The Rambling Ger

 Going into today's Old Firm Rangers hadn't lost a game to that lot across the city in this fixture since the league cup final in December 2019. That was a run of 5 wins and a draw. 1 year, 8 months and 21 days, or 630 days, had passed since then. The world has gone into lockdown, opened back up, and then had another semi lockdown. The east end of Glasgow has been infested with sharks and Govan with celebrations. It's actually got to the point where today we've felt so bad for them we've told the gaffer to stay home, we've given the captain a day off, chucked a youth team keeper in nets, and played the 3rd choice CB at RB... and yet we still extended that run. Pre-match In all seriousness though, the victory today was a much-needed boost for the squad and fans alike. After an emotional and record-breaking season, this year was always going to be different, but I don't think we, the fans, were quite ready for the quick crash to earth we've had.  A loss to...

  A little over a week ago I wrote an article about how good we were looking, that Ross Wilson and his team had done great business bringing in players for free that looked the business, and how everything was imploding again across the city... Dinah Washington sang "what a difference a day makes", well never mind a day, how about a week? Since then we've lost in Malmö and then lost our first league game in over 500 days to Dundee United. Suddenly my praise seems misplaced. Or is it? The players I praised John Lundstram after his performance against Real Madrid and the impact he had when he came on against Livingston, with good reason. He looked lively, he looked like he was trying to create stuff, move the ball, and looked a crisp passer of the ball. Yet, in his two outings since then he has looked lazy, lethargic, and devoid of any creativity. Fashion Sakala is another I was very excited for after seeing him pre-season, but he struggled against Livi, barely featured aga...

  Saturday saw the club kick off the 2021/22 season with a tricky home fixture against David Martindale's Livingston. Livingston may have lost a few of their big players like Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Jon Guthrie, and Scott Robinson but they still have a decent core in Nicky Devlin, Scott Pittman, and goalkeeper Max Stryjek as well as bringing in a few new faces so this was by no means a gimmie fixture.  When the team was announced I'm sure there were more than a few surprised exchanges among the fans. No McGregor, no Barisic, no Roofe, no Lundstram, and no Helander. This looked like a line-up with Tuesday's fixture against Malmö in mind. You'd be forgiven for showing a bit of nervousness at this, especially with how important it was to set down a marker. However, when you looked at the line-up objectively it was a strong line-up and showed just how far the squad has come under Gerrard. We could field a second starting eleven and you'd have to fancy them to give the firs...

 It's been quite the pre-season for the Rangers so far. The launch of 2 new strips to mixed reviews, fans being allowed back into the stadium, some good pre-season friendly games, and some exciting-looking signings. Summer Business The club went into the pre-season with the majority of their summer business wrapped up already. Jack Simpson and Scott Wright linked up with the squad in January after signing pre-contract agreements and their clubs allowing them to move on early, Nnamdi Ofoborh was agreed in January also and then Fashion Sakala Jnr penned a pre-contract in May.  A few weeks ago Rangers added John Lundstram to their ranks in what is seen as a massive coup for Rangers and can undeniably be put down to the fantastic, worldwide reputation and pull of the manager Steven Gerrard. What English midfielder wouldn't love to have the opportunity to work with a genuine icon of the game? With Scott Wright looking every inch the Rangers player from the moment he came in an...

I will admit, not being Scottish I've enjoyed winding up my friends that are Scottish. I've peddled the anti-SFA banter and I've taken wee digs where and when I can, but deep down I was happy to see Scotland competing in a major international tournament again. I still have good memories of France 98, Scotland's last go on the international stage, and how united the country felt then. School kids got off early to go watch the opening match against Brazil, club allegiances were put aside, political differences are forgotten and a real feeling of togetherness filled the country. That is exactly how international football should be. Unfortunately for too long in Scotland now it's been an us and them. Rangers fans have been vilified at every turn by our opponents, the club has been kicked and kicked repeatedly by opposition clubs and fans alike in an attempt to discredit our fantastic club and support. I won't even go into the political side of things, it's there...

  Our Past On the 11th March 2017 Pedro Caixinha was appointed manager of Rangers. An appointment that left most of us scratching our heads. Here was a man that had been in football management for 7 years but none of us had heard of him until he'd been linked with the club.  Frantically we googled his name to see what accomplishments he had. To his credit, he had a decent record in Mexican football. Maybe it would be a good appointment and the type of gamble we needed to take to catch up with our rivals? Maybe, just maybe, we had found a tactical genius who had somehow gone under the radar in Europe but was now ready to take the footballing world by storm... Spoiler alert, it wasn't. Pedro was an unmitigated disaster. He just could not grasp that anything less than a win was viewed as a failure for Rangers and the support. He signed players that were not suited for the Scottish game like Cardoso and Herrera, or he signed players that he knew were troubled, like Pena, yet someh...

  What a day Saturday was. The team finally got to see all of their magnificent hard work pay off on the final day of the 2020/21 season when they were presented with the SPFL trophy.  It started off with a brilliant 4-0 demolishing of Aberdeen that showed that even though the season was done and that this game was just a formality this squad was not about to let their standards drop. Another great showing for Kemar Roofe as he added 2 goals to his tally for the season and another clean sheet for our back 4 and Allan MacGregor was very pleasing to see, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit the best part of the game for me was Jermain Defoe scoring our final goal of the season. I've spoken before about how I want Jermain to stay ( Red, White and Blue Order ) and I was over the moon to see him score again. The video that the club put online today of him presenting his mother with his match shirt and winners medal is exactly why. He just exudes class and for me, it has been an ab...