02 Nov 2016 17:45:27
Was nico signed on a 12 or24 month deal this summer?
02 Nov 2016 17:53:44
2 year deal.
02 Nov 2016 20:59:58
Hard injury to come back from at that stage of career.
03 Nov 2016 08:03:28
must be horrible for players to be out for so long, also Lewis macleod out for 9 months at Brentford, poor guys career is going down in front of him.
03 Nov 2016 08:43:35
It was far too brief but Kranjcar's last couple of displays for us was football at its best. A real pity about McLeod too. Never seems to strike down Mr Average.
03 Nov 2016 09:48:14
Kfraser
It probably does but you don't hear about it.
03 Nov 2016 11:01:14
danny Ings is another one, players at the age of macleod and Ings need to be playing every week not injured.
02 Nov 2016 15:50:02
So he's back! Thoughts on Joey's return?
Training with the youngsters I guess for the foreseeable future and maybe shifted on in January?
02 Nov 2016 17:15:57
Don't think you'll be far wrong there Blackwoodbear. I think he'll most definitely be moved on in january. He won't play for rangers again.
02 Nov 2016 17:58:15
Warbs I really do hope so! I for one will eat some humble pie as I'd thought he'd be a good signing for us and vocally promoted him with others on here at the time . how wrong can one be!
02 Nov 2016 20:44:00
Curious situation with JB. Surely if his 'offence' was deemed insufficient to warrant gross misconduct, so much so that the Club couldn't terminate his contract, would this perhaps suggest that the Club made a pig's ear in dealing with the situation and are now trying to save face by trying to sicken the player? If he hasn't done anything serious enough to warrant such a breach then why had it taken almost 2 months to conclude he can train with the U20's? I'm not saying JB is in the right but surely the outcome merely enforces the argument that this whole situation has been totally mismanaged.
02 Nov 2016 20:45:51
He will train with the kids, build up fitness for a move in January. Suites both parties.
I personally think the midfield is strong now with few still to come in and fight for a jersey. I would like us to go for the lad at Livi, not as a replacement but with cash joey will save us when he goes.
02 Nov 2016 20:49:31
Bbear, Hindsight is a wonderful thing but there were quite a few who thought this is exactly what might happen. Maybe not as quick, but that's joey for you. Others like yourself believed the self hype. He's been trouble everywhere he's been throughout his career, and thought he could stroll it up here for an easy payday. Well at least he got that right!
03 Nov 2016 08:02:03
well maybe he did think he could stroll it up here but let's be honest he hardly had any help the full team have been horrific from the get go. only now are we starring to perform better, even if it is slightly.
03 Nov 2016 09:49:57
Bil72
What trouble did he get into at Burnley?
02 Nov 2016 14:50:05
hey all i seemed to be missing something here? everyone is talking about our young players and throwing crazy values on some yet since ian durrant has gone the under 20s have gone into a steady decline? i know we have an average age of 17 but where is the development there? losing every game? this cannot be good for the youngsters moral? we lost 1-0 to dunfermiline yesterday? not a mention anywhere? has rangers lost interest in them? seriously what is going on with them? it is kind of worrying seeing our youngsters spiraling downwards. maybe i'm missing something somewhere? can anyone throw some light on this worrying situation?
02 Nov 2016 15:07:32
Our under 20's are made up of 17 year olds, our best under 20's players are out on loan. Durrant had our best players at his disposal, currently we do not.
02 Nov 2016 15:26:21
Youth development at Rangers is now being run correctly! Emphasis is on each players development and on team shape and philosophy.
A player of say 16 who can control a game or score at ease is no longer held back at his age group to have that year group win all there games. Now that 16 year old will be fast tracked to the u20s where he will develop quicker and test himself more. This is to the detriment of results, however, very much a gain to the whole club.
If a player can't be moved to a set up that fits him within Murray park he will be moved to a loan environment that does.
02 Nov 2016 15:32:02
Warburton has recently said that he wants to push the young players more by playing them in more advanced age groups. He said its more important to keep them playing at a higher level than they should be and the only thing that matters is that the players get the right development and not the results of the youth leagues. One of the first things Warburton did when he arrived was work on revamping the youth set up so I think he sees it as a priority for Rangers to develop their own players rather than spend big bucks every window as rangers simply can't afford to do it. He starred out working in youth systems at Watford so hopefully he knows what he's doing.
02 Nov 2016 19:29:40
I hope we at least sign some good young scottish players though like gauld, fraser or Spittal.
03 Nov 2016 00:02:26
Yeah seems like we are pushing our youngsters, we have some of our under 16 moving up playing against under 19 and so on. I think that we will. see the benefits in poss the nxt 2-4 yrs. I definetly think that we will see the odd debut in low key games in 2yrs BUT this is why we need to stick with Warbs and not go down the same route of other clubs as it doesn't really fix problems as we have seen, Also we ARE 2nd it is just the performances that we are scrutinizing and rightly so BUT time Bears we must giv him time. If we not only get Europe but qualify for groups then Warbs will have delivered. I cannot wait to see what King provides Warbs to take on such a challenge.
02 Nov 2016 14:04:31
Commiserations to big Niko on the news that it's an ACL injury so that's likely it for the season. Gutted for him just when it looked like he was coming onto a game after a shaky start. Seems like a nice guy unlike the other"big name" signing. So hope the operation goes well and he comes back fighting fit and on top form for our return to European football (surely) next season.
02 Nov 2016 15:22:24
Hi liverpool Ger, a wee question for you, if you don't mind mate. I'm taking by your name as well as being a bear, you also like liverpool mate? Tell me something, i keep thinking that the liverpool fans now have a massive love in friendship with the eastend mob, which wasn't the case in the 70's and 80's as it was then rangers/ liverpool and celtic/ Everton. Would you agree with this liverpool gers? The main reason i'm asking is my big mate supports rangers and liverpool and i keep asking him why liverpool, as they have a big friendship with celtic. Of course he completely disagrees with me and says its rangers and liverpool who's fans have the friendship. Can you shed any light on this mate and clear it up for us? Would be very grateful mate, cheers!
02 Nov 2016 15:46:43
a doubt liverpool fans give a monkeys about rangers or celtic.
02 Nov 2016 16:00:41
Hello supercooper, my name comes from living in Liverpool for over 37 years but was born and bred a bear in sunny South Lanarkshire. My wife and her family are all Reds but there's only ever been one team for me. From my local experience would agree I've seen many more Reds with an affinity to Celtic than Rangers down here and when I go to Liverpool home games as I do now and then it's not unusual to see Liverpool/ Celtic scarves but rarely Liverpool/ Rangers. Why? Used to be thought that it was religious in that the Catholics supported Everton and Celtic and the Prods Liverpool and Rangers but don't think that holds any more. My wife and all her family are Catholics and have supported Liverpool all their lives. Anyway whatever reason Reds have for preferring the other mob more fool them is all I can say!
{Ed001's Note - Everton were originally St Domingo's Catholic Church team, so preferred Celtic. Thankfully the sectarian idiocy has mostly died out, so it no longer holds relevance there.}
02 Nov 2016 17:27:10
Cheers for that liverpool Ger and ED. My favourite team in england is newcastle utd and always has been, long before that mike ashley got his hands on them. Speak to a good few geordies quite regularly and they have no time for him also! few of the geordies i knew used to come up to hospitality at ibrox for the rangers very celtic games a good few years back. They loved it and they all supported newcastle and rangers up here. The geordies were a great bunch of guys, superbly funny! I only support glasgow rangers but like to see newcastle doing well. I have a soft spot for them!
02 Nov 2016 20:42:56
Ed, I am sorry but I have to correct you. St Doings was not a Catholic Church it was a Methodist Church. Many years ago now, when my family moved from Scotland to the North West of England, (and before my Boys were old enough to start playing football I went and watched Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City before deciding to go watch Everton on a more regular basis. Everton was the original team and Liverpool grew out of Everton. There were fans at both clubs that had an affinity with Rangers and also with Celtic although most of my friends at Goodison were of the Rangers persuasion, (more so when we signed Trevor Steven, Gary Stevens, Stuart McColl etc. ) . When I went to watch Liverpool I found that there were more supporters of the Green and Gray in the main stand but in the Kop there were more than a few that had an affinity with Rangers. For some absurd reason my youngest son developed an affinity for the reds whereas my oldest son has remained a blue, albeit that both have followed in their father's footsteps as Rangers fans. The history of both clubs is interesting and for what it is worth any suggestion that either club had any association with Catholicism couldn't be further from the truth!
{Ed001's Note - You are correct it was Methodist, not Catholic, but the club itself was synonymous with the Catholic population, who, in the main, followed the blues. It died out in Liverpool, but in the past it was the basis of Liverpool's relationship with Rangers and why Everton fans tended to relate to Celtic. It changed with Celtic fans singing YNWA initially, as most Everton fans hate it and it has resonance for Liverpool fans. With sectarianism, despite orange walks, being pretty much dead in Liverpool, the Catholic/Protestant divide has long since died out. About time it did in Scotland too, if you ask me.}
03 Nov 2016 00:18:37
Having written extensively on both clubs, I can assure you that Everton were not 'synonymous with the Catholic population'. Both clubs were founded by Big John Houlding, a businessman and prominent Orangeman, with Everton being the first, therefore founded from a Methodist church team by an Orangeman, and the Catholic population certainly did not follow that team at the time. After a fall-out over a move to Anfield, which saw Everton moved to Goodison, Houlding founded another club, eventually named Liverpool, and both clubs were formed in a Protestant tradition. As football developed in the city, these two clubs became the most successful and soon attracted fans from all traditions.
{Ed001's Note - I know what happened. You need to check your writing, because I can tell you fully, coming from a mixed Proddy/Catholic family, that the Catholics were almost all Everton and the Proddys almost all Liverpool, regardless of how it started. The split with Houlding was complete, he had nothing to do with Everton and filled the Liverpool team with Scots, mostly Prods, as he was a Prod, so the others naturally became the team of the Catholics. It was not the same as Glasgow, where you all live in the 17th century and think it is worth arguing over this stupidity, but there was a very real split, just not as total or as violent, or even as definite. We just moved on down there and it quickly reverted to reds and blues being reds and blues rather than the idiocy of the sectarianism.}
03 Nov 2016 00:50:44
From what I have read, (and as I mentioned I lived in the area for a number of years, the Everton association with celtic and the Liverpool association with rangers grew more out of Politics than Religion, although at the time, (late 19th century), perhaps with Liverpool City politics, religion became synonymous with Politics because of the support that the Liberal Party of the day gave to Irish Independence and the growing Irish catholic presence in the City, while the Conservative, (the predominant Party of the day), were very much the Party of the Loyalist Population and carried the Protestant population of the City as well as the Irish Protestants that emigrated from Ulster and other parts of Ireland, to Liverpool at that time. (In deed the formation of Liverpool grew out of a dispute among the Board of Everton Football Club, with the first Chairman of Liverpool having previously been the prominent Member of the Everton Board of Directors) . Among the various writings on the subject there is clear information on Members of the Liverpool Directorate being members of the Orange Order, and more important, in terms of early day association with Rangers, their standing in Freemasonry which was always a predominant aspect of the rangers Directorate as well as many of both clubs followers. Everton also picked up Irish support in the early days through their association with a number of League of Ireland Clubs which allowed them to sign a number of what would now be ROI players whereas Liverpool were much later in their history before they entered the Irish transfer market. Nowadays the banter is much more friendly in herms of the religious divide in the City although the dislike for Liverpool among a number of Everton fans did intensify when Everton lost out on European competition as a result of the Heysel Stadium Disaster in 1985.
{Ed001's Note - the banter is not much more friendly now, it has become much more bitter in recent years. Much nastier. It is no longer the friendly derby.}
03 Nov 2016 09:15:17
As i stated when i was replying to Liverpool Ger, i have and always have had, a massive soft spot for newcastle utd, i regard them as my favourite english team. What i would like to know, is there any fellow bears out there, who also regard newcastle utd, as their favourite english team? When answering, please don't let ashley being their owner, cloud your judgement and affection, if you do indeed have an affection for newcastle. Trust me, the majority of the geordies don't like or want him anywhere near their club, they, just like us want shot of him!
03 Nov 2016 10:22:48
*looks over both shoulders and whispers*
Pssst, pssst, here you all know God doesn't exist right? Like santy clause. Don't mean to burst your bubbles but evolution has pretty much been scientifically proven. The so called Glasgow bigots, none of them could tell ye the first line of the bible or the difference between Catholics and Protesants. Quite funny actually.
*sneakily tip-toes away*.
03 Nov 2016 10:34:01
Warbs15 I have went down south a few times too see Newcastle if gers had a free weekend and I agree Geordies don't have any time for Ashley but I must admit I haven't been back there since our troubles with him. Rightly or wrongly I feel like I'm giving Ashley money if I was to go back for a match.
03 Nov 2016 13:00:13
Jaws i've also been down to several newcastle utd games although not for a few years now. A helluva lot of them like rangers, as i witnessed while having a drink in the strawberry pub, across the road from St. james' park. We were treated superbly by the geordies and the strawberry bar staff! Although there all newcastle daft, honestly from the very young to grannys into their 70's and 80's! they all seemed to like rangers. Had amazing times in the strawberry before going across the road and into the game. They made us feel so very welcome. They truly are terrific people!
03 Nov 2016 13:55:02
Warbs15 agree about that pub was in it when I went down . They are a great group of people and couldn't do enough for us pity about the guy that owns them .
03 Nov 2016 14:10:24
Jaws, did you get the same impression as me, that the majority of newcastle fans we spoke to, regarded rangers as their favourite team up here in scotland?
03 Nov 2016 15:14:17
Would agree warbs they all seemed to like us more than that other mob and seemed well up on our past games when we spoke to them.
03 Nov 2016 16:08:33
Don't know about you jaws, but i was told by a rangers fan, from northern ireland, that the links were rangers/ newcastle and celtic/ Sunderland, as far as the majority fans links go mate. Have you heard anything like that?
03 Nov 2016 16:40:51
I worked with a Sunderland guy or a mackim as I think they're known he liked the gers rite enough.
02 Nov 2016 10:51:00
I've got to disagree with the OP on here and say we should have our talented youngsters names in lights and splashed across media platforms from a very young age. It works for the NFL and NBA, the bet example coming from the NBA, LeBron James. This lad was already a superstar when he was still at school and attracted so much sponsorship and investment which allowed him to become the world class athlete that he was and still is. This kind of media attention on our talented youth is exactly what our game needs. Give our youth a role model that they actually can relate to and watch the snowball effect. It can only bring investment and opportunity.
Think of how many talented youngsters that we've lost because of lack of of exposure. Every family has a lad that could've made it. Let's create a platform so they can all make it.
We need to invest in our school and university football leagues. Create a hype. Build small seated stadiums for them. I for one would go and support my local school and university team.
02 Nov 2016 12:25:56
just look at the squad announced. guus like martin, Fletcher, Hanley being called up when they are having absolutely shocking seasons.
Scotland will never produce a descent side while not giving younger players who are playing well a chance. like walker, shinnie, Crawford etc.
our one player who looks good Oliver Burke will probably get started have a bad half be slated by everybody.
02 Nov 2016 12:54:19
Monty I totally agree with investment in youngster and the building of small seated indoor arenas, being dotted around the country for use with more than just football in mind for the communities, but come on these are kids. If you had a boy playing with the under 16s at the age of say 13 and he had his face splash across the back pages saying how amazing he was and how he was going to be the next big thing. How much pressure does that put on him. I remember playing rugby at 14 and a scout for scottish schools came. I was playing fine till half time and i was told he was there to watch me and my bottle crashed. Kids don't need pressure.
02 Nov 2016 17:50:29
I agree Finty, kids don't need pressure, they need booze, woman and fast cars. :P.
02 Nov 2016 20:10:13
Finty, it's only pressure if they're not accustomed to it. If they become accustomed to this type of pressure then it'll become second nature. What's more daunting, your face on the back of the paper or playing in front of 50,000 fan? The talent; they are either born with or have been nurtured to acertain. The hardest part is not bottling it on the big stage. Media attention from a young age will help with this. Some of our seasoned pros still are unable to perform on the big stage without bottling it.
Let's not forget that the modern youth relish the attention, selfies, social media, youtubers etc. I think exposure on multiple media platforms is what our youth craves and it can only motivate them. The right amount of pressure and they'll flourish. They probably won't turn out to be decent human beings but they'll be more than decent footballers :)