Dalgety Bay TA

I understand that no fan likes to think of their club as a selling club but in reality we all are, even the biggest clubs, whether it be in Scotland or worldwide. Bar the likes of Real, Barca and probably Bayern, all clubs are. Man Utd lose Ronaldo to a bigger club, Juve, biggest club in Italy, probably going to lose Pogba to Real, Suarez to Barca....its the way of football, right down, as you say to you picking up Muirhead and some ginger Smokie, and probably even below that. Utd seem to be producing and picking up decent youngsters here and there so as you say, life goes on.

You missed the word "major". I am posting in relation to the money spent on Armstrong.

You do know that Armstrong is Celtic's first major signing from another Scottish club in 4 1/2 years? Would you rather we spvnked our money on diddies from abroad so you could trot out the "Money flowing out of Scottish football" argument instead?

Given the rest of the songbook today, without a doubt.

Bar a poor referring decision, a point blank header and a good foot to stop Johansen, this could have been 5 by HT.

I'm mid 40s and would agree with this Jen. In 80s I was always taught that you referred to black people as coloured and black was the offensive term. My wife just confirmed exact same, said black was very offensive when she was a teen.

I don't think it would ever be his plan to drive Rangers into the ground. He has the bulk of the merchandising tied up. I'm aware many are boycotting that side of things but if that changes he is onto a winner for little output. He has the shirt sponsorship on the horizon...which could tie into the same time Rangers could be back into European competition (don't laugh!) He is cutting costs and taking decisions that other boards have dodged, such as binning a bad manager. He knows if he rights Rangers financially and gets thrm to live within their means then it won't take a huge cash input to see them successful on the park. They also have more chance of regular European football, and therefore exposure for his SD,, than Newcastle do. Ashley wouldnt get involved unless there was going to be big benefits to him first and foremost but he no doubt sees the potential if Rangers get back to where they were...and he has tied up a lot of that future potential income for peanuts. What he won't do is come out and spell all this out in a big media splash for the fans, partly because some of it benefits him rather than Rangers but also because he never does that sort of thing anyway.

Ashley is getting more and more of Rangers income streams (merchandising, strip sponsors) for virtually peanuts. From the press release above it seems he has given them £5m to get further rights/assets and the first thing that £5m is used for is to pay himself back £3m he lent in October. So he now has Murray Park for about £2m? As was said above, he is dripping money slowly into Rangers, just enough to keep them running, while getting more and more assets and security for his money.

This was from Guardian on Monday... September 2006: “It was an easy decision to make. My family comes before the football” – Juan Román Riquelme retires from international football. March 2009: “It hurts me in my soul to do this, but hopefully everything will turn out well for the team and they can qualify for the World Cup without me” – Riquelme quits international football. Again. July 2012: “If my friends want to see me and discuss where I will play next, I will do so on my games console but I cannot play any more. Like I said, I am empty and I have nothing more to give … Now I just want to go home, have a barbecue with my friends, see my children and greet them” – Riquelme retires from football to spend more time with his grill. Today: “It’s clear now that I’ll be on holiday, I’ll have fun, enjoy time with my children. From now on my football life ends and a new life starts. Let’s see what it holds” – Riquelme calls time on the game once more

Dreadful idea. Stokes animosity and just gives more ammo to Rangers fans who claim we are obsessed by them, which in this case looks to be true.

IMO all the money should be going to Ricksen. The fans turning up and paying are doing so because of him. The fact that another couple of charities are going to benefit due to Rangers fans support for him means any money they get is an unexpected bonus IMO. This is in effect a testimonial for Ricksen and while some high profile players have given the proceeds of their testimonials to charity they tend to be the exception. There is also an argument that those who do give away will either be very wealthy to begin with or have quite lucrative future earnings potentials once their careers are over, something that won't be available to the Ricksen family. That's not to say their gestures aren't significant and appreciated to whoever benefits but at the end of the day this game is for Ricksen, fans are turning up because of him and another couple of charities are benefitting when they normally wouldn't because of him. There is no doubt in my mind he should be the main beneficiary.

I saw that vid, friend had shared it on FB. Considering I don't know Ricksen personally and only as the footballer I actually found it really upsetting. To see what was a very fit and healthy man in that state of ill health is heartbreaking. Hopefully a full house there for it and it can give him and his family just a little bit of comfort to see how many are thinking of him.

You sure? The only Ladbrokes on Broughton St is the one next to Mathers is it not? Phoenix has Crombies butchers and that wee cafe/restaurant across the road from it. Unless there is one off one of the wee side streets next to it. Larky, you definitely need the bookies bit? Not just do betting on your phone?

Depends how much you believe the Record or not....

Thanks folks.

Anyone able to give me best options/ideas/recommendations for parking at Glasgow airport? Would be for 5 nights in mid-April with an early afternoon departure. Thanks.

King's suitability must be in question given his financial history in S Africa. Or should that just be ignored as he is a "Rangers man"?

I think it will go through this month now. If Utd say £250k is their price for him, they know he is going somewhere else in the summer, I can see Celtic coming in with £150-175k now and saying "Its that or nothing". And Utd probably accepting it.

Here's my tuppence worth. Mike Ashley is a very good businessman. This can be seen from how well he has the merchandising deals sown up already, dafties don't get deals like that. IMO I don't think Ashley wants to kill Rangers no matter what assets he is in control off. Would he really want to be known as the man who killed a huge British football club (I say that totally non tongue in cheek) and all the hassles/issues that would follow from doing so? Besides it would also kill his merchandising deal for one thing. Ashley wants/has control of Rangers. Being the businessman he is, he must think that, longer term, there is money to be made from Rangers. He wouldn't be the sort to throw away a few £m on a whim and a gamble. He realises the club are in a basket financially, probably why he has now made his move, he can get control cheaply. He has a big job on his hands, partly due to the Green and Whyte shenanigans and even Murray before that. But if he rights the club financially, he must look at Celtic and see large worldwide fanbase, huge merchandising potential, a full Ibrox (don't laugh!) if success on the pitch, the chance to bring in players cheaply and then punt at extortionate prices to the BPL if they are a success, and also, longer term, probably a 50/50 shot of Champions League football year on year. There are a lot of (financial) benefits there - if the club are run right. What he is suffering from at the moment is 1. he doesn't sabre rattle (like Green/Murray etc) so there is no fantastical statements for the fans to rally behind. Thats not his style and 2. he is suffering from the shysters who couldn't run a p up in a brewery before him, who all looked to be the real deal to the fans and who ended up being clowns financially while at the same time lining their own pockets. The fans have been burned badly by them and their promises. And I suppose, to some, 3 he isn't a "Rangers" man. He is doing the difficult things - he is trying/has to get control of the club through foul means or fair, he is trying to kill off the opposition, he is making difficult decision (getting rid of Ally should have happened 2 seasons ago, Ashley had the nads to do it though). Its not pretty, especially when you are having to cut costs on an underperforming side and a fan base who have been so used to success and deep pockets in the boardroom. But it is the right thing to do. I have followed Newcastle for a number of years and its well known he isn't liked there too. But if you looked from outside a fans point of view you would see a club who has 40k season tickets and 50k at most home games, huge merchandising, who operates very well in the transfer market making money of a lot of their buys, who usually stays in the BPL and banks the Sky millions each year and don't spend outwith their means. He even made money off giving his manager an 8 year contract!! In effect an actual model on how a club should be run financially. What is frustrating from a football fans point of view is that he won't take the risks or try to make the jump to the next level. He sells of the players who are doing well for large profits and reinvests it in more cheaper players. But if you are being pragmatic - Newcastle don't have the Abramovich or Man City billions, they don't have the world wide appeal of the Man Utd or Liverpools, they don't have the London "pull" or history of Arsenal. Its actually a sensible financial decision to not try and take these clubs on and instead live with in your means, its just very frustrating football wise. So if he does right Rangers, no matter how ugly it is short term, longer term he must see benefits in controlling them. If he didn't he wouldn't be going through all of this at the current. On the outside looking in, IMO Mike Ashley could be the best thing to happen to Rangers in the boardroom for a long time.

BBC report says Ashley offering £10m but wants security on Ibrox and the training ground. 3 Bears offering half that but want security on training ground only. However it appears there loan offer isn't enough. Does this sound like the payment of the rumoured £6.5m to Green and that is why the £5m isn't enough.

How do you know BBC and Sky "wilfully" ignored these comments? Social media reacts much quicker than mainstream news does. The first, and only, news program I have watched today was BBC at 6pm and they had a Muslim spokesman on as 3rd or 4th item on this subject condemning the attacks.

It's a debate, a discussion between people who are interested in football and opinions, that's all. A few years ago Non TA used to have plenty of lively debates on all manner of footballing subjects, home and abroad but not so much now. Not sure why you would think that falls into the jizzfest category. Try Rangers financials or Celtic fans doing something silly again for that.

1. It's Non TA so this forum covers ALL other football. 2. It's not really a jizzfest. Some, mainly Liverpool fans, think he is brilliant, some think he is a very good player, some cannae stand him and think the media overrate him.

Good point, well made

Would it still be as much of an issue, to you, if Aberdeen were 20 points behind Celtic at the current time? McGinn might well have been supporting Celtic in this game but I think that if you gave him the choice between winning the league with Aberdeen or Celtic winning it, he would obviously take the former. He makes quite a few mentions of it in his book. He did also say that he is now a Liverpool fan though, partly due to the amount of abuse he used to get in derby games. I would imagine thats quite unusual though and that a number of players will resort to supporting their boyhood teams once their careers are over. McGinn was a wee bit daft going to this game but I wouldn't doubt his integrity as a player and his willingness to win/be successful for Aberdeen on the pitch no matter what games he attends. As I said to Parkie above, I think this is only an issue, to some, because Aberdeen are close to Celtic this season, if they had been 20 points or so behind would it be an issue. As mentioned, lots of players probably attend lots of games, not many of them get this sort of blowback.