Can St Mirren stop Rangers treble bid?
The Buddies are team most likely to
At the moment, the team most likely to stop Rangers from doing a domestic treble is St Mirren. The Paisley side are the champions’ opponents in the League Cup final next month and they provide the next hurdle in the Active Nation Scottish Cup.
This comes tonight as the two sides replay after the first game at St Mirren Park ended goal-less. That score line was not a surprise but it would be something of a shock if the Buddies were to progress tonight but with extra-time and penalties a possibility, you can’t rule them out.
Tonight’s match is likely to have no real bearing on the League Cup final but St Mirren could give themselves a great deal of confidence by playing well and/ or getting a result tonight. Given the choice, the Buddies would probably choose to win the Cup final as opposed to tonight’s tie but league survival remains their key aim.
Rangers could make a number of changes tonight as players return from injury and the possibility of freshening up their squad arises. The pitches are heavy and with an important time of the season coming up; it could be an opportunity to rest some of the more regularly featuring players.
Aberdeen’s exit last night will serve as a reminder that shocks can happen so no one at Ibrox will be taking this game lightly but Aberdeen went out with a strong line-up. Well, they may have been strong on paper but on grass, they were mentally weak and that is where the difference at Ibrox will lie.
The players coming in tonight may not be first team regulars but they will be given the chance to show that they should be. After all, the Rangers squad is not so large that a player on the bench should feel as though they’ll remain there permanently.
Even accounting for the fact there is unlikely to be a match between these sides after the split, these two clubs will meet 6 times this season. In all fairness, that is far too often and you cannot blame fans for feeling a little jaded with the same old faces.
When it comes to next months final, Hampden will be buzzing but there should be no over-reaction if Ibrox is a little subdued for this evening’s clash. St Mirren could turn this to their advantage if they play it right.
In all likelihood though, Rangers will roll on to face Dundee United in the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup.
Will there be another cupset tonight?
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Next round will do , I am starting to think the treble is a possibility,.if we.can get a positive result up in Perth, and Tonys Tumshies get whooped again. Points equal prizes.
A very good night for Rangers.
Passage to the next round secured in the 90 minutes and what appears to be very positive financial results off the park. Hard to ask for much more than that.
winning ugly is a sign of champions but fair play to the buddies they worked thier socks off.
Grim stuff to be honest, but what I expected. St Mirren seem to have a very good knack of stopping us from playing or perhaps Ally McCoist’s cup teams are not as effective as Walters league sides. (granted there isnt that much personnel to choose from).
Both full backs were awful, Broadfoot & Smith, thankfully we will have Whittaker and Papac back for Saturday. Lafferty continues his Jekyll & Hyde form with a shocking display and even the influential Davis, looked below oar last night.
That said, we now look forward to a real good cup tie at Ibrox against Dundee Utd. Hopefully their fans take up their allocation and we can have a decent atmosphere for a good old fashioned cup tie.
Ed – You and the team constructing an article about Rangers results and Alistair Johnstons comments from last night?
Quagmire – we may do, time is a bit tight the next few days.
See to be honest though – we can talk in an overview sense about the financial status……but not sure if we can add anything further.
Looking at the Rangers and Celtic messageboards and seeing the “self-appointed” accountants trying to dissect the figures and add it up to their opinions or agends is pretty scary.
It is something we will be working into match previews but as for a full article…we may just embarass ourselves with the lack of knowledge about how a football club runs.
In fact, heres a thought – if any of our regular Rangers fans think they have a grasp on the released figures, how about giving us your take on it and we’ll run it as an article or headline piece.
We’re not ducking out of it – or on the Celtic one – but if you dont know what you’re saying, it is possibly best to say nothing at all…..we’ll maybe do something light combining both clubs on Friday, we’ll see if it makes sense.
No problem Ed, was only looking at it from the angle that it’s Murray who know hold the key to a resurgent Rangers or a club stuck in the wilderness for a decade or more. Unfair of me to ask volunteer contributors to do a job that the jellyfish journalists in the Scottish Media are to scared to do themselves, out Murray.
By jellyfish I mean no backbone.
There needs to be questions asked of Murray on so many levels.
Even Graham Spiers, who a few years back looked as though he would be the one to take Murray to task has backed down from this stance.
The Alasdair Johnston comments, especially those about Donald Muir, appear to be interesting, reading up on that should make the commute home tonight a lot quicker for a lot of people!
Even for half-year figures, the turnaround in Rangers whilst still maintaining the upper hand in domestic football has to be highly commended and does indicate if the ship can be steadied, it could be got through without too much bloodshed. The year end figures will obviously not be as optimistic (well, you would think) but that is the same for any football club where the income is loaded into the initial 6 months.
Obviously, the wage bill slashing will continue and further corners will need to be cut but the likelihood of next season’s Champions League money will give further breathing space.
The questions asked in the handout distrubuted at Ibrox on Sunday would probably be a good place for any journalist to be asking of those in power at Rangers, MIH and Lloyds.