Bleacher Report - Articles by RangersMedia .co.uk

Cricket: Ricky Ponting Is Desperate

RangersMedia .co.uk — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:59:33 -0400

Ricky Ponting's prematch claim that England were desperate in selecting Jonathan Trott has more than a shred of truth to it.

The failure of Ravi Bopara did lead to a slightly undignified scramble round the houses, as replacements were put forward by their various champions.

But in reality, was there more media speculation than actual panic?

Had Marcus Trescothick been willing to return, he would has strengthened England immesurably, and therefore sounding him out was a sensible, straightforward move. Indeed, not to have done so would have been positively negligent.

The calls for Mark Ramprakash were more than borderline embarrassing—one wonders when England's cricket correspondents will come into the real world. However, in the end, picking Trott ahead of Bopara seems the logical move, so I give credit to the selectors where it is due.

It's more interesting to ponder why the Australian skipper felt the need to ramp up the pressure on the latest South African in England's ranks.

I think it points up a difference between the two countries, perhaps the two cultures.

Ponting is, I believe, going all out to avoid losing another series to the poms. Having recovered the Ashes in emphatic fashion last time around, he wants to bury 2005 in the distant past. That's understandable.

I think, though, that Ponting is revealing his own desperation as the summer progresses, with attempts at mind games and psychological pressure coming to the fore as much as swing bowling or dogged batting.

Compared with the measured, public school tones of Andrew Strauss on the other side, Ponting seems to me to be going over the top, which is maybe a pointer to the importance attached to the game by the different sides. It seems to be a win-at-all-costs Australia against a hope-we-win-but-a-good-game England.

There's been traces of this since the, to me, repulsive spectacle of Steve Waugh's Australians "bonding" at Gallipoli. No matter how sincerely meant, or how heartfelt the tribute, to associate their fight for the Ashes with actual suffering and misery struck me then as below the belt, and I haven't seen any reason to change my mind since.

Perhaps someone can tell me better—I hope so.

And this is the point. England wants to win, and its fans want to win, but I don't think they are obsessed by it. Ponting and his Aussies certainly are.

Who, then, is the more desperate?

RangersMedia Club News: The Second Third Coming

RangersMedia .co.uk — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:58:41 -0400

THE SECOND THIRD COMING

It seems appropriate in the week of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that’s if you’re a Christian, personally I have only ever worshipped at the church of Laudrup, that our one-time saviour, Ma Baw Ferguson, looks set to make his return to the Rangers squad.

Despite having proclaimed less than two weeks earlier to the baying pack of journalists that Ma Baw and his disciple Shagger would never again kick a ball in anger for the Gers, Walter Smith admitted there would be a way back for our fallen idols.

Thus proving our very own tale of resurrection could come to pass at the appropriately entitled Easter Road on Sunday (you couldn’t make this up).

This week Smith opened the door for their comeback by inviting them back to the squad and quite rightly cast down upon the SFA. At a press conference this week, Smith said unto them that although the players were entirely to blame for their own stupidity, it should have been handled much better by the top brass.

He did sayeth: “The SFA have made me think a wee bit about the actions I had already taken against the players. Albeit I didn’t say publicly they wouldn’t play again, I did say that off the record. I accept I was wrong there.

“I made the decision to act because I felt that what they did was a poor reflection of Rangers Football Club overall. But if there is a wee bit of a problem, it’s with the perception that they will not play for Rangers again, and I admit my part in that.

"I just feel that overall, if the initial situation and the subsequent parts had been handled better, the whole thing might not have happened.

"That does not necessarily mean they have to play and there's nothing automatic there. After being out for a fortnight, we have to take that into consideration in the short term. That gives me the right to change my mind and all I'm doing is making them available for selection."

That looked a less than likely outcome not so long ago when Judas (aka Scott Brown) led his two so-called mates into the lions den, allowing Herod (the Daily Rebel’s twisted Keith Jackson) and his Rebel Alliance free reign to nail Ma Baw and Shagger to the cross while Brown walked off Scott free. (I’ll get my coat!)

The whole sorry mess leaves a bitter taste in the mouth though and if Ma Baw felt he had it rough on his return from Blackburn, then he might find his third coming a bridge too far for the Gers faithful.

HE IS THE RESURRECTION!

One comeback the Bear Essentials was delighted to see was that of Stevie Smith’s Rangers career at Ibrox last Saturday.

With Sasa Papac injured, it seemed the perfect opportunity for the left back to make his return in the 3-1 victory over Mark McGhee’s Young Bhoys of Motherwell…err…at left midfield? So Rangers lined up with a right back at left back, a left back at left midfield and a old dumplin’ at right back!

A team selection so baffling even Alex McLeish was confused. “Is Namouchi injured?” he asked.

Nonetheless Stevie put in a solid display in his first top team appearance in just under a year and even provided the cross for Velicka’s (yes, really) opening goal. Like many I thought he had played his last game in a Rangers shirt following his horrendous bad luck with injury and illness. Hopefully he’ll feature much more regularly in the future.

All the best Stevie!

HE GETS THE BALL AND HE LAYS IT OFF?

One of Ma Baw’s disciples who has been making it good since the Messiah’s absence is Krissy Krissy Boyd. The man some Gers “fans” love to make the scapegoat, fired his third and most spectacular goal of the past three games against Well, beating the Steelmen’s custodian from fully 30 yards.

Not only that but Boyd put in a tremendous shift in the match, winning his fair share of headers and even linking up play with the midfield, causing Ally McCoist to gush that it was his best performance for Rangers since Ally and uncle Walter came home.

Boydy has undoubtedly made an effort to improve his overall game and perhaps the manager’s actions against his mate Ma Baw has been the wake up call he badly needed. Whatever the case, he is now just one goal shy of his 100th goal for the club. Fate is setting it up nicely for him to hit the ton against the vermin next month. Maybe that would silence his critics for good. It’s a beautiful dream.

BOUGHIE WONDERLAND

At last they’ve only gone and done it. The SPL have actually made a decision without pandering to the needs of the vermin.

While you all take a moment to digest that information I’ll go get a beer.

Recovered? Good. The final all crucial Old Firm match of the season will take place on May 9 meaning that Madjid Bougherra will be available to play after all, after having served his one match suspension. Boughie has only faced the vermin once this season, that glorious August afternoon when a Thomson and Mendes inspired Rangers played them off the park in a 4-2 spanking.

What makes the news all the sweeter is the Daily Rebel’s story about their fans fury over the announcement which meant that Bougherra would be available but Scott Brown wouldn’t. Apparently vermin fans’ chief Peter Rafferty is upset that the SPL have handed Rangers an advantage in the title race.

Where was Mr Rafferty when the very same SPL were forcing Rangers to play 7 games in just 19 days at the end of last season, including a UEFA Cup final? Oh that’s right, he was sitting rubbing his hands gleefully along with the rest of the unemployed motley crue.

The fact is if Scott Brown didn’t run about a football pitch like a chibbed up ned after you’ve stolen his Burberry cap then he would be available to play.

And maybe the police wouldn’t have objected to the match being scheduled for the first fixture after the split, the May Day bank holiday weekend when Bougherra would also have been suspended, had the very supporters Rafferty represents not caused havoc the last time an Old Firm match was played then.

What goes around comes around Rafferty. You’ve had you’re time. Ours is now.

We Are The People.

RangersMedia Club News: We're Chasing Them Down

RangersMedia .co.uk — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:52:26 -0400

The Games

Well, well, well, the title race switches back to ON again after the latest merry-go-round of SPL fixtures. The Easter weekend proved to be another resurrection for the Bears and another crack in the egg of the Tims.

The Edinburgh prods started us off with a well deserved point at Tynecastle as they could have and maybe should have claimed the other two. They started badly with a sucker punch goal in the first minute but thereafter controlled good spells of the game and equalised with a fantastic free kick.

This was all the incentive that was needed to buck our boys up as they took the field at Ibrox and it definitely looked to have the desired effect as Rangers bulldozed the first ten minutes of the game with first Velicka and then Boyd smashing home early goals to knock Motherwell out of the game.

This wouldn’t be Rangers mind, if they didn’t try and make life difficult for themselves and when Sutton struck a lucky toe-poke from 25 yards with his eyes closed, it looked once more that an uncomfortable afternoon could be had.

Kris Boyd had other ideas though and with one of his best performances of the season, he rounded off the game with a typically adept penalty that Mendes had won after a late run into the box. At 3-1 the game was dead and buried and the three point gap was back to just one.

Smith was well buoyed by Boyd’s show:

"I think Kris has been playing like that for a number of weeks now. I felt he was excellent today but he has been playing really well or the team. He went a few weeks there where he wasn't scoring but we know he will always come back and get a goal. He scored a smashing second goal for us today and we are pleased with his overall contribution."

In contrast, the reserves and youth teams both had bad weeks as Motherwell took all three points off both.

The reserves lost 2-0 to leave Celtic within touching distance of the title with 10 points clear and only four games to go. Andrew Little was probably the main stand out for the reserves and seems to have taken a boost after winning his first cap.

The under nineteen’s fell to the same margin but it was a more severe blow as they were within touching distance of the leaders. There are now three games left in the league and a gap of 5 points has opened up with Hibs having a game in hand. Kirkwood didn’t have many consoling words for his players either;

"It's the first time this season that I can say to the lads that it hasn't been about missed chances or bad deliveries, we just didn't do enough today.

"But the two goals we gave away were poor and I didn't think there was anything between us before the penalty. Over the piece though we only had one shot on goal and I thought Motherwell were well worth their win in the end."

The Transfers

Where would we be without a good transfer rumour in the midweek rags? And at the rate we’re going we could be at the World Cup as Northern Ireland Rangers!!

Chris Brunt, the West Brom Attacking midfielder could be making a £1 million pound move.

Warren Feeney is in with a chance of being released from the last year of his contract with Cardiff to be able to make a move to Ibrox.

Tomas Cerny, the young Czech keeper at Hamilton is having an excellent season and has grabbed the interest of both halves of the old firm. Could this spell the end for McGregor...?

The Injury Front

Kevin Thomson, DaMarcus Beasley, Sasa Papac, Kirk Broadfoot, Kyle Lafferty, Kenny Miller, Lee McCulloch, Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor.

Wow, that’s a pretty big list of casualties and with it being that big, you just wonder how the manager will be placed in the McGregor, Ferguson saga. Will his arm be forced in bringing them back into the fold after their two week punishment ends? Interesting...

There is no positive word from Ibrox on the return of any of the others although Papac could well be back in time for the weekend.

The next problem we run into is suspensions and Bougherra will miss the first game after the split. This seems to have worked in favourably though as the CeltIc game looks to be second on the agenda.

He said; “After the St Mirren game I did not know how many yellow cards I had but after the match I was concerned. I do not know why it takes two weeks for a suspension to kick in but when I found out it could be against Celtic I could not believe it.

"I went to my house and said to my family that I could miss Celtic and they could not believe it either. Missing the Co-operative Insurance Cup Final last month was a big blow for me. I waited for this final for a long time but, unfortunately, being injured is part of football.

"I was in the stadium with my family and it was the second time they have come to see me play against Celtic and I haven't played. When I saw the team after the game I was so disappointed I could not have helped them."

The Rest

Kris Boyd is on the cusp of making the history books at Ibrox as he looks for one more goal to take his amazing tally to 100 goals for the club. Mark Hately, the last Ger to hit a ton, spoke about the big man...

"Scoring 100 goals is a terrific milestone in a career—never mind for one club. So for Kris to be on the brink of this after only three years or so with Rangers is a great effort. Records are there to be broken and I have no qualms about him becoming the first man to score 100 since me. Fair play to him, especially as he will do it in fewer games than I did."

Boyd himself said: "There is no doubt I want to reach the hundred goals mark and I have managed to get closer to it in the last seven days. It would be nice to do it next week against Hibs...”

We wouldn’t think worse of you Boydy, if you left it till the Tims came to town!!

Finally, the magnificent and awe inspiring Travis Trek—the Legends Trek 2009 came to its conclusion on Saturday as the weary travellers marched gallantly to Ibrox signalling the end to an arduous week (and thats just the nightly wind down couple of beers!).

Brave Scott Cunningham and his guide dog Travis made their way accompanied by Royal Marine Commando's, several Rangers legends and some committed walkers, all raising a fantastic sum of around £20,000 for Guide Dogs for the Blind. The trek was not without incident, unfortunately with Travis getting injured very early in the week. The group soldiered on and

We hope to have the full story of the trek for you to read soon, so keep your eyes peeled...

Website News

There are some more announcements coming up regarding RangersMedia's first Sportsmans Dinner this May 8th so again keep your eyes peeled. Already we can proudly announce that we the night will be entirely for charity, with all funds raised going to the very worthy cause of Moni Malawi. Funds will be raised by a charity auction and a raffle

Already in preparation is a charity auction with some fantastic items up for grabs, the list of items thus far is enough to get every bluenose reaching for their wallets.

Already confirmed is a signed red poppy shirt (framed), an original John Fleck modern art painting that will hopefully be signed by young John and a one of the original Rangers share certificates from 1899 (framed).

Again, keep your eyes open for more information about what will be a brilliant night ahead.

The Fiasco That Is Scottish Football

RangersMedia .co.uk — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:45:16 -0400

Sitting back and reading the news about the dynamic duo got me thinking about the big picture.

As far as what Cheech and Chong got up to, its no worse than anything I've ever done when away at business meetings; stayed up too late, wasn't at my best in the morning etc.

The stupidity of the V sign was worse than the bevvy, but I still can't make up my mind where I stand with this whole situation.

Yes they let everyone down, but in the big picture of things what happens with the rest of the bevvy boys? You simply cannot punish individuals, they must be collectively punished.

The SFA have made an absolute arse of this. Should the life ban be carried out for what they have done then the can of worms will well and truly be opened.

If in the future any professional player brings the game in to disrepute by, say, drink driving, getting involved in a fight in the city centre, etc. (which in my eyes is way worse than what those two have done), then they should be handing out life bans.

They are, after all, bringing the game into disrepute.

The muppets that have carried out this remarkable debacle at the SFA should stand down and let someone who know how to run a business take over.

Burley has no idea how to carry himself and has lost the plot. He should have had the balls to drop all of them, not just the two, or asked for a pubilc apology and let them get on with it.

Gordon Smith will perhaps look back at this and hopefully learn that he has to follow protocol before he makes any announcements to the press.

George Peat, who is he? What he has done is worse than the rest put together. Every player and employee of the SFA is now under intense scrutiny and one foot wrong will mean the sack.

He for one always drops the ball so we should maybe scrutinize this man's actions in the coming months and then ask that he step down when he messes up. After all, he has set the standards.

The other players should publicly own up to what went on and then we can maybe have some idea of the truth as opposed to what the rags want us to believe. After all, they are just as guilty.

Rangers have emerged with a little more dignity than the rest but that doesn't mean that they walk away lily white.

The fact that our players think that it is okay to act the way they did leaves a lot of unanswered questions about the way our club is run.

Smith must also look at the situation regarding Ferguson and the way he carries himself. He has been allowed to run wild without challenge. The way Ferguson has been handled, by being played every week without question of his ability, is shocking.

Sir David Murray may ask Smith what the hell is going on, because with all the money he gave Smith to spend, he has still stuck with captain fannytastic to the decline of the football we have played.

What must the youngsters think? Already this season we have had the troubles with Boyd, and now this.

We really are a laughing stock at the moment and should use this situation to rid the club of this underlying attitude problem.

The fans have the right to demonstrate and the players must take the flak when they don't deliver. They can't just stick up two fingers and get away with it.

One thing still gets me; I can't decide whether the outcome is fair.

Given that players involved in the session are going unpunished, if they are to be punished it must be in the very public domain in which their teammates have been derided, and they too should face the same punishment.

Rangers Fans: Not Manufactured, Chosen

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:10:36 -0400

The onlookers thought I was taking some kind of fit. And they would have been right. It was a fit of ecstasy, of rapture, of joy beyond belief. It was November 4th, 1992 and Mark Hateley had just “walloped” the ball past Lukic. When Scotland’s goal king struck his 29th goal of the season a little while later, my earlier ”fit” was superseded by the “mother of all celebrations.”

Those who understand need no explanation.

We do not choose, we are chosen. It’s not just a leisurely way to spend a Saturday afternoon, an interest, no...it’s much much more than that, a calling, a duty, a lifestyle.

Rangers are not an occasional intervention into our everyday lives, they invade our very core in an all consuming way, from the cradle to the grave.

Pause. Take a moment to take stock...and imagine how different our lives would have been had we not been one of the chosen.

Doesn’t really bear thinking about does it?

The Rangers Way: You won’t find it in any dictionary or encyclopedia, even Wikipedia can’t explain it. But those who are chosen know what it is. Its mystique is that it is not written, not taught, it is an intuition bestowed upon the chosen. You will not acquire it by manufacture, you have to be born into it.

But that certainly does bear thinking about.

As the lies and duplicity of our press, or the cowardice of our politicians cause the chosen to be the undeserved recipients of their campaigns, schemes designed and orchestrated to demonise us, remember you are never ever alone. As they seek to isolate us entirely, usurp what we stand for and believe in, do not falter or stumble. The righteous anger within in you is not unique or peculiar to you, its felt and borne by us all.

We will not surrender the Sash. Derry’s Walls will not be breached. The hands which join across the water will not be undone. Our history and heritage will not be taken from us by clever and manipulative writers or cowardly politicians who govern us. What they manufacture to attack us with, is no match for what we were born with. What they concoct and manufacture is temporary, what we believe in and were born into is far far greater.

It is ridiculous this place we find ourselves today. In fact it is an indictment not on us, but on those who both govern and inform us through the various outlets of the media. Where else would those who honour our country, our sovereign and the brave men and women who defend us, be vilified, whilst those who proudly confess to a hatred of our country, who disrespect our sovereign, who celebrate the deaths of our soldiers are humoured?

The righteous indignation I referred to earlier should have been channelled into a potent weapon against our aggressors. The fact that our current custodians have neither channelled or identified with it...needs no explanation. They have shown by their apathy that they were not chosen.

But truth is a funny thing. History has shown that despite the attempts of many determined individuals...it just cannot be suppressed. Last week David McLetchie exposed Scotland to a glimpse of the truth, of the failings and injustice of Scotland’s anti-sectarian drive, as well as the one dimensional nature of it. He joins a small select list which includes Gordon Smith and journalist David Leggat.

Manufactured lies will not overcome chosen truths.

They will neither defeat nor overcome us. That which they manufacture against us will not defeat that which we were born into, and, which was born into us. They will not break our spirit or resolve, nor take away our history our heritage. We were not conscripted into this army...we were chosen.

If you don’t understand this...then I’m afraid you don’t matter.

Getting Behind Scotland

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:49:10 -0400

With the vital World Cup qualifier coming up against Holland today I though I should write about the importance of the international game. As most people on this site know, I was born in Scotland and have lived most of my life in Australia.

Despite living here for so long I have always been fiercely proud of my Scottish origins and have kept a look out for their results.

When I was finally able to get Setanta for some extra cash on my regular cable tv provider I was as excited about the prospect of seeing Scotland international matches as I was about finally getting to see Rangers play again.

As such when I asked who would be watching the Macedonia game months back it came as a great shock that at least half the responses to my query were in the negative.

After further questions I was able to ascertain some people’s reasons. Some were disillusioned with the Scottish team after not qualifying for a major tournament in years and again looking poor under new manager George Burley.

These people in other threads though have said how they have and will continue to stick with Rangers through the dark days, so why not Scotland?

Others say that the Tartan Army with their jimmy hats, kilts and anti-English sentiment deter them. For me though this is one of the reasons we have such a great support and something that sets us apart from other fans.

Everybody knows that these things don’t really represent everyday Scottish life but it’s fun to go over the top every now and again. As for the anti-English sentiment, surely that’s part and parcel of international football. As the closest country to us geographically that is any good and with the history we share it should come as no surprise that this happens.

The thing that I find ironic is the same people who hate the anti-English sentiment in the Tartan Army and who suggest that “They have watched Braveheart too many times” are perfectly fine with anti-Irish sentiment shown towards Celtic supporters.

I think both of these cases are harmless, I doubt any member of the Tartan Army actually hates every English person much in the same way I doubt any Rangers fan hates the Irish just because Celtic supporters identify with that country more than their own.

I think the problem here though is that some Rangers supporters are guilty of the same thing.

They think of themselves more as Brits than as Scottish and so the anti-English sentiments bother them more because it implies a hatred of the Union.

I have no problem with Rangers fans being proud of the Union and being British and the monarchy but I think we should also remember that Rangers is a Scottish team and that in international football there is no Britain.

I think the Scotland Day last month, is a step in the right direction as I think we should get Rangers fans identifying with Scotland as much as Britain.

Others amongst our support claim that they just don’t care about international football. I personally think this is the wrong attitude to have. Sure international football doesn’t require the time or passion you put into supporting a club from week to week but it’s a brand of football that is still exciting.

Many players nowadays in club football play more for the money than for the jersey but in international football everyone is there to play for their country. It’s a brand of football that lets people put aside their weekly squabbles with other sets of fans within their country for a while and unite behind one team.

It doesn’t matter if you support Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen or Dundee United, when Scotland is playing these people unite behind one team.

People who don’t think international football is important should look at the example of Australia. In this country football is still a fledgling sport and the Hyundai A-League pretty small fish compared to the Scottish Premier League.

The top team only draws crowds of 20,000 a week. Even though crowds are much bigger for other sports which, up until recently, Australia dominated it is on the international stage that Australian support really shines. No matter what sport it is, whether rugby league, rugby union, cricket, football, or even swimming Australians will get behind their country.

When Australia played Uruguay for the right to play in the last World Cup 90,000 people were in the crowd and everybody was glued to the tv sets. During the World Cup people turned out in droves for a sport which they have not even fully embraced yet just because they want to see Australia do well.

This is the kind of support Scotland needs from everyone not just the brilliant support we have attending Hampden. So I hope when Scotland play Holland and Iceland in a few weeks every Scottish member of this forum watches the game and provides the same kind of passionate support for their country that I know they have for Rangers.

You can discuss this article within our forums from the following link: http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=103774

RangersMedia Club News: News and Transfer Rumours? Surely Not Yet...

RangersMedia .co.uk — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:44:28 -0400

The Games

Last weekend saw the pleasure and pain theory roll into action once more. Delight and agony on not just one, but both days; welcome to the life of the 2009 Rangers supporter.

Everything started well with Walter fielding an attacking side that saw both Boyd and Lafferty starting up front and Beasley re-introduced on the left wing. The only setbacks came at the back with the omission of Weir through suspension and Bougherra and Broadfoot through injury.

This meant that the cringeworthy central partnership in the middle of our defence was McCulloch and Dailly!!

Even with those doubts however, Rangers steamrollered the first half with some excellent football and when first Lafferty and then Ferguson saw us 2-0 up at half time, the game looked done and dusted.

Now enter the typical Rangers “we can never win easy” mentality, when in a dramatically drastic five-minute period, we released our grip of the game and let Hearts at our weak back line and they responded with a couple of goals of their own.

Walter said: "Obviously we are really disappointed at the situation, one that I don't think anyone that watched the first hour of the match would have thought was a possibility. It feels like a defeat and in a few minutes we managed to undo probably one of our better home performances this season.

We showed a little bit of softness in letting Hearts get back in to the game. Their first real effort on goal was in the 61st minute of the game, which says it all. It is really disappointing that when you are chasing the title, you let a winning position slip in the way we did, but we will have to wait and see what impact this has on the championship."

This meant we had to then chase the game and that’s something we’re just not comfortable doing. We ran out of ideas fairly quickly and never looked like snatching our victory back again. Very disappointing, when we could have went top and piled some pressure on Celtic.

It wasn’t, however, the worst of weekends, as Celtic too showed their lack of real quality and succumbed to a Dundee United side that could have taken all three points but will settle for the draw all the same.

Final summary? We’re back where we started before the weekend had kicked off. Not great but not as bad as it could have been.

You can read a match report of the draw with Hearts from the following link: http://home.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php/a...prove-heartless

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The Under 19’s got back to winning ways however as they beat Hearts 2-1 at Murray Park. The game was only a friendly but the winning mentality is a good one to learn.

You can read a report of the match from the following link: http://home.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php/a...9-21-hearts-u19

Another friendly was played yesterday against continental opposition in Viking Stavanger from Norway. The wee blues had the game wrapped up by half time and the score was 3:1.

You can read a report of the match from the following link: http://home.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php/a...iking-stavanger

The young guns were supposed to be playing the Auld enemy but they were running scared! Well maybe not, but the game was postponed nonetheless. Goals from Kane Hemmings and Jamie Ness were enough to see off Hearts and Billy Kirkwood will be hoping this form can be shown in the semi final against Caley to take them into their third consecutive final.

The Transfers

A bit more than usual in this section today. It must be getting closer to the summer!

Rangers skipper Barry Ferguson is at the heart of a lot of rumours this week with former mentor Dick Advocaat once more casting admiring glances his way.

Dick said "I am sure everyone in Scotland knows by now what I think of Barry Ferguson ...he's still a top player. Maybe he needs a fresh challenge elsewhere to give him new motivation. If he has been getting criticism in Scotland, then maybe he has been at Rangers too long. If I think I have a place for him here, then he is the first one I will sign."

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Sunderland were told in no uncertain terms that their target wasn’t for moving on. "I am 100 percent committed to Rangers,” Davis said. "I am more than happy to stay at Ibrox – I’m loving my football again."

Is a deal on the cards to bring Alan Hutton back North? The rumour mill would suggest so with Danny Wilson going the other way. Redknapp revealed. "I've heard about Daniel, The name has been mentioned to me since I've been here."

One player not heading to Spurs, however, is Pedro Mendes. Harry continued "I've a lot of time for Pedro, he's a fantastic player. But I wouldn't be going back in for Pedro. Not now."

Stevie Smith is at Cardiff just now trialling out to try and win a contract with the Championship side.

To finish off, Rangers are allegedly running the rule over two united starlets, Italian hit man Federico Macheda and Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Possebon. Rangers scout Ewan Chester was sent to watch them and see if any loan deals could be in the offing.

Also rumoured this morning was a link to one of the young Da Silva twins at Old Trafford, Fabio.

The Injury Front

Here starts the bad news. Probably the best player on the pitch on Saturday, Kyle Lafferty had to go off midway through the first half with what looked like ankle ligament damage. It is little wonder that the big man is feeling pretty down after his first season at Ibrox.

"It's been a really tough season, in fact I'd say it has been the hardest season for me so far. It's been so frustrating. What happened on Saturday has been hard to take and now, deep down, I'm worried my season's over. That would be the biggest blow yet. But I've not had it said to me, and we'll see how the scan goes.

Hopefully, it's nothing serious and I can get back playing for the last few weeks of the season. I've suffered the injury just when I was beginning to think I was winning over the fans and the critics. I'd scored and thought I was playing well. The fans were singing my name, and it felt brilliant."

He added: "It was just a freak moment. I went over on my ankle and knew instantly it was a bad one. The last few days have been really difficult. I've had painkillers, but the worst part of it all is the idea of not being able to play."

Broadfoot and Weir have both been pulled out of the Scotland squad for the weekend. Broadfoot is still suffering from the calf injury that kept him out against Hearts and Weir has a knee injury that hasn’t cleared up either.

Barry is also a doubt after carrying a chest injury over the last couple of weeks.

There is also no clear news on the injury that has been keeping Bougherra on the sidelines. Hopefully the International break gives him the time required to get back to full fitness.

The Rest

The Scotland squad dominates the headlines this week. With Ferguson, Weir and Broadfoot all doubts it leaves the other Gers to keep up the battle. McGregor has been named ahead of Craig Gordon as a starter for the Scots, which can only boost the Rangers number one's confidence. There is also a call up for Stevie Whittaker, who could easily make the starting line up.

Burley said: "Allan will play because Craig has not been playing first-team football. Allan deserves a chance and he will start in Holland. There has been a lot of talk, a lot of speculation, people talking about the pros and cons of who to play. I had a chat with both goalkeepers yesterday and both were pushing for the No. 1 spot.

Craig is a magnificent goalkeeper, but Allan did well against Argentina and he has been playing well for Rangers. Allan is excited at the prospect and it was important to make this decision now and not later."

********************

Also on international duty is the surprise call up, Andrew Little. The Young gun got the call after Northern Ireland suffered the set back of not having other Ranger, Kyle Lafferty. Little is relishing the chance to get one over Celtc and Polish keeper Artur Boruc.

Little joked: "It hurts my head when I think about the situation. I knew Kyle and Martin were injured but it was a complete shock to get called into the full squad if I'm honest.

I was just preparing myself for under-21's game against Ukraine next week and had been looking forward to that. I didn't even think that I might get my chance and I'm absolutely delighted to have been brought into the group.

A few people have been joking with me about coming on against Poland and scoring against Boruc. That would be great, but I'm trying not to think about that. I'm just aiming to do well in training and if it gets me a shot, then great.”

Want More?

More Information, Less News?
Written by Andypendek
http://home.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php/a...ation-less-news

Today's article is an interesting concept from Andypendek considering the way in which we all get our Rangers and general football news.

Is the football news sphere becoming over saturated? When was the last time that a newspaper ran a story that everyone didn't know already? Are these moments of surprise upon seeing a headline gone for good and will it need to be newspapers that make way for Internet culture?

********************

McGregor Made It
Written by Danny
http://home.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php/a...cgregor-made-it

This article by RM writing stalwart Danny is a timely release today, as it appears that George Burley has given the Rangers stopper the number one jersey for the weekend ahead of Sunderland 'keeper Craig Gordon.

It'll be tough for Allan, but there will be no better test and chance for him to show his international credentials and lay stake at making that jersey his own for the coming years.

Scotland have never been short of great goalkeeping talent traditionally (apart from the dire Douglas/Sullivan days) and to be we haven't seen such a wealth of talent in that area since the time when Leighton and Goram were both vying for the number one berth.

At that time I backed the Rangers 'goalie' as the man for the job and for me its the same again. McGregor is Scotland's best goalkeeper. Can he become the 'new goalie'? Time will tell. This weekend will be his first major test.

Within the article, Danny discusses McGregor as the man who stuck to his guns at Ibrox and showed the determination, character and faith in his own ability that many of the fresh faces at Ibrox could learn from.

As Danny says, "It’s quite a turnaround for a stopper who once struggled to even get a loan out to the first division."

More Information, Less News?

RangersMedia .co.uk — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:09:44 -0400

Clearing out a box the other day, I found the newspapers I had bought when Mo Johnston stunned the whole of Scotland by signing for the Rangers.

A Daily Record, and two Evening Times.

Plainly, even then I found the Sun's apologetic, half-hearted porn not to my taste.

Apart from the poor printing quality and excruciating, pseudo-patrician prose style, what struck me was the memory of how I found out about MoJo and his great decamp across Glasgow.

Summer holidays, if I recall correctly. A nice sunny morning. Out of bed at about 10, so it's just possible a nice long evening was had over at the bowling green, where we used to play football till it got dark, then moved onto the blaes tennis courts under the lights and play keepy-uppy over the nets.

However, my morning routine was always the same: telly on, ceefax on, page 302. I can remember the headline yet:

"Johnston Joins Rangers"

My first thought was Willie Johnston, and given that this was '88 I was a tad puzzled. I can recall the utter disbelief and amazement as I read the story. I can remember phoning my pal Cooman, getting him out of bed, and directing him to the telly.

I can recall waiting patiently while he wandered off, and I can recall hearing the rather faster footsteps coming back to the phone. I can recall the rest of the day being spent phoning and meeting people and everyone being in a state of stunned shock.

It was different. In those days, there was usually an exclusive in the papers, and the first you knew of it was when you picked up a copy. Football was a footnote on the Scottish news, itself the arse-wipe at the end of the 'proper' news. No internet, no forums, no 24-hour news feeds with an insatiable appetite for the beautiful game.

But is it any better now?

I can't remember the last time I was excited by a story coming out of Rangers. That might have something to do with our money woes or lack of league success, I suppose, or my age.

But there's been no 'MoJo moment' for ages now.

How I wish something could be kept secret, something could be sprung on the fans as a pleasant surprise, rather than the media-telegraphed, GMP style assaults on our senses that the Old Firm dependent Scottish media rely on. I think we've come to the point of overkill—in fact, we probably passed it some years ago—where the amount of news and comment on Rangers outweighs the content by a ratio of 100:1.

It's unsustainable. Like the tims constantly bleating about how they are oppressed, the more we feed people tastless tat, the less interested they are.

I suppose it's a bit rich for an anonymous internet warrior to moan about the amount of people talking about Rangers, but I fear we're killing the golden goose. Just as too many games reduce interest in the SPL, too many voices shouting reduce interest in debate.

Democratic principles state that we, as uncensored forum users, should be allowed our voice. Who, then, is to go?

Plainly, the newspapers.

Of all the strange, incomprehensible gibberish I have come out with, it's odd that this one should make the most sense—in order to make better news, we should do away with newspapers.

Glasgow Rangers: Can Kris Boyd Have the Last Laff?

RangersMedia .co.uk — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:45:05 -0400

So. No Kyle Lafferty, then.

In such a short space of time (two weeks, in fact), Lafferty emerged as the beacon of hope for many Rangers fans.

A hope that this tough, fast, technically efficient striker would lead us to the title while his main rival in the team (Kris Boyd) looked more and more sour-faced and frustrated as even the one thing that he does have in his locker, goals, seemed to be drying up.

Lafferty genuinely and visibly cherished the time on the pitch, which seemed to be finally endearing him to the Ibrox faithful, and no shortage of quality helped too. This enthusiasm was never more obvious than his storming first half against Hearts. Boyd, take note.

So. What now?

I'm not sure. What I do know is that we need someone else to carry on where big Kyle left off. I think it is time for the Boyd that stuck two fingers up to Burley to reappear; at that time, he was on a one-man mission to prove the Scotland coach wrong, and whatever you may think of his attitude in the Burley affair, he showed he cared and that he could play.

We need this man to step up and cherish his time at Rangers. Players with far more quality than him have failed to show that they deserve to pull on that famous blue shirt. Boyd needs to realize that he deserves nothing; he needs to earn it, and he needs to want it.

I don't see the answers in the other forwards we have. Miller doesn't have the goals to lead the line himself, but has worked harder than anyone to justify a place up front, and he needs some else to play alongside.

Novo also hasn't found consistency in his time at Rangers to keep himself in the team; for every game he is playable, he has an equally frustrating one. I also do not think we can ask Fleck to carry our hopes up front at his age, either.

So. Can Boyd carry the weight of the Rangers supporters' beliefs?

I think he can; he's arrogant enough. I believe Boyd will be the man we need, but only if he begins to cherish his time here, because, in turn, the fans will cherish it too.

Alistair Murdoch McCoist: The Easy "Out"

RangersMedia .co.uk — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:32:07 -0400

I have read with interest the numerous threads speculating on who may be our next manager. I also noticed a significant difference in choices between "desired" and "realistic" targets. Certainly in the former, Ally McCoist rarely, if ever, figured.

However, McCoist is the perfect answer for Sir David Murray.

It allows him to remove Walter without any significant loss of face for the manager, and, as we all know, Murray has a reticence for sacking managers. I would imagine that the prospect of sacking Walter is almost unthinkable for him.

It would be easy to dress up; "natural progression"; "Ally has been groomed for this role"; a "natural successor." These are phrases we may become familiar with, perhaps even this summer.

It would also prevent the embarrassing scenario of a public humiliation, as Rangers offer a host of coaches the hot seat at Ibrox, only to be turned down.

Additionally, McCoist knows the Scottish game inside out, he is good with the press, and he knows Rangers through and through. I think its safe to say a section of our support, though I would not like to predict how significant that number would be, would deem this a popular choice.

Therefore, the availability of Ally McCoist offers an easy option should, for the second year running, Walter fail to re-capture the SPL title, despite spending significantly in the transfer market.

But what of McCoist himself? Would he take the role? What sort of manager would he be?

I remember an interview McCoist gave when he first became Assistant Manager, where he resolutely stated he had no wish to become Rangers manager. Perhaps since then the "bug" has caught him, and he would be eager to grasp the mantle so to speak.

Of course, outside of Rangers, Ally has no managerial experience, but that has not stopped us from taking such a gamble in the past; one only has to look at the John Grieg and Souness appointments. It would be a fair argument to suggest that his current role leaves him better qualified than the previous examples were when they took charge.

But if he did assume the mantle, what could we expect from Ally as a manager? Would his thinking be influenced by his experience as understudy to Walter?

Would we see a clone team of fairly negative football, or does he have a burning desire to see Rangers play more attacking football? He has certainly played under a few diverse managers in his time—at both club and international level.

Of course only time will tell, and this has all been a journey of speculation on my part, albeit based on some very realistic factors.

As most of you know, I'm not a betting man, but if I were to place a bet on who the next Rangers manager would be, my money would be on a certain Alistair Murdoch McCoist MBE.

This article also features on RangersMedia.co.uk

England's Cricket Team: Hit Us For Six, Walter

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 09:59:21 -0400

Here is an opening line that would lose most readers. Have you been following England's cricket tour of the West Indies?

Thought not.

Never mind, bear with me for just a minute.

In the end, the West Indies won the four-game series 1-0 with three draws. England spent a long time almost getting on top of their opponents. Despite being the better side most days, England paid the penalty for one day of madness, when they were tumbled out for 51.

Getting their noses in front allowed the West Indies to play defensive, boring cricket (or even more boring cricket for those of you who hate it) and grind out the series victory. England could not put enough pressure on them to force errors.

Think back to last Wednesday. The scores were 0-0 at Ibrox and 1-1 at Rugby Park. A goal for us would have, I reckon, put pressure on timmy and could have forced a mistake or an advantageous cavalry charge for Killie. Instead, like England, we failed to put the squeeze on our enemy and once more, we find ourselves scrabbling to make up ground.

The England captain, Andy Strauss, is generally thought to be a good egg but a tad cautious. Not entirely unlike our dear leader, Uncle Walter. There is an uncomfortable parallel for this viewer to seeing England play well and get 95 percent of things correct but fall just short.

I think the lesson has to be, in sport, as in life, you have to go for it sooner or later. Drifting along conservatively can get you somewhere, but I doubt it will be the top. Chances need to be taken, risks gambled, and dice need to be thrown.

Even worse, we are now at the point where there's no more chances. If we lose again, the league is a goner. Not necessarily because they are any better—they are not—but if we cannot guarantee three points against the lesser teams, the reality is that we will finish second.

Here we are again, in the most familiar of pubs, the Last Chance Saloon. Might as well go down fighting, be hung for a lion as a sheep, etc. They may be clichés, but they are true!

None of us like losing, but the memory from last year of losing defensively is still a bitter one. If we have a go and find we are not quite good enough, I can accept that. But to end thinking we could have done more—that would be almost unforgivable.

Travis Trek 2009: Walking With Rangers Legends

RangersMedia .co.uk — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:03:47 -0400

Greyfriar’s Bobby is perhaps the most famous Scottish canine sidekick; for 14 years the devoted Skye Terrier sat by the grave of his owner to protect him from harm.

Every year, thousands of visitors flock to the streets of Edinburgh to see the grave in the Greyfriars Kirk where the wee doggie sat and to have their photo taken by the grade A listed building (statue) that stands in the street still watching over his owner.

The love, partnership and devotion between a dog and its owner, so greatly exemplified in the tale of Bobby, is demonstrated every single day by the unique bond that a guide dog and its owner have.

To this end, there is another tale of devotion and kinship that is about to be woven in our humble wee country: Another canine that should be across the lips of many Scottish people for years to come.

We introduce to you to the story of the guide dog Travis and his owner Scott Cunningham; Scotland’s very own long distance trek charity fundraisers!

Having completed four long distance treks already spanning the length and breadth of the UK, each one a first to be completed by a guide dog and its owner, this year’s charity walk is one with a difference.

Travis and Scott will combine their love of walking with another one of Scott’s passions in life; Glasgow Rangers Football Club.

Trekking the West Highland Way, north to south, the pair will bypass the traditional finishing point in Milngavie and continue on to Glasgow’s South Side, finishing the walk at the home of Rangers, Ibrox Stadium.

Not only that, but the intrepid pair will be joined by many legends of Glasgow Rangers, including such fine servants of the club as Arthur Numan, Mark Hately, Andy Goram and Terry Hurlock. Never fear though, some of the Queens finest Royal Marine Commando’s will also be there to make sure there’s no slacking to hear too many football anecdotes.

The walk will kick off from Fort William on Saturday 4th April and end seven days later at the home of Scott’s beloved team. The Trek is no small affair, with each days walking covering at least 12 miles, sometimes more!

That’s tough going by anyone’s standards—although I suppose Travis has a head start, he has twice as many legs.

The aim of TravisTrek 5 is to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the charity for which Travis and Scott have raised over £60,000 for to date.

The nation’s media are behind Scott and Travis too. The pair have appeared alongside celebrities on GMTV, as well as being featured in The Sun newspaper and on Rangers TV, getting as much coverage for the walk as possible and generating some celeb supporters along the way, including the dream-maker himself, Sir Jimmy Saville!

Alongside the fundraising, Scott has a very personal reason for doing these walks. He wants to inspire blind people like himself to take life’s challenges head on and live life to the full.

From mammoth tasks like trekking the nation’s long distance walks, to everyday tasks that most of us take for granted.

Scott’s life changed in 1993, when he was diagnosed with the rare eye condition, Lebers Hereditary Optic Neuropathy or LHON for short. Employed as a forklift driver for Royal Mail, Scott’s eyesight deteriorated fast and he had lost his vision within three weeks of diagnosis.

This rapid change of pace in his life was a shock to the system, taking Scott a while to adjust to his new life, and the changes that came with it.

His confidence had taken a knock and he became very withdrawn, until he visited the charity Guide Dogs for the Blind and was partnered with his first guide dog, Ike. Taking on a new hobby of hill walking, Ike and Scott became very active until Ike reached the end of his life as a guide dog and retired, at which point Scott was partnered with Travis.

Young, fit and full of enthusiasm, Travis was perfect for furthering Scott’s passion for walking, and the pair of them soon undertook the West Highland Way for the first time, conquering it and giving them a taste for success.

They have since went on to do the Penine Way and have raised awareness and cash wherever they have went. They are a testament to themselves and to us all; Rangers in the truest sense of the word.

If you want to get involved in TravisTrek5, and walk amongst the bygone stars of Rangers Football club then get registered on www.justgiving.com/legendstrek and get sponsored!

RangersMedia are hoping to be represented at the walk, so if you wish to do one of the days walks with us, then drop any member of staff a message and we’ll fill you in with all of the details.

Also, keep your eyes open for more information and articles about the trekking duo in the next few weeks as we build up to the event.

If you can’t make the Trek and still wish to help, then why not make a donation to the charity using the link provided.

Every penny counts and will go to help giving someone else their life back if they are visually impaired. Scott and Travis are a fantastic example of what can be achieved and we should be inspired by their outlook on life.

Scottish treasure Greyfriars Bobby stood by his owner for 14 years after he was gone, showing the kinship and love that’s possible between one man and his dog. By raising money for Guide Dogs for the Blind, we can help ensure that many blind people can have these life-giving partnerships with dogs all across the country.

For more details you can go to the Trek website to read all about how to get your boots on! http://www.travistrek.org.uk/join.html

RangersMedia Club News: Baha and Big Belly Bhoy

RangersMedia .co.uk — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:57:07 -0400

The Games

The Rangers' roller coaster just keeps on running as we were taken from the sublime to the ridiculous this week.

It all started last Wednesday evening when bottom of the table Inverness travelled through to Glasgow and left with all three points. An astounding and frustrating night if ever there had been one.

We looked pretty clueless, no idea whatsoever on how to break down a stubborn defence, and ended up getting pretty much what we deserved, nothing.

Inverness soaked up everything that we mustered and did the ultimate smash and grab by breaking away in the last minute causing an unlikely panic by Big Davey Weir who surrendered the professional foul which saw him sent off and Inverness with a penalty.

The 1-0 defeat was confirmed as the penalty flew past McGregor and a stupefied audience hastily left the building.

(Match Report can be read here)

Now, fast forward four days to the Scottish Cup quarter final, three changes to the squad that took the field previously saw Boyd, Edu and Broadfoot dropped for Mendes, Whittaker and Aaron and all of a sudden we’re world beaters.

Unbelievable eh!!

Some sublime football at times saw us cut through Hamilton time and again and finish up with a 5-1 route. Ok, don’t get me wrong, I know it was only Hamilton but the contrast in the players and the two games, both against similar opposition, was quite frankly, night and day.

Lafferty bagged a brace and looked good in his favoured forward role and is now vying for a place in next week’s CIS Cup final against Celtc.

McCoist said, "I'm thrilled for him after his two goals today and I'm looking forward to working on with him as I feel there's enormous potential in there."

High praise indeed from one of our deadliest ever strikers. The game also saw brilliant individual goals from Whittaker and Davis and a penalty from Aaron. The display was a good one and earned us a Semi Final place at Hampden against St Mirren.

(Match Report can be read here)

If only we could find the formula that delivered on Sunday and put that into our performances on a consistent basis.

A big upset for the under 19’s this weekend saw Billy Kirkwood’s lads succumb to a dogged 2-0 defeat at Tannadice. United scored in the 65 minute and wrapped the game up on the 80 minute mark to leave the title race wide open. Hibs are now just one point behind the Murray Park boys and visit us there next week.

(Match Report can be read here)

The Transfers

African striker Nabil Baha is on the Ibrox radar as Rangers allegedly checked out the Moroccan for his club Malaga against Getafe yesterday. Nabil bagged the winner in the 2-1 away win as his agent told of high interest in the player who has a 4.5 million get out clause in his contract.

Claude Cauvy told of the interest in his client:

"Baha is a striker that would interest any club and this year in La Liga he has shown his level. I have received calls about the player, but there are only contacts and nothing definitive. We need to speak to the president of Malaga and study the situation."

Baha himself spoke of a possible move away:

"I am not preoccupied with my future, if somebody makes an offer for Malaga - then at that point it would be normal to look at the situation. My dream is to play in a European competition and at the moment that is possible with Malaga.

"I have heard about the clubs following me, but I have not spoken with anyone. Personally, I am ambitious and like any footballer want to play as high as I can, but I would prefer not to think about this until the end of the season."

With finances so tight at the club, the notion of spending that kind of money on one player means this story just simply cant have any legs.

The Injury Front

The two biggest pieces of news here were, firstly the return to action of Perdro Mendes seemed to be the catalyst of the good performance which also enabled us to pull him off fairly early in the game to protect him for Sunday.

The other major piece of action from the weekend was the limping off of the Algerian linchpin that is Madjid Bougherra. A kick to the calf saw him replaced late on in the game and a whole lot of fans very worried about his inclusion in next week’s final.

The news that is seeping out is that the injury isn’t as bad as first thought and that the big man should be in the squad come Sunday.

McCoist said. “Madjid is fine and we didn't actually take him off because of the injury. He was away back home for a few days seeing his mum so we took him off for that reason. I'd be lying to you if I said I had been into the physio's room for myself to see how Madjid is doing but it would be a major surprise to me if he wasn't fine."

The news of Nacho Novo isn’t as forthcoming and with his exclusion from the weekend’s squad I’d be very surprised if he made it in time for the final.

The Rest

The big talking point, literally, this week had to be the belly eruption that came from John Hartson. A blatant attempt from the Welshman to unsettle one half of the old firm, to point out the flaws and faults of a side and dent their confidence enough to put them off, take their eye off the ball and allow the other half to gain advantage.

Well, thanks very much Mr Hartson, it worked as St Mirren showed just the lack of quality and fight you were talking about by knocking your beloved Celtic out of the Cup. Maybe next time he’ll think before letting his stomach rumble but maybe I’m giving his brain a bit too much credit...

The postponed St Mirren game that was scheduled for next Sunday will now be played on Wednesday the 8th of April. It will be shown live on Setanta with a KO time of 7.45 PM.

Kenny Miller: I Was Wrong

RangersMedia .co.uk — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:25:06 -0500

There comes a time when you have to hold your hands up and say you got it wrong.

When Smith signed Miller in the summer, I gave up on going to watch Rangers. I said I wouldn't be back until they were both gone as I thought Miller was a bag of rubbish and I already despised Smith with a passion. I would say the decision was probably 70 percent protest against Smith and 30 percent protest against Miller. (I have been bad once, but there was a genuine reason for it.)

Having no doubt heard our thoughts and chants on him in the run up to the end of last season it has to be said that Millers decision to come to us was the second most craziest move in Old Firm history. It took a very brave boy to put himself and his family in that position of moving back to a "hostile" Old Firm goldfish bowl and overcome the initial booing of his every touch.

It would have been easy to buckle, but for me, Miller's mental strength has helped him overcome the rough ride.

Now, some might see this as an over-reaction a week or so after he has bagged a couple of doubles but it started me thinking about how he has been playing all season. I honestly cannot remember losing or drawing a game and blaming Kenny for it. He has missed a hatful of chances but they all seem to have happened in games where they didn't matter. What I can remember though is the important and decisive goals he has set up or scored in his second spell at Gers.

His doubles at Timmy Park and Easter Road were sublime moments, his double the other night made it more comfortable for us in what was starting to be an uncomfortable match and again yesterday another crucial double to fire us back to the top of the league.

Unlike the very frustrating Mr. Boyd, Miller puts in a shift every time he is on the park and you can see he clearly rattles defenders, which more often than not leaves gaps for his big "lazier" partner to nip into and steal the limelight.

I also like his refreshingly honest attitude. The other week he admitted he hadn't been capturing his early season form but that he was working hard at training and since his introduction at Timmy Park, he appears to be getting somewhat back to his best.

So where does that leave me? Do I relinquish my protest on the basis that I got Kenny wrong or do I continue on the basis that Smith still frustrates the living hell out of me?

I think I will leave it until the 30th May to decide on that...

Why a Win for Rangers on Wednesday Will Be Unusual

RangersMedia .co.uk — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:01:18 -0500

If (and surely we cannot even begin to think otherwise) we win against bottom club Inverness CT at home on Wednesday night, it will be a significant achievement for us this season.

Strangely enough for a team top of the table after 27 games this will be the first time we will have strung together three SPL wins on the spin since we won at Hibs last September.

The following game at Love Street saw our win sequence end at four games, and we have not won more than two games in a row since then. That is 20 SPL games without three consecutive wins.

Quite how we have managed to top the league with such inconsistent form probably underlines more about our title rivals than our own good form. We simply must win this match, and go on a run of victories that define Champions when all is done.

On paper that does not look too difficult a task. Since our snore draw at the piggery, victories over Kilmarnock and Hamilton should be followed with victories over ICT on Wednesday, and then home games against Hearts and Motherwell and away games all at struggling sides in Falkirk, St Mirren, and Hibs before the all-important split.

With three home games to come after the split, this should be enough to see the League Championship trophy brought home for a long-overdue cleaning after being away on loan for three long years.

I doubt that we will ever have an easier path to a title than the one presented to us just now, and we really must go out there and grab it.

I am all for taking one game at a time, and a Scottish Cup QF this weekend at home to Hamilton and the League Cup Final at Hampden on the 15th of March against our main rivals will provide distractions to our main focus, but we must ensure there is no taking the eye off the ball this time and having a wee look at the upcoming SPL fixtures pre-spilt must be a mouth-watering appetiser for our management and players.

We must simply knock off these games in a professional manner, and maximum points pre-split from now will probably see us go into the final five games with a lead, and not just goal difference either.

The first post-split game will no doubt be the final old firm game of the season, and if we have done our work properly between now and then, our rivals will come to Ibrox needing a win, whereas we will be in Walter's favourite position of only needing a draw.

All of that is still quite a bit away, for now we simply must win on Wednesday against Inverness, and chalk up our own three in a row which has eluded us for so long.

Brian Laudrup: A God amongst Men

RangersMedia .co.uk — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:55:41 -0500

In the modern age in which we live, many people doubt the existence of a higher being looking over us. Nevertheless, people follow many different gods with many different names—Allah, God, Zeus. Personally, I am an atheist.

However, I have had the privilege of seeing a god walk amongst us, the likes of which had not been seen for a long time—and he wore the famous blue jersey. Brian Laudrup was his name.

A magician on the football field with power, pace, and skill, Laudrup had all these qualities in abundance. Add to that his impeccable behaviour off of the park—a true gentleman and a credit to the club.

Laudrup knew what it meant to be a Ranger and he represented everything a Rangers player should be. He was the perfect example of dignity, pride, and professionalism in a professional footballer.

After an unhappy spell on loan at AC Milan from Fiorentina, Laudrup signed with Rangers in July of 1994 for a bargain price of £2.3 million. Prior to this he had been an integral member of the Denmark team that won the European Championship in 1992.

Only at the tournament because of a civil war in Yugoslavia, they defied all the odds to get to the final where they beat heavy favourites Germany to lift the trophy.

Laudrup didn’t score in the tournament, but his performances on the wing caused every team he played against problems, and top class international squads were no different. This led to Laudrup winning his second of what would be four Danish Player of the Year awards.

Laudrup’s first game for Rangers was a 2-1 win over Motherwell at Ibrox and he showed the fans right away what they could come to expect from him in that blue jersey. He provided a measured cross on the first goal for Mark Hateley to head home. He then ran from his own box the whole length of the field and measured a perfect pass for Duncan Ferguson to score the winner.

If the fans were impressed by this display then they had not seen anything yet!

Rangers went on to win their seventh title in as many years that season and Laudrup was voted player of the year by the football writers and football association. He played in 33 games and scored 10 goals.

The following season Laudrup was joined at the club by Paul Gascoigne. Having the two of these players on the one team was too much for any team in Scotland and they formed a formidable partnership, helping Rangers to their eighth successive title.

Laudrup also shone in the Scottish Cup that season. He scored arguably the goal of the tournament in the semifinal against Celtic, controlling the ball on his chest before lifting the ball over the keeper for the winner.

The final was one of his best games for the club, scoring two goals and setting up Gordon Durie for all three of his. He simply shone that day and no one could touch him when he was on form like that.

The best was still to come from Laudrup, though. The following season would be one that Rangers fans would remember for a long time—one that they had been waiting on for the past eight to nine years in a row.

Laudrup scored 16 goals in 33 games including scoring the winner in a 1-0 win across the city with a screamer from outside the 18-yard box. Among many other important goals, one was to come that would stand out more than most!

It was the final game of the season and Rangers were away to Dundee United, having lost the chance to wrap up the league at home to Motherwell the game before.

Laudrup rose to crash home a header Mark Hateley himself would have been proud to give Rangers the 1-0 win they needed. It was fitting that he was to score the winner, having given so much to the Ibrox fans in his short time with the club.

Not many players can make the impact that Laudrup made in his short four years with the club. He is one of only a handful of players that I have seen in the flesh that I can honestly say were world class, and I thank him for the joy he brought me and many other Rangers fans.

A god among men. We’re not worthy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appearances—150
Goals—45
International Caps—75 for Denmark (27 with Rangers)
Honours—League Winner (3) League Cup Winner (1) Scottish Cup Winner (1)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

King Bougherra: A Seamless Transition

RangersMedia .co.uk — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:07:40 -0500

Last season in the run up to the UEFA Cup Final our best player was Carlos Cuellar.

The Spanish centre back was a rock and he was instrumental in our run to the final. His importance to Rangers was perhaps best demonstrated upon his departure to Aston Villa where, just weeks after watching their team crash out of the Champions League to Hearts reserves, Rangers fans threatened protests, boycotts, and everything else.

What has changed since then?

Some fans will point to the 4-2 victory at Celtic, perhaps allowing many fans to put it behind them, others will say that Cuellar’s sale was necessary to bring in some much needed flair into the team which Walter Smith did with the introduction of Pedro Mendes but the reason for why Cuellar seems to have not been missed is simple—it’s because of Madgid Bougherra.

Bougherra has been one of the most underrated players this season but I would say that he has been Walter Smith’s best buy this season. He is fast, a good tackler, heads well and has good positional sense. He is also fairly young and could be a regular at the centre of that defence for years to come.

Perhaps we should look at the three Old firm games this season. In the two that Bougherra has featured—both at Parkhead—he has been fantastic and the whole defence has looked good. He missed the game at Ibrox and in that game Scott McDonald took the ball past the hapless Kirk Broadfoot before firing into the net to win that game. If Bougherra had been playing that wouldn’t have happened.

So perhaps, when after the split we visit Tannadice, Tynecastle and perhaps Fir Park it may not be a piece of Mendes magic or Miller movement that wins us the game, but it might be because we have a centre back that we can rely on.

Steven Whittaker: Anthem for a Domed Youth

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:57:31 -0500

I admit to a strange fascination with Rangers defender Steven Whittaker. His uncertainty as to best position, his hot-cold form swings from European master of the wizard dribble (cf. Lisbon, 2008) to leaden footed novice baffled by the Scottish game (cf. too many to mention), to debate over the size of his transfer fee.

...All these, though, pale into insignificance when I see his head.

Not quite bald, but certainly not boasting a fine, manly head of hair, Whittaker joins the long and distinguished line of shiny topped footballers, all of whom have exercised this strange power over me.

Is it the standing out from the crowd? Is is the harsh reflective glare on those "under the floodlights" European nights?

Whatever, he joins those who have gone before him in standing tall, proud and smooth of pate. But can you think of a baldilocks who has really, really shone? Being bald seems to instil a sense of the artisan rather than the artist.

Consider Attillio Lombardo, the rather workmanlike winger who burst upon our TVs when Channel 4 started showing Football Italia. Always looking older than his years, following his days with Sampdoria he ended up at London's perennially unfashionable Crystal Palace. A good player, but no Davie Cooper.

Epitome of the northern professional, Steve Stone deserves a statue somewhere to mark his contribution. An accent redolent of The Likely Lads and playing a brand of no-nonsense football from the same era, his chrome noggin appears through the fog of my memory clad in a cloth cap, such were his working class credentials.

Closer to home those of us who grew up in the 80s were treated to a "double header"—if you'll pardon the expression—when Clydebank took on Dundee. Any corner for the Dens Park men would see a Clash of the Baldy Titans, as Jim Duffy would challenge Bankies goalie Jim Gallagher.

From my vantage point as a teenager, both seemed aged beyond Methuselah, their lack of hair hiding the fact they were probably both in their 20s...to me they were ancient and seasoned warriors, whose untroubled tonsure merely reflected the effort and strain they put into their game.

And it's this, I think, which draws me back to the thinning thatch of present day players. Whittaker—and dare I point to our revered No. 9, whose hair is not exactly luxurious—are boys who are 10 years and more my junior.

But as I sit back, easing my ample stomach into a more comfortable position and debating whether one or two Bluenose Burgers will suffice this week, I can run a hand through my lustrous, dark mane...I may be aging, expanding and in all probability declining, but as long as their are bald footballers to watch, I can reject Father Time for another season.

Baldies, may you long prosper!

From Tavare to Tavares: The Rebirth of Andrew 'Andy' Strauss

RangersMedia .co.uk — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:49:18 -0500

There you go.

We were all wrong, in the end.

The ECB, plainly, knew exactly what it was doing all along. Give Kevin Pietersen just enough rope to hang himself as captain, watch as he drags down a poorly performing coach (handily removing the need for a pay-off), get the dirty linen washed, and start afresh.

And the new captain? Not, as we might have thought, the best of a bad lot, an 'Anyone But Freddie' candidate; but a player stuck in a rut who, it is now obvious, merely needed the responsibility of the second toughest job in English sport to get him going.

Going into the West Indies series, there can't have been many cricket followers who viewed the English opening pair with unbridled optimism. Cook, accomplished but still learning, is a stick on barring accidents for a good few years. Strauss...ah, there's a thing. A good player. A team player.

Technically gifted, you know, but still...seemingly bent on introducing the concept of minimalism into cricket, Strauss was gradually removing shots from his locker, test by test, until surely all that was left would be the backward defensive.

Should he ever find himself playing 20/20, one imagines the Middlesex man morosely plodding to the crease to the strains of Phillip Glass.

But lo! Something has occurred, and most welcome it is. Instead of using the Caribbean series to perfect his Chris Tavare impersonation, Strauss has instead taken the words of Tavares to heart: it only takes a minute.

The sight of him blazing away at the Windies bowling on the opening day of the Fourth Test will live long in my memory.

The captain of England, on the first day of a Test match, advancing down the pitch to loft the bowler for six...I should think if you asked most people for candidates, Strauss would have been last on the list. But this!

This brings back memories of Marcus Trescothick thrashing the Aussies around the grounds on so many occasions four years ago, an image that has been playing on my mind as they get ready to return.

What chance another 400 runs in a day? Who will dominate and set the tone? Until today, no name loomed on my horizon.

Is it too much to hope that Strauss (perhaps, now he's playing attacking cricket, we may start to call him Andy?) will adopt the mantle of Tres? if he can, and it is a big ask coupled with the captaincy, that would be one of the big 'worry areas' of the Ashes resolved.

That just leaves minor quibbles like Harmison being patently yesterday's man, whether Swann should replace Monty, and whether Read is the man for the gloves. Maybe some of these issues will be sorted, maybe none will.

But the advent of the new, improved Andy Strauss at least gives us hope that it can happen. The question now is: will it?

To paraphrase Loyd Grossman: Players, it's over to you.

Rangers' Biggest Loss of the Season So Far

RangersMedia .co.uk — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:44:30 -0500

Our half-yearly financial figures are out, and only Fred Goodwin could find anything positive in them.

The stark figures only tell half the story unfortunately, we’ve lost £2,700,000 during the first six months of the financial year (1st July to 31st December 2008).

Added to that are interest payments against borrowings and debt which increased to £1,419,000, giving us a deficit of £3,916,000 for the period. Our turnover is down by nearly £13 million on the same period last year, and the club explain this as being due to no European football which certainly makes sense.

There is no way to sugar coat this, these figures are bad. By way of comparison we made a profit of over £2.2 million during the same period in 2007. Again European football played a huge part in that.

The most concerning aspect of this is that traditionally the first 6 months are better than the second six months.

The first six months include season ticket sales and pre-paid corporate hospitality and should include the bulk of the Cueller and Cousin sales although how those sales were structured financially isn’t clear.

With no European football to come and the transfer window closed without anyone sold only a player transfer at the end of the season but before July will prevent another large loss during the next six months.

We can take some comfort from the fact that at least the club know we have a problem.

The attempts to sell a player in the January transfer window and recent public utterances about cutting the squad size were clearly made with these results in mind. Short of an unexpected and highly unlikely increase in revenue we can expect to lose a number of players in the summer, the club really has no choice as to not cut overheads would be absolute folly.

If we needed reminded about the importance of European football to the club this is it. These figures do seem to make a mockery of old statement about budgeting to go out of every competition in the first round; that clearly hasn’t been the case this year.

The only silver lining I can see in all this is that it will certainly force us to introduce youth to our squad, simple economics necessitate it; young players earn less than experienced ones.

However, young players tend to bring inconsistency, so we’ll have a role to play helping them, too.

In a week where some venerable, old, Scottish institutions have made the biggest losses in history and we’ve seen their directors metaphorically flogged in public, derided by columnists and on phone-ins I think it is fair to say Rangers directors will be keeping any pension agreements they might have very quiet indeed.

We might win the treble this season, but 2009 might just prove to be the hardest year ever for most Rangers supporters.

You can read the Chairman's Statement and look at the report by clicking on the following link to the Official Rangers Website:
http://www.rangers.premiumtv.co.uk/staticFiles/7e/32/0,,5~143998,00.pdf

Selling the Rangers to the Rest of the World

RangersMedia .co.uk — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:42:47 -0500

Football is not just about the trophies or the glory any more: Money is just as important. It is what keeps clubs afloat, allows them to pay players. and to improve the facilities for players and team supporters.

It is these supporters who collectively provide football clubs with much of the revenue needed to achieve these goals. The Rangers Football Club are well aware of this fact and exploit this by selling any kind of merchandise or memorabilia.

This loyalty has never been more important. The club is enduring a period of financial insecurity after two consecutive summers of big spending coupled with failure to secure the £10 million cash reward for making the group stages of the Champions League.

In January, David Murray was forced to admit that all offers for our big-name players would be considered due to our financial predicament. These are tough times, but is the club exploring every avenue of generating income? What about merchandising revenue?

The Rangers support is vast, you will find Bears in all corners of the world who are devoted and loyal to their club. Around 200,000 of these supporters descended on Manchester last season for the UEFA Cup Final, an unprecedented number of people actively following a football match. That single event served as proof of the Rangers' fan base's enormity, and these were just the English fans.

Think of the thousands upon thousands of others who would have packed their local Rangers or Scottish bar in the cities of Canada, America and Australia to watch their beloved team contest a European final. What I am trying to emphasise here is that with these great numbers comes great marketing potential. Sadly, this isn't being explored.

On the 9th of March 2006, Rangers Football Club signed a ten-year licensing agreement with JJB Sports PLC. As contained within a press release from the sportswear distributor, it was announced that JJB would "design, develop, and source all Rangers merchandise throughout its substantial network of 439 stores."

Also JJB was tasked with the “maintenance and order fulfilment of the Rangers online retail facility where Rangers product will continue to be sold."

The deal was struck and an initial payment of £18 million was paid to Rangers on the 6th of June 2006. This deal is accentuated by a minimum annual royalty of £3 million which is then added to the Rangers's revenue if sales thresholds are met and exceeded. The deal was put in place just as Alex McLeish’s tenure at Rangers was running out and the arrival of Paul Le Guen was looking more likely. The deal, brokered by Sir David Murray and Martin Bain, meant that 18 club shops were closed, leaving somewhere in the region of 200 Rangers workers unemployed.

But what has the deal brought to the club? Surely it is a good thing?

On paper, it is a guaranteed minimum £48 million pounds until 2016, rising if we meet certain sales targets. But upon closer inspection of the 2008 accounts, it can be seen that we did meet these thresholds, as we were only paid the minimum of £3 million. In a year where we pushed to a European final and brought 200,000 fans to Manchester, when will more replica jerseys sold? If we didn’t meet the targets then, will we ever meet them during the deal's 10-year duration.

Another consideration that needs to be discussed is whether JJB are actually keeping up their end of the deal. How many JJB stores have you been into recently that have a good breadth of Rangers products to purchase or have made their Rangers merchandise clearly visible?

I tell you what, let’s do a small experiment. Go to the JJB website now as you are reading this. Using your Internet browser, go to (http://www.jjbsports.com/football/shirts) and click on the “Scottish Teams” shirts that are available for purchase. I’m sure once you have clicked on this you will see the lack of Rangers merchandise.

Problems of JJB mismanaging the deal could have been prevented. The conspiracy theorist in me makes me think that JJB is purposefully not selling Rangers merchandise to avoid high royalty costs. But that is merely conjecture, we will never really know.

But what could not have been predicted was the financial crisis, which has been thrust upon our country. JJB as a company is no different and is facing the prospect of closure. Now, I don't know what would happen to the Rangers' merchandise contract if JJB folds. But it would seem that the Rangers and Murray should have a Plan B.

Would we go back to handling our own merchandising and sales? Perhaps it would be a blessing in disguise if the deal with JJB was vetoed, allowing us to reanalyse and come up with a new innovative strategy.

Although the JJB deal has been a bonus for the club financially, I do not feel that the small increase of annual profit from JJB's sales is worth the loss of the Rangers' name from High Street or the reduced range of merchandise available. Yes, there is a wider range available online but, most supporters still prefer to shop in the High Street, as do most consumers in general. People feel a sense of pride and excitement when we purchase something we can take home. That is somewhat lost with Internet shopping.

Therefore, as has been said, the club must either cut our ties with the failing retail chain and negotiate a deal with one who will promise to offer a wide selection of Rangers merchandise. Or else reinvest in introducing the traditional Rangers superstores back onto the High Street. Sometimes you have to take one step backwards to take two steps forward.

Now, let’s have a look at how our generated merchandising income compares to others in Europe. International sports business group, Deloitte, recently published a list of the top twenty richest clubs in the world. Included in the report was a breakdown of each clubs' revenue; merchandise sales was of particular interest for this article.

Unsurprisingly, the top two clubs, Real Madrid and Manchester United made a whopping £102 million and £64 million respectively on commercial revenue. It would be unrealistic for Rangers to ever dream of competing with those figures in the short term.

But clubs lower down the league, such as Tottenham and Manchester City are also streets ahead in the commercial and merchandise department. Tottenham last year generated £9.7 million in merchandising sales alone, while Manchester City, bottom of the rich list, bagged £7.8 million. Both of these clubs have a substantially smaller worldwide fan base than Rangers, yet are generating almost triple the amount of merchandising revenue.

This cannot just be explained by these clubs' prestige in the English Premiership with its endless popularity all over the world. Do these clubs have ingenious marketing structures which allow them to make more profit? Are they doing so by enticing neutral football supporters to buy their products? Or are Rangers simply neglecting our own massive support by not providing them with the opportunity to buy Rangers products? Shall we ask the supporters themselves?

Starting from South of the Border in England, you would expect there to be an abundance of Rangers merchandise given the large amount of JJB stores in the country. This is what an English Rangers fan had to say:

“I couldn't even get the home shirt in JJB this season until about September. The away and third shirts were never available. Anything we English Bears need, apart from the home shirt, has to be obtained either from the club shop or the official site online shop.

I'd like to see us promote and significantly expand the American market, as well as promoting the Rangers name in general within the rest of the UK, particularly England.”

It seems that JJB are proving to be just as poor in providing a good range of Rangers merchandise in England as they are in Scotland. The recent UEFA Cup Final, when a great many English Bears were looking to purchase Rangers kits for the big day, were told that there was none in stock.

JJB is not satisfying the demand for Rangers merchandise.

Outside of Scotland, there are more Rangers supporters in Northern Ireland than in any other country in the world. Historical associations over the years has created a unique situation where thousands of Ulster men and women support the Light Blues and travel in vast numbers across the sea every week to lend their support. Here is the opinion of two such Rangers fans from Northern Ireland on the issue:

“In Belfast we used to have a Rangers superstore, but like everywhere else they were replaced by JJB.

JJB stores in Belfast started off with rather large RFC sections, but they have shrank down as time has passed, and now they rarely carry an more RFC stuff than say Manchester United.

Celtic still has a megastore in the city centre, whereas the availability of Rangers stuff is much more scattered and fragmented.

I do notice in Glasgow the JJB stores make much more of an effort to provide a 'Rangers section' than here in Ulster, but even in Glasgow I would say it’s a far cry from a Rangers store.

I would say that in the High Street, since the Rangers store closed, the lines available to buy over the counter products have reduced by at least 75 percent.

The merchandise that the Rangers shops carried such as DVD selections and leisure clothing is almost totally gone.”

In short, it's Internet only for anything much more than a full strip.”

Yet another example of JJB failing to meet the needs of Rangers supporters. There is not a great range of merchandise available, even in the Glasgow stores, and it is apparent that in Belfast there is less still. This is the same situation across Northern Ireland:

“I find that Rangers merchandise isn't as readily available here as it is in Scotland, although it's still easy enough to go out and buy a strip at certain shops. I know of one small retail shop in town that sells Rangers jewelery, but you'd be hard pushed to find anything else. There's a Celtic shop in town, and you're far more likely to come across their merchandise here than anything else.

In saying that, I am from Londonderry, the town is mostly occupied with Catholic residents and the Waterside with Protestants. The Waterside doesn't have half as many shops, so it's understandable why it's hard to find anything in town. There is no reason there shouldn't be one in the Waterside. There is a JJB store, but there isn't much in it. For all I know Belfast or other places in Northern Ireland may have more products available, I just don't shop up there often.

Well basically after that rant, 'there's the odd stuff, but not a lot' sums it up.”

Of course, in Northern Ireland, the JJB deal also applies and therefore, like Scotland, there are no Rangers club shops. But it seems that there is also a lack of Rangers merchandise despite the large Rangers support and relative ease of shipping merchandise across the Irish Sea. The club is not doing enough to provide supporters with official club merchandise in Northern Ireland and are subsequently missing out on a great deal of revenue in the process.

In Canada, there is also a very strong Rangers fan base, most member clubs of NARSA (North Atlantic Rangers Supporters Association) are indeed RSCs from Canada. Is there a good range of Rangers merchandise available to Canadian Bears?

“At the local level, I have never seen a single piece of Rangers merchandise in a store in Edmonton. Others who have been her longer than I have may have seen some once or twice, but I never have. You can get Celtic tops here though if you hunt around.

In other cities, I have occasionally seen Rangers shirts, but less frequently than their Celtic counterparts. The range is terrible, where there is anything available at all.

I don't have a problem with shopping on the Internet but I have to say I have never used the official club site or the JJB site to see if I could get something sent direct from them. My mum or dad bring me a jersey when they come over and occasionally I get bits and pieces from them in the post.

The club should give the fans the sense that they matter. Get a shirt deal going with SportChek or someone here in Canada so I can buy the shirts easily. Or at the very least have it so I can shop online here without paying an import tax on a shirt that is already costing me in pounds, not dollars.”

So in Edmonton at least, it seems that Rangers don't exist. There is no club merchandise available anywhere in the city. Not good enough when you consider that the city is home to many Rangers supporters who would be more than willing to buy Rangers merchandise if they could find it. What about other parts of Canada.

“The fact is that Rangers items are very hard to come by here. You walk in the shops here such as Foot Locker and other major retailers and you see nothing from Rangers. In saying that, Celtic is well represented. As are the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona, and AC Milan.

For a continent such as North America where there are thousands upon thousands of Rangers fans, the ability to pick up items is poor. Furthermore, when items are here, they are extremely pricey.

For my last Canadian purchase, I had to go to the Umbro catalogue and order from them because I knew a guy at the one store. It is horrible.

In my opinion, they should allow RSCs in North America to be able to sell the merchandise at UK cost levels. That would make sense to me.”

So this problem of Rangers merchandise being extremely rare seems to be an all too common story in Canada – and what little that there is available proves to be very expensive by UK standards. The above contributor makes a very valid recommendation too. Allowing NARSA registered clubs to import the merchandise in bulk and sell to their members is an interesting suggestion which will be explored later in this article.

This lack of merchandise seems to stretch across the border into the United States where the legions of Rangers supporters there too are finding it near impossible to find Rangers clothing:

“I cannot pick up any RFC merchandise in any of our local sports stores. Our largest store, Sports Authority have never stocked Rangers items, a definite no. The best that most of these stores can do is point you in the general direction of specialist European football stores which are very few and far between. Even there, you are not guaranteed to find Rangers items.”

There is a common theme occurring here, buying Rangers merchandise anywhere outside of the UK is close to impossible unless you are willing to pay to have it shipped from Scotland via JJB or the Rangers online megastore. Will switching to the other side of the world by getting an Australian supporter's point of view provide some much-needed positivity on the issue?

“Well I generally don't buy Rangers shirts here. For one, there aren't that many in sports stores. They are available but compared to the number of Celtic jerseys it's low. They're also quite expensive over here so I just get my relatives in Scotland to buy them and send them to me.

As far as other merchandise is concerned, it is non-existent. The only items available are football strips.

There is quite an extensive Scottish population in Australia who mostly support either Rangers or Celtic, so I think it would be worthwhile for Rangers to open at least one superstore in this country.

Football is actually taking off in Australia with the new A-League and the international side becoming part of the Asian region and doing so well. It could be worthwhile for Rangers to do a tour of Australia and play some friendlies against the A-League sides to further promote the club. Setanta has done a deal with Foxtel (main cable TV provider) to use their satellites, and this is mainly due to people who wanted to see the SPL, so the market for the Scottish game is definitely here to be tapped into.”

Evidently, the same story is appearing the world over. Little to no Rangers merchandise can be found outside of the UK. This is absolutely criminal for a club our size to have such a poor marketing strategy. The demand is clearly there as our last contributor demonstrated. Football is becoming a major sport in Canada, America, and Australia and a large Rangers support base exists in all three countries. Yet, the club either does not have the vision or the business acumen to satisfy this demand and make a substantial profit.

There are various ways in which Rangers Football Club should look to improve their marketing strategy both at home and overseas.

Firstly, JJB are clearly not holding up their end of the bargain. The company is in serious danger of liquidation and is not providing a good range of Rangers merchandise in comparison to the former Rangers club stores. We are not making enough of a financial profit from this deal to justify the decrease in market standards.

Therefore, the club should either look to negotiate a deal with another High Street sports store, who will provide a better range of merchandise or simply revert back to the old system of having multiple dedicated Rangers stores across the country. Thus, the name and logo of Rangers Football Club reappears on the High Street, and the initial flurry of supporters looking to discover the new stores will create good revenue, even if that will only be short-term.

The same method should be applied throughout the UK where there is demand. Cities like Belfast, London, and Liverpool would all benefit from having a Rangers megastore.

In North America, there is already an organisation in NARSA, which has the power to bring together thousands of Rangers supporters either through local RSCs or the highly popular annual conference. The club must approach both the individual RSCs and the wide NARSA community in order to establish ways of importing merchandise which will be easy for Rangers supporters to buy.

Our earlier contributor from Canada had the suggestion of allowing North American RSCs to buy merchandise in bulk and sell it to its members. In essence, this is what should be happening. The club should welcome such initiatives and in turn reward the RSCs with discounted prices on all imported merchandise and a free subscription to Rangers World for their members, or signed strips and photos. It makes these alienated supporters feel like they are still part of the Rangers family despite being so far away from their spiritual home. The club will also make serious amounts of money by tapping into this market.

In Australia ORSA and the local RSCs, although not as many exist, should be given these same opportunities. But the club could also engage with the local sports retail chains all over the country to establish trading links whereby they are willing to have plenty of Rangers club merchandise imported. With football becoming such a popular game"Down Under," it would be beneficial for the club to exploit this trend and make money and possibly new supporters from it. Why not also show some invention and adapt our merchandise to the climate of the country? Residents of Australia are hardly going to be responsive to buying padded Rangers training jackets and raincoats in such a sun-scorched country. Rangers beach towels, sun hats, and baseball caps would sell better.

The possibilities are endless.

Once successful trading systems are in place in the countries where most Rangers support comes from, there is the possibility to expand our horizons further still. The history of Rangers Football Club is an awe-inspiring story of rags to riches. It is a story that everyone loves, a success story. This story should be told to the world and not just those willing to seek it and learn about it. There are many great books which have been written on the story of the club and the various periods of our history. We could export these books to North America, Australia, Europe, and even Asia (in varying languages) to captivate the world by the club's rich history. This will undoubtedly prompt a bigger demand for Rangers merchandise on these continents.

It would be unreasonable to expect there to be Rangers merchandise at a local level all over the world so this is where the club must embrace the Internet much more than it currently has. The current online megastore is too expensive for supporters or customers outside of the UK. It is also not a swift and reliable delivery service, which is why many overseas supporters are relying on family or friends to send them the latest gear rather than buy from the online club shop.

Many British clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United, and Liverpool have deals with international export companies who are paid to handle the delivery of all club merchandise around the world at a speedy and reliable rate. Rangers should look to make similar deal if we are to maximise our selling potential. The cost of a quick, reliable courier service will be more than expendable given the revenue we will earn from satisfied customers.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that the Rangers' current marketing strategy is failing both the supporters and the club itself. In times of financial trouble, we should be looking at initiatives to improve our income. With there being a huge, unsatisfied demand for Rangers merchandise all over the world, there is an opportunity for new revenue streams.

The club should work with RSCs and supporter organisations around the globe to develop measures in which the demand for merchandise is satisfied and to open new markets. The supporters in each country can provide the club with good knowledge of the local markets that can be used to our advantage. It is not an impossible task. We have a fan base to rival any of the major clubs in the world, but we simply don't have the vision to exploit it.

Now is the time for vision and constructive dialogue between the club and the Rangers' supporters to build towards a more profitable future where merchandise is available to all whom desire it.

[With special thanks to: BoltonLoyal, Brissyger, Toni, Bobby, Nvager, CanadaReady, CanadianGer for your fantastic contributions to this article.]

Fernando Redondo: The Prince

RangersMedia .co.uk — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:09:52 -0500

In an age where the mere fan craves a hero that they can relate to—you know, the down to earth type who has all the glitz on the park but empathy for the fan and disdain for flashbulbs off it; I've always found it strange that Fernando Redondo's name doesn't crop up in discussion more often.

As far as footballers go, "The Prince" was up there with the best of them—a deep lying playmaker who could attack just as well as he could defend. Physical when winning the ball and dainty on it, throw an almost perfect left foot into the mix and you have one of the most unique players of all time.

His 'off the ball' intelligence was just as good, if not better, and don't take my word for it. This is the man that Fabio Capello once described as "tactically perfect" and the man who many in Spain labelled "Rivaldo's worst nightmare," due to the way he would vigourously man-mark him.

What, perhaps, best marks Redondo, however, is his personality and kind-heartedness. Never one to put himself before the club, he always made sure that he did what he believed was right for the side rather than the individual.

At Madrid, he was sold to Milan, after daring to oppose then President Florentino Perez (along with Morientes and Hierro, who were also disposed of; fundraising for the Figo deal also being a motive) and his running of the club, and at Milan where he endured a two year injury nightmare, he self suspended his multi-million pound wage and even returned his house and car to the Milan board. Ethics that are almost unheard of.

His most famous moment, at least for UK audiences, probably came in the Champions League quarter final tie against Manchester United. In a moment of sheer inventive genius, he totally bamboozled Henning Berg with a ridiculous back heel to set up himself to, in turn, set up Raul.

A second of skill that has since become iconic. It was revealed recently that before the tie, Sir Alex Ferguson told his players to watch out for Raul, as he believed him to be the best player on the planet, I'm not one to doubt SAF's judgement, but it wasn't the No. 7 who was the best around, it was the No. 6.

After the match, Ferguson gushed about Redondo, saying his boots were like magnets and that he's never seen Roy Keane look so ruffled.

He was a gem of a player and one we're not likely to see in football for many a year.

Young Gago said recently that Redondo gave birth to the role that he currently fills and that he generally revolutionised midfield play in Argentina.

He's right, but for many, it will be his personality that will be remembered rather than his skill, which really is quite amazing.

Video

Rangers Cheerleaders: They Cheer for Us, We Should Cheer for Them

RangersMedia .co.uk — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:12:11 -0500

Nervous, scared, excited, and proud.

It’s Saturday, 31 March 2007 and half time in the SPL league tie between Rangers and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The supporters are fraught and nervous too. Rangers have lost the last two matches against Caley this season and need to get themselves back on track in the league.

Deep intakes of breath, standing in the tunnel in Ibrox—home of the famous Glasgow Rangers. The atmosphere is muted now, a muffled noise of 50,000 people discussing the first half events.

A first half sending off for ICT and a penalty converted to give us some leeway, some breathing space; other than that, it’s been a dire first half. Drab and dreich, filled with missed chances and slack play. The crowd need a lift.

Nervous, scared, excited and proud. Together, we can give them that lift.

Growing up in the shadow of the stadium, living and breathing the club for as long as is possible to remember; this day is the culmination of over ten years hard work.

Hours of practice, numerous injuries, buckets of sweat and plenty of grit and determination has led to this day. At 18 years old, this is going to be the first time representing the club and team that mean the world.

Standing in the tunnel, ready to tread onto the famous pitch in front of 50,000 Bears and Bearettes for the first time. Swimming in the back of the brain is the knowledge that close family and friends are there to watch.

Ready to bask in the glow of pride at seeing all the work and dedication pay off. Willing to give everything on the pitch for the club and for the fans.

And then it is time.

Slowly starting to filter out of the tunnel and the announcer booms over the tannoy system...

“...would you please welcome onto the park...the girls get active dancers sponsored by OP Marine....your Rangers Cheerleaders!”

This article is an interview with one of our superb Rangers Cheerleaders, Gail McCarthy. The squad itself has been running for several years now and been entertaining the masses at halftime at Ibrox regularly.

The squad is involved in numerous charitable works and is very integrated in representing the club though many means in Scotland and further afield.

Promoting a healthy lifestyle and acting as role models for younger Bearettes and for us all, they are always on hand to help out the club. These are a group of girls that need to be celebrated for the work they do in our clubs great name.

But less of me talking about them; let’s let Gail tell you all about it herself.

So introduce yourself, who are you and what’s your position in the squad?

I’m Gail. We don’t really have "titles" as such. I deal with all the wages and invoicing for the squad and when our manager isn’t there I’m usually the point of contact on a match day. If for any reason something has changed in the match day running order then they will inform me.

When did you start your career as a cheerleader/dancer?

I started dancing when I was 8 or 9—late on compared to others. I did Irish dancing but gave it up after a few months. I then joined my local dance class and did tap, disco, majorette, line dance and cheerdance. However, I had to leave when I got accepted at the auditions for Rangers.

How exactly did you stumble upon the Rangers auditions?

I knew a girl who was setting up the auditions but I never thought I would stand a chance getting into the squad as I had only turned 18 and had never danced at a professional level. I’d only attended dance class every Saturday morning.

Is there a large step-up in class and expectancy to go to a pro level?

It’s a massive step up! I remember our first few training sessions well. I couldn’t move for weeks, I was in so much pain! We used to do a massive work out for an hour and then dance for an hour. It was really hard going.

Is that still part of training every week? As much about your fitness as it is about dancing?

Yeah, we do a lot of muscle strengthening and toning too. Our manager is very into fitness and gives us "killer warm ups" which never get any easier! But it is all part of the job, fitness is a major aspect in what we do and without a high fitness level half of us wouldn’t be able to last three minutes of full on dancing! It’s a lot harder than it looks—trust me.

Who comes up with the routines? Where do you get inspiration from? The music? Is that your own choice?

Our manager comes up with all the routines. God knows how she does it, my brain would be fried. She’s fab though, I’ve never seen anyone like her! Unfortunately the music isn’t always our choice. We are requested to stick to rock songs or the occasional dance track but the final decision sits with Rangers.

Do you ever have to change things very last minute? Routines, music and stuff all can change...

Yeah, it can all change. I have seen us redo a whole routine the night before a game because the song has changed or our positions have changed on the park such as changing to dance on the sideline instead of centre circle.

I suppose being able to change like that comes with experience?

We are professionals and no task is too difficult. Like I said, our squad manager is fantastic. She has a lot of dance experience and is good at keeping everyone motivated. The average person would go into a state of panic if they had to change at such short notice, but she keeps us calm and keeps us working hard!

How many girls are in the squad, how many nights training a week do you do? How many hours a go? What kind of ages of girls?

There are currently 28 members in the squad all aging from 18-27. We train two, sometimes three nights a week—two hours per session (later if required). However only 18 can dance a match day so everyone is kept on their toes and is fighting for a place to dance in the next game

Why is it that only 18 girls can dance?

It’s a mixture of things—mostly formations though. It’s difficult to choreograph for a large group, especially over such a wide area.

You said earlier that you handle the wages and invoices. What does that entail and do you also do work for charity?

We get paid to dance a match day and are contracted to 10 home games a season, however we went over the limit last season and we did 16. The squad do a lot for free such as charity events such as for Sports Relief, Rangers Charity Ball amongst other things.

Where does your finance come from? Do the club help you out?

We are currently financed from our sponsor (OP Marine and Broadwood Leisure Centre). However, our sponsorship ends this season unfortunately so we are on the lookout for someone else.

OP Marine pay for our 10 contracted games and Rangers invite us to preform at other promotions such as the kids AGM Meeting, Champions League Fanzones, handing out leaflets

*****

To read the rest of the interview and see more pictures, you can come to the RangersMedia website at the following link: http://home.rangersmedia.co.uk/

*****

Many thanks to Gail for giving us this interview as an insight to exactly what it is that the girls do for Rangers and for the community. If anyone would like to contact the squad directly, then they can do so by contacting any staff on RangersMedia and we will forward your details, the club itself, or through the Bebo page as Gail mentioned within the interview.

Also, as mentioned, you or your company can get involved in sponsoring the girls for the upcoming season too. They are currently looking for new partnerships and having your companies name adorned on the tops of 18 athletic girls that are the centre of attention for 50,000 fans every home match, might be a rather worthwhile investment. Again, if you are interested please do contact the girls (please mention RM if you do).

I’m sure we are all looking forward to the rest of the season, especially now as we sit astride the top of the SPL; welcoming the chase. However, the next time we are all feeling a little edgy at half time, look to the centre circle and you will now hopefully be inspired by the work and dedication of the Rangers Dance Squad.

They cheer for us, we should cheer for them.

Let's Have a Big Hand for Today's Rangers Flagbearers

RangersMedia .co.uk — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:29:42 -0500

I was at Ibrox as usual last Saturday, but there was something very different this time.

My heart was pounding 10 times faster than normal. My hands were shaking. I was in awe of everything around me and things seemed to be going in slow motion. I have been on the Ibrox tour before and stood in the tunnel and dugouts while they were empty.

Yet nothing could have prepared me for this.

When I was there before I had wondered what it must feel like on a match day, to have the perspective that the players and management are blessed with, wondered what the buzz would be like to walk out that tunnel when 50,000 bears are cheering and applauding your very presence on the park.

Well last Saturday I got a glimpse of what that feeling was like. I was not in my usual seat in the Govan front, but was on the park, right outside the tunnel, waving a 10' Union Flag in the direction of the Bill Struth Main Stand.

The chance to be a flagbearer was not something I had ever anticipated I'd ever have the chance to do, but after helping with the Scotland Day flag display last month, fans liaison Jim Hannah provided me and my flatmate Alex with the chance to do just that.

After a brief chat about what our duties would entail, we headed down a maze of corridors from Jims office to just outside the tunnel. From there we were then led into a side room and given a Rangers jacket and possession of the flags.

We were ushered to the tunnel about 20 minutes before kick off and at this point I have to admit to feeling slightly on the the nerves!

Then we could hear the announcer over the tannoy: "Lets hear a big hand for today's flagbearers!"

So off we went, out the tunnel to a smattering of light applause and took our places in front of the Bill Struth Main Stand at either dug-out to hold the flags aloft. The stadium was only about a quarter to half full but it didn’t take much time in filling up.

Waving the flags was a lot more awkward than it looked, due to a sharp wind in one direction. Rather than trying to wave it around and end up tied up in the flag, not to mention the fact that 50,000 people would have wet themselves laughing.

I decided the best course of action was to simply hold it aloft and watch it catch the breeze itself.

After the players had descended into the tunnel and were ready to come back out, the other four flag bearers approached the dugout area and it was time for the guard of honour to assemble to welcome the Rangers onto the park.

As Simply The Best sounded out over the tannoy system and 50,000 bears clapped in unison, that’s when I really began to feel my nervousness take hold. As the players ran onto the park inches from me, everything seemed to go in slow motion, it was an awesome feeling and the rush was like my first time being at Ibrox for kick off all those years ago.

After rolling up the flag and nearly tripping up Ally McCoist in the process (Sorry Ally!) then it was back into the tunnel and up to my usual seat in the Govan front. Ninety minutes and three points later the Rangers were back on top of the league where we belong which made the day perfect.

A special thanks to Jim Hannah for the day; it was much appreciated and not one this Bear will forget in a hurry!

Eastern Approaches for Kenny Miller

RangersMedia .co.uk — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:08:38 -0500

"KENNY MILLER is a shock transfer target for newly-crowned Russian champs Rubin Kazan. SunSport can reveal the Rangers striker is being tracked by the club set to make their Champions League debut next season.

Although our transfer window has closed, Miller WOULD be able to join Kazan before March 1. The club is based in Russia’s Tatarstan Republic and bankrolled by local industry. It’s understood Miller wouldn’t be put off by the prospect of moving east and would listen to any offer."

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/ho...icle2237068.ece

Following in the wake (or should that be ripples?) of Garry O'Connor's move to Lokomotiv Moscow, news breaks that Rangers' Kenny Miller is on the radar of new Russian champs Rubin Kazan. Cue mockery of the locale, disbelief of the accuracy, and doubts about the player's willingness to move.

Why?

As you'll see from the report in The Sun above, Ghana's Stepehn Appiah (ex-of Udinese, Parma, Juve and Fenerbache—a slightly better pedigree than that of Miller) is happy to relocate to the banks of the Volga, no doubt to be well recompensed but also experiencing another culture, another way of life.

With it's rather impressive weather, uncluttered population and intriguing mix of Islamic, Stalinist, and neo-Modern architecture, 18 months in Kazan, playing football, and coming home a couple of million dollars richer sounds like a good deal to me.

Why would they want Kenny Miller, of all people? He suffers at the hands of the Rangers fans, there's no doubt of that. And with cause—even his biggest defenders, of whom I'm one, must admit that he does everything right except put the ball in the net. From a distance, though, bald statistics paint a rosier picture.

Playing in an underwhelming Scotland international team, he's done the business when the business is likely to be noticed—against Italy, against Germany, and especially for an Eastern team, against Croatia and the Ukraine.

Add to that the fact that he's scored goals for an unnamed side in the UEFA Champions League, and you can see why teams on the lookout for a relatively cheap striker with a decent track record would be interested.

Would he go, though?

The reluctance of Scottish or British players to move around the footballing globe leaves me amazed. Perhaps not the players such as Miller who have already made a good living out the game, and are set for life.

But there are plenty of good, solid professionals in the SPL who could quite easily carve out a career through their 20s, travelling the globe or finding somewhere they fit in and settling down. In a worst case scenario, they will become more self reliant being away from home, earn a lot of money, but not get many games. What's not to like?

What's the appeal of our repetitive leagues, our awful, sould crushing weather, our obsession with the trivial. Unless you have a chance at the Old Firm or a settled family, I fail to see what any player finds to hold him back.

How good it would be to see Scots venturing all over the globe, learning new methods, making new contacts, just plain seeing what the world has to offer. I've had enough of kick and rush, and I've given up hope of Scottish coaches ever going for a skill based, footballing approach.

If it takes our players globe-trotting for a generation to re-instill the basics of passing fitba to our country, I hope Kenny can be the trailblazer.

Bend Me, Shape Me: Strawmen of the Scottish Media Blowing in the Wind

RangersMedia .co.uk — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:08:06 -0500

The young Hamilton midfielder, James McCarthy, made the headlines earlier in the season when he opted to play for the Republic of Ireland rather than Scotland (for readers outside Scotland, the player has one Irish grandparent and says he 'feels' more Irish).

The player got the predictable 'boos' when his team met the Rangers shortly afterwards, and just as predictably, there were calls for police action against these vile bigots from our ever vigilant chums in the press.

What's been interesting, though, is the long term reaction to this scenario.

McCarthy was slated by Lanarkshire rivals Motherwell when the two clashed, and last weekend, BBC Scotland aired highlights which included Dundee United fans also chastising this youthful (grand)son of Erin:

"...In James McCarthy, they had a young man who rose to the occasion rather than the bait. United supporters had taunted him with "why don't you go home" chants - alluding to the fact he has chosen to play for the Republic of Ireland rather than Scotland - and those drew retaliatory, supportive songs from the Accies fans." http://www.sundayherald.com/sport/shfootba..._his_chants.php

And the player has faced criticism for his choice in The Sun newspaper, with one columnist laying into him for turning his back on the country which raised him.

This piece isn't interested in whether the wee shite made the right decision. It's a free country, and having wet his bed, he can now lie in it.

It's the shift in position from the media which intrigues me. They've done a virtual colte-face, well, except the usual suspects.

The hilarious irony of Hugh Keevins' fulminating against the remote chance of Nacho Novo turning out for Scotland, while defending McCarthy or Aiden McGeady's decision to the hilt, meant there was little chance of he and his ilk coming to their senses.

But out with these partisan outlands, it's a little short of amazing to see how many people are willing to take the position that: "Yes, it's the individual's choice but don't expect me to like it—and that doesn't make me a racist."

The fact that there has been absolutely zero reaction to the Dundee United supporters' singing may result in the more paranoid amongst you thinking that says more about BBC Scotland that anything else, but I like to believe it signals another media body adopting a realistic attitude to this issue.

It's utterly naive to expect the fans of one country (Scotland) to quietly accept two quality prospects such as McGeady and McCarthy—with frankly tenuous links to the Emerald Isle—decamping across the water.

If all of these boys' faces is a song or two, bluntly, I think they should count their blessings—there are plenty of unsavoury types who would gladly take further—more physical—steps.

It would be churlish to gloat over this partial vindication of us Rangers' fans. But, I'll do it anyway. The amoral and weak-willed individuals who work in the Scottish media should use this issue as a salutatory reminder that while hyping discord and imaginary hatred may help sell some papers or add a few zeroes to the audience figures, it's no substitute for sticking to principles.

Try it. You'll like it!

Just the Mendes To Drive Rangers to the Title

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:35:31 -0500

As we enter the home straight of what has been a rather topsey-turvey season, many bears have talked about their wish to see a player emerge from the inconsistency which has hung over our team, rise above his team mates and ultimately use his own ability to produce performances which will drive us to the SPL title.

Well, yesterday afternoon, I believe that man made himself known to the Ibrox faithful, and the watching Scottish press.

Take a bow, Pedro Mendes.

Today he showed that he has no qualms about rolling his sleeves up and doing the dirty work that the general style of play in the SPL requires.

In the midst of the rough and tumble he found time to effortlessly dictate play from deep, burst forward to link the play and display nearly every item from the Pedro Mendes “range of passing catalogue” (who else have we seen at Ibrox that can play a pass equally as well, if not better, with the outside of his boot?)

Don’t get me wrong, we all know he has this in him. His performances earlier in the season were nothing short of a revelation and at one point it looked like he would cruise to the Player of the Year accolade.

However nobody can deny that in recent months he has had an ever so slight dip in form. Yet his performance this afternoon struck me as being that of a player who had made a conscious decision to roll his sleeves up and drag us to the title if that’s what is required.

Make no mistake about it, Mendes was at his very best this afternoon.

And having seen his best, I truly believe that if Mendes carries on this sort of form between now and the end of the season then the task of wrestling the SPL title back from Celtic will become a far, far easier task and the the £3 million transfer fee, and the £30,000 a week contract that we handed to Mendes will have been fully justified.

Under 19's Go Top! Hearts 0:2 Rangers

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:16:27 -0500

A fantastic, resilient performance from the youth side at Riccarton this morning took them to the top of the youth league. With Hibs losing 1-0 to Falkirk on Friday the incentive was there for both sides.

Rangers knowing a win would take them top, and the home side knowing a win for them would take then to within two points of Rangers and three of their Edinburgh rivals.

In the opening minutes good work down the right by Ross McKenzie ended with his cross being headed over by Mark Cowan. At the other end a slack pass out of defence gave Steven Forbes a chance but he shot tamely past the post.

On 13 minutes Arvydas Novikas cut in from the left and his shot was deflected wide for a corner by Ross Perry. Two minutes later the same player had a powerful shot saved ay Arturs Vailculis.

On the half-hour mark Rangers were reduced to ten man. Gregg Wylde who had been booked earlier, was late and rash with a challenge on Craig Thomson just outside the Hearts penalty area and was shown a straight red card.

On 34 minutes a Hearts corner was taken short to Craig Thomson at the edge of the box, his shot through a ruck of players and was easily saved by Vailculis. Two minutes later Hearts had the best chance of the first half, Thomson got to the byline and his cutback at the edge of the box was met by Johnathan Stewart but he failed to hit the target and the ball went wide.

Half-Time: Hearts 0 Rangers 0

Two minutes in to the second half and Hearts missed a real chance to take the lead. A slack pass from Darren Cole, saw Paul Mulrooney carry the ball into the box and he looked certain to score, but his shot went past Vailculis’s left hand post.

On 57 minutes Rangers took the lead, Kyle Hutton fed Archie Campbell on the right. He then played a one-two with Kane Hemmings and headed for the byline, he fired the ball low across the six-yard box and under pressure from Stephen Stirling, Hearts defender Craig Thomson knocked the ball into his own net.

Fifteen minutes later it was 2-0, Kane Hemmings collected a pass from Kyle Hutton and found Archie Campbell at the right hand corner of the penalty area. With Hearts keeper Mark Ridgers possibly expecting a cross, he was beaten high to his left at the near post by Campbells powerful effort.

Rangers were now content to see out the 90 minutes and were rarely troubled. One last effort

from Ryan Wallace saw him come in from the left passed a couple of defenders, Arturs Vailculis blocked his shot comfortably.

Full-Time: Hearts 0 Rangers 2

Rangers Lineup: Arturs Vailculis; Darren Cole, Ross Perry, Danny Wilson, Gregg Wylde; Kyle Hutton; Archie Campbell (Scott Durie 85mins), Stephen Stirling, Steven Forbes, Kal Naismith; Kane Hemmings (Max Wright 82 mins).

Not Used: Grant Adam, Isa Bagci, Kyle McAusland, Gordon Dick.

Hearts Lineup:- Mark Ridgers; Craig Thomson, Dylan McGowan, Conrad Blatoni, Jonathan Brown; Ross McKenzie ( Rocky Visconte 46mins), Paul Mulrooney, Jonathan Stewart, Steven Husband, Arvydas Novikas ( Ryan Wallace 73mins); Mark Cowan.

This match report is brought to you from the excellent youth blog by Elfideldo. To read more click on the following link:
http://rfcyouths.wordpress.com

Rangers FC Youth: Waiting in the Wings

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:42:05 -0500

There's no doubt that Fleck's recent inclusion in the first team has given everyone at Ibrox a new lease of life.

It will undoubtedly give the youngsters every reason to be excited about the inspiration to knuckle down and metaphorically speaking 'bang on the managers door'. It has also seemed to rejuvenate those in the first team who now know that there are youngsters who have the hunger and more importantly the ability to make them think twice about their chance of featuring for the Rangers.

The fans have waited forever it seems for Auchenhowie to start producing the stars of the future and knowing we have youngsters like Danny Wilson, Archie Campbell, Gregg Wylde as well as a host of others (sure they'll be mentioned by other posters) champing at the bit to get out there has lifted some of the gloom that seemed to be surrounding our club last month.

It seems the economic down turn will force our managers hand and we'll have no other option but to bleed all these promising youngsters over the next two years, I think Fleck has proved that that wont necessarily mean we wont be able to compete. Indeed, if the last few weeks are to go by, it may even be a case of being stronger as a result.

We the support are often accused of being impatient so I'm hoping we can prove that theory wrong, by all means let's encourage these boys get their chance but let's also give them the support and time they may need to make the step up, not all will come in and look completely at home in the first team like Fleck has.

Rangers 3:1 Kilmarnock: Miller Magic Shoots Two To Take Top

RangersMedia .co.uk — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:36:21 -0500

Rangers 3:1 Kilmarnock
Ibrox Park

21st February 2009

Attendance: 50,301
Referee: B Wilson

Team Lineups

Rangers: McGregor; Broadfoot, Bougherra, Weir, Papac; Davis, Ferguson, Mendes, Fleck(Off 68); Miller, Boyd(Off 76).
Subs: Alexander, Edu, Naismith, Dailly, Lafferty(On 76), Whittaker, Aaron(On 68).

Goals :- Boyd, Miller(2)
Booked :- Boyd.

Kilmarnock: Combe; Lilley, Ford, Wright, Hay(Off 82); Murray, Pascali, Bryson, Skelton(Off 71), Hamill; Kyle.
Subs: Rascle, Taouil(On 71), Gibson(On 82), O'Leary, Flannigan, Sammon, Anson.

Goals :- Hamill
Booked :- Skelton, Combe.

Highlights

16 mins:- Bougherra and Broadfoot conspire to muck up big time and allow Killie in behind and a simple tap in for Hamill.

29 mins:- Bougherra peels off at the back post to knock a Mendes cross back in front of goal and there was only one man who was going to be there to fire it home for his 24th goal of the season. Kris Boyd.

33 mins:- The second goal of a devastating six minutes for Rangers. Miller dispossesses Frazer Wright to run in on goal and fire home taking his tally into double figures.

35 mins:- Miller again showing he is back on form after a dodgy spell. A lovely flick by Mendes sends Miller through and he fires off a left foot drive. 3-1.

54 mins:- Rangers start off at a dropped pace and allow Killie to push forward and a fine save by McGregor stops Hamill getting his second of the game.

62 mins:- Great play on the left between Mendes and Papac with a wee back flick letting Mendes drive in from the left only to see his ripping shot saved.

64 mins:- The gloom of the second half lifts a bit as Rangers once more lift the crowd. This time its Bougherra again with a driving run through the heart of the Killie side only to see his cross well cut out.

71 mins:- Davis just misses two tap ins. One from the right delivered by Miller and one from the left from Aaron.

80 mins:- Lafferty thwarted by a last ditch Lilley tackle. Again it was Mendes the creator.

83 mins:- Taouil tests McGregor who again proves he’s up to the task.

90 mins:- Bougherra brings back memories of Big Ammo with a wildly struck free kick.

Summary

Rangers once more infuriated the fans by coming out on go slow. It took the Killie goal to kick start our players into gear but once more they showed that when they can be arsed, they can be very clinical.

Some positives from the game were the gelling of the midfield pairing of Mendes and Ferguson, who look to be forming a good partnership. It seems that the roles have been sorted with Ferguson staying back and allowing Mendes to get forward and do what he does best: create.

And also the re aligning of Boyd and Miller who proved once more that between the two of them, there are always going to be goals.

Defensive wise we had a few scares with Bougherra looking more like a winger than a Centre back today although sometimes it takes someone like him driving from the back to give the rest of the team some impetus.

Overall the three points that we craved so much to send us back to the top of the SPL for the first time since the first week of the season were very gratefully received and hopefully adds enough pressure to the game tomorrow that they, once more, start to crack and drop points.

For the time being, we’re back where we belong.

WATP