Rangers 2013/14 - For Queen and financial shenangians

[PedroSpecialK]

As the Rangers thread was locked, I figured this was as good a place as any for this bit of news. 
 
Rangers put £200,000 raised from a charity match v. A.C. Milan into the club
 
 
 

The fundraising game between Rangers Legends and AC Milan Glorie took place after the club entered administration.
 
A complaint was raised after it emerged that almost £200,000 went to the club rather than the charity.
 
The Scottish Charity Regulator has now ruled that the decision-making of the trustees "constituted misconduct".
 
However, it decided not to take action against any of the trustees.

...

 
One of the trustees alerted the administrators, from Duff and Phelps, of the club's commitment to provide support for the event.

 

 
The report states that the trustee believed there was a risk that the administrators would not allow the game to go ahead if it was not in the interests of creditors.
 
The charity's decision-making process, which allowed important decisions to be made by one trustee acting alone, was in breach of trustees' duties”
 
Scottish Charity Regulator
The trustee agreed to assign control of the income from the charity match to the administrators to ensure that the club could recover costs.
 
Before this decision, the Rangers Charity Foundation had been due to receive 60% of the net profit from the game plus a management fee of £25,000.
 
As a result of the trustee assigning income control to the administrators, the charity only received 10% of the net profit - £38,286 - plus the management fee.
 
This meant that £191,430 of profit that had been due to go to the charity went to the administrators who were running club.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Rangers probably deserve a new thread to talk about the Jets-like farce they're engaging in.
 
Rangers are a clusterfuck right now. Charles Green is back as an adviser, which caused Walter Smith to resign as chairman. Green and McCoist are already at each others' throats. And Rangers just lost to Forfar Athletic.
 
Good times are here again.

 

[mic99]

I love Charles Green
 
"At the weekend,  the Rangers manager Ally McCoist described you as an embarrassment to the club. How do you respond to that?"
"Well, he's entitled to his opinion"
"Is he right?"
"No, he's not right at all"
"Have you embarrassed Rangers?"
"Many times"
 
http://sport.stv.tv/football/235255-charles-green-tells-stv-his-consortium-would-sell-rangers-stake/
 
 

 

[inter tatters]

*Opens himself up to ridicule*
 
As a life-long Rangers supporter, yup there I said it - I was also the one who opened the previous thread on them a couple of years back - the embarassment this club has caused me over the last year is just ridiculous.
 
I live in Sheffield, England now and my United-supporting friends, who lived through when Charles Green turned their team upside down, warned me of the dangers of the man's gob - I guess we quickly learned that a leopard can't change it's spots!
 
Oh well, I'm just waiting for Ally McCoist to follow Walter Smith out the door and the destruction of the club will be complete, season tickets will fall like confetti on the pitch at the next home game - as most of them were bought when Walter Smith assured the fans the boardroom troubles were over - and the team will sleep-walk into another financial meltdown.
 
The one reason Rangers were never going to completely disappear last year, was because of the backing of their astounding fans, who would stick to their club through thick and thin, but even the most ardent Bear is having their mettle tested by this latest farce. 
 
Oh and one last thing - anyone out there, and I know there won't be many, that is even remotely interested in the real story of what happened to Rangers over the last couple of years, can I recommend an astounding book called "Follow We Will - the Fall and Rise of Rangers" (available on Amazon, etc) - it cuts through all the innuendo, lies and downright BS that was spouted by the media and various parties that stuck their noses in and tells it as it really was, with facts, figures and direct quotes.
 
As for this season, I'll pop up now and again with match reports and the like if anyone is interested at all?

 

[CodPiece XL]

Ally and Craig Mather demand answers as to why Rangers were fined for going into Admin and Hearts were not. .
 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2383443/Rangers-boss-Ally-McCoist-adds-voice-Hearts-administration-row.html
 
Umm…..you didn’t pay your taxes….by the way, your lawyer asked that you be fined.
 
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1961&newsID=12282&newsCategoryID=1

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

inter, you're a brave fellow, hopefully we'll take it easy on you in here.

 

[inter tatters]

Ally and Craig Mather demand answers as to why Rangers were fined for going into Admin and Hearts were not. .
 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2383443/Rangers-boss-Ally-McCoist-adds-voice-Hearts-administration-row.html
 
Umm…..you didn’t pay your taxes….by the way, your lawyer asked that you be fined.
 
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1961&newsID=12282&newsCategoryID=1

 
It's not so much the fine that bothers me or most other supporters so much, it's that Hearts were only given a 6-month ban on registering new players for going into administration, whereas Rangers were given a year. One rule for all anyone?
 
That ban manifested itself in Ally being forced to play a hugely weakened side at Forfar on Saturday, as the team has sold loads of players from last years squad, and had 5 new 'signings' ready to replace them, but they can't play until Sept 1st - Ally was panicking about this last Thursday and, alas, it transpired exactly as he had feared.

 

[CodPiece XL]

*Opens himself up to ridicule*
 
As a life-long Rangers supporter, yup there I said it - I was also the one who opened the previous thread on them a couple of years back - the embarassment this club has caused me over the last year is just ridiculous.
 
I live in Sheffield, England now and my United-supporting friends, who lived through when Charles Green turned their team upside down, warned me of the dangers of the man's gob - I guess we quickly learned that a leopard can't change it's spots!
 
Oh well, I'm just waiting for Ally McCoist to follow Walter Smith out the door and the destruction of the club will be complete, season tickets will fall like confetti on the pitch at the next home game - as most of them were bought when Walter Smith assured the fans the boardroom troubles were over - and the team will sleep-walk into another financial meltdown.
 
The one reason Rangers were never going to completely disappear last year, was because of the backing of their astounding fans, who would stick to their club through thick and thin, but even the most ardent Bear is having their mettle tested by this latest farce. 
 
Oh and one last thing - anyone out there, and I know there won't be many, that is even remotely interested in the real story of what happened to Rangers over the last couple of years, can I recommend an astounding book called "Follow We Will - the Fall and Rise of Rangers" (available on Amazon, etc) - it cuts through all the innuendo, lies and downright BS that was spouted by the media and various parties that stuck their noses in and tells it as it really was, with facts, figures and direct quotes.
 
As for this season, I'll pop up now and again with match reports and the like if anyone is interested at all?

 
 
I'll say one thing, I fully expected Rangers would be playing in front of about 10,000 fans given they were playing in the bottom tier of Scottish football. Even in the middle a dricht Scottish winter they kept showing up. I know they have a rabid support but still over 40K per game surprised me even at Christmas time.
 
I remember away back in the early 90's Celtic were on the brink. I was so disgusted by the lack of direction I even called a radio phone in...I think it was Sportsound. I vented my anger and I'm pretty positive I said " You only have to look at a certain team on the west side of Glasgow to see how a team should be run". Wow....how times changed.

 

[CodPiece XL]

 
It's not so much the fine that bothers me or most other supporters so much, it's that Hearts were only given a 6-month ban on registering new players for going into administration, whereas Rangers were given a year. One rule for all anyone?
 
That ban manifested itself in Ally being forced to play a hugely weakened side at Forfar on Saturday, as the team has sold loads of players from last years squad, and had 5 new 'signings' ready to replace them, but they can't play until Sept 1st - Ally was panicking about this last Thursday and, alas, it transpired exactly as he had feared.

 
I may be wrong here and I'll gladly stand corrected but wasn't the ban on signing players not just about going into admin? They were found guilty of a number of charges bringing the game into disrepute, failing to pay Dundee Utd gate receipts, failing to disclose Craig Whyte was disqualified as a director etc. I know there were various fines, a signing ban but I can't remember which punishment was for which breach. The SFA didn't exactly cover themselves in glory for sure...should they not have checked on Whyte's background? It had a bit of a making it up as you go along feel about it, I don't think they had made provisions for such a debacle. However, that being said, they did transfer membership from Rangers  to a new Rangers ( debt free)   unlike Livingstone and Gretna.

 

[inter tatters]

 
I may be wrong here and I'll gladly stand corrected but wasn't the ban on signing players not just about going into admin? They were found guilty of a number of charges bringing the game into disrepute, failing to pay Dundee Utd gate receipts, failing to disclose Craig Whyte was disqualified as a director etc. I know there were various fines, a signing ban but I can't remember which punishment was for which breach. The SFA didn't exactly cover themselves in glory for sure...should they not have checked on Whyte's background? It had a bit of a making it up as you go along feel about it, I don't think they had made provisions for such a debacle. However, that being said, they did transfer membership from Rangers  to a new Rangers ( debt free)   unlike Livingstone and Gretna.

 
They were fined multiple times for all sorts of different things (£150k for the disrepute for one), including a fine for the EBT (Big Tax) case, which was found to be not proven! The Nimmo Smith inquiry found Rangers shouldn't have been found liable for all sorts of things, but the SFA couldn't have that (especially with the likes of Lawell and Thompson baying for blood), so slapped them especially hard whith whatever fines they felt they could get away with.
 
The book I mentioned above documents this stuff in minute detail - even the famous time Charles Green tried to salvage Rangers' SPL position by offering to forfeit 5 of Rangers' titles. I think you can imagine how well THAT went down with the Bears when it became public knowledge
 
The main point being, that Rangers were given a £50k fine and a year's ban on registering players for going into administration solely. That is beyond doubt and was written in the 'Judgement' handed down by the SFA. So why were Hearts treated differently?

 

[Dummy Hoy]

Inter-

Did you make it to the preseason match at Hillsborough? Wednesday fans had a lot of praise for the number and quality of Rangers fans that showed up.

 

[inter tatters]

Inter-

Did you make it to the preseason match at Hillsborough? Wednesday fans had a lot of praise for the number and quality of Rangers fans that showed up.

 
I did and I have to say it was one of the best games I've ever been to in terms of atmosphere - my voice has just about recovered from singing from start to finish, my legs have just about recovered from doing 'the bouncy' about 15 times and the passing of the "Lee Rigby RIP" flag around both sets of supporters left a lump in my throat. TBH, I couldn't care less about the result, the atmosphere was just fantastic!
 
Unfortunately the Scottish Media took it upon themselves to focus on a couple of idiotic fans singing "The Billy Boys" in the tunnels of the ground pre-game (there's a youtube vid somewhere), instead of acknowledging the praise given by the Wednesday supporters, including one of my mates who had never seen anything like it. They then show their obvious bias by classing the Celtic supporters' ripping of seats, pitch invasion and "Up the 'Ra" chants at Brentford as 'playful banter', despite the disgust shown by Brentford fans in various forums on the web.

 

[CodPiece XL]

 
They were fined multiple times for all sorts of different things (£150k for the disrepute for one), including a fine for the EBT (Big Tax) case, which was found to be not proven! The Nimmo Smith inquiry found Rangers shouldn't have been found liable for all sorts of things, but the SFA couldn't have that (especially with the likes of Lawell and Thompson baying for blood), so slapped them especially hard whith whatever fines they felt they could get away with.
 
The book I mentioned above documents this stuff in minute detail - even the famous time Charles Green tried to salvage Rangers' SPL position by offering to forfeit 5 of Rangers' titles. I think you can imagine how well THAT went down with the Bears when it became public knowledge
 
The main point being, that Rangers were given a £50k fine and a year's ban on registering players for going into administration solely. That is beyond doubt and was written in the 'Judgement' handed down by the SFA. So why were Hearts treated differently?

I thought  the ban was for a breach of rule 66, bringing the game into disrepute,  along with a 100K fine. It was later disputed that a ban on player signings was not  a punshment available to them. The sanctions were 100K fine, suspension or expulsion. The panel felt a fine was too lenient and suspension or expulsion was too harsh. So why the player ban? Rule 94.1 states a judicial panel will be " sole judge"  when a club in any way brings the game into disrepute". Rule 95 states that an independent panel can impose ANY sanction it wishes outwith the guidlines of the Judicial Panel Protocol, ergo it was just a guidline. So why not just a fine you ask? I think it was because Craig Whyte deliberately and knowingly did not pay NI with a view to helping his case ( Tax case and potential CVA) and they felt that was a severe breach of the rules that warrnted more than just a fine.  
 
Later, when the CVA was rejected, the SFA stated that in order to have the SFA membership transferred to debt free Rangers they must accept the the player ban. That in itself was a small price to pay to gain entry into the third division without having to go through the junior leagues don't you think? Of course, the SFA would not want that to happen since they recognize Rangers as being the cash cow it is. As much as Rangers fans may feel sinned against , I think the SFA broke their own protocol by allowing them to waltz back into the league. Now, you may question how independent a panel was, I probably would too. I know Rangers fans who believe Lawell had his grubby hands all over this...and he was also responsible for the CVA being rejected.

 

[inter tatters]

I thought  the ban was for a breach of rule 66, bringing the game into disrepute,  along with a 100K fine. It was later disputed that a ban on player signings was not  a punshment available to them. The sanctions were 100K fine, suspension or expulsion. The panel felt a fine was too lenient and suspension or expulsion was too harsh. So why the player ban? Rule 94.1 states a judicial panel will be " sole judge"  when a club in any way brings the game into disrepute". Rule 95 states that an independent panel can impose ANY sanction it wishes outwith the guidlines of the Judicial Panel Protocol, ergo it was just a guidline. So why not just a fine you ask? I think it was because Craig Whyte deliberately and knowingly did not pay NI with a view to helping his case ( Tax case and potential CVA) and they felt that was a severe breach of the rules that warrnted more than just a fine.  
 
Later, when the CVA was rejected, the SFA stated that in order to have the SFA membership transferred to debt free Rangers they must accept the the player ban. That in itself was a small price to pay to gain entry into the third division without having to go through the junior leagues don't you think? Of course, the SFA would not want that to happen since they recognize Rangers as being the cash cow it is. As much as Rangers fans may feel sinned against , I think the SFA broke their own protocol by allowing them to waltz back into the league. Now, you may question how independent a panel was, I probably would too. I know Rangers fans who believe Lawell had his grubby hands all over this...and he was also responsible for the CVA being rejected.

 
I don't disagree that the SFA pushed through the player ban when the CVA was rejected, but the fact that it was set at a year right from the start didn't alow any wiggle room at all.
 
The whole 'Independance' of the panel thing still stinks to high-heaven. When Lord Nimmo Smith found that Rangers were 'Not Proven' of any of the charges the SFA wanted to charge them with (EBT's being the main one) and fined them just £150k for not reporting the details, Lawell, Thompson et al went ballistic. They were expecting titles to be stripped, Rangers history torn down, the whole shebang and when it wasn't, they even started questioning the independance of Lord Smith himself! Everything that followed that - the CVA rejection, the fines, the player ban, the works, led to more and more dumping on Rangers and it's hard as a supporter not to link the two.
 
The only thing they didn't do, as you pointed out, was make Rangers start in the Junior Leagues (as I mentioned earlier, they even negotiated with Charles Green about vacating titles for holding on to their SPL status) and they only did that as they knew many clubs wouldn't survive without the away gate Rangers' fans bring and were protecting their own arses and that still didn't work, just look at Dunfermerline and Hearts.

 

[inter tatters]

One last thing before I put the whole 'last year' thing behind me for the time-being (and if you want to know more, please read that book I mentioned, it really does cover EVERY gory detail - and is backed with a forward by Walter Smith BTW)...
 
I have never worried too much about what happened to Rangers and, I think, they deserved most of it, quite frankly, simply for being stupid to even consider getting into dealings with the conman that was Craig Whyte. Whatever you may have thought about Sir David Murray's 'dealings' he wasn't found guilty of doing anything illegal, just being stupid in not checking the background of the guy he sold the club to and letting them slide too far before he sold!
 
However, there does seem to be a faction within the Scottish Media that is still trying to denigrate the club at every turn, with sensational headlines appearing seemingly every day bombarding the supporters to the point they get dizzy - most of it is half-truths and the rest downright BS. If people would just let the club be for a while, maybe they could just get on with the job at hand and the merry-go-round the club seems to be on might just stop. END OF RANT!!!

 

[CodPiece XL]

 
I don't disagree that the SFA pushed through the player ban when the CVA was rejected, but the fact that it was set at a year right from the start didn't alow any wiggle room at all.
 
The whole 'Independance' of the panel thing still stinks to high-heaven. When Lord Nimmo Smith found that Rangers were 'Not Proven' of any of the charges the SFA wanted to charge them with (EBT's being the main one) and fined them just £150k for not reporting the details, Lawell, Thompson et al went ballistic. They were expecting titles to be stripped, Rangers history torn down, the whole shebang and when it wasn't, they even started questioning the independance of Lord Smith himself! Everything that followed that - the CVA rejection, the fines, the player ban, the works, led to more and more dumping on Rangers and it's hard as a supporter not to link the two.
 
The only thing they didn't do, as you pointed out, was make Rangers start in the Junior Leagues (as I mentioned earlier, they even negotiated with Charles Green about vacating titles for holding on to their SPL status) and they only did that as they knew many clubs wouldn't survive without the away gate Rangers' fans bring and were protecting their own arses and that still didn't work, just look at Dunfermerline and Hearts.

 
Well, that in a way, is my point. Typically a six month ban on player signings is for going into Admin, this was for bringing the game into disrepute therefore it was seen as being a more severe breach of the rules, hence a longer ban. One can argue about the length of the ban but they didn't exactly leave them high and dry. There were plenty of signings before the ban started admittedly not an ideal way to get a squad together for a season.
 
I think the whole getting stripped of titles was more of a hysetrical myth in retrospect. Lord Nimmo Smith didn't find them not guilty. He found that Rangers breached SPL and SFA rules over an 11 year period due to non-disclosure of financial arrangements made to certain players. He found that they gained NO MATERIAL ADVANTAGE. In a way I find it odd, by promising a player more money you could potentially attract players that otherwise would not sign for Rangers, however, that is speculation and we will never know. Maybe the odd 50K tax free did make a difference..I don't know.
 
Stripping of Titles: seriously, the ramifications for the SFA would have been severe. If the players were considered unlawfully registered this also implicates the SFA into fielding unlawfully registered players at the international level as well as the not having registered foreign players playing within Scotland. Scotland could have been banned from competeing at international level. I think everyone just wanted this to go away and move on.
 
Isn't the tax case under appeal?

 

[CodPiece XL]

One last thing before I put the whole 'last year' thing behind me for the time-being (and if you want to know more, please read that book I mentioned, it really does cover EVERY gory detail - and is backed with a forward by Walter Smith BTW)...
 
I have never worried too much about what happened to Rangers and, I think, they deserved most of it, quite frankly, simply for being stupid to even consider getting into dealings with the conman that was Craig Whyte. Whatever you may have thought about Sir David Murray's 'dealings' he wasn't found guilty of doing anything illegal, just being stupid in not checking the background of the guy he sold the club to and letting them slide too far before he sold!
 
However, there does seem to be a faction within the Scottish Media that is still trying to denigrate the club at every turn, with sensational headlines appearing seemingly every day bombarding the supporters to the point they get dizzy - most of it is half-truths and the rest downright BS. If people would just let the club be for a while, maybe they could just get on with the job at hand and the merry-go-round the club seems to be on might just stop. END OF RANT!!!

 
 
It's weird, I see it as being the opposite to some degree. Radio Clyde , Sportsound etc is filled with ex Rangers players. The sensational headlines ? Well you have a walking soundbite in Green, from denouncing Aston Villa, having a $10 M transfer war chest, saying Man UTD wanted them playing in the EPL, to on going talks with the Dallas Cowboys. Remember when he said he would show an e-mail from the Dallas Cowboys offscreen to STV, well...they are still waiting.
 
Don't you think Rangers bring some of this on themselves? With all the in fighting and running to the press to "leak" stories? Honestly, I think it goes both ways. Green mocking his team as the worst ever, Coisty telling Green to keep his mouth shut at press interviews? It goes on and on....it truly is a circus.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

 
 
It's weird, I see it as being the opposite to some degree. Radio Clyde , Sportsound etc is filled with ex Rangers players. The sensational headlines ? Well you have a walking soundbite in Green, from denouncing Aston Villa, having a $10 M transfer war chest, saying Man UTD wanted them playing in the EPL, to on going talks with the Dallas Cowboys. Remember when he said he would show an e-mail from the Dallas Cowboys offscreen to STV, well...they are still waiting.
 
Don't you think Rangers bring some of this on themselves? With all the in fighting and running to the press to "leak" stories? Honestly, I think it goes both ways. Green mocking his team as the worst ever, Coisty telling Green to keep his mouth shut at press interviews? It goes on and on....it truly is a circus.

 
Which is why I made the Jets analogy at the beginning of the thread. Some of this stuff comes from without, but a great deal of it comes from within.
 
BTW inter I want to thank you for participating here. You're outnumbered but your input is appreciated.

 

[CodPiece XL]

 
Which is why I made the Jets analogy at the beginning of the thread. Some of this stuff comes from without, but a great deal of it comes from within.
 
BTW inter I want to thank you for participating here. You're outnumbered but your input is appreciated.

 
 
I was just coming here to say that. I appreciate Inter posting here. I don't want him thinking that I am posting here to pile it on. My posts were based on my understanding of events that transpired last year and I am still confused at what is going on. I have no clue what the end game is here. I know lots of Rangers fans ( good buddies), some fans I admit I dislike enormously due to their attitude. They simply hate Celtic fans just because they support Celtic, I know Celtic fans just like that too who I detest equally. It's good getting another fans perspective on things. If I can find that book here in the U.S I certianly don't mind buying it.....as long as profits don't don't wind up in the Rangers coffers of course.......
 
Edit: I also tend to be a wee bit more emotional about Rangers on the Celtic thread when certain posters claim to be missing Rangers..yeah you Fletch and TAMR

 

[inter tatters]

To be fair, living out of the cauldron of Glasgow allows you a bit more perspective of what actually happens between each club - even when I was there I had Celtic fans for friends and we had a bit of banter every day in the office, but we turned into mortal enemies on Old Firm day, as I'm sure a lot of others do! Down here I watch the United and Wednesday fans sniping at each other and I just laugh, cos it's the equivalent of play fighting in comparison.
 
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the ban, last Saturday showed, for the first time really, how it has manifested itself - with Ally forced to play a shadow squad, that will also have to play for the next couple of games, until all the ex-SPL players can come in on September 1st - that is as long as the SFA don't decide to punish Rangers more and not register the players for some unknown 'boardroom' or 'procedural' issue (I kid, I kid...mostly!!! haha)
 
My comments on the media, while fueled by quotes from 'insiders' and official idiotic crap from Green et al, were directed at the fact that there still seems to be a bit of bias in them - take the different reporting of the Friendlies I mentioned above for example - that and one guy in particular, Graham Spiers who works for the BBC and one of the papers, who continues to spout crap about Rangers' history, continues to claim they broke all kinds of laws and just generally talks BS and you can't get away from him.
 
Thanks for the welcome guys, I'm sure there will be more back and forth over the season!

 

[inter tatters]

Edit: I also tend to be a wee bit more emotional about Rangers on the Celtic thread when certain posters claim to be missing Rangers..yeah you Fletch and TAMR

 
Interesting you should say that, as I was reading a piece in the Scottish Sunday Mail this weekend, that suggested the Police in Glasgow WANT the Old Firm Game back - their reasoning was that it allows the City's respective fanbases to let off steam 4 times a year, get all the crap out of their system and keep other games, which became more difficult to police, calmer throughout the season.

 

[inter tatters]

Good to finally put some of the crap of the last week behind us and start the league season with a big win, 4-1 over Brechin at Ibrox. Goals from Chris Hegarty, Andy Little, Dean Shiels and Ian Black. Had a bit of a wobble for 10mins where we let them back into the game at 2-1, but we dominated that much and had enough chances to be up 5-0 at HT.
 
Also great to see Rangers legend Sandy Jardine unfurling 3rd Division Champions flag pre-game. He's been ill for the last 9 months and it's things like that should, hopefully, stop the boardroom nonsense from overshadowing the stuff the Bear on the street cares about - winning games.

 

[inter tatters]

In case you missed the flag the Bears were holding on Saturday - not difficult to see which side the fans are on in the boardroom power struggle!
 

 

[inter tatters]

Sorry for the lack of posts, been on holiday for the last 2 weeks. Suffice to say, the table says it all - 4 games, 4 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws, 18 goals for, 1 against, +17 GD - and all this before the transfer embargo ends and Rangers get all the new players in the squad for this weekend's game!
 
Needless to say, this was what every Rangers fan was looking for from the team last season - beating up on the 'smaller' teams and playing excellent football - but instead we often got slow, ponderous displays that led to edgy draws or small margin wins at home and an often disgruntled fan base. Hope the new influx of players doesn't spoil it and they're made to work for their places, rather than being handed them on a plate.
 
One last thing, great to see Lee Wallace finally picked for the Scotland squad for the upcoming friendlies. He's been one of the real quality Scottish players in all the divisions in Scotland and the former regime's insistence on not picking players from the lower-Divisions was ridiculous in the face of his displays last term.

 

[inter tatters]

First game after the transfer ban and Ally did what every Rangers fan hoped he wouldn't - brought 7 of his 8 new signings into the side. As you would expect, a horribly disjointed performance ensued.
 
To say the 5-1 scoreline is flattering, would be the understatement of the year - it was 0-0 at HT, 0-1 to Arbroath a minute into the 2nd half. Only a change to take out the completely ineffective Nicky Clark for David Templeton and to move Andrew Little up front alongside Jon Daly that they finally got the train moving. It was really only once Rangers got 2-1 in front and Arbroath had no choice but to open up and try to get back into it, that Rangers had the space to cut loose.
 
That said, another hat-trick for Lee McCulloch and 23 goals in 5 matches for the team is not to be sniffed at. Just hope Ally gets them to take a long, hard look at the video and gets them to gel a bit more for next week.

 

[inter tatters]

OK, so maybe Ally was right about the 'big-name' signings, just your average, run-of-the-mill, 8-0 win over Stenhousemuir on Saturday!

 

[inter tatters]

So, while the boardroom BS continues, the team continues to win.

McCoist was all over the papers this weekend claiming it will be 'Impossible' for his team to go through the entire season undefeated - citing games like tonight's trip to Arbroath, site of one of Rangers' slip-ups in Division 3 last season, as the kind of game Rangers will likely lose at some point this term. Ally was his usual jovial self, describing Arbroath's Gayfield ground as a place where you, "choose your end at the coin-toss depending on the direction of the tide".

He did however, claim that Rangers would be a decent SPL side as constructed now, admitting that his side would match up well with every other side in the Division, except Celtic, who are light years ahead everyone else with their financial strength.

 

[CodPiece XL]

Umm, no disrespect...but their payroll is second highest in all of the Scottish Leagues ( behind Celtic).  Would they not be expected to stroll through the leagues against part time plumbers , electricians and car mechanics who train for about 2 hours a week?
 
This is a serious question...would it not have been more prudent having a payroll at least equitable with their league status given they are hemorraging over 1M a month currently? They are spending money like they are trying to compete against opposition from the top leagues. Wasn't that the same philisophy that got Oldco into the shit they found themselves in ?
 
I've played at Arbroath.....if the wind is blowing in off the North Sea it's frigid. They didn't have a main stand when I played....I think it was two small ones. Nice fish n' chips though...

 

[CodPiece XL]

The natives appear to be a little restless at the AGM today:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB4IUh8pjKA