Just curious if there are any fellow bluenoses around these parts...

i don't really follow them much but i do have a soft spot for them...i do love their fan support though

Fishdoll is a Celtic fan, sadly.

But he likes Walter Smith!

lol i dunno i think celtic will do bad this year with their new manager...also as their manager being the old west brom manager

Welcome! I'm not a Rangers fan and actually... well, the latest images your club gave me were not very positive I'd say, I last watched them play in the '07-'08 edition of the UEFA Cup...

It seems that you've met fishdoll... well you will also meet pirates, polar bears, Englishmen and other creatures...

Celtic all the way. I can't help but dislike the term bluenose, it just reminds me of them lot down the road.

Oh, and thanks for Carlos.

You couldn't be slightly imaginative for once?

Did dst just refer to Englishmen as creatures? How did I miss that!? You *******.

And there was me thinking he was into football



He's redeemed himself

Every football team has its bad elements. I've seen Ultras clashing with riot police at the San Siro, Roma fans battling Utd all over Europe, Turkish fans stabbing Leeds supporters, Celtic fans glorifying Irish terrorist organisations...everything. The few idiots in Manchester were not true Rangers fans.



The whole Fishdoll thing has me baffled. The rest of your statement is slightly confusing too

I assume you mean the team former Rangers players Barry Ferguson, Gregory Vignal, and ex manager Alex McLeish currently reside at



You're welcome - how's his whole 'playing for Spain' thing going

Fishdoll imagines you'll meat the pirates, polar bears, and other creatures in due course (you've already met one of the Englishmen).

Fishdoll wonders though: what do you make of the whole Barry Ferguson drunken-party-followed-by-V-sign thing?

Otherwise known as 'Boozegate', essentially he (then the club captain) spent all night drinking late with goalkeeper Allan McGregor when they were on duty with Scotland. Other players in the national camp had had the sense to call it a night early on but these two idiots stayed up, and when they were dropped to the bench for the following match against Iceland when the national manager George Burley caught them, their club manager Walter Smith told them both to keep their heads down, so what did they do?

They throw v signs at the cameras.

Complete fools, and Ferguson's days were numbered at Ibrox after that - he says the biggest mistake he ever made was not offering his apologies to Walter Smith. Instead he did nothing and got called in by him instead.

He's gone to Birmingham now, and I wish him the best - he gave plenty to Rangers and I choose to remember the positive.

I suppose the worst punishment for him is that so many in the game will remember him for that stupid episode, and not his playing career.

A bit like many remember Zidane for the headbutt and not his football.

I have no idea what you're talking about and I would not judge a club based on what some idiots do outside a stadium. I'm talking on the field... I'm sorry to say that (not that you give a damn about what I think I'm just saying... ) but I believe that that Rangers was the worst team I've ever seen in a European final. It was not just defensive football you were playing all along (I've seen a lot of that), it was bad, bad football.

Other than that I like your team more because Gattuso played for you. Which is another reason for Kurt not to like your team...

You said 'images' - that sorta said 'news images on the TV and press coverage' to me.
Just a language thing



Bad bad football doesn't get teams to European finals.

We beat Fiorentina, Werder Bremen, Sporting, Stuttgart and Lyon that season. At the end of the day we didn't play especially well in the final, and were deservedly beaten by the better side, but winning football got us to the final. You just can't fluke your way there.



He considers Walter Smith the biggest influence in his career. I met Rino when he was at Rangers - so unbelievably shy - he's certainly changed.



I'm sure I'll meet Kurt in due course

...lucky bastrd. To me, well I prefer to view the Old Firm as I do the Trios in Portugal and Istanbul; I like them all, love none and hate none, so I view it as a neutral (begun repeating myself have I?).

Oh, and you've yet to meet the Donkey Brigade and their mortal enemies the Chicken Revolutionary Army.

i fully support gers in the SPL, cant say i have too much time to follow them but i do my best

Good man. You don't have to watch every match to like a team

From a neutral point all the football rivalries are what make the game - you seem to be a fan of the spectacle rather than the teams specifically?

I guess that's an accurate description. I consider myself very "European", and whenever I travel around the continent I find football derbies to be a very accurate reflection of the locals and the local lifestyle and culture.
In fact, the smaller the derby is the better; the Milano derby is more of a batle of titans that don't bring much background with it, while a derby like Reggina-Messina is like a society study- Reggina see Messina as a sort of barbarian invaders coming over the strait, and a steady stream of immigration, while Messina wants Sicilian independence and see Reggina as representatives of the suppressing Italian state.

I'd like to make it clear that I am not all over the shop though, my fascination with these derbies aren't just "cheer for whoever's winning".

Derbies can be fun. I ended up going to a Madrid derby a couple of years ago because I happened to be in town when it was being played. The game was at the Calderon but I was very happy I didn't buy an Atletico scarf when I got to my seat as, unbeknownst to me, it was smack in the middle of the visiting support.

LOL! Where have they gone??

The CRA have been busy! They've been in talks with a Texas real estate dude, who has today arrived in Bari with the intent to buy the club. The CRA are most pleased at this development, especially since they're almost certain to get flattened in matchday one as they're away to the cugini at the san siro.

As for the donkeys....well, they did manage to keep their chief donkey (Pellissier) and they face the Gobbi on the first matchday.

My bad.


I've seen my national team do it and I firmly believe it is possible.


I did not know that. I'd love to meet him, I want to know how someone like him can play for Milan!


Kurt's nickname is kurtsimonw, he posted above.


How is Danny still here?


Nice! It seems like you've studied a thing or two. Oh and... that pic you posted is amazing.

Yes. I don't understand how these guys go from playing for a massively supported and succesful team, to a team that's the 3rd most succesful team in their city.


He will never play for Spain, I think that was just ane xcuse to play in a bigger league. Unless he thinks he will actually be chosen ahead of the likes of Puyol, then he's crazy.

I've looked over your posts and you seem to have a good knowledge of the game. You're not bad for a Rangers fan (and I presume a Scot?).

Reyhaggal's tactics were magnificent - Greece deservedly won that Championship simply because no one team they played could beat them. If you don't have Xavi, Iniesta and Messi in your team, you need to organise and work harder. If a team isn't great, and they come up against Portugal or anyone else, they need to stop Ronaldo and Figo - that's winning football. Rangers put out an attacking team in a pre-season friendly V Arsenal - 4-3-3 - we were utterly trashed. Greece doing the same in 2004 would have been trashed too. So stop your opponent instead. And if Ronaldo and Figo can't win the game for their country, why do Greece not deserve the Championship?



What is it you dislike about him?



Care to enlighten me as to what the blazes everyone is talking about?

In Vignal's case he's been a journeyman most of his career - never stayed anywhere especially long, well travelled - reliable utility man. He joined Birmingham from Lens after lots of loan spells including at Ibrox. As for Ferguson, his time at Ibrox was over thanks to his increasingly poor form and his off pitch indiscretions. Birmingham offered him a way out and I don't blame him for taking it.



Carlos left (specifically invoked a clause in his contract) because you guys offered him more money - he wasn't joining a CL team, and he knew he has absolutely no chance of playing for Spain ahead of Puyol, Marchena, Albiol, Arbeloa, Pique - if Mikel Arteta, the best player Everton has, has never received a call up despite being at a well respected English team, Cuellar sure won't.

He was a bit of a traitor, making embarrassing claims about ending his career at Ibrox, swearing allegiance to us beyond what most fans do. He has few friends at Ibrox now.

Though I must ask - I'm aware he plays RB for you rather than his natural CB position, in which he was, tbh, excellent for us. How was he last year - good, bad, indifferent?



Ha! Yes, I am a Scot.

I remember Vignal at Liverpool, didn't see much of his time with Rangers. I'm sure he'll be a decent signings for the Blues. Ferguson is a surprising one, he really is a good player, he could play for better teams in the EPL. Maybe his poor spell at Blackburn, among with his antics earlier this year, have put a few teams off signing him. Needless to say, I hope he fails, miserably.


I don't think playing in England is his downfall, like Arteta, it's just that there's so many good players in front of him. Arteta, as good as he is, has no hope of even making a squad. Spain are so very lucky with the players they have.


From what I remember about his departure, alot of Rangers fans had alot of anger towards your chairman. Despite being your PotS the season before, he wasn't selected for the CL qualifiers so you could cash in on him, or so I was lead to believe. I think you were as happy to sell him as he was to go. But that's just what I've read/heard.

I'd go with indifferent. He joined us and had no pre-season with us, then had an injury so he took a while to get into the side. He was immense in the game against Ajax at VP and had a decent run in the side at CB. He was moved to RB when Shorey was out-of-favour with MON and then our RB, Luke Young, was pushed to the left to replace Shorey. He was solid enough defensively, but offered nothing at all going forward. He then returned to the centre when Laursen went down with injury and looked very shaky with Davies/Knight partnering him. I think he may have just struggled to fit in with their style as Davies in particular is a very similar player. Maybe he just got used to Laursen winning 100% of everything he went in for, then was just not ready for the extra workload when partnering Davies/Knight. He had a great pre-season this year, but our defense was awful against Wigan, though he was te best of the 4. I think we need to get a big, dominating, no-nonesense guy in to partner him as he's much better at defending on the floor from what I've seen since he's been here, whereas Laursen was the ariel guy.


I would say good luck with the World Cup Qualifying. But you know I wouldn't mean it.

Ferguson won 15 MOTM awards while with Blackburn. If not for his knee injury, he'd probably have ended up at one of the big 4. But he got homesick and wanted to return. He did a lot, lot better there than many people realise, simply because a lot of English people think 'how dare any player want to leave a successful career in the English Premier League for the backwater of the SPL'. Which is true, the Scottish Premier is barely at League 2 level in England, the Old Firm are the massive exception. But Ferguson wanted to return to the club he will always support.



Oh, I wasn't insulting English football - after all plenty of Spanish players ply their trade there - formerly Arbeloa, currently Fabregas, Torres, Riera etc - and they get into the national side. Cuellar indeed came from La Liga side Osasuna - a strong mid-table Spanish outfit. But the point is, like you say, Spain are incredibly good, and Cuellar is in the same boat as Arteta - very very good player - therefore nowhere near good enough to play for Spain.



Most of the anger was directed at 2 of them - Carlos for invoking the clause after pledging allegiance and Chief Executive Martin Bain for agreeing to include said clause, or indeed creating it in the first place. The chairman's hands were tied once the clause was invoked - we had to sell or face legal action. As for the CL qualifiers, he was mysteriously 'injured' - I believe the bid had been received and while the deal was going through, the CL tie was being played and one of the most embarrassing nights in the club's history followed.



The SPL has a habit of making reasonably good players/decent players look like world beaters. It would be like Cuellar playing in League 2 - suddenly he'd be the best defender in the league by a mile. But Man Utd or Arsenal wouldn't care much. It's a false barometer - Cuellar was utterly fantastic in the league, but indifferent as you say down in England. That all said, he was magnificent (world class tbh) during our CL campaign - which is a higher level than the English Premiership. So make of that what you will.

One comment to surprise me is you say he's poor going forward - he was impressive for Rangers during his periodic soirees out of the box - could pose a threat now and again up top. That said, it was through the middle - as opposed to the right flank.



I wouldn't care. I don't currently support the national joke of a shambles of a team. George Burley, the appalling SFA, and the current regime's dislike of Rangers players has soured me badly. Until things change, I will continue to support every side who play us.

I resent Burley (and Gordon Smith who is the Chief Exec of the SFA) deeply for causing this.

If we, by some 'miracle' make the world cup, we'll be embarrassed by Timbuctoo and Honduras. As for what Holland, Brazil, and Spain would do, I daren't imagine.

Danny, Fishdoll would be your new best friend if you were to give him some Irn Bru.

(As for the Donkey Brigade-CRA war, pirates, piranha tanks, and other such things, we can try to explain it or you will figure it out in time here. We're only insane part of the time.)

If Fishdoll is willing to sing 'it's fizzy, it's ginger, it's phenomenal', he may have some Bru. This is a fair trade I think



If I haven't 'got' it within say a week, an explanation would be appreciated

Fishdoll would do a LOT for some Irn Bru. Can get some good unblended Islay whisky here (don't ask the cost), but Irn Bru? Nope.

15 MotMs!? Never knew that!


I agree that playing in a poorer league will make you look better, but Rangers and Celtic still have good performances in Europe too. I really believe Cuellar will come good. I remember in the UEFA Cup SF vs Fiorentina the other year where he was a beat, he must have cleared the ball 100 times! Players that look this good in Europe don't become bad players overnight. Petrov was shite in his first 18 months at Villa, but we knew there was a good player in there somewhere as he was superb at Celtic. He was our Player of the Season for 08/09 so it seems he just struggled to get to grips with the pace and physicality of the game. Cuellar, with the right partner, would form ana wesome defense for us.


I think the difference is that those that you have mentioned made a name for themself in Spain. I can't recall many players in the Spain squad earning their place in the team while playing in England.


He just doesn't seem to know what to do going forward down the flanks. There were so many occassions last season where Milner would hold the ball up down the right and look for an overlap, and he'd be standing on the half way line! That said, he's very good on the ball, very composed for a defender. I just can't watch whenever Laursen/Knight/Davies have the ball at their feet, I just have to hope when I open my eyes they haven't fallen over themself and lost the ball.


That's something I never thought I'd see a Scot say about the national team!

Has McGregor been playing for Rangers since the incident or has he been dropped? I didn't see much of the end of last season, nor have I seen the opening games this year so far.

Oh, one last thing. Is Kyle Lafferty really as bad as he looks? Everytime I watch him play I think "how on earth is he a professional?" he just reminds me of a **** Peter Crouch (not that he's even that good).

A lot of people don't. He's viewed as a failure in England very unfairly. I hope he repeats his form this time and he's given more credit.



There are examples of players who excelled either in England or indeed abroad after making their name in the SPL: Van Bronckhorst, Larsson, Gattuso, Tugay, Arteta - but there are also examples to the contrary; Hutton (while I think he's fantastic, hasn't had a good time at Spurs yet), Boumsong was a tragic failure at Newcastle, Maloney...

I don't know where Cuellar fits in - Maloney never cracked it for you guys yet I think he's one of Celtic's best players and I'd actually take him at Ibrox, but given more time perhaps he'd grow on you ala Petrov.



Arbeloa? Didn't win his first cap till 2008. At Liverpool. And there's Reina...didn't get his first cap till he joined Liverpool iirc.

But I do get your point, and it loosely applies to Italian players too - Di Vaio didn't get a look in after he went to Valencia.



Sounds a bit like Bougherra for us - in terms of going forward. He can do it well enough but runs out of ideas once the nosebleed starts.



He was dropped without pay along with Ferguson for 2 weeks, but kept his head down and made some appearances in pre-season. Neil Alexander had become #1 tail end of last season but McGregor was reinstated as the #1 on Saturday in the first league match of the year, so he's back in.



Because every time you watch Kyle Lafferty he's probably out wide on the left of midfield. He is absolutely rank there and it really frustrates me every time Walter pitches him there. We have a long standing 'left sided' issue at Rangers - no player has made that area their own, and we rotate constantly. Lafferty seems to get the nod a lot, which irritates me because his best displays, by a mile, are when he's outright up front either as part of a front 2 or 3 - he has surprising pace, holds the ball up, and knows the way to goal. He's also extremely mobile.

But about 90% of his appearances have been in his weaker position, which is just wasting him.

I hope he's terrible. I won't slag him off though, he's bound to score past us if I did.


I think Hutton is good, he's just at the wrong club. Spurs are about the last team in the league you want to go to if you're trying to make a name for yourself. Make one mistake and you'll be dropped forever.

Maloney is brilliant and he wasn't bad at Villa at all. He scored some vital goals for us (including a brace in the first half at Stamford Bridge, a game in which he only played 45 minutes) and usually had a good game. The problem was where to play him. He was poor whenever he payed on the right, Ashley Young was arguably the best left winger in the league so he wouldn't displace him, then you had Carew and Agbonlahor up front. There was also constant rumours of him being homesick since the day he got here, so he eventually went back.


Yes, you're right with Arbeloa and Reina. But there is generally a bias towards playing within that country, like you say with Di Vaio.


Everytime I see McGregor he seems to be outstanding.


I think it's just because he's so tall he looks out of place and awkward at times. Doesn't help when he's playing in a team with somebody as prolific as Boyd either, makes him look a bit naff. Is there a reason Boyd never seems to start games? Everytime I watch Scottish Cup Finals or the Old Firm games, Boyd seems to be on the bench, it's very odd.

tbf though wasn't Hutton injured? He was a Ramos signing, but 'Arry's said he's part of his plans, it's about fitness now.



Guess I see him the way you and many see Ferguson - we don't actually realise how they did in England, and we let myths and the press mislead us.



It's because he is. He's an excellent goalkeeper but would you believe the majority of Rangers fans prefer former Norwich star Neil Alexander? McGregor seems to have a bad reputation at the moment, thanks to his 'shagger' episodes last summer and of course boozegate, so Alexander's genuine professionalism and dignity have him as the favourite. Pity he's nowhere near as good as McGregor. Though at the moment the majority of our fans think otherwise.



Ah God, the Boyd debate. I'm on a Rangers forum and I put up an article about the enigma that is Kris Boyd earlier today - for someone who scores so many, he's tragically bad in every other department. The reason he's on the bench for the big games is he's utterly appalling during them. Give him a cannon fodder SPL team and he scores plenty - but only when the team puts a chance on a plate for him.

His all round game is absolutely terrible - can't run with the ball, can't run off the ball, can't create chances, doesn't harass defenders, falls to the floor after backing into defenders every time, and he's pitiful in one on ones with the goalkeeper - but he is like a poor, poor, poor, poverty stricken man's version of Pippo - gets the goals.

But he doesn't score the goals the likes of Kenny Miller do - impact crucial goals against big teams.

Boyd's legacy is the number of goals he scores, but that stat does not tell a 5th of the story about him.

He sounds like Heskey. Except he can actually score.

welcome dude but im with fishdoll on this one HOOPS ALL THE WAY

I like rangers, they're my fav scot team.

We're never going to agree on this.


I love him but his technical qualities for this level of football are practically non-existent...


That would puzzle you more... with time you will know...

Fair enough, but I'll leave it on this note: if Greece aren't good enough to beat the best European nations at football, if their football ability is less, does that mean you accept defeat? Or do you do something maybe a bit defensive to beat better teams than you. It's really a choice - lose, or win defensively.



And yet here he is sitting on many caps for Italy and a tenure at Milan which has lasted a decade now? He must be doing something right



I still don't even understand the Tennie Fishdoll thing. Who is the real poster, or are there two people, or...and what is this about chickens

All the way to the Europa league it seems *fingers crossed*

The chickens are a bunch of total bastrds, that's all you need to know.

The donkeys are just bitter. The chickens now have Texas on their side.

If you think Texas can help you, well...Texan quality

That's not what I said. This might be the only option for lower quality teams but that does not mean it's anything but bad football. Besides, this is not the case for that Rangers team is it? I mean, were they so much worse in quality than their opponents? I think they played very badly and negatively and when they had the ball I don't think what they did can be called attack.

I'm very glad Rangers did not win that final, I hope you won't hate me for this though, it's not personal. I guess most people felt this way about Greece in that Euro too.


That something is what I want to know... We all know what it is of course, a player with his heart and with the effort he puts in killing the opposition's attacks is always going to be useful even if he's that bad at kicking a football.


Fishdoll is Tennie's fishdoll... he has a mind of his own.

The chickens are too dignified to respond to the donkeys' pathetic taunts.

(As for Fishdoll, dst HAS met him in person and can tell you about him.)

They're still chickens, though. They should feel honored the noble mussi dignify them with insults.