The Rambling Ger

  When Dick Advocaat took over as Rangers manager in 1998 he made it very clear that one of the players he had chosen to usher in this new era in the club's history was a young midfielder from Feyenoord by the name of Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. He was so keen to have Van Bronckhorst help lead his Rangers Revolution that he was willing to part ways with Peter Van Vossen as part of the deal. A player that Advocaat had previously hinted at being a major part of his team when he arrived.  It turned out to be a brilliant decision, as Advocaat and Van Bronckhorst went on to win a domestic treble with Rangers that first year, followed by a domestic double the 2nd year. While things rapidly went downhill after that it was 2 wonderful years that saw some of the best football Rangers fans have ever seen, as well as some memorable European nights. Van Bronckhorst went on to have an outstanding career once he left Rangers, winning honours in England, Spain, and the Netherlands, as well as ...

I started my last article with "There's never a dull moment being a Rangers fan, even in international breaks we manage to find some sort of drama". Boy was I right.  Thursday brought the news we were all dreading for most of this week. Steven Gerrard was officially announced as the new Aston Villa manager. It was a quick ride, from being linked on Monday, which I dismissed as nothing but "lazy journalism", to being installed as the bookies favourite Tuesday, betting suspended Wednesday, and then appointed Thursday.  I still didn't believe it as the bookies were shortening the odds. "It's just because people are backing it due to the newspaper reports" I told myself. I was so sure there was nothing in it. I hadn't expected it at all. I was sure he was happy at Rangers. I was sure he was settled at Rangers. Why was I so sure? Because he bloody well told us he was, that's why! Emma Dodds asked him not 2 weeks ago after we beat Brondby 2-0...

  There's never a dull moment being a Rangers fan, even in international breaks we manage to find some sort of drama, but the week the financials are released is always the least enjoyable one for me. The money As the club published yet another year of increasing losses you couldn't be blamed if you decided to stay off social media for a few days. It always brings out the most ardent of Sevcoholics. You know the type, receive a regular payment into the bank of around £75 every two weeks, usually spend it all on white lightning and are amazingly experts in both sports law and chartered accountants. That being said, the readings are grim. An operating loss of £23.5m, up from £15.9m last year, does not sit comfortably with me, not after everything we went through in 2012.  Another disappointment is the merchandise intake, £4.2m. We were probably all expecting that to come in a lot higher after record kit sales each year and a new Castore shirt out every second weekend. However wh...