The Nando’s Generation, Deadwood and Bright New Prospects

This summer’s signings at Ibrox have opened up a lot of debate between Rangers fans over social media and on the forums.

A vast majority of us also want to see the expensive deadwood currently infesting the squad at Rangers to be shown the door pronto.

Players like Kyle Hutton, Kal Naismith, Darren Cole and Ross Perry need to be ousted from Ibrox with immediate effect.

The Four Fuds, as I like to categorise them, are not good enough to be playing in the famous blue jersey. Simple.

Their attitudes towards game preparation and training just reeks of a total lack of professionalism. Something that’s never been acceptable at Rangers.

Also, the Twitter antics of those above four have left much to be desired for by Rangers fans.

Moving on to the likes of Ian Black and Emilson Cribari…

Ian Black had a decent few seasons with Hearts. An average player who’d put a shift in every game.

But to pay him the money that Rangers currently do is absolutely criminal.

Personally, I’d like to see the back of him. But, with the contract that he has at Rangers, I very much doubt he’ll be moving on anytime soon.

Emilson Cribari. Well, all I’m going to say is this: How the fuck did this guy once cost Lazio a transfer fee of £5 million and play in the UEFA Champions League?

Never mind the match-fixing, THAT must be the biggest scandal in Italian football history.

One guy who looks more certain to leave by the day is Neil Alexander. It’s a shame that he’s leaving us, in my opinion.

A good goalkeeper, with international caps and a UEFA Cup Final appearance to his name. He done us all proud and stuck by the Club during the dark days of administration, and then liquidation.

His loyalty and commitment will never be forgotten amongst the Ibrox legions.

But it’s probably right that he moves on. The wage he was being paid was far too high for our level of football.

Anything over £10,000 p/w in the lower leagues is dangerous.

I do wish the best of luck to Alexander though, wherever he ends up.

Cammy Bell will be a great replacement for Neil Alexander in the Rangers goal.

Bell has been capped at full international level and already has a League Cup medal in his back pocket.

His performance in the 2012 Scottish League Cup Final against Celtic grabbed him the honour as ‘Man Of The Match’ and his saves ensured that Kilmarnock picked up the Cup that day.

To the outfield signings we’ve made… Steven Smith and Nicky Law. Two, good decent players in their own positions.

Law will most certainly be in the starting XI every teamsheet. His form for Motherwell in recent seasons and his experience from playing in Europe can only help the team.

Smith is a tricky one though. Taking into account that we have released him once before and his history on the Auchenhowie treatment table, I can’t seem to see where he’s going to fit into the team.

Most fans see him as potential back-up to Lee Wallace but with our state-of-the-art youth academy, do we really need a back-up that’s so expensive in wages?

I can’t see Wallace moving on either. He had his chance last summer if he wanted to. His young family are very settled in Glasgow and I can’t see him wanting to uproot.

Also, he recently signed a new five-year contract, so he seems to be very commited to the Club.

Moving on to the widely unknown lad that is Arnold Peralta.

I’ll be totally honest. I don’t know much about him. I do know that he’s been capped at full level for the Honduras national side. He’s a defensive midfielder who can also utulise at right-back.

He comes to us from a club called CDS Vida and is apparenly a bright, young spark in his country’s national team.

Now, our new strikers.

Nicky Clark looks to be so far the bargain of summer. Over 40 goals for Queen of the South last season has brought a lot of optimism about for the young man.

His dad Sandy had a spell with the Club in the 1980s and he’s a Bellshill boy just like Barry Ferguson and Stevie Smith.

Playing for a club that’s as big as Rangers can only be good for him and he’ll be thrilled to play in front of our record-breaking crowds next season.

Let’s just hope he gets deployed as a striker and isn’t left to rot out on the wings.

Lastly, Jon Daly.

In my opinion, it’s a complete waste of money. An aging striker with no sell-on value and he’s on a wage that could be better spent elsewhere around the squad.

We already have Andrew Little, Lee McCulloch and Kane Hemmings as strikers. Adding Nicky Clark to that group would have made us set for next season.

Daly is just another piece of over-rated, expensive deadwood that shouldn’t be at Rangers.

We should be planning ahead for the future. Players like Kevin Kyle, Francisco Sandaza and Emilson Cribari stifled opportunities for our youngsters last season.

Now Jon Daly can add to the list of reasons as to why they’re getting splinters in their arses on our bench.

Hopefully now though, Ally can find a couple of solid, natural defenders and we should be all set for Stage Two.

Here’s to a bright new season and becoming another step closer to where we rightfully belong!

We are the people.

Goodbye, Old Friend

Yesterday saw the long-awaited league reconstruction vote passed through the corridors of Hampden.

SFL clubs voted 23-6 in favour of amalgamating both the SPL and SFL into one single league body, to be called the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) come June 27th.

A sad day for anyone connected or associated with the Scottish Football League though, as they will be wound up after 123 years of glorious history in just a couple of weeks time.

It’s quite upsetting to see that the SFL have been the real victims in this whole league reconstruction debacle.

A proud organisation that stood by it’s clubs through thick and thin.

A league that gave Rangers FC a home when we were down on our knees and had no other place to turn to.

A board of good men who really did have the best interests of Scottish football at heart and didn’t let bigotry or hate cloud their judgement.

An institution that yesterday sacrificed it’s very own existence for the greater good and progression of Scottish football.

David Longmuir said that there were a few reluctant heroes yesterday. Those were the men who voted for change, without thinking about what impact it would have on their club’s bank accounts.

If only the SPL were so thoughtful.

As most of us already know; in 1998, 10 clubs broke away from the SFL and the SPL was created.

Since then, 15 years have passed and Neil Doncaster still has the same dodgy haircut.

The Scotland National Team haven’t qualified for a major tournament finals in that time and the SPL, which was set up to make Scottish football stronger and more attractive, has made us look like a complete laughing stock across Europe.

The SPL has just been a complete disaster since it’s incarnation. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs a doctor. Pronto.

The people that were running it, have only ever been interested in one thing.

Lining their own pockets.

It’s decline is the result of their own selfish views and interests. Bullying of clubs by the corrupt cabal of Lawwell-Doncaster-Riley hasn’t helped matters either.

How can a football league, the best in the country (apparently), be run so corruptly and with such incompetence by the very men who are supposed to be it’s leaders?

The SPL screwed over the SFL by breaking away in 1998. 15 years later, after they make a complete royal arse of everything, turn to the SFL and propose amalgamation to bail them out.

You couldn’t make it up.

I really hope that the future is bright for Scottish football, though. We must try to move forward as a country.

I’d like to think that the shameless people who have almost destroyed our national game will have no place in the new set-up.

Also, I hope that fans will get more of a say in the running of our game too.

I won’t hold my breath on either though.

Things should be better once we’re all talking about the football again, and not the bureaucracy that surrounds it.

At least, I certainly hope they will…

Celtic’s Poppy Shame

For those who don’t know me, I worked in security, largely stewarding at football matches across Scotland last year.

Most shifts were generally the same in many aspects. Fans turned out in their thousands to watch their beloved team play, whomever it may be.

You get the one guy who shouts and screams at every kick of the ball. There’s always the guy who turns up blind drunk and there’s your typical, little sect of hooligans. The smoker in toilets and the plain, crazy one who sings on his own.

Then there is Celtic FC.

Before I continue, I must point out that I was employed by a well-known security firm in Glasgow and not by Celtic FC themselves.

No self-respecting person would ever sell their soul for the thirty pieces of silver that Lawwell offers from his corrupt coffers.

I reported at Celtic Park on Remembrance Sunday 2012 for a shift to steward their match against St Johnstone. I wore a poppy, as most British people do on Remembrance Day to remember and give thanks to our many war-dead. My supervisor ordered me to remove it, and said: “We’re not here to express opinion.”

Now, any person (not just Rangers fans) with two brain cells about them would know that it’s not about expressing opinion and more along the lines of showing respect.

My supervisor also told me that me wearing my poppy would “bring about fears for my safety.”

It would be very naïve to think that Celtic FC had absolutely no say in regards to this matter and left the decision of this matter in the hands of my employer.

The boardroom of Celtic FC was clearly yet again, bowing to the demands of the disgusting minority that oppose anything British.

Yet, most of whom don’t mind claiming money from the state or indeed, using the good, old British passport. Or banging on about how they were the first ‘British’ club to win the Big Jug.

Even their players didn’t wear a poppy on their shirts during the match.

I did, however, see a few paying Celtic fans (not many these days) enter Parkhead wearing the wee red flower. No concerns for their safety, eh?

Typical behaviour from them, to be fair. They consistently get away with it too, as the lazy standard of journalism fails to challenge them and question them on this type of stuff.

Also, according to the LeggoLand blog at the time, Peter Lawwell appeared to have refused a poppy by a Sky production team before an interview leading up to the Celtic v Barcelona showdown in last year’s Champions League.

Needless to say, not many of us were surprised at that, were we?

So, what made Celtic FC exempt from doing what the rest of whole country was doing? Only Mr Lawwell and his board of directors can answer that.

And why they consistently get bullied by a small minority of so-called fans, who quite frankly, any club could do without.

This sort of blatant, sickening behaviour never gets reported though. Journalism is at an all time low in Scotland and there is no signs of it improving anytime soon.

I even once had an argument on Twitter with a Celtic fan who said that he was “delighted that Celtic refused to wear the poppy” and that he “supported most IRA killings.”

We are all probably thinking the same, expletive response to that, so no need to go into detail.

Yet, these people are still allowed through the turnstiles to turn a football stadium into an IRA-theme park.

They conveniently happen to slip under the radar of David Brannan and chums. Maybe he’s too busy reading Rangers blogs and snooping on opposing fans through social media.

Don’t call him and ask though. You won’t get by the receptionist. Very dignified club, is Celtic.

Rotten to the absolute core.

Any football club should be ashamed to have these so-called fans who behave and speak in such a manner.

However, it won’t stop me turning out every year with a poppy on my chest and a heart full of pride.

Our troops will be always welcome at Ibrox and we will always be delighted to greet them there.

For we are the people.

And Scotland’s number one.

P.S. Don’t worry, I complained to every superior of mine at the company I worked for. Never once got a dignified or honest answer. Says it all, really.

P.P.S. Shortly after I first published this story on my old blog, I was dismissed by Securigroup Ltd. Celtic’s security team told them that they didn’t want me near their stadium due to my blogs and that I was being “borderline sectarian”. Securigroup are just another organisation who are bowing to the demands of Lawwell’s Celtic. Beware of them, Bears.