dougiew

Wel we've made the CWC final three times and won it once, as well as being one match away from the European Cup Final twice, so it's debatable that the 1969 run is our third best effort. And that's not even mentioning 2008... 12 or 13 years ago, I'd have been 6/7, but I still remember that game But as I've said before, you'll see a couple of guys going out for drinks on Friday night, scream all manner of bile at each other on the Saturday, then be in the pub having a laugh on the Sunday.

Not necessarily, but who consciously decides to support a team? Who sits down and makes a list of pros and cons before making an informed decision? Rangers (and Celtic for that matter) have drawn support throughout all of Scotland for ages and will continue to do so in the future. Both are Scottish institutions. Wow, pretty grim reading! Bunch of idiots, not going to defend that sort of thing.

Regardless, once you pick a team, you stick with it.

1969 I genuinely know nothing about outwith this thread. If anyone wants to enlighten me, then feel free. 'Driven by bigotry' is a bit of a joke really, but it's the stereotype of life up here. The truth is that nobody really cares about it anymore. As I said to the guy above, if you came up here with a mate for the weekend and took in a match, you could see for yourself what it's like.

In the grand scheme of things, it is. Entire communities follow the club; is it really logical to say an entire community is scummy? As for the police, I'm only giving them a small part of the blame. The police report confirmed that they turned off the big screen in one of the biggest fan zones in Manchester just minutes before the biggest match in the club's history. How on earth can you say that that's a smart move? Again, I'm not 'blaming' the police, I'm just saying that they could have handled it better. If you still think we're scummy, best thing you could do is come up for a game with a mate and judge the reality

How am I trying to fool people? I'm not denying there have been genuine problems with anti-Catholicism in the past, but nowadays it's just a convenient language of abuse, if anything. Who else have I shifted the blame to? Policing in Manchester wasn't the greatest, but the actions of some fans was inexcusable. Same story with 1972. Can you not separate the idiotic minority from the decent majority?

The 'no Catholics' thing for 100 years is rubbish; between the end of World War II and the late 80s, we only signed about 5 Catholics. Plus, bear in mind that a) at that time, Scottish society had general sectarian problems, and Celtic had a stranglehold over the Catholic schools, and therefore the Catholic players. However, that's not to excuse it. Having said that, now it's really not an issue. We've had a Catholic captain, a Catholic manager, Catholic directors....modern day Rangers accepts all. It's important to remember that we're a modern day football club, as opposed to a historical relic. ECWC Final 1972, may I remind you that it was Franco's police patrolling the Camp Nou? They were hardly going to be reasonable. Manchester, I don't really have much to say. Poor policing (for example, switching off a big screen for no reason), but, as ever, it was a case of the minority letting down the majority. 90 minute bigot? Look, if Celtic were founded by clowns, we'd make fun of clowns. It's a convenient language of abuse that very rarely goes outside the grounds. Any statistical measure will show you that Catholics are not discriminated against in modern day Scotland.

I'm a moderator of that forum You get a lot of emotional guys coming out with a lot of rubbish, but what I will say is that it sucks that it's the fans who are going to have to suffer for this. Murray, Whyte et al; what do they pay? As for the 'OF stitch up', as a lifelong Rangers fan, there is honestly nothing I'd rather see than Aberdeen/Hearts/Hibs/whoever else push on to become a third power in Scottish football. I mean, for a country of 5 million, we do ok, but a three way title race would certainly be a lot more interesting.

If Newcastle was 50 miles further north and NUFC were playing in the SPL, would you not still support them? Just because the league is shit doesn't mean that people shouldn't care about their hometown team.

As a guy who helps run a Rangers forum, I can tell you that although the vast majority would jizz their pants if we were even allowed into the Blue Square, most of us have accepted that going down south's a no-go for the time being.

Scummy club? Fancy elaborating? I know we don't have a great image, but the vast majority of fans are just normal, decent folk who are watching the club we care deeply about being destroyed. It's not fun

It's difficult to not post a 1,000 word reply, but the jist of it is that time has pretty much run out. We genuinely need some sort of miracle at the moment to save our club! Gutted isn't even how I would begin to describe it, can honestly say I wouldn't even wish this on a celtic fan. Anyway, cheers for the feedback lads, and good luck tomorrow

Oh dear...

Hi folks, I'm a Rangers fan first and foremost, though Newcastle are my English team. Anyway, heard a rumour today that Shepherd is involved in the consortium to buy us. I've heard nothing but bad things, so I was wondering if anyone could offer any reassurance whatsoever that he's not a totally bad guy? Best of luck tomorrow too; about time the Champions League came back to St. James'.

Started slowly, but came into it as the game grew. Should have had a couple more penalties, but at the same time, could have won without them. Who was the co-commentator on ESPN by the way? Total roaster!

Cheers mate, but if you get a Ba in for every Carroll you ship out, then you're not doing too badly! Hedging their bets....small club mentality!

Hi lads, Rangers fan, but like to see you guys doing well down there. Just wanting to say all the best for tomorrow. A win could be the catapult to Champions League football, and to go there from the Championship in the space of three seasons really is great going, considering how relatively little you've spent. Best of luck! P.S. Any lurking Sunderland fans: don't even kid yourself on that the Everton game is bigger for you than this. In the unlikely event that you do take something tomorrow, everyone knows that you'd happily end the season right then.