saintant

Yeah, Will Still has to be a bit diplomatic here. It looks increasingly like he's got Baz as his number one whether he likes it or not so he's no choice but to come out and give him some sort of positive endorsement. Not sure he's all in on Baz though and he'll have done plenty of his own research on him.

If he's no longer the worst keeper in the division he'll have made progress 🙂

We need to be careful how we handle this sale. If we play hardball and nobody matches our valuation we run the risk of ending up with a disgruntled player who might well give us a half hearted season at the end of which we flog him for far less than 40 odd million.

Fixed that for you 🙂

Are there agile, morbidly obese men?

Not everyone may like the fact but Russell Martin remains an interesting conversation topic and many fans will continue to follow how he gets on at Rangers. I don't rate him as a manager because he is not proactive and is welded to one way of playing. As a person I can't decide whether he's an egotist, a narcissist or a genuinely decent bloke - probably a bit of all three.

His heart should be in it because by now he must have figured that the Championship is his ceiling. In reality, he should be chomping at the bit and determined to score a shed load of goals. Where else is he going to go? He could be an important part of a team challenging for promotion or alternatively, if his heart isn't in it, he can sit on the bench because only he can make Will Still pick him in our starting line-ups.

Take anything north of £35m because a) clubs know he's not signing a new contract with us and b) his very poor second half of last season means he has no real track record in the Premier League so is a gamble that most clubs won't pay the really big bucks for. Anything around £40m would be a deal we should be happy with. We don't want to get ripped off but equally, play hard ball, and we may scare off all potential suitors. It's a tricky balancing act but, unfortunately, we have to accept we don't hold all the cards.

He played in the Gold Cup for his country managed by Pochetinno who we know is a stickler for total fitness. He'll already be one of the fittest players in our squad.

It must actually be the new mantra.

I'll say it again, did we really only have one target?

Snatch their hand off.

Is Downs not fit then? What is his injury? Hope it's not the old chestnut that he's only just signed and missed a bit of pre-season. If he's our best centre forward then he should start against Wrexham. Let's face it, the competition isn't great.

Ah, my comment passed straight over your head then.

How are Birmingham managing to sign players before the last few days of the transfer window? Asking for a friend.

It's a pity Downs wasn't still on when we switched things around and had a go. Think he'll be great in a front footed approach from the team as he makes clever runs and has some pace and strength. His impact yesterday was limited by the way we played when he was on the pitch.

Well he's clearly already got prickly with his own players.

He'll attract interest from better clubs than us - shame because he'd be perfect.

Don't agree - this is not a free hit game and if Still gets it wrong and we lose the fans will not be forgiving. Most fans want us to win every game and rightly so.

Not sure Downes will be fit and, even if he is, he'll be on the bench having had little preseason action.

Their fitness is what it is, preseason is over up there. This is as fit as they'll be and they look well short of the required levels. Motherwell were still full of running at the end of the game but many of the Ranger's lot were blowing out their asses. We had it last season and he clearly hasn't learned. He's asking for more running but I think they'll struggle to give it to him and a lot of that is on him. He's already dumped the players under the bus at the first sign of his plans going tits up. Needs to take a long look in the mirror though he probably already does plenty of that. If he continues to stubbornly fly his flag of one way of playing then the Rangers fans will be venting their feelings and I hear they booed their players today at the end. Every team they face will be ready to press them high and the pressure will just grow.

It's quite hard to tell.

Groundhog day watching that game. Rangers fans are already raging and saying all the things most of us said including lack of fitness. They've played 3 games and, if their opponents could finish, would have lost them all comfortably. Feel a bit sorry for the fans up there because they've got this for the whole season although many are saying he'll be gone by Xmas. RM continues with his self belief in his way of playing and, as we found, he will never change.

Any chance you could repost this with the picture in focus. Thanks

Lots of realism too.