Rangers banter 2

24 Apr 2024 20:52:53
Pound for pound is Ben Davies the worst ever signing at 4 million?

24 Apr 2024 21:01:11
I see your ben davies and raise you Carlos pena, james beattie, marcus gayle, daniel prodan.

24 Apr 2024 21:08:09
Sure Beattie was only a loan no fee involved nah?

24 Apr 2024 21:08:57
Fair point but still think we could get 3-4m for him from a championship team and given what's going on outside of football for him I won't give him a hard time.

24 Apr 2024 21:47:55
Beattie signed 2 year deal. Rumoured 1.8 million.

24 Apr 2024 22:20:47
Paul why bring Prodan into it, no respect for the dead.

24 Apr 2024 22:49:58
Give it a rest john. Yes respect the dead. But he will forever go down as pound for pound one of or worst signings as he didn't play. Put i to perspective if craig whyte was to die we would then not be allowed to say a bad word about him anymore because he died.

24 Apr 2024 22:50:34
John I don’t think that is any way disrespectful to the memory of Daniel Prodan
He was signed by the club and never kicked a ball so yes it was a bad signing, his death at such a young age was a tragedy but surely people can still talk about his football life in a purely sporting context.

24 Apr 2024 23:10:56
Holy crap. How did I not know he was dead?
Way to break the news guys.

24 Apr 2024 23:16:19
I'm sure in the 9 in a row years we had a lot worse that cost more in signing and wages
(Cant be bothered looking)

24 Apr 2024 23:32:27
Michael Ball.

25 Apr 2024 00:29:18
Simababyjive someone talking sense.

25 Apr 2024 03:57:25
He got a bad injury these things can happen at a club but at the time he was one of the best right backs in Europe.

25 Apr 2024 05:46:41
John27 get a grip mate there wasnt any malice or disrespect in Paul's response same can't be said for yours tho.

25 Apr 2024 05:57:36
He was a CH storm. He was indeed very highly rated.

25 Apr 2024 07:22:43
Oleg Kuznetsov. Crocked 1st or 2nd game.
Joined along with Alexei Mikhailichenko ( what a left peg ) .

25 Apr 2024 07:31:51
Find that a very strange comment John, some people probably don't even know the guy passed away. Life is so busy for some fans it's hard enough to find time to watch the game let alone know a player from 30 years ago has passed away.

25 Apr 2024 07:42:11
Francis Jeffers.

25 Apr 2024 08:26:59
The list is endless to be fair.

25 Apr 2024 08:32:45
flo enough said.

25 Apr 2024 09:40:39
Tore Andre Flo never gave us enough as a 12 million pound player, but he scored more than a goal every 2 games then we recouped 6.75m of the fee, so I wouldn't say it was the worst signing in my opinion.

25 Apr 2024 10:18:46
I thought he played right back Paul silly me 😂.

25 Apr 2024 11:04:19
I didn't even know Prodan had passed away.

25 Apr 2024 12:43:24
Michael Ball probably didn’t live up to that fee and we paid it, but he certainly wasn’t a failure of a player, he was decent, unfair to mention him with some of the other names.

24 Apr 2024 12:09:19
Do you think it would be a good idea if we deliberately navigate our way to the europa conference league we have a high chance of winning it plus it will be 12M for the winners plus a cup all the qualifying rounds total 12M plus the ticket sales.

24 Apr 2024 12:27:42
A high chance? Not sure about that. Also champs league money is crazy this coming season which the club are very much in need of.

24 Apr 2024 12:57:41
Firstly, not sure rangers should be deliberately losing games just to end up in the Europa Conference.
Secondly, we should always be striving to test ourselves at the highest level possible.
And lastly, the semi-finals are contested by Villa ( 4th in the EPL ) , Brugges ( a team who have done well previously in the CL ) , Italian and Greek team.
No mugs at that level anymore.

24 Apr 2024 13:18:14
Are you joking? Why in God's name would we intentionally sacrifice the chance to play in the biggest club competition in the world to drop into a lower level? Also, "high chance of winning"?! Eh?
If ever a post wasn't thought out, this is it.

24 Apr 2024 13:23:08
I never want my club in that competion.

24 Apr 2024 13:45:11
We could make over 24 million from 8 games in c. l then potentially drop into europa, make more money. If we can't beat motherwell, rc and dundee how do we have a high chance of winning it? Any the 3 euro comps are full of quality at the later stages.

24 Apr 2024 15:04:36
No europa league drop down this year i don't think boy blue.

24 Apr 2024 16:37:37
Cool paul cheers mate 👍.

24 Apr 2024 16:38:13
Paul I'm sure we do drop into el if we fail to qualify for cl.

24 Apr 2024 16:54:31
I’m fairly certain that ‘deliberately navigating’ a drop down into a different competition would be considered match fixing. No professional sportsperson, who by character, are hardwired to aim to win, would deliberately want to lose as a small fish in a big pond to win as a bigger fish in a smaller pond. I find this notion preposterous.

24 Apr 2024 18:26:06
This year in the conf league you have Aston Villa, Olyimpiacos, Fiorentena, Fenerbache, Ajax, Betis, Frankfurt. you say high chance, I say low chance, very low. Deliberately navigating into this comp, how would that work.

24 apr 2024 18:37:48
balderdash, nae, bunkum.

24 Apr 2024 19:32:45
Really is the most ridiculous thing I have read on here in a while Fred 👍.

24 Apr 2024 19:44:19
Pretty sure Paul is right no drop into EL from group stages 1-8 straight into last 16 9-24 play off winners through 25-32 out of Europ.

24 Apr 2024 19:48:38
Nae nae Mr wilks.

24 Apr 2024 20:14:23
One walter yes but not if we make group stages.

24 Apr 2024 21:02:09
Up there with some of the worst posts I have seen.

24 Apr 2024 23:27:18
The champions league is just a leathering for us. Pointless. Money fine but to watch our team get kicked around like an empty fag packet is not enjoyable.

24 Apr 2024 08:24:21
Do u think guys that we tend to go for supposed "ready players" in the market? Rather than promote youth from the rank and file, opportunities seem to bypass some of the better youth to our cost, a few in here saying we are losing the likes of lovelace, rice, nsio and yfeko, that's just doesn't sit right.

24 Apr 2024 09:37:17
Problem is when do you give them a run in the team, especially 3 or 4 of them, when every game seems to be a must win or now that we have 6 cup finals till end of season?
(& yes I can fully understand why these lads want to move on)

24 Apr 2024 10:10:33
Would like to see these boys get game time this season if/ when we are in the cruise and 2/ 3 goals up. I know that may not be very often now! Play them through pre season and give them some momentum before the season starts. Time to play them or let them loose. Squad is going to be rebuilt and needs to be the best of youth mixed with proven first team ready players. I expect and hope for a lot of change in the close season.

24 Apr 2024 10:49:08
Our fans have never accepted playing youth players unless they were exceptional.

Just look at the reactions to McCrorie and McAusland the last two seasons, who did very well by any standards for breakthrough performances.

I've said before on here, our support has been the same with young players since Murray bought the club.

Even exceptional players like Barry Ferguson weren't immediately accepted. It took Advocaat coming in to make him a first pick. He should have been the season before, we'd have won 10.

Unfortunately, we're a support that struggle to accept our own youth players, we prefer to go and bring in other peoples who are arguably no better.

24 Apr 2024 11:09:54
Imagine the reaction if any manager played 6 or 7 young lads in the league Cup and they got beat! If your good enough your old enough.

24 Apr 2024 11:20:48
Think Clement will look to blood a few in next season, he has a history of promoting youth players at previous clubs.

24 Apr 2024 11:43:53
Why do so many people when speaking about youth jump to playing 6 or 7 at one time? When that would never ever happen.

24 Apr 2024 11:47:44
A think the Lovelace injury stopped him getting a run in the team, unless someone is the next Messi it’s all down to luck, McCaualand and Paterson would not of got a run if not for injuries and the player having sometimes just 90 mins to prove their worth.

24 Apr 2024 12:02:46
Young players need to stand out from the crowd by working hard on their fitness , strength and technical skills . Sadly a lot of youngsters think they’ve made it by being part of the youth set up, if they want to make the next step it takes determination and hard work. So many youngsters just fade a way after showing early promise sometimes it takes the shock of being told you’re no longer wanted for them to knuckle down, and this is across the whole football landscape it’s not a Rangers issue.

24 Apr 2024 13:00:14
A lot of young players are given the opportunity to train with the first team.
It's up to them to grab that opportunity with both hands when it arises.
The other issue is our expectations. McCausland done well when he first came in, was hampered by injury and is now being singled out. We don't exactly create an arena for them to thrive either at a club where 2nd is nothing.

24 Apr 2024 13:47:03
Good post mph.

24 Apr 2024 17:41:28
Boy blue I mentioned 6 or 7 as that's what many epl clubs do in the league Cup so used that as an example.

24 Apr 2024 18:11:41
They have to be good enough in the first place, you don't get to play for Rangers just because of your age. EPL have the best young players from all over the world we can't compete with that which is why you won't see an abundance of youth coming through, we have a better chance on getting failed youth from the EPL which are probably better than most players in the SPL.

24 Apr 2024 19:29:46
I'm all for giving youth a chance but from our academy in the last 10 years, realistically only Paterson and Gilmour have proven they were good enough, it's not like players leave our academy and then go on to play at a high standard somewhere else.

24 Apr 2024 22:25:25
Ows, that's because they're not really bothered if they win those cups mate. We always look to win every cup so wouldn't dare play 5 or 6 youngster's. Wasn't aimed at you mate just seems every time the topic arises, somebody always says what would the fans say if we got beat playing 5 or 6 youngster's? It wouldn't happen unless our manager didn't care about his job. 1 possibly 2, not 5 or 6.

24 Apr 2024 07:39:45
{Ed's Note - Lets Be Rational has posted a new article entitled, Has PGMOL turned into an impossible to overthrow dictatorship?

24 Apr 2024 07:54:37
Cracking post well written Article 👏.

24 Apr 2024 08:11:47
Ditto Stig👍.

24 Apr 2024 12:35:40
Well written piece but I don’t agree with some of it.
The premier league is the best league on the planet
Fans were keen to bring technology into the game to do away with the Monday morning post-mortems about offside, was the ball over the line, bad tackles, penalties etc. I personally never wanted any change to the way we officiated football matches because I felt the honest decision making of the officials just added to the drama and debate around the game. Sky television has pumped so much money into the PL so it loves to zoom in and analyse every moment and then for their commentators to feign shock and horror when the match officials supposedly get a shout wrong, they bloody love it. The genies out the bottle so not sure what we do as we move forward, VAR will always have a subjective element to it, it’s not a software package.

24 Apr 2024 12:45:19
Great Post Ed.

{Ed033's Note - i made the image [and the text within the image], but Lets Be Rational wrote the article. Glad you liked the article.

23 Apr 2024 23:47:19
I wish we would play 2 uptop, and form a strike partnership. Less burden on one man.

I'm sick of 433 and it's variations. We've played this way for years under various managers. Every team in the league knows how we play.

It's so one dimensional and easy to defend against. We always isolate our striker and wonder why we haven't had a 30goal a season man on the books. We also have fullbacks and wingers all trying to run into the same space it's just awful to watch and its been this way for years.

I hope moving forward if Clement gets backed we see a different style and formation.

He just doesn't have the personel at the minute and given when he came in, his main job was to steady the ship. And he's done great in that respect. He picked us up off the floor and got us competing again. No matter how this season pans out he deserves a lot of credit for that.

But personally I really do hope he rips the script up next season. I know football has moved on from 442 but how about a 352 or something?

24 Apr 2024 05:20:02
Always liked a 4 3 1 2. With a 10 behind the front 2 with free range.

24 Apr 2024 07:13:37
I'm a big fan of 2 strikers up top, but it seems to be a lot less fashionable now (Unless you're Coldo) . Could it work? Of course it could, it's the SPL we play in.

24 Apr 2024 07:56:40
Arcade - i get what you're saying bud but you'd be playing 3 CBs in 90% of our games where teams sit in against us.

24 Apr 2024 08:08:08
To be fair it has always puzzled me why we play with 1 striker against teams that sit back. We should be playing 2 strikers. Successful Rangers teams almost always played two strikers domestically with the exception sometimes against Celtic. Roofe and Morelos 4-1 v them during 55 comes to mind. Yeah absolutely no need to overload with midfielders.

24 Apr 2024 08:09:27
I always preferred 4 4 2.

24 Apr 2024 08:36:08
I agree mate. We've stubbornly stuck to this formation but not bought players to play that formation playing players out of position. Have always liked idea of 352 or variation. Gives better protection as fullbacks are more attacking these days. Would help solve the Tav arguments. And given we tend to play 2 defensive mids it's not really more defensive.

24 Apr 2024 10:33:32
Great to hear support for 442. Many CB not used to handling 2 up front - look at C-V against the sheep, did not look happy when facing two big lads.

But the actual point is we need plan B, and for that matter c, d and e. We always play the same way, the subs never change the shape, we are way too easy to read. The mob closed us down last time and Lunny was often struggling to find an out ball. We need to put out a formation appropriate to the opposition - and be able to adapt during the game.

The long ball is not sacrilegious. We are not Real / PSG / City - we don’t have to play it out from the back every time. Whenever I see Goldson shaping to give super JB yet another bouncing 20 yr back pass I’m off to find a fresh pair of Calvin Kleins!

Try Roofe and Dessy on together for 20 mins, change it up now and again? Cantwell came deep a lot on Sunday, found acres of space, and drove at them, I can see him playing in a midfield 4. Obviously not saying we should drop the formation that we know well, but we need other options.

24 Apr 2024 11:02:39
Ive been harping on about 2 up front for about 5 years, especially when at Ibrox 90% of the time not having two strikers up top for me is criminal, we would score far more goals than this supposed 3 attackers in the box, its nonsense one up top leaves or strikers far too isolated.

24 Apr 2024 13:03:08
2 up top is outdated whether we like it or not.
Most teams may have formations such as 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 etc but they are set up to be fluid in attack or defence.
The issue is having the personal capable of following / understanding the managers remit.

24 Apr 2024 13:27:24
Big fat no for me on the 2 up front.

It's outdated because it's not as effective on the ball as having a 10 playing between the lines and arriving late into the box.

I also think off the ball it makes a high press difficult.

Very few top managers play a front 2 for a reason.

24 Apr 2024 14:42:55
That's been the issue for years "understanding the managers remit". Maybe we should try a remit that keeps the game simple after all football is a simple game. 442 is not as outdated as we think., Inter played 422 all the way to the champs league final last year. Atl Madrid were playing 442. We have played 433 variations since we returned to the SPL in 2016 and it hasn't really been successful. So maybe it is time to try something else?

24 Apr 2024 15:08:42
Tommy, we haven't been that effective on and off the ball using variations of the 433 either. Inter Milan just won Seria A playing with a front two.

24 Apr 2024 16:29:51
There’s a reason why nearly every top manager doesn’t play with 2 strikers. You okay 442 you get out numbered in midfield you play 352 you are too defensive and for us a team in a league where every team sits behind the ball it would be pointless. We need to sign two good wingers and a striker who will be quick and can score and no one will complain about 433. Personnel is the problem not formation.

24 Apr 2024 17:03:00
Only way you work a 2 up top is if you're totally rigid at the back, ie, Italian.

442 has tried making a comeback but it doesn't work.

4312 is useless. Beale tried it.

24 Apr 2024 18:51:27
In your opinion tjn, my opinion is different. Beales a Diddy PC isnt, that's the difference.

24 Apr 2024 19:52:07
4 4 2 all day long.

25 Apr 2024 07:27:08
Before we even consider 4-4-2, we would need to employ a manager who wants to play that way.
I'm sure there will be a few available in the Lowland, Juniors or Amateur leagues.

23 Apr 2024 23:00:27
Heard today from a source very close to first team squad to expect the majority of this summers business to come from within the SPFL. Miovski, Barron, Miller, Watson, Cameron, McCowan, Strain and Beck all scouted.

24 Apr 2024 06:55:31
beck on loan so rule him out.

24 Apr 2024 08:11:11
Some of those players listed are for the future. imo, we need better next season.

24 Apr 2024 14:49:41
Experienced winners with bit steel required too as we are too soft👍.

23 Apr 2024 21:20:47
I am at the Copa do Brasil U17 tournament, tell you what some amount of talent in this. Fast, direct and not scared to shoot. Always the question is can these players leave home and make it in Europe? But take a chance on a gem or two can make big bucks. Left winger for São Paulo is tasty. Scored a screamer. Number 7 if you can see it anywhere. Easily a few players here to take a chance on. Can update more in the coming days if anything seems interesting.

23 apr 2024 21:55:53
fantastic mate, great info too

you take care and enjoy yourself, and looking forward to your imput again.

23 Apr 2024 23:35:45
Would love to be there itk, enjoy pal. Keep it coming always interested in the next generation.
Could you try get the names if you can?

24 Apr 2024 08:12:52
InTheKnow, good post. enjoy.

24 Apr 2024 08:40:07
Unfortunately work permits and adjusting to Scotland always been an issue but would be great to see some of the talent over here. Enjoy mate.

24 Apr 2024 16:33:51
Get the adjusting part kaiser but always feel like Colombians or Argentinians more likely to adapt quicker in uk than Brazilians for some reason.