AJF

To paint the number of teams in the top flight as a Rangers/Celtic issue is a bit unfair, in my opinion. Without wanting to go all "blue pound", I would wager that most of the clubs would vote against expanding the top flight simply because the supports brought to their stadiums x amount of times a season is beneficial to them. Again, I want to reiterate that I am not trying to sound condescending or imply clubs should be grateful for our custom, but I believe expanding the top flight would simply be a bad economical choice for certain clubs which I don't think they'd go for.

Yep, I said much the same at the time. As you mention, the game was gone and Celtic were happy to see it out, but he put some others to shame.

Big shout out to Ryan Jack as well. An absolutely quality player. Really hope we can keep him fit.

I quite like Devlin. As you say, complete pest, lacking a wee bit quality but I think he forces people into mistakes.

What Rangers fans have you been talking to that claim they won't be bothered if Morelos leaves He changes the way we play. It's not a good thing being so reliant on him, but he is class. He deserves a decent move, that's not to say I wouldn't be bothered if he leaves though!

Quality. Look forward to seeing this rivalry develop further.

Maybe at elite level we have. In Scotland though, I'd be surprised if talk like this has disappeared, even at Premiership level. And of course, I'm not saying it's wrong that people don't like or respect what he said, I'd feel the same way , but not to the extent I'd be calling for him to be cancelled or want the club to take any action like they have. We've been lambasted over the years for our rather 'sensitive' nature with regards to pundits and throwing our toys out the pram. This is something similar.

It perfectly highlights that Celtic fans are getting their knickers in a twist over something that, in all honesty, they really shouldn't be. The calls of whataboutery I can take when it typifies how laughable it is that he has got under the skin of so many for something I'm sure they'd have no qualms about in other circumstances. As others have said, it's a nothing comment that isn't uncommon in football. It should've been the perfect opportunity to point and laugh even further after the result. Boyd also never suggested they do anything, he said he was surprised it never happened. He is obviously talking from his knowledge of knowing what gets said in dressing rooms.

Whataboutery or not, it just highlights how childish the complaints are.

100% correct

Any kind of win, please.

Aye, let's not pretend Boyd has said anything different than what fans say, and he is obviously a Rangers fan. You hear shouts at the football every week of a similar ilk, and a lot worse. I vividly recall the same Celtic support revelling in a Robson elbow on Christian Dailly in the opening minutes of a match. We then got pundits and players alike saying that set the tone, it let Rangers know they were in for a battle etc. etc. Now, they're upset?

You're very fixated with Diallo, eh

It's not taking things personally, it was clarifying your first assertion that GVB not taking charge of or intervening during the semi final should've somehow been a warning sign of some sort. That's the part I feel you are unjustly criticising him for. Obviously it's transpired that you believed he decided not to, rather than being prevented from doing so due to his work permit as reported, so that's fair enough. We have no way of knowing for sure, so I suppose you will feel entitled to believe one thing and I will believe another. In terms of plenty other managers finding a way to get involved, I can't really recall an instance of that happening so I will take your word for it. I've seen plenty occasions where a new manager has watched their team from the stand before taking charge but I can't say what they did or didn't do to influence the match. The rest of your post I agree with. It's not looking like an exciting brand of football at the moment and there seems to be a lot of naivety in expecting things to work out rather than making sure things work out. That was always the biggest strength of Gerrard and his coaching staff, their ability to adapt in game. Very rarely we seen them under large periods of sustained pressure because they recognised it early and made tweaks accordingly. We need to get back to that and start playing the opponent rather than trust we will overcome them simply by playing our way.

For once, Willy, I completely agree with you.

The way I read it, was his work permit wasn't sorted until the morning of his first press conference, which was a Monday. You claim yourself that these government agencies aren't renowned for working weekends to process work permit applications, so with it being that he was only announced on the Thursday would it be unrealistic to think his work permit was applied for on the Thursday/Friday and was not approved until the Monday due to them not working the weekend? (I have no idea what is involved in a work permit application). I just think it is a very weak argument to try and attack him with. He was announced on Thursday, yet he was expected to intervene in a match on the Sunday without working with the players prior to this? And even now, when a direct quote from the man that hired him claims his work permit wasn't in place for the semi final, it's just convenient? Come on, man.

According to Ross Wilson, anyway: Rangers reveal why Giovanni van Bronckhorst was not in the dugout for Hibs clash | HeraldScotland

It could be a number of reasons. Maybe he is at a stage where money isn't his primary motivating factor. Maybe he realises he needs to play more regularly in the year of a World Cup. Who knows.

I think he is. Like others, he hasn't hit the heights of last season but since he came to Rangers he has been more than capable of producing big moments in big matches. Celtic themselves know all about his quality, being on the receiving end of it a few times. In terms of the comparisons, I think that's fair. Kent has never been a prolific goal scorer, but I would also argue that's not his main job, certainly in this GVB side. In terms of minutes played, goals and assists it looks like this: Kent: 1,790 mins, 2 goals, 8 assists Jota: 1,766 mins, 8 goals, 8 assists Abada: 2,547 mins, 13 goals, 9 assists So in terms of creativity he is not exactly lagging behind, it's more his goal scoring that is inferior. So while I agree that this season he has dropped off, I don't think that is enough to warrant the criticism that he belongs to a group of players that lack mental strength or get impacted by fans. As I said before, he never hides and never stops attempting to do what he is good at, even if that doesn't always pay off, like last night. He was up against Juranovic who had an excellent match, but Kent kept on taking the ball and trying to take players on. He doesn't shirk away like some others do at times.

This is a bit of a non-issue that has grown arms and legs. Gio was not granted a work permit until after the semi final. He was simply not allowed to interfere or take charge.

To give him any sort of defence in that regard, Steven Davis has been injured and hasn't played a single minute of football since the 9th of December and similarly Jack is just back from a year out and has only played 90 minutes of football all season.

But I'm not arguing there is no potential for it to be a disaster. I'm arguing that it is not a disaster yet. I think any Rangers fan would tell you that things haven't been good enough in our recent form and we do need to improve significantly, but let's not pretend we were flying under Gerrard this season. We conceded the first goal in a ridiculous number of games and had to scrap to salvage as many points as possible. 1 point behind at the beginning of February is not a disaster. Losing the league and the ultimate CL windfall that goes with it, would be. I'm not sure what there is to disagree with in what I'm saying.

Aye, no qualms with that. If we don't win the league he will have failed. I just don't think we are at that stage yet. I also agree about the style of play - it needs adapted to suit what we are and were previously good at. Saying that, it was all rather stale under Gerrard this season too.

I think that's fair, to say some may lack mental strength. Which then I would say is probably more to do with the fact we've had one successful season and just haven't really consolidated a confidence and swagger about them just yet. I would assume the more competitions they win, the more that side of their game will improve, which I think is more the issue than having fans in a stadium. That was like Celtic over the years. Their consistent success bred that mentality that could see them over the line more often than not. It is all opinions, at the end of the day. There is no real way to measure it. Additionally, I also think Kent would be dropped into that category quite harshly. He never lacks confidence and while his performance last night was poor, I'd say he is one of the few "big game" players that we have.

Hyperbole aside, I'm not sure how that relates to what I said...