Rangers News

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Updates on Rangers Transfer news.

Just came on the radio that Lee Wallace will be staying at New Rangers, and their fans thought it couldn't get any worse!

East Stirling are on alert for the poaching of all their players.

Rumours on twitter last night that Celtic were trying to sign Rhys McCabe, most likely a wind-up though.

THing is though, the SPL is going to be a walkover, why would any half decent players left at Celtic want to play in such a pointless league?

super_realist wrote:THing is though, the SPL is going to be a walkover, why would any half decent players left at Celtic want to play in such a pointless league?

Exactly, we would need to reach the Champions League group stages to keep our players and to attract others.

Champions League and they get paid good money would be my guess.

PBF I heard that rumour as well. There was one going around about McGregor coming to Celtic and I have to say that would be excellent. Also a rumour going around that the clubs will push for the old Rangers to be stripped of titles and cups they won during the EBT period.

Champions League qualifying, home before the postcards most likely. Simply can't see Celtic getting through, and even if they did, they'd get pumped, they've lagged behind for a lot of years, probably even going backwards and even average teams would be a bridge too far from them now.
If I were at Celtic I'd be seriously trying to get a team in the Championship.

Rangers to the 3rd Division will be good for Scottish football. All the clubs will have increased revenue which should tide them over for a few years. Queen's Park may even sell out Hampden!!

McGregor would be a great signing, quality keeper but can't see it happening. I think its only fair that the titles and the cups are taken from them and I think it will happen.

Hard to judge how Celtic would perform in the Champions League, performed well in the Europa League last season in a hard group but then were easily beaten by Sion who were a bad side.

super_realist wrote:Champions League qualifying, home before the postcards most likely. Simply can't see Celtic getting through, and even if they did, they'd get pumped, they've lagged behind for a lot of years, probably even going backwards and even average teams would be a bridge too far from them now.
If I were at Celtic I'd be seriously trying to get a team in the Championship.

Do you understand how Champions League qualification works?

As for getting pumped we were in a Europa league group with Athletico Madrid, Rennes and Udinese who are all better sides than the ones we will come up against in Champions League qualifying and we did fine. We nearly got through the group which was the toughest group in the tournament last year.

Sugar, Celtic have been pumped in Europe for years. Be realistic. It's a 1 in 10 chance they'll get through.

This year (12/13) is the last year that Celtic will be seeded in qualifying. THe league will be ranked around 30th in 13/14 while Celtic's coefficient will be lower meaning the league winners won't be seeded in the draw as the league will be around the Slovenia/Estonia level, and will have to go through 2-3 rounds of qualifying and face a seeded team in 3rd and 4th qualifying.

It's all on the UEFA website.

They should be getting through. They have 2 rounds to get through and won't come across a top side. Even in the last qualifying round they will be in the Champions pot which means they will avoid clubs from Countries that have automatic qualification places. If they don't get through Lennon should be shown the door.

In their first qualifying round they could face HJK Helsinki, Debrecen, Maribor and Wroclaw amongst others, while if they get through that could face Helsingborg, Partizan Belgrade, MSK Zilina, Dynamo Zagreb or Cluj.

Not exactly an easy path given how far Celtic have fallen.

Remember how badly Rangers played against similar teams.

Celtic are a young side and improving. We should be better than those teams if not then Lennon hasn't done a good job and should be sacked. We haven't came that far back in terms of cash available to the club or quality of player since Strachan was at the club and his European record was outstanding.

The players showed last year that they can handle teams of that quality. The timing of the qualifiers is always a problem because we try and play an outdoor sport in the middle of winter and not the summer.

You should never think you are better than anyone. Rangers thought they were better than Malmo and Maribor and clearly weren't. Part of the reason is because they didn't understand that the standard has risen elsewhere and SPL has diminished.

Agree that SPL should be summer though. No reason at all why we play in winter.

We should be better than them. A club with Celtics resources should be able to get through the qualification process. As much as people complain about the lack of funds up here Celtic still have decent funds compared to other clubs that have been qualifying for the Champions League in recent years.

Rangers should have been better than Malmo and Maribor the administration saved McCoist from people saying he isn't up to much as a manger because it had all went wrong before administration and the sale of Jelavic.

Money counts for nothing unless you are bribing officials.

Lack of preparation, under-estimating the opposition, being unable to play away from home in Europe and inflexible tactics are more telling as to how Celtic will do.

Getting through is still a long shot.

I don't understand why you think Rangers should have been better than Malmo or Maribor. They weren't anywhere close and I doubt you know much about Swedish or Slovenian football to say confidently that Celtic or Rangers are any better than these teams.

super_realist wrote:You should never think you are better than anyone. Rangers thought they were better than Malmo and Maribor and clearly weren't. Part of the reason is because they didn't understand that the standard has risen elsewhere and SPL has diminished.

Agree that SPL should be summer though. No reason at all why we play in winter.

I don't really think that the standard of the other leagues have improved just that most of the teams play through the summer so are match fit and sharp where as for the Scottish teams will be playing their first competetive match of the season. Alos think Celtic and Rangers often get complacent and just expect to turn up and win against these so called minnows. I remember reading an article on Rosenberg and they qualified for the group stages of the Champions League almost every year thanks to playing summer football and being sharper and fitter than their qualifying opponents.

Money counts for a lot in football you will get nowhere without it.

I don't know much about Swedish or Slovenian football but Celtic and Rangers when they were still with us should be better than the best these countries have to offer.

Strachan had an excellent European record and Celtic aren't that worse off now than they were when Strachan was in charge.

Tactics are a problem Lennon is a 4-4-2 man and that isn't great. Some managers seem to think that all they have to do is drop a striker and throw an extra man in the middle and job done after 2 days of training in that formation.

Lennon should have been playing 4-3-3 since he got the job. We have the players in the middle of the park, good attacking full backs and a good goalscorer. I think James Forrest could play either side of a front 3 he is very direct.

We played 4-3-3 a few times last season, the best performance using that formation came in Italy against Udinesa

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:Money counts for a lot in football you will get nowhere without it.

I don't know much about Swedish or Slovenian football but Celtic and Rangers when they were still with us should be better than the best these countries have to offer.

Strachan had an excellent European record and Celtic aren't that worse off now than they were when Strachan was in charge.

Tactics are a problem Lennon is a 4-4-2 man and that isn't great. Some managers seem to think that all they have to do is drop a striker and throw an extra man in the middle and job done after 2 days of training in that formation.

Lennon should have been playing 4-3-3 since he got the job. We have the players in the middle of the park, good attacking full backs and a good goalscorer. I think James Forrest could play either side of a front 3 he is very direct.

Why should Rangers/Cetlic be better than Maribor/Malmo? There are no givens in football.

Do you really think the standard of the SPL is better than in Denmark/Sweden/Norway etc?
Malmo are a wealthy team with a good stadium, there is no reason why Rangers should have expected to beat them.

To say Celtic/Rangers should beat these teams is pretty arrogant. They aren't big teams anymore, they are on a level where they have to pre qualify for everything so despite having a relatively large fanbase are minnows on the European stage, proven by how poorly they do in Europe.

[quote="super_realist"]

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:Money counts for a lot in football you will get nowhere without it.

I don't know much about Swedish or Slovenian football but Celtic and Rangers when they were still with us should be better than the best these countries have to offer.

Strachan had an excellent European record and Celtic aren't that worse off now than they were when Strachan was in charge.

Tactics are a problem Lennon is a 4-4-2 man and that isn't great. Some managers seem to think that all they have to do is drop a striker and throw an extra man in the middle and job done after 2 days of training in that formation.

Lennon should have been playing 4-3-3 since he got the job. We have the players in the middle of the park, good attacking full backs and a good goalscorer. I think James Forrest could play either side of a front 3 he is very direct.

Why should Rangers/Cetlic be better than Maribor/Malmo? There are no givens in football.

Do you really think the standard of the SPL is better than in Denmark/Sweden/Norway etc?
Malmo are a wealthy team with a good stadium, there is no reason why Rangers should have expected to beat them.

To say Celtic/Rangers should beat these teams is pretty arrogant. They aren't big teams anymore, they are on a level where they have to pre qualify for everything so despite having a relatively large fanbase are minnows on the European stage, proven by how poorly they do in Europe.[/quote

Celtic still generate a lot of money and can afford to but better players than these clubs and afford higher wages. That would be the main reason I would say we should be better than them. It's not arrogance its the fact that in football you are only as good as your funds and we have more than them. We have under achieved for a variety of reasons.

It was only 4 years ago one of them was in the Champions League last 16 for the 2nd consecutive year and the other was in a Europa league final although they played very little football. Celtic haven't came that far back in the last 4 years. The club has went through a lot of changes since then including an awful manager who tore a good squad apart and brought in a young manager who needed to rebuild a squad that was poor.

It's just came on the radio that Raith Rovers will vote against Rangers joining the 1st division. They need 22 of 29 votes to be granted permission to any of the S.F.A leagues. It looks like the 3rd division will be where they are playing next season.

Quite right as well they are a new club just like Annan were and they had to start at the bottom,.

No one cares about history or fan base. It means nothing in regard to your next match. WHich is something Rangers completely overlooked.

Rangers got beaten because a) they aren't as good as they thought they were
b) were underprepared c) live in the past and believe that their supposed better bank balance would carry them through. d) believed their own deluded hype that they are a big club who have a "right" to beat lesser known teams.

From what I can see here it looks like Celtic could easily fall into that trap.

While Celtic may have better finances than Rangers, it still hasn't stopped them getting horsed in Europe for years.
With European qualification looking less likely year after year, they won't be attracting players of decent standard and will continue to lose bidding with the likes of Leicester and Peterborough.
It won't be long before Estonian and Lativian teams are looking at a draw v Celtic and thinking it is they who should be winning.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:It's just came on the radio that Raith Rovers will vote against Rangers joining the 1st division. They need 22 of 29 votes to be granted permission to any of the S.F.A leagues. It looks like the 3rd division will be where they are playing next season.

Quite right as well they are a new club just like Annan were and they had to start at the bottom,.

It's not even a given that they'll be allowed into the Third Division yet, I personally believe they'll be granted access but as we've mentioned a page or two back, the likes of Cove, Forres and Spartans have technically more right to any place that becomes available than a Newco

Even the SFL Clubs are getting annoyed.

"While five SFL clubs who will vote on whether to allow Rangers to join will remember a 1964 attempt to remove them from senior football led by the Ibrox club. (Scotsman)"

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/sfl-division-one/rangers-newco-where-the-sfl-clubs-stand-1-2376173

What goes around comes around.

"An emergency general meeting could be called with five days' notice, and a vote to allow a newco entry would require a 75% majority, or 22 clubs out of 29, to succeed."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18591278

With Raith Rovers and Falkirk voting against them (getting into the SFL or just the 1st Division I'm not 100% sure on) the future is bleak for THE Rangers.

super_realist wrote:

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:

super_realist wrote:Why is everyone going on about the coefficient. It can hardly get worse thsn it is now.

Once you reach a certain level you won't get through qualifying anyway, so whether the league is ranked 20th or 45th by uefa is irrelevant, don't expect to see a Scottish team in the real stages of a competition for decades.

Celtic have a very good chance of getting into the Champions League. If they get through the 2nd qualifying round which they should then they go into the Champions pot avoiding clubs from all countries that have an automatic qualification place for the group stages. Teams like Bate Borisov, Unirea Urziceni and Oletul Gelllati have all got through in recent years. There is no excuse for Celtic not to be playing Champions League football next season.

Remember last year? Rangers thought they'd cruise through against Malmo, they got humped, then they got knocked out of the Europa League qualifying by the mighty Maribor.

I don't think Celtic are much better, but this year will be their last realistic chance, as of 13/14 the league will be ranked so low they'll have to go through 3 rounds, and won't be seeded.
Probably a good thing as they, like Rangers are an embarassment in Europe. They don't deserve to be there.

Wouldn't say that, they lost in the last ten minutes to a 30 yards screamer whilst playing the whole game with ten men thanks to that clown Whittaker.

If I remember right they were still played off the park in both legs, with Malmo unlucky not to score 3-4 at home.

TSC wrote:Even the SFL Clubs are getting annoyed.

"While five SFL clubs who will vote on whether to allow Rangers to join will remember a 1964 attempt to remove them from senior football led by the Ibrox club. (Scotsman)"

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/sfl-division-one/rangers-newco-where-the-sfl-clubs-stand-1-2376173

What goes around comes around.

"An emergency general meeting could be called with five days' notice, and a vote to allow a newco entry would require a 75% majority, or 22 clubs out of 29, to succeed."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18591278

With Raith Rovers and Falkirk voting against them (getting into the SFL or just the 1st Division I'm not 100% sure on) the future is bleak for THE Rangers.

Raith Rovers are against them joining the 1st division they say if a new club joins it must be from the 3rd division.

Sky Sports News are saying Jamie Ness has refused to transfer to newco.

super_realist wrote:If I remember right they were still played off the park in both legs, with Malmo unlucky not to score 3-4 at home.

When was the last time you watched a Scottish club and came away with something positive to say about them?

Perhaps they can create their own league. The Buckfast Premiership, One Shoed Conference, Deep Fried Pizza Division 1 or something like that.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:

super_realist wrote:If I remember right they were still played off the park in both legs, with Malmo unlucky not to score 3-4 at home.

When was the last time you watched a Scottish club and came away with something positive to say about them?

There isn't much positive to say about any Scottish club really. It's a league for the unambitious or those of limited talent. It's not worthy of European football and is harming the national team.

Kyle Lafferty has knocked back a transfer to Newco now

Fair do's. Thought that was the case.

Anyone know anything more about The Rangers possibly entering administration?

super_realist wrote:If I remember right they were still played off the park in both legs, with Malmo unlucky not to score 3-4 at home.

You certainly don't remember right in that case, Rangers even with ten men were the better side and Jelavic missed two sitters late on which would have sealed the deal. Even the first game Rangers missed 3 glorious late chances, certainly not a domination but at the very worse it was 50/50 because of Whittaker.

As a Rangers hater anyway why did you watch it? especially as it was on a PPV channel.

Perhaps you remember it more fondly than me and with rose tinted spectacles because its one of the last two rangers matches that they'll ever play in Europe.

Sugar Ray.

To answer your question.

Hearts winning the Cup against Hibs in 2012

[BTW where were Old Rangers and Celtic?]

Doon the Water wrote:Sugar Ray.

To answer your question.

Hearts winning the Cup against Hibs in 2012

[BTW where were Old Rangers and Celtic?]

Rangers got embarrassed at home and Celtic were put out by a bad referee. Hearts were very good in the final but Hibs are a terrible side.

super_realist wrote:

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:

super_realist wrote:If I remember right they were still played off the park in both legs, with Malmo unlucky not to score 3-4 at home.

When was the last time you watched a Scottish club and came away with something positive to say about them?

There isn't much positive to say about any Scottish club really. It's a league for the unambitious or those of limited talent. It's not worthy of European football and is harming the national team.

We are just outside the top half of leagues in UEFA so if we aren't worthy of European football neither is half of Europe. Instead of avoiding the question with the same old boring waffle answer the question. When was the last time you watched a Scottish club and came away with something positive to say?

BTW Rangers weren't played off the park by Malmo they were the better side over the 2 legs and missed some good chances.

Yes, you are right, the 'high quality' SPL is ranked below Switzerland, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel and Austria at the dizzy heights of no 18 in the UEFA ranking of leagues, narrowly ahead of Malta and Finland.
Still think they deserve Europe?, because most of those leagues don't and they are officially better than the SPL.

Last time I saw a decent performance by a Scottish team? Not for about 5 years, the standard has dropped off a cliff since then. You see the occasional bit of skill from some players but for all I hear about how they should beat the likes of Maribor and Malmo ,Rangers got hammered at home by Dundee United, a small provincial team, with no money, small stadium, no star players or anything.

super_realist wrote:Yes, you are right, the 'high quality' SPL is ranked below Switzerland, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel and Austria at the dizzy heights of no 18 in the UEFA ranking of leagues, narrowly ahead of Malta and Finland.
Still think they deserve Europe?, because most of those leagues don't and they are officially better than the SPL.

Last time I saw a decent performance by a Scottish team? Not for about 5 years, the standard has dropped off a cliff since then. You see the occasional bit of skill from some players but for all I hear about how they should beat the likes of Maribor and Malmo ,Rangers got hammered at home by Dundee United, a small provincial team, with no money, small stadium, no star players or anything.

Man U went out the F.A cup a couple of years back to Leeds it can happen in cups. Every country deserves the oppurtunity to have their clubs play European football or the big just get bigger and the rest have no hope.

You weren't impressed with Celtic in Udinese last season drawing 1-1 with a good side? Or when we beat Rennes a good French side?

super_realist wrote:Perhaps you remember it more fondly than me and with rose tinted spectacles because its one of the last two rangers matches that they'll ever play in Europe.

They played two matches straight after. Meh i think that was the general consensus on the game, don't really have time for people who just look for the negatives on anything and everything in life.

If you rate the likes of udinese and rennes as top talent then your sights have certainly fallen without realising. You are basically the Leeds in your metaphor, the odd decent result in a sea of mediocrity. You still didn't qualify for the next round. For every udinese draw there is a Sion.

Face it, the spl and the old firm are on a serious downward spiral, with poorer players being bought each year to replace the average ones that have left and the club still asking the same price for season tickets to watch a worse product. You are being seriously short changed.

SugarRayRussell (PBK) wrote:

super_realist wrote:Yes, you are right, the 'high quality' SPL is ranked below Switzerland, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel and Austria at the dizzy heights of no 18 in the UEFA ranking of leagues, narrowly ahead of Malta and Finland.
Still think they deserve Europe?, because most of those leagues don't and they are officially better than the SPL.

Last time I saw a decent performance by a Scottish team? Not for about 5 years, the standard has dropped off a cliff since then. You see the occasional bit of skill from some players but for all I hear about how they should beat the likes of Maribor and Malmo ,Rangers got hammered at home by Dundee United, a small provincial team, with no money, small stadium, no star players or anything.

Man U went out the F.A cup a couple of years back to Leeds it can happen in cups. Every country deserves the oppurtunity to have their clubs play European football or the big just get bigger and the rest have no hope.

You weren't impressed with Celtic in Udinese last season drawing 1-1 with a good side? Or when we beat Rennes a good French side?

Celtic could have won the Europa league and he would find nothing good to say about it. I wouldn't even bother trying.

You've more chance of seeing the queens jubblies than Celtic even qualifying.

super_realist wrote:If you rate the likes of udinese and rennes as top talent then your sights have certainly fallen without realising. You are basically the Leeds in your metaphor, the odd decent result in a sea of mediocrity. You still didn't qualify for the next round. For every udinese draw there is a Sion.

Face it, the spl and the old firm are on a serious downward spiral, with poorer players being bought each year to replace the average ones that have left and the club still asking the same price for season tickets to watch a worse product. You are being seriously short changed.

I never said they were top talent I said they were good sides. Sion got proved to have cheated that is a poor example. I don't feel like I'm being short changed my ticket is less than it was 3 years ago and we have a better side now.

McGregor, Davis, Lafferty and Ness all away now.

Lee Wallace stays but four more head for Ibrox exit

ALLAN McGregor, Steven Davis, Kyle Lafferty and Jamie Ness tonight joined the Ibrox exodus after declining to transfer their contracts to Charles Green’s newco Rangers, on the same day that defender Lee Wallace announced he would stay at the club.

• Lee Wallace has pledged future to Ibrox club despite ongoing uncertainty

• Rhys McCabe, Sone Aluko, Steven Whittaker and Steven Naismith joined by Allan McGregor, Steven Davis, Jamie Ness and Kyle Lafferty in leaving the club

• Lee McCulloch the only other player besides Wallace to pledge future to Rangers


The quartet joined Steven Naismith, Steven Whittaker, Sone Aluko and Rhys McCabe, who registered their objections before the start of this week.

A statement from lawyer Margaret Gribbon of Bridge Litigation tonight read: “Allan McGregor, Steven Davis, Jamie Ness and Kyle Lafferty have instructed PFA lawyers’ Bridge Litigation UK to object to their transfer to the Rangers’ newco.”

Earlier today, Lee Wallace committed himself to newco Rangers, following the news on Sunday that Steven Whittaker and Steven Naismith would exercise their right not to transfer to Charles Green’s Sevco company, which bought the assets and business of Rangers for £5.5million after the club was consigned to liquidation following failure to secure a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) needed to exit administration.

Both players cited uncertainty over which division - if any - Rangers will play in next season, as well as a lack of contact by Green and information about the investors in his consortium.

Rhys McCabe and Sone Aluko have also indicated they will leave Ibrox in the near future, bringing to eight the total number of players seeking moves elsewhere.

Green threatened legal action for breach of contract against exiting players at the weekend but he adopted a less aggressive stance yesterday as he argued they would not play for a bigger club than Rangers no matter what league they end up in.

Although employment regulations are clear that workers can refuse to transfer their contract to a newco, Green has claimed his company would be entitled to a transfer fee.

However, he is unable to stop players joining other clubs with FIFA likely to issue a temporary registration document backing the transfer if Green objects, before any potential arbitration hearing further down the line.

Green’s case is further weakened by the fact that his club is not yet a member of the Scottish Football Association.

Better news for the new regime was the announcement by Scotland left-back Wallace that he sees his future at Ibrox, along with Lee McCulloch, the only other player to publicly state a desire to join the newco despite the near certainty that they will not play in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Aberdeen, Inverness and St Johnstone yesterday announced that they would oppose Green’s application to join the SPL, doubling the confirmed objectors to six.

An 8-4 majority is required when all 12 clubs - including oldco Rangers - meet on July 4 to formally vote on the issue.

Wallace told www.rangersfc.co.uk: “When I arrived at Ibrox the support from the club, players and fans was fantastic.

“The fans showed great faith in us all during tough times and I still feel I have more to show them during the remainder of my contract.

“My partner is expecting our first baby soon and my priority is to my family.

“This gives me the incentive to improve my performance and ultimately win trophies.”

Wallace signed a five-year contract when he joined from Hearts in August last year in a deal worth £1.5million.

However, Rangers Football Club will go into liquidation with Hearts still to receive £800,000 of the fee and it is unclear whether Green’s club will be forced to pay.

Wallace, who will report for the start of pre-season training on Thursday, added: “My personal decision in no way condemns or judges those made by my fellow professionals as I believe each person has different circumstances and reasons which will determine the road they choose to travel at this particular time.

“I respect the decision taken by each individual player.”

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spl/rangers-newco-lee-wallace-stays-but-four-more-head-for-ibrox-exit-1-2376056

Udinesa were top of Seria A when Celtic faced them in December and they aren't a tip top team but they where definitely one of the best teams in Italy during the first half of last season, they should have knocked Arsenal out of the CL qualifiers

As for Rennes, top side? No but they had a player in M'Vila who is rated at £20m+ which is a darn sight more than any Celtic player yet he was chasing shadows all night at Celtic Park