Fairbairn

It's a tricky situation at times. You have to be good enough to get in the team but how can you prove you're good enough when you don't get a chance. Patterson is the pick of the bunch of those you've listed above but Tavernier is our best player by some distance so he was never going to get a regular run ahead of him. King got a run of games but I think that spell proved he wasn't quite ready for first team football and it actually seems as if he's now being retrained from a CH to a DCM, similar to Ross McCrorie (who was also on the end of a couple of hosings in our defence when he broke through). I'm actually surprised he's not been out on loan this season. Lowry looked decent but apparently has major attitude issues and didn't really set the heather alight at Hearts and Devine just doesn't look good enough. I'm probably going to contradict myself here but I'm not massively concerned about any of our current youngsters not getting/taking a chance (other than McAusland) as I don't really see any good enough and the one that probably was (Patterson) we got a good fee for, it's more the historic and ongoing overall issue.

Rangers refusal to play youngsters is something that's frustrated me for as long as I can remember supporting them. Granted they need to be good enough to play but surely questions need to be asked as to why we've not had a youngster break in to the team and hold down a regular spot since probably Hutton in 05/06. Interestingly, I noticed Barcelona started with 2 16yo at the weekend!

Carvajal's 99th minute winner for Real at home to Almeria yesterday will have been a sickener for them.

I watched Fool Me Once to the end and I'm not really sure why. Given I watched the other Netflix/Harlan Coben series (The Stranger?) and it was of similar quality, the irony in the name of this one hasn't escaped me!

Rhyming slang?! 🤔

Belated congratulations VA! Although I have to say, for some reason I thought you were about 60! 🤣

I really wish I’d read this earlier!

Cocaine makes you paranoid!

Getting Utrecht to take Lammers on loan is impressive in itself but if they buy him for £2.75M in the summer as is being reported it’s probably the best bit of transfer business we’ll ever do.

I've thought that about a couple of the Harlan Coben series on Netflix. We started watching Fool Me...last night so I'll see how long we last. Mr Bates vs The Post Office is an excellent, if infuriating watch. The way those people were treated is criminal.

Jesus. Don't think I've ever hit the crossbar like that. One of my second place teams is Rangers so it probably won't come in anyway but I'll continue to blame Clyde! Last Saturday I had a 10 games Goals Galore on. With about 5 minutes to go I needed 4 teams to score so thought it was pretty much done. Went to the toilet and when I was standing at the bar noticed 2 of the 4 had scored. By the time I got back to my seat Clyde (ironically!) had scored so was only waiting on Everton. Cash out at that point was over 200 quid but as it paid closer to 1800 and there were 9 minutes injury time I let it ride and obviously Everton didn't score! Watched MOTD the next morning and noted that DCL rattled the post from about 35 yards which didn't make me feel any better!

Just when I see the Clyde chat, have I mentioned that at the moment they are costing me potentially £440K?! Put on my usual accumulator for the 8 leagues in Scotland and England. In 7 of 8 my selection is either 1st or 2nd. Except Clyde. Who are last. Stone last. I'm sure they can make up the 34 point gap in the second half of the season! 😪

I might go for a pint.

I thought Wonka was excellent! Those kind of films aren't usually my cup of tea but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Napoleon has some decent bits but it’s easily 40 minutes too long. Watched The Holdovers recently. Drama about a group of kids who have to spend the Christmas break at their boarding school with a curmudgeonly teacher played by Paul Giamatti. Enjoyed everything about. Well written, some great performances and captures the feel of the time and setting brilliantly.

Meant to caveat the above with - assuming Rangers version of the meeting today is accurate…

Which again begs the question of why the offside stills were released. In my opinion they’ve realised they’ve fucked up by not sending the ref to review the handball and have chucked out the offside excuse hoping it would cover their arse. It’s another absolute shambles from the SFA and it’ll be interesting to see their response. And just for clarity, I’m not for a second suggesting that this is based on any sort of bias or conspiracy against Rangers, it’s just another in a long list of examples of gross incompetence.

There was a game over the last couple of days where someone scored, might have been Liverpool, and VAR then spent about 2-3 minutes reviewing the build up to see if a foul had been committed before they could confirm if the goal was valid. Now if VAR spotted something in the build up then fair enough but to actually pause the game while they go back and search for something which, in this case, didn't exist seems absolutely ludicrous.

They? I don’t speak for all Rangers fans. And while I think todays penalty was soft I’d have wanted it at the other end so no complaints from me there.

There we have it. A penalty for Killie. Hopefully we can move on to the next conspiracy now.

Which brings us back to the question of why was no mention made of the offside at the time if that was the reason for not awarding the penalty? My understanding isn’t that Rangers aren’t debating whether it was a penalty or not, they are seeking clarification on the award of the offside decision and where it arrived in the process given it wasn’t mentioned till nearly 30 minutes after the incident. You surely have to admit that the officials dealt with it at the time was ludicrous and leaves them open to all sorts of questioning. To add further confusion, the screen at Parkhead said “Penalty Check” but if the check was actually for Offisde then why not say that? And I’m pretty sure the game restarted with a goal kick when the only options would have been either penalty or free kick at the edge of the box where the offside happened?! It’s a complete clusterfuck and I fully understand why we’re challenging it and would encourage other clubs to the same when faced with similar.

So you're telling me that if Aberdeen had been denied a penalty by being told some 30 minutes after the incident that it was due to an offside that was never mentioned at the time that you'd be completely OK with that? Given you're still griping about the one in the final (and I think you've got a case btw) you'll forgive me if I don't believe you. And if the end game of this is that we end up with greater transparency from officials and it results in Rangers suffering and all these supposed wrongs being righted then surely that's an end result that is good for the game and something you'd be encouraging?

I'm on board with anything that improves the overall standard of officiating we've (Scottish football) been subjected to in recent times.

I’m sorry but that’s just nonsense. If that penalty shout and then the manner and reasoning of the offside decision had went in Rangers favour against Aberdeen, you and a few other Dons on here would have been, rightly, moaning about it for a couple of days at least.

So, when contentious decisions go in Rangers favour the clubs on the receiving end should be demanding answers and sharpening the pitchforks but when contentious decisions go against Rangers we’re supposed to just shut the fuck up? Right you are. No double standards there at all.