Holmes_and_Watson

Nonsense. You have been told this on many occasions. I conclude that you are an idiot.

They might be smaller pitch forks and cheaper torches held by fewer people, but they are ours! 🙂

Sorry. I'll call Ty-me on such comments.

They could Ty up a deal shortly.

Yup. Still picks the side. But only from what SR have, and are willing to, give him. Behind the scenes, managers know full well the club expectations, and status of certain players. From players not starting because the club wants them fit for an upcoming transfer to being told that they expect certain players to be massively valuable in the future.

Yeah. If Baz keeps his form, he'll play. If he doesn't, he'll need competition. But that doesn't seem to be McCarthy. Despite the last time we played McCarthy resulted in a noticeable improvement over Baz. The numbers may also indicate how much we're willing to pay. So, SR might want a third choice keepers wages, despite him automatically being considered as better than our second choice, and needing to compete as first choice. 🙂

No, he certainly doesn't. "I've not seen any calamities since I joined, but he's statistically the worst keeper in his last 2 Saints seasons. The club seem incredibly, obsessively, keen to start with him, but I'm hoping the guy we bring in as third choice, will be a.miracle worker. It's a specialist role, but I no longer trust my 'keeper coach telling me, we'll be fine with Baz."

Thank you gio, for starting off our Scar Tissue Support Group.

It was pointless to discuss it. 🙂

Not sure how many posts would stand up to the pointlessness test. 🙂 Martin's distinctive approach is interesting to watch. Partly purely on footballing terms. But also to see the contrasts of how he does it at other clubs, to how it turned out here. Pep has got in an assistant to make changes to his approach. Will, or can, Martin make adjustments? Can he make it work with different personnel? and on a tight budget, with big expectations? Rangers will probably be on Sky a fair bit, making it easier to follow.

"Cashloul" at the time of his dumping Ipswich 🙂 But yeah, it's his career and he went where he'd be better paid for the same work.

Can't speak for others, but I'm interested to see how his system develops, assuming he gets the time, and call things as I see them. I can see the attractions to him of going there, but it brings a number of pressing challenges, he'd not have got at some other clubs. Following his comments, the player reaction in an important European match is going to also be interesting. They are going to have to buy into how he wants things done, for it to work.

The actual footballing bit, just loses it's importance with such great SR news as this. I guess it's just there to showcase our next couple of talents, before they are sold next summer.

My post started optimistically, but took a took a turn for the worst as I typed. 🙂

Life's too short Mr Dyson. Suck it up, and move on.

The way I read the quotes was simply that we can get in players for 3 positions they've identified as key, without having to sell. Players could be sold, as deals arose, but they weren't necessary. They got in 2 of the 3 and, as you said, I think the 3rd turned us down. At least this time, SR have got plenty of time to get someone else, and don't have egg on their face. If they get their first choice later on, then fine. But they should know not to hang around until the last week.

Oh, Jordan the country is the custodian of the site. I thought Katie Price had been drafted in to solve issues in the Middle East.

I'm sure I saw you comment on the mods not taking action, just in time for most of this page to vanish for some reason. 🙂 It would be odd for a whole new set of people to repeat the same recruitment errors as their predecessors. But they are working under similar SR principles. Player trading ticks a season on season goal for them, and selling Fernandes and certainly Dibling achieves that. It's then down to the quality of the new crop of players to come in for future sales. Baz - Saga - Edwards - Quarshie (THB) - Welington Charles - Downes AA - Aribo - Edozie (Robinson) Stewart (Downs) With Aribo and Edozie very possibly gone too, it really does have gaps.

I first thought I'd made a typo there. 🙂 It seems ridiculous after a match. But with so many I portant European games, so early, for CL progression, he has to hit the ground running. As for the league, there could be plenty of twists and turns. Celtic have by far the better players, and every dropped points is seen as a crisis. Fuelled by the media too. Think La Marca with shortbread.

It took them until 87 minutes, but Celtic got a winner against St. Mirren. Martin no doubt hoping to be remain on equal points with them. Even had St Mirren (quite changed with some strong, smart recruits) held on, the reasons would have been quite different. Celtic hit the bar, and the post twice. They didn't just dominate the possession (76% to Rangers 65%), they dominated the game. Rangers managed 1 more shot in their game, but it was Motherwell who nearly got the points. While St Mirren had a couple of half chances, Celtic were the team hammering for a win. That's what Old Firm fans, or any fans of clear favourites, expect to see. A big game already for Martin on Tuesday, as the club need as many Euro-pennies as they can get, in their long chase to get closer to Celtic.

Don't like Jamaica, oh no I love her

It's a great get-out-of-responsibility card. He had a go at players not being patient enough in their final third. That they are too individualistic and not making any of the right decisions. In defence, it will be individual errors undoing what he's asking them to do. In every scenario, he can play it back and find fault. In everything except the way he has set them out and the consequences of resetting on every move.

He would be a star there. Had we been talking about Flynn Downes currently playing for a non old firm Scottish team, he could well have followed the likes of Scott Brown's career. Downes clearly works well with, and likes, Martin. Juric said he was unhappy with Downes reaction to a blocked move (I think to Ipswich) after Martin left, and he either didn't like the changes, felt the reasons to stay had gone with Martin or just saw the writing on the wall for us. With Rangers getting new funding, and Martin's relationship with Downes, there was the usual speculation, linking a move. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/rangers-could-break-six-year-35437572 We paid 15 million for him plus 3 million in add ons on a four year deal. Purely in amortisation, we'd be looking for at least 12 million. Considering he's one of our sellable assets, it's fair to think we'd be still in a position to get more than our initial outlay. Wages wise, a 40% reduction puts him on 36k ( all figs here pulled from websites). An attractive deal for a PL club, if he still wants a move. It's beyond the resources of Rangers at present. No doubt Martin would love him to be there. Downes could very well love the idea of playing for Martin again. They have a massive overhaul underway. They have an initial investment of only 20 million or so. The linked article points out that it was 2019, when Rangers last paid 7 million. Currently, their highest disclosed fee on wiki, in the squad is 5.6 million for Danilo in 2023. 36k a week would also make him Rangers' top earner. They are operating in a different market to one where they could afford a Downs. Even if there were circumstances where Downs was available to loan, there would be a number of clubs interested. Rangers' biggest draw would be European football, and a prolonged run in it. They are pretty weak right now, for that to be a great choice. As Downes contract goes closer to winding down, who can tell if he joins Martin? He'll be somehow managing Manchester United by then, having left a trail of baffled fans in mediocre teams. 🙂

Could have been. There's been nothing to clap about, watching the team, for a while. So the guy's now not sure when and how to do it. 🙂

In other news, a big shout out to the North American Saints, currently enjoying their annual get together in the...ah.. Carribbean...awkward. 🙂