Bougy�s off the hook

[ian1964 10,720]

MADJID BOUGHERRA has talked his way out of a Rangers fine - after Walter Smith accepted the stopper's reason for going AWOL.

 

Bougy faced showdown talks with Smith after missing Saturday's win at St Johnstone.

 

But the Gers boss has been convinced Bougherra was not at fault for failing to report back on time from international duty.

 

The Algerian revealed he had his bag containing his passport and phone stolen in Paris just before he was due to fly back to Glasgow.

 

Smith said: "Madjid has explained the circumstances which led him to be late back from international duty and I accept what he's had to say.

 

"Initially I was led to believe his belongings were stolen on Monday, but it turns out that happened on Thursday.

 

"In fairness, his agent contacted Ally McCoist and told him of the situation. Having now spoken to Madjid there's no problem.

 

"That is the matter closed now."

 

Bougherra, who watched the win in Perth on the internet, is now bracing himself for an epic autumn as Gers defend the SPL title and chase a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

 

He's also eyeing a place in both the World Cup Finals and African Cup of Nations when Algeria head for Egypt next month.

 

Bougherra, 27, said: "I would say this is probably going to be the most important month of my entire career for club and country.

 

"I hope to play against Unirea Urziceni on Tuesday and we know a win would help our chances of reaching the next phase.

 

"We also have some huge matches coming up in the league and I have one eye on the game against Egypt with Algeria."

 

Victory over Egypt would also send the Desert Foxes to the African finals in Angola in January - and rule out Bougy for up to a month of domestic action.

 

But he won't leave Scotland until after the Old Firm derby at New Year.

 

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/spl/2688388/Bougys-off-the-hook.html

[Super_Ally 0]

So it was shit stirring from the Scottish Press as usual then.

[Union City Blue 0]

So it was shit stirring from the Scottish Press as usual then.

 

Not necessarily.

 

Smith said after the game on Saturday that he didn't even know what the problem was because he hadn't spoken to Bougherra. He was not happy.

 

Didn't look too good (even at that point), so generally speaking, it was fair to report.

 

IMHO.

[Super_Ally 0]

Not necessarily.

 

Smith said after the game on Saturday that he didn't even know what the problem was because he hadn't spoken to Bougherra. He was not happy.

 

Didn't look too good (even at that point), so generally speaking, it was fair to report.

 

IMHO.

 

Aye, I guess. Alluding to the more extreme possibility sells more papers than a "wait and see" approach and I guess Walter's comments made it more easy for them. But it is better normally to wait for real answers and not jump to conclusions.

 

Plus I like to have a good moan at our scum media.

[Bluedell 5,612]

It takes 5 minutes to make a call to report it and give the full story to Smith. The delay in doing that suggests that there is more to the story and this is just a cover-up.

[chilledbear 16]

["In fairness, his agent contacted Ally McCoist and told him of the situation. Having now spoken to Madjid there's no problem''.]

 

Do Ally and Walter not talk to each other?

[Frankie 8,552]

All seems a bit strange.

 

The game against Rwanda was last Sunday - 8 days ago. Even accounting for a couple of days off after that, why did it take him until Thursday to travel back? Even taking that as fair enough, the story that he couldn't contact the club after he had his stuff nicked is nonsense.

 

Seems to me the club are trying their best to bury the story so as not to punish him in the same way they punished McGregor and Ferguson.

 

Next time they should send a club employee to meet Bougherra in Paris.

[Gazza_8 233]

The media putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with 5.

 

However, as Frankie said, I think the club are trying to sweep the story under the arpet ASAP as I think they think by fining Boogie they'd be pushing him out the door.

[Frankie 8,552]

Club management have also been naive. They should have said nothing publicly until they knew the full story other than Bougherra hasn't been selected due to travelling problems and a lack of match preparation.

 

Anything else just lends weight to conspiracy theories.

[maineflyer 0]

This isn't down to the media. If the Rangers manager stands in front of a camera as late as Saturday and says he doesn't know what's going on then I don't need the media to tell me something isn't right.

 

It's obvious that Smith is now simply taking a pragmatic approach to ensure Bougherra plays this week. Let's hope that doesn't further erode dressing room morale and come back to bite his arse later on. Whatever way you look at this, neither our management team nor Bougherra come out of it looking particularly good.

 

The one thing I will say in Smith's defence is that the situation wasn't of his making and he has at least taken a decision in the interests of the club, albeit the short term interests.