Whittaker 20k/wk, 5yrs :D

But it was nice to see the chubby Algerian leaving in the spirit that he always played the game with in Scotland...

those pesky European refs, eh?

Ah well, Rangers can console themselves with the fact that they've got a glamour friendly with Chelsea coming up on the weekend!

Hmmm. Well, worth a try.

Oh, well. At least it's not a Masonic conspiracy. Blah, waffle, paranoia and victimhood...

Haha love it!!!!!

Always amusing to watch either half of the old firm crash and burn.

That has made my night

Surprisingly decent performance from roughly half of the players. Depressing result. I remain thoroughly unconvinced that Ally has what it takes but I truly hope he does.

I'm not sure I'll forgive Whittaker and I'm glad Bougherra is going. The former in particular has a lot to answer for. Three poor results out of four games this season and every single one has been Whittaker's fault. Defensive errors are one thing but deciding that venting his frustration is more important than the team and the fans is indefensible. I feel very sorry for those players who had to pick up the slack, face further frustration but still managed to keep their tempers in check . A thankless task forced on them by a player content to pick up a freshly bumped up wage in return for fuck all contribution and a big-time charlie who has had his eye on the door for the last two years.

Lastly, to the gloating Celtic fans, really? Imagine being runners up to this mess.

Whittaker 20k/wk, 5yrs

What's that ... about 5 mill. Hmmm, well he likely just cost them 20 mill with his tomfoolery. Priceless.

... And this wee belter from Coisty ...

In my opinion you don't want to play for clubs where mediocrity is acceptable, we will certainly not accept that.

Epitaph anyone ?

I thought Edinburgh was the centre of alternative comedy in Scotland?

So lads, did any of you watch your own team tonight?

So Rangers have left the party before the ink on the invitations had even dried, and not for the first time. Sadly, they are not alone. Results such as these have become depressingly common for Scottish teams. Only a few years ago, Celtic and Rangers were fixtures in the flashy nightclub that is the champions league group stages, albeit only to slink back to their grimy hovels as soon as the music started playing.

But in a short space of time, most of our society has collapsed. Jobs, money, governments and newspapers are all in the same shitter as football. Thankfully, the astonishing rate of decline in our standard of living and the lack of trust in the authorities have been mirrored by the farcical performance of Scottish football. Rather than bemoaning yet another setback for the good of the Scottish game, we should be applauding it's unique capacity to capture the ugliness of our present circumstances, and its ability to ensure disappointment is only as far away as the next match.

So lads, did any of you watch your own team tonight?

Listened to mine get beat in a friendly on the radio .

Anyone got an idea when the summit will be after tonight's dignified performance?

I laughed.

Falther

Wonderfully gloomy post! And I mostly agree.

Rangers did about as well as Shamrock Rovers did this week both performance and results wise. And Rovers are basically from a second world league. If that. You want to see some of the stadiums they play in. So I think anyone feeling self pity in Scotland needs to pull it together and ask themselves why this happens so often. Scottish football has a LOT going for it. Huge crowds - world class facilities. A lot of press and exposure. There really is absolutely no excuse for the annual winner not going onto the group stages of the Champs League which are usually filled with mediocre dross anyway. Damning result for all of Scottish football tonight not just Rangers.

@Pemulis

Gloating? You bet your bottom dollar (although the Whyte Knight might need it) that we'll gloat. That's what football fans do.

There's no escaping the impending disaster upon Rangers now. McCoist, in his lovely wee grown up person costume, is looking increasingly like a man out his depth (Mowbray-esque) and is probably odds-on favourite to be out of a job come September, at this rate.

His tactics have riled many bluenoses going by what the masses on RM are saying.

The amateur handling of all transfer targets, from the daily announcing of intended signings to the multiple rebuffs recieved, is a joy to see but I would be burying my dome in the sand if I were a bluenose (thank god I'm no, mind).

LMAOLMO

@Pemulis

Celtic game kicked off as your mob game ended..there or there abouts.

;)

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Man United must be well chuffed that they now no longer have to worry about drawing them in the group stages.

It's good to see that Sir Ally is carrying on with Sir Wally's legacy when it comes to European ties.

It's a shame to see the level to which Scottish club football has sunk.

Gloating? You bet your bottom dollar (although the Whyte Knight might need it) that we'll gloat. That's what football fans do.

Sure, and when they gloat about teams failing in competitions they can only dream of reaching they tend to look rather silly. Especially when the repercussions of those failures will affect their own team for years to come.

His tactics have riled many bluenoses going by what the masses on RM are saying.

No arguments there.

The amateur handling of all transfer targets, from the daily announcing of intended signings to the multiple rebuffs recieved, is a joy to see but I would be burying my dome in the sand if I were a bluenose (thank god I'm no, mind).

And it certainly is a fine thing indeed to see such greats as Sol Campbell, Shay Given, Craig Bellamy and Jimmy Bullard (!) at Celtic Park. We at the Scottish Champions FC can only dream of such efficient transfer dealings.

Think of it this way -- Rangers can now concentrate on the title race.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of fellows :-P

The sad thing is a few years ago we had both celtic and rangers in the CL at the same time and both teams have even made it to the last 16! It's a shame that both teams can't automatically go throught for coming first and secoond in their league!

We at the Scottish Champions FC can only dream of such efficient transfer dealings

Speaking of efficient transfer dealings, has anyone heard anything about the Goodwillie transfer?

Hope nobody at the bbc has a pop at chubby wee coisty's tactics....

@Pemulis

TheFatPLG speaks about his targets every-single-chance he can. 7 bids-I repeat 7 bids failed for DG when the transfer fee was open knowledge from go.

Multiple "derisory" transfer knock backs, a ropey cheeky chappy in charge and a chairman who even the most hardened bluenoses are struggling to believe has it in him to keep his promises.

Also found it very funny that they appealed not once but twice for Goian to play but, in the end, he was injured and to quote the article "The club said the Romanian was carrying an injury" seems like they knew this all along. WHY, Ally, WHYYYYY?

Rosey times down your way.

haha

@alka71

DG has signed, been paraded and got a mortgage in Blackburn...but Whyte's SWOOPED in there with another "perfectly acceptable in our eyez" bid of 2 million over 7 years.

Speaking of efficient transfer dealings, has anyone heard anything about the Goodwillie transfer?

Aye, very good chief. Somebody has a dig, I concede the dig and mention his own club's similar dealings as a retort. You then repeat the original dig like the annoying kid in the playground trying to get noticed.

We've already done this bit.

similar dealings..? All the players you named were premiership names on HUGE wages that were not workable in the spl. DG has gone for under £3 million quid £25-30k a week at the very most. Dissimilar.

Rangers' task of hauling themselves back into the tie was made even more difficult when Whittaker was shown a straight red card after 18 minutes for throwing the ball at Wilton Figueiredo after the referee had given a free-kick for a Madjid Bougherra foul on Daniel Larsson.

Not that it's that important but this is pretty disrespecful to the players. Whittaker threw the ball at Jimmy Durmaz after Durmaz was given a free-kick after a challenge. Durmaz was arguably Malmö's best player in the game until subbed at HT because of injury.

Very colourblind/UEFA Respect because Larsson, Figureido and Durmaz look quite different.

Tell ye what though, the year before the introduction of the EPL Rangers twatted the English champions home and away in that years European Cup, makes fuck all difference to tonights humiliation (for Scottish football - this is not a pop at Rangers) but it does put into perspective how European football has evolved the last 20 years.

And that champion of Liberté, égalité and fraternité Platini thinks he's come up with a great idea with his financial fair play scheme - starting in 2015.

The prick.

Bolted
Horse
Door

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@Pemulis

Surprisingly decent performance from roughly half of the players. Depressing result. I remain thoroughly unconvinced that Ally has what it takes but I truly hope he does.

Half the players? Really? Overall, Jelavic was good (playing up front on his own, which everyone knows he cannae do), Davis looked like he was getting back on form and Shagger had a good game. The two idiots that got sent off, and Naismith were the only others to stick out.

McCoist has to take a look at himself, too. 2 sendings off, but he doesn't make a change until there are 6 minutes left?!? He did well not panicking, and bringing Clubfoot on when Whittaker got sent off, but he had to make a change when Bougherra went. I'm assuming Healy wasn't on the bench tonight?

Incidentally, once the embarrasment wears off (not at getting beat by MFF - there not a bad side, albeit not a very good either - but at deserving to get beat by MFF) it might not be such a bad thing that we're now in the Yoofa League II, or whatever it's called nowadays, we would have been unseeded in the next round, with the possibilty of drawing the likes of Arsenal and Napoli (I think). Imagine how badly we'd be turned over by a team like that if we were down to 9 mine.

Dunf

Tell ye what though, the year before the introduction of the EPL Rangers twatted the English champions home and away in that years European Cup, makes fuck all difference to tonights humiliation (for Scottish football - this is not a pop at Rangers) but it does put into perspective how European football has evolved the last 20 years.

And that champion of Liberté, égalité and fraternité Platini thinks he's come up with a great idea with his financial fair play scheme - starting in 2015.

The prick.

Bolted
Horse
Door

Brilliant. Simply Brilliant.

similar dealings..? All the players you named were premiership names on HUGE wages that were not workable in the spl. DG has gone for under £3 million quid £25-30k a week at the very most. Dissimilar.

I was referring to TonyReform revelling in McCoist's constant transfer chat, only to miss out on the players. Embarrassing? Yes. More embarrassing than Lennon actually coming out and saying words to the effect of "We want Craig Bellamy but we can't afford him, but we'll ask him to join anyway"? I don't think so.

Half the players? Really? Overall, Jelavic was good (playing up front on his own, which everyone knows he cannae do), Davis looked like he was getting back on form and Shagger had a good game. The two idiots that got sent off, and Naismith were the only others to stick out.

Jelavic, Davis, Shagger, Naismith, Wallace. That's five players. Roughly - though not exactly - half.

On a positive note, because it's healthy to try to find positives in times like these, Edu's pass and Jelavic's finish were both absolutely glorious. I expect nothing less from Jelavic, who misses a fair few chances but generally has a velvet touch, but the fact that Edu put that ball so sublimely on his foot was a genuine shock. It was a lot like this masterpiece from Iniesta last season, only Jelavic's finish pisses all over Alves'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSuzxyrYxxA

@Pemulis

Celtic have taken on big stars from the EPL on loan previously. I don't think money was the main factor in Bellamy not wanting to come here. He's openly said he's wanting to be closer to his family in Cardiff.

Anyway, my work here is done for another evening :)

I'll give you Wallace, he was solid although didn't really stand out. Still, it's probably the biggest match he's played in so far in his career (I could be wrong on that, didn't see much of him at Hearts) and he certainly didn't do anything wrong.

Was disappointed in Naismith, again, though. He's just not doing it at the minute.

MFF, Swedish giants, didn't look convincing and will be tough next round, missed the scotish fans at te game

Unlucky lads! Haha

Celtic have taken on big stars from the EPL on loan previously. I don't think money was the main factor in Bellamy not wanting to come here. He's openly said he's wanting to be closer to his family in Cardiff.

You seem to miss my point. It's not whether or not that was the reason for him coming, it's that Lennon openly expressed his desire to sign a player while conceding that he didn't have the means.

It's a bit like going into a Ferrari shop and saying "I'd love a Ferrari. I can't afford one though" and then doing the puppy dog eyes at the salesperson.

I don't blame him for trying it, and it's an indictment of the falling stock of Scottish football rather than Neil Lennon personally, but I still find it funny that Celtic fans think it's so pathetic when Ally talks about transfers while ignoring all of the "big name" signings Lennon has spoken about at length, used emotional blackmail to facilitate and failed entirely to bring about.

Seems to me that we're all in this together.

No complaints this evening. Rangers missed enough chances (including the 1st leg) to see them into the last 16, never mind the next round and any moaning from the ref's contribution etc is academical.

The only thing I will say is that in 4 games in charge, McCoist had made 5 subs. Does he think that if he saves them up he can cash them in for an extra life or save them up for a Texaco-esque Uefa-stamps scheme where he can redeem them for a day out at a forumla-one track etc?

Coisty is going well down in my estimations in the space of a week. The pressure is getting to him and he's being exposed as bit of a tool.

As commented by pondwatching,

. And this wee belter from Coisty ...

In my opinion you don't want to play for clubs where mediocrity is acceptable, we will certainly not accept that.

What do Rangers do that do that make them better than mediocre? They win the league 50% of the time, Celtic the other 50%. They are hardly setting the world alight. They'd be as well flipping a coin to see who wins the SPL. They get a buy to the CL group stages now and again. The group stages aren't even that good, they are full of other diddy teams. They won't even get to the group stages now with these new rounds introduced.

Forgot to mention the way he conducted himself over the Goodwillie transfer, that was embarrassing. Egg on his face.

The only thing I will say is that in 4 games in charge, McCoist had made 5 subs. Does he think that if he saves them up he can cash them in for an extra life or save them up for a Texaco-esque Uefa-stamps scheme where he can redeem them for a day out at a forumla-one track etc?

In this respect he is even more infuriating than Smith. To only make one substitution when your team is down to nine men and those left are dead on their feet is just bizarre. We were the better side even with those nine men until fatigue set in. The only reason they scored is because we stopped pegging them back. A few fresh legs might have made all the difference. We'll never know.

europahahaha

Forgot to mention the way he conducted himself over the Goodwillie transfer, that was embarrassing. Egg on his face

Do you mind if I quote you out of context europa?

What do Rangers do that do that make them better than mediocre?

When you put it like that, it brings all the club's failings into perspective.

R1F

The only thing I will say is that in 4 games in charge, McCoist had made 5 subs

6 mintues to go before he made a change, this after two sendings off?!? Madness. I'm assuming Wylde is being frozen out because he's not signed a new contract? And, what was the point of re-signing Healy, if you're not going to throw him on when you need a goal to win a knock-out tie? Baffling.

mccoist saving up his subs to buy an extra life - that was funny - as was the guy who compared edu to iniesta - bloody hilarious

mccoist saving up his subs to buy an extra life - that was funny - as was the guy who compared edu to iniesta - bloody hilarious

Did you miss the part where I said it gave me the shock of my life, because Edu is shite?

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Sometimes even poor players come up with the goods.

and the one at the top, rangers have made a eigth and final bid for DG, £2m over 7 years

LuxembourGer

Couldn't agree more.

There's only two things that occur to me about McCoist (he must have learned this from Smith....) using so few subs;

Either' he has no faith in the players on the bench. Tonight the game was crying out for fresh leg, paces, as you say, bring on Wylde, Fleck even... (I know Hemmings not to be a bad player but what can he do in 6mins??)

Or.... (whisper it, it is only a theory) we can't afford the appearance money pure and simple.

Either way, baffling.