Glasgow Derby 23rd Sept

1

Christ Rangers look in bad shape for this one. Letizi will probably start in goals (and he’s probably their worst senior 'keeper behind McGregor and Klos). Their centre halves at the weekend were Svensson and Rodriguez. Svensson has been awful so far this season, particularly in the air and Vennegoor of Hesselink would love to be up against him I’d imagine. Never rated Rodriguez much either. The talk is that Papac might come in as a centre half - and I haven’t seen him play there yet, not overly worried about him. Much as they had their limitations, one of Andrews or Kyrgiakos might be able to compete with VofH. I’m not assuming everything will go with form but if it does, the big Dutch lad should be too strong for whatever combination Rangers pick at the back.

Ferguson and Clement in the middle of the park is supposed to be their strong point. I’ve seen little of Clement to suggest he’s any world beater and Ferguson rarely impresses me. The wingers of Burke and Martin are probably more dangerous - especially whichever lucky lad gets to run at Telfer for the afternoon. This is their strongest area of the park though and I’m far happier with Maloney - Gravesen - Lennon - Naka as a quartet with McGeady unlucky to lose out.

Not sure who they’ll start up front - presumably two from Buffel, Sebo and Boyd. Again I’m not concerned by any of them. It’s not a great team and their form and confidence is atrocious. No doubt Le Guen will have them fired up for his first derby but it’s hard to see them grabbing a win.

2

The ?Blue Revolution? appears to be stuttering along, Saturday will hopefully bring it to a halt. They are ridiculously poor at the back, that new guy Karl Svensson has been abject ? Karl Kennedy would probably do a better job. Hutton will be in for the suspended Bardsley and even Rodriguez might not play as there?s talk the SFA will throw the book at him for smashing Killen in the head on Sunday ? I hope he plays.

I remember the days when Rangers would come to Celtic and have a go but now even they play 5 across midfield. There?s speculation that Prso?s knee injury is bad and will force him to retire so that means Boyd or Sebo will be up on his own ? don?t fear either ? with probably Buffel playing off the lone front man. As you say the centre of midfield two are no great shakes with probably Burke on the right and Martin on the left. It says a lot about how bad Telfer is that I fear for him against the kid from ManU but Celtic should be too strong all over the park for it to matter.

As for Celtic, tonight?s game (live on Setanta Ireland btw) will tell us more about the likely team line up. Bobo should play but Caldwell and McManus are starting to play well together so unsure whether he?ll break that up partnership on Saturday. Caldwell could go right back. Maloney will play tonight also and depending how sharp he looks, it could see McGeady dropping out on Saturday. It?s all set up for King Kenny to break his duck against his old side ? they would go mental. I won?t be able to help myself putting some money on it either. Fook the Ryder Cup, Frazers is where it?s at on Saturday.

3

Summary of Rangers AGM held this morning (from Folllow Follow):

Ok, here’s the general gist of the Q&A (not verbatim), I was taking notes with a pen and pad so if someone else in attendence thinks it’s not a fair reflection I’ll edit it.

Q1. Why did Rangers sell the shops and what happened to the employees who were paid off? (I thought this question was an obvious plant)

DM: The deal involved ?18m + ?3m per season and the directors felt the deal was in the best interest of the club. Regretful that people have to lose their jobs but DM has hired 5000 staff in other areas.

Q2. There are only 2 5-star stadiums in Scotland, so why hasn’t Ibrox been selected for a European final?

MB: Rangers have been active in this area, and applied to host the UEFA Cup final this season but lost out narrowly.

Q3. Why do travelling fans pay through the nose when flying with the Travel Club when the likes of Flight Options can undercut Rangers prices by ?40 for the Molde trip?

MB: Easier for Flight Options to charter an aircraft as they deal with many sporting events, Rangers and Travelcare have to wait for details of the draw therefore making it more expensive. For Molde, the aircraft had to be adapted to fly into the airport, says Rangers do not try to make profit from the Travel Club.

Q4. A question about facilites - why are they more Highland League than Champions League standard?

MB: A new prototype for disabled facilites has been created in Argyle House, there are plans afoot to improve disabled facilites throughout starting with the Govan West Corner.

Q5. What about renaming a stand after Jock Wallace (Davie Meiklejohn and Alan Morton’s names were also mentioned)

DM: Directors will consider this, took 50 years to rename a stand in Bill Struth’s honour, will hopefully be a bit quicker when this is done in future.

Q6. Not so much a question, more a general point; From a Travel Club member - didn’t travel to Molde but was disgusted with the FTP’s from at least a third of the travelling support with no-one booing it either. (Guy got a bit of a heckling for this - I was in Molde and his comments are rubbish)

DM: Heard Rangers fans booing FTP. There is no place for FTP at Ibrox, it must be totally eradicated.

Q7. Managed to sneak 2 questions in! Can the club do anything about the former Rangers shops which have been vandalised as it reflects badly on the club when the likes of foreign tourists to Glasgow see it. Also why aren’t our traditional songs defended, any time there it criticism in the media we keep backing down.

DM: Will do something in the next 48 hours about the state of what used to be the Rangers shops.

As regards the criticism in the media - if you don’t like it, dont buy it. Murray said this was the line he followed.

Q8. When is Murray going to stand up for the club and defend it from the daily attacks?

DM: Have appointed consultants to monitor what’s being written in the media, thinks it’s getting better. Reads most of the papers (in direct contrast to the answer to the second part of Q7).

Q9. What happened to the ?10m PLG was going to get to spend on 2 players?

DM: Never said there was ?10m available to spend. We’re not generating enough income to go out and spend that kind of money. If we spend outwith our means it’s the road to ruins.

Q10. Why can someone go on national TV, call us Nazis and be welcome at Ibrox? Why don’t the club ban these journalists?

DM: Don’t want to make a martyr out of anyone in the media, but the club are very close to making a decision on certain journalist(s), ‘watch this space’.

Q11. Guy who’d asked in previous years about the state of Bill Struth’s grave. Happy to report that it’s now in good condition. Could the AGM be moved to Saturday mornings in future years as people find it difficult to attend a weekday AGM through work commitments.

DM: Fair point, would probably have to be when we don’t have a home game that same day as there would be issues with the stage. But certainly something to be considered.

Q12. The catering is worse than last season - what’s happening to it?

MB: Aware of a number of issues with problems with the catering. There’s been problems with the water suppliers which have affected the quality of tea, coffee, Coke etc. Have developed a pilot scheme which changes the ergonomics of the tea rooms, hoping to roll this out across the Stadium.

Q13. Bar 72 - described as the start of the expansion of Ibrox, so what’s next?

MB: Looking at trying to have a bar facility in the Broomloan and Copland stands. Was easier to do this in the Govan as exisiting hospitality areas were already in place. Important that supporters should be able to have a beer inside the ground, fans in England can do this.

Q14. Why did Campbell Ogilvie leave the club?

MB: His job structure had changed, day to day he seemed to be doing more work for the SFA and UEFA, not as much for Rangers. Reached a mutual decision for him to move on.

Q15. Security at away European games in a joke; Athens, Stuttgart and Villarreal cited. In constant contact with Laurence MacIntyre after Villarreal without receiving a reply.

MB: Agree that Stuttgart was a disgrace. Macintyre always does a good report citing possible problems. Bratislava the club took independent security and asked why they had a UEFA badge. (Not sure if he was referring to the stadium or Artmedia). People who travel without tickets bring it on themselves. Cited an example where 6000 folk turned up to a venue where we had 1500 seats?

Q16. Quite a bit of waffle, trial by TV , asked PLG why we dont have a good header of the ball in defence.

PLG: Aware of some difficulties, will work on it.

Q17. PLG’s signing policy - what about a greater focus on Scottish talent as it’s important that Rangers maintain a Scottish identity.

PLG: Agree that it’s important to maintain a Scottish identity. Priority is to improve the squad, watched many other Scottish games to look at players.

Q18. Was the decision not to sack McLeish in November wrong after we finished 3rd in the league?

DM: Loyal to staff, not in the habit of firing people who have been successful for us in the past, not the way this club works. (Also an inference that we may not have got PLG had McLeish been sacked in November)

4

They must be hard up for cash if they’re watering down the Coke.

5

That’s exactly what I thought - how stingy is that?

Apparently David Murray attends for a 45 minute question and answer session each AGM but every year some old granny asks a question that takes ages and it’s 15 minutes gone out of the 45 minutes. Huns fans aren’t happy and are speculating that it might be Murray’s ma trying to make life easier for him.

6

Ashamed to say I haven’t. My dad has gone about 5 times and has brought each of my brothers at least twice but I never got the nod. The 3 other males in my family were all at the 5-1 game for Moravcik’s OF debut and everything while I was listening to the game on British Forces Radio in poxy Germany.