48 hours before the beginning of the season. Pulis left the club with a 42.3% win percentage, compared to Warnock's 18.8%. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30610309

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ibrox-hate-figure-brian-stockbridge-4625845 Rears his head.. Sorry, on mobile... Hence lack of copy and paste

woooooooooooooo

ALLY McCOIST admits he is bracing himself for a period without Bilel Mohsni early next year which could see him miss the League Cup semi-final with Celtic. The defender has made himself a regular in the Tunisia squad which is close to qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations. At present, the event is scheduled to be played from January 17 to February 8, although Morocco has until Saturday to decide if it still wishes to host it. The Moroccans have pushed for a postponement because of the recent Ebola outbreak and a final decision will be taken next Tuesday on what will happen if they maintain their stance. Should the tournament go ahead as currently planned, Tunisia will most likely be competing having moved to the top of their group in the final round of preliminary fixtures. Sitting with 10 points from four games, Georges Leekens’ side will advance to the finals if it matches Egypt’s result against Senegal when it faces Botswana next Friday. That would put the Eagles of Carthage through with a tie to spare and even if they suffer a dramatic collapse in their last two outings they will probably still progress. The best third-placed team will go through too and Egypt are currently the highest ranked in that respect with six points, four less than Mohsni and his team-mates. The latter stages of the finals event clash with the tie against Celtic on January 31 or February 1. While Mohsni would certainly miss at least the meetings with Hearts and Cowdenbeath in the SPFL Championship, he may be at risk of sitting out the derby too. McCoist said: “People keep talking about squads and the numbers we have in ours and this is why we need as many players to fill our group as possible. “You do get injuries, suspensions and international call-ups. Regardless of the fact he hasn’t played recently, Bilel is still a very important member of our squad. “Of that there is no doubt. Darren McGregor and Lee McCulloch have been doing well and were put together due to Bilel’s suspension. “We have to show loyalty to boys who do well and we’ll continue to do that but we would still rather not be without anyone else. “It would be nothing short of a real shock for Tunisia not to qualify now because of the position they’re in. “If and when he goes, we’ll wish Bilel well but we’ll certainly miss him. It’s a catch 22 situation.” http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/8031-bilel-set-for-finals-trip

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/latest-news/289-is-donald-findlay-right-discussing-our-rangers-addiction Waking up to another Rangers controversy is nothing new. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Monday, a Thursday or a match-day, there’s always another Rangers related story to keep this ongoing farce alive. From the boardroom to the dressing room; from the small grounds in Scotland to the businessmen of Singapore; the bizarre nature of what has happened to one of Scotland’s proudest institutions continues to make waves wherever and whenever you care to cast a sideways glance. It’s impossible to hide from. Now, I’ve not read all of what Donald Findlay has said to journalist Stephen McGowan in today’s Daily Mail. The ‘debate’ surrounding about whether or not Rangers are a new club isn’t something which particularly attracts me. For me, the opinion of the law lords and football authorities is enough – Rangers is the same club with their history and successes intact from one company vehicle to the next. In many ways though, does it really matter what they or Donald Findlay think? I still follow follow Rangers with the same excitement and love I’ve always done. I always will. Many hundreds of thousands agree. However, and here’s the rub, some do feel differently and I can empathise with that. Why? Well, there can be various reasons. For one, the club’s reputation has taken a huge hit – doesn’t matter how fraudulent Craig Whyte and his associates' actions are proven to be, our club almost died. It doesn’t matter with how much disdain the Scottish football authorities, fellow clubs and fans and the Scottish media approached this fall from grace; we had to start again in Division Three. In that sense, of course the club’s reputation has changed forever. No Rangers fan alive has had to experience such a dramatic change in fortunes so it’s inevitable our mind-set has as well. Moreover, since administration, the situation has hardly improved. The Rangers brand (and tradition as well perhaps) is no longer associated with success and pride and honesty and hard work. Instead, embarrassment, dishonesty, manipulation, excess and fraud are now bywords for our club. Yes the team on the park may still be the team we love but unlike our fathers and their fathers before them, we’ll now forever have to associate on-field displays with the performance of the boardroom. Some may find it easy to refrain from such, but many others cannot. Not as long as the money we pay into the club can be withheld by companies with a somewhat different relationship. That particular landscape has changed forever; it’s undeniable. Moving on, and even within our fan-base things have altered for the worse. Small minorities they may be but the division amongst some fans is bordering on the obscene at times. Bear antagonising bear is not only counter-productive but downright bizarre. Disagreement can and should be healthy but some supporters have taken that to all new levels. In the modern era of online debate that may well be inevitable but it’s a change from previous times and it’s not a good one. These aren’t arguments in private RSC cubby-holes but very public fall outs which can be seen by all. They help no-one. Considering all the above, it’s perhaps more surprising to suggest anyone doesn’t approach supporting the club differently. To be clear, it’s not that our love has decreased or that our history and success has somehow been removed (such arguments are ludicrous) but that what has happened in recent years has changed us all forever. Indeed, it has to – we have to learn from our mistakes and ensure it doesn’t happen again. That’s not to say we can do so easily – we can’t – but if we try to hide from it then we’re no worse than an addict glossing over their dependence. To sum up, while I fundamentally and strongly disagree with Findlay in terms of Rangers still being the same Rangers, he is right to an extent. Of course the club is the same one we've all supported but there are elements of recent events which will have affected us all in different ways. Perhaps it's the divided fans taking each other for granted, perhaps it's the club's total disdain for our opinion, perhaps it's the media apportioning blame to the wrong people, perhaps it's the manager refusing to learn from his mistakes, perhaps it's the constant stress amidst the whole farce but no matter the issue, it has become very difficult to support Rangers nowadays. It should be fun, it should be a release from the everyday hum-drum but it's not - in fact I'd say supporting Rangers is just another daily stress and only our fans will understand just how bad it's been. For some, even someone like Donald Findlay, the challenge may be too much but shirking from his opinion won't help. To that end, if anyone has found the last few years hard then we should be working together to talk through our worries - not hide from or belittle them. Supporting Rangers isn't something you can turn on or off. It's an addiction which infects the soul. Thus, I'd say anyone who hasn't had their heart broken and their faith challenged is in the minority. However, broken hearts can be repaired and reputations restored. My name is Frankie and I'm an addict.

***Gala Ball Silent Auction*** Not long to go till the Gala ball! who is excited?? We have some fantastic Auction prizes this year on which you can make your bids by filling out the online form here: http://www.legendstrek.co.uk/#!silent-auction/c1lfv Here are the Prizes: • Two tickets for a home game at Ibrox, season 2014/15 in the exclusive players’ lounge donated By RFC. • Red Arrows print ‘The Corkscrew 2005’, signed by the pilots of the Red Arrows donated by Bonnington Services. • Limited edition print ‘Cock a Snook the last Five Nations Champions’, (the last time Scotland won the five nations) signed by Ronnie Browne (Corries) donated by Anne and Jim Brown. • Signed Paul Lawrie Polo Shirt, Glove and Picture worn as he won The Johnny Walker Classic at Gleneagles. • Limited edition print ‘Underdog Rampant Scotland’s Gram Slam 1990’ Signed by Ronnie Browne, donated by Anne and Jim Brown. • 1/2ct G-H Diamond 10k White Gold Pendant SGL certified, donated by Gemporia jewellery channel. • 4 ball voucher for Machrihanish Golf Club, Campbeltown, donated Danny Rooney. • Signed limited edition Ally McCoist print donated By John Brown. • 4 ball voucher for Drumoig Golf Hotel, St Andrews Donated by Danny Rooney. • Signed Rangers jersey season 2014/15 with letter of authenticity, donated by Rangers and two tickets for The Founders Trail, donated by Gordon Bell and Ian McCall. • Signed Celtic jersey season 2014/15 with letter of authenticity donated by Celtic FC. • Signed Rangers ball season 2014/15 with letter of authenticity donated by RFC. • 4 ball voucher for Mar Hall Golf Resort, Bishopton donated by Bill Rennie. • House of Commons Speaker Bercows 10 Year old malt whisky signed by Jimmy Hood MP, donated By Shelly Palette. • 6 hour tattoo session at ‘Save Our Souls’ Hamilton donated by Stephen Scott. • A guided tour of the Gemporia television studios with Ali Defoy Remember, NO woofing, Just Bidding!

Crystal Palace are more likely to approach the Rangers manager, Ally McCoist, to become their new manager than the bookmakers’ favourite and his former rival, Neil Lennon, who stood down from Celtic this summer. Palace have held talks about the Rangers manager as they compile a new shortlist following a week of turmoil at the club, although they have yet to approach him or indeed Lennon. Palace will see how the weekend Premier League fixture at home to West Ham United pans out before deciding on the urgency of their need for a new manager. Malky Mackay had been the front-runner before the text scandal put paid to his chances. The Independent columnist Tim Sherwood ruled himself out of the running on Thursday night and Glenn Hoddle did the same earlier in the week. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/crystal-palace-next-manager-latest-palace-consider-ally-mccoist--exclusive-9686808.html

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/furious-rangers-fan-locked-bitter-3520662 I hope the guy gets his money, but if I was the bookmaker in this case I might challenge the actual bet placed on the betting slip shown. Does that really say 'underfed'? :D

One of my hero's as a kid. Makes me realise how old I am getting.

Ringing fugitive on Interpol wanted list not unusual in new world of Rangers KEITH tells how trying to make contact with a man on Interpol's most wanted list is hardly unusual in the weird world which Rangers now inhabit. IT’S not every week you speak to someone on Interpol’s most wanted list. In fact, after 20-odd years writing about football for a living, this was something of a first. Not that it was actually much of a conversation. “Hello, Mr Rizvi,” “Hello, who is this?” “Keith Jackson from the Daily Record newspaper in Glasgow, I want to speak to you about your involvement in Blue Pitch Holdings.” “I think you have the wrong number my friend, I would ahem (click)...” “Mr Rizvi? Rafat? Hello?” “BEEEEEEEEEEEP!” That was about the size of it. Hardly earth-shattering stuff. In fact, the only truly remarkable thing about this conversation is that it needed to take place at all. But this is the way of it at Rangers in 2013 – this club has long since disappeared through the looking glass. Vanished into a world which is as much about the fugitives as it is about the football. I phoned straight back but Rafat Rizvi, or whatever this plummy-voiced gentleman calls himself these days, didn’t answer. So I followed up with a text message, offering to speak on or off the record and pointing out that the identities of those anonymous investors behind Blue Pitch and Margarita Holdings were likely to be made public soon. Again, no response. Perhaps he was just busy. Then again, perhaps men who are on the run from the authorities over a £600million bank fraud, facing a potential death penalty in Indonesia, don’t do protracted conversations. Not with press men at any rate. Which would be fair enough were it not for the fact the future of Rangers hangs in the balance all over again and that there are many thousands of supporters out there who are beside themselves with worry and who are asking for one simple thing from their club, the truth. Remember that? It’s not easy where Rangers are concerned. This is a club which currently employs more spin doctors than it does directors, a business which is engulfed in a cloud of its own toxicity. A company which attempts to confuse its own customers with an unrelenting barrage of spin and counter-spin. The truth? So many lies and so much misinformation has been spread in the name of Rangers that the truth has become a complete stranger. It has been twisted and distorted to such an extent that it has become almost unrecognisable. And it has to stop, for the sake of the fans and for the greater good of the Scottish game in general. It is time for Rangers to reconnect with the truth. Which is why it would have been nice had Rizvi stayed on the phone for a longer chat. He might have been able to clear up many of the issues which continue to distress these supporters and cause them sleepless nights. Just who are Blue Pitch for example? These mysterious offshore backers of Charles Green, who financed the Yorkshireman’s takeover, buying up Ibrox and Murray Park for a £5.5m snip thanks to the stupendous generosity of administrators Duff and Phelps. It would also have been of interest to ask Mr Rizvi, a long-standing associate of Green and shamed former commercial director Imran Ahmad, if he could shed any light on some of the names of those behind the equally mysterious Margarita. Between them, Blue Pitch and Margarita hold a 15 per cent stake in the club and their voting power – which has been handed over by proxy to the Easdale Brothers – could swing the balance whenever this club finally allows its shareholders to vote on the make-up of the boardroom at its long awaited agm. Could it be that Brian Stockbridge, for example, is to be found standing behind Margarita’s door? Just asking because if the financial director was to be among these penny-a-share investors then it’s no wonder they are attempting to block the changes that would ultimately lead to Stockbridge’s removal from power. Right? Here’s another thing. Did you know Stockbridge and James Easdale last week signed off on a robustly worded warning to the club’s entire workforce, making it clear that information leaks from inside Ibrox will not be tolerated? That’s right. Stockbridge, who infamously filmed former chairman Malcolm Murray worse for wear at the end of a long night out, and Easdale, who endorsed the return of a certain spin doctor to the club. The hypocrisy is mind boggling. In fact, it smacks of yet another hamfisted and ever so slightly sinister attempt to suppress the truth. The fact that their internal memo has already been leaked out on to the internet is a delicious irony. Much has gone on behind the scenes of this club in recent times which defies belief. Senior, trusted and hugely respected figures have been horribly intimidated. These people too have a story to tell. Just like Rizvi. It would do Rangers a world of good if one day the whole truth emerges from this distasteful debacle, no matter how unpleasant or even inconvenient that truth might be. The truth is all that can pull Rangers back from this world through the looking glass and allow it to look at itself in the mirror once again.

Friday, 16 August 2013 AHMAD, GREEN AND THE MONEY-LAUNDERING FEARS OF WHYTE'S £137,5000 RANGERS have been placed at the centre of money laundering fears over the mysterious £137,500 paid into the bank account of Imran Ahmad’s mother by Craig Whyte. And further doubts have also been raised over just what that the money was for after a letter from Charles Green was leaked. For the leaked letter from Green to the Scottish Football Association – now available on-line - gives an explanation for the mystery money which is different and entirely at odds to the one Imran Ahmad trotted out at the time the deal was first revealed four months ago. At the time Ahmad insisted that it was all just a devious scheme to trap Craig Whyte into believing he was investing in their group’s move to gain control of Rangers through a CVA, in order that he would be easy to deal with. The story Ahmad spun was that the £137,500 was a payment made by Whyte to show his good faith in the Ahmad-Green promises that he would be part of the future of Rangers and that they needed to get Whyte’s agreement to get his shares if they got their CVA proposals accepted. All of which seemed pretty plausible. However, that is not the same story as the version which was spun by Charles Green in a letter to the Scottish Football Association which claimed the £137,500 was money from Whyte to reimburse Ahmad for the £200,000 payment Ahmad personally made to Duff and Phelps to secure exclusivity on their bid for Rangers. That was not an investment in Rangers, but a fee to Duff and Phelps. The only real point where the Imran Ahmad story and the Charles Green tale of woe merged was when they both claimed they had no idea where the £137,500 paid into the bank of account of Imran Ahmad’s mother actually came from. And that is the point in Charles Green’s letter to the SFA which Hampden bosses quite rightly pounced on and which saw them raise the serious spectre of the sort of financial jiggery pokery, the sort of shady fiscal dealing which flags up concerns about money laundering. For there are strict regulations in place concerning the movement of money. Just try to open a bank account without a whole host of documents to prove your identity and you’ll see what I mean. Yet Imran Ahmad and Charles Green want the SFA to believe that £137,500 was accepted into the NatWest bank account in London of Imran Ahmad’s mother without the NatWest having a clue where it came from. By the time the SFA replied to the claims made in Charles Green’s letter, he was no longer chief executive, therefore they drove a their bus through the gaping hole in the Green story in a reply sent to the then chairman Malcolm Murray which has also been leaked and is available on-line. The SFA letter quite properly pointed out that the money Imran Ahmad got from Craig Whyte did not appear to have been subjected to the normal anti money laundering procedures and asked why that did not occur. It would be interesting to hear from Imran Ahmad on that point. It would also be interesting to hear from Charles Green on that point. I wonder if they will sing the same song this time, or if their tales of woe will again fail to tally. All of which once again raises the question of just where Craig Whyte gets the cash to sustain his considerable lifestyle? Just where did he get that £137,500? After all, as every examination of Craig Whyte’s business dealings reveal, he has no visible means of support, a fact I have mentioned on numerous occasions and a mystery Charles Green and Imran Ahmad must have been aware of at the outset of their dealings with him. However, they seemed to have been quite happy to take £137,500 of Craig Whyte’s dough without any of the normal checks on just where his funds were coming from, procedures which Imran Ahmad must be familiar with given his history of work in the financial sector. It was also something which Imran Ahmad was happy to keep secret until the shady transaction was exposed in April. Then he tried to explain it away as a con trick on Craig Whyte. Charles Green also sought to find an explanation. Unfortunately for him, his version of events, as we can now see, does not tally with what Ahmad said. And these are the two men some deluded folk still want to see back inside Ibrox, running Rangers. posted by leggoland @ 09:09 http://davidleggat-leggoland.blogspot.co.uk/

Funny how our response to his non-signing has changed from then to now. Quite happy we never signed him now. Good luck to him playing Championship football while we play Champions League. http://www.tribalfootball.com/eagles...s-move-1134951

But, Sky Sports have this on their website.

Hardly a day passes by without another player being linked to Rangers - be it in the unofficial media such as newspapers or forums - or even via official comment from Smith/Bain and stories on the club website. Given we've not paid a fee for a new player since Maurice Edu in 2008, yet have raked in millions since then from Champions League money and player sales, that would suggest we do have some sort of budget to strengthen our squad. Indeed, different figures have been mentioned - ranging from a couple of million to �£5million and beyond. Of course the club are consistent in trying to play down such figures and definitely don't seem keen on alluding to any kind of budget - even although they have confirmed (or alleged) reasonable transfer fees and wage packages for potential players. For example, Chris Eagles was supposed to be close to arriving on a deal worth around �£2million and �£15K per week over 3 years. That totals up to not far from the unsubstantiated �£5million 'warchest' oft talked about amongst the support. On the other hand, many fans are rightly cynical when it comes to such issues. Time and time again we're told money is available yet no players come in. Further to that, the hard luck stories are run out when the window eventually closes - 'he didn't want to come', 'we couldn't match another club's offer', 'SDM's private jet is under repair' etc etc. As such, it's difficult to argue with such people when the facts tell us we have the weakest Rangers squad (in terms of numbers) for over 20 years and an overall dearth in quality that will affect our competitiveness for the rapidly approaching season. Therefore, the issue perhaps comes down to two different scenarios: 1. Do we indeed have a reasonable total budget (say �£5million for fees and wages) and are bluffing a weak position to maximise our activity? 2. Or have MIH/Lloyds/HMRC, absorbed all of income limiting us to another Jerome Rothen type loaning signing if we're lucky? I'd like to gauge your opinion so we can come back at the end of August and see who has been proven right! Are we bluffing or have we already folded? :box:

From The Herlad.

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/3051683/Thomson-heading-south.html I'm astounded if all we can get for Thomson is a return on our money from when he signed. There must be something else to this transfer.

Walter Smith has confirmed he wants at least two new signings before the start of the new season. More...

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/editor-s-picks/rangers-move-for-oz-star-brett-holman-1.1041689 Loans are no good IMO - I don't think players are as motivated as they would be on permanent deals.

Chris Eagles has turned down the chance to join SPL champions Rangers after the clubs agreed a fee. More...

Forget it.

Absolutely mental. Davie Cameron should do the same to England!

The UEFA cave in over Eduardo's dive, the constant publicity with regard to TBB, brings a wider question into play.... Exactly what powers do UEFA have that would stand up in a court of law, it is apparent that Arsenal's legal eagles called UEFA's bluff, pity others don't have the same backbone. Even Stevie Wonder could see he dived, but UEFA bottled it. ever wonder why.