Rangers, Rangers Rangers. Problem, problem, problem.

Family connection brings youngster to Rangers

Not many 17-year old's make 37 appearances for the first team in their break through season but that's exactly what Rangers' new signing Conor Bell done last season for Airdrie. Having played with Celtic boys club from the age of 8 till 16 Bell was given a trial with Barry Ferguson's Clyde during the summer before signing a pro-youth contract with Airdrie. He quickly made an impression though and he was promoted to the first team within weeks of arriving. Despite being a Celtic fan the versatile wing back turned down moves from Celtic themselves as well as Newcastle, West Brom and several other English sides to sign for Rangers. He's said to view Rangers as the best team for his development right now though as he looks to play first team football at a higher level. Christopher Burns isn't taking any risks with this signing though as he's the older cousin of the teenager and as such has seen him play on many, many occasions. Burns has likened Conor with Lee Wallace recently saying; "I think Conor is of the exact same mould as Lee, he looks to get forward constantly, can defend, he's comfortable on the ball and can play all down the left side of the park. He can also play through the middle at centre back and midfield as well as down the right side as he's both footed so we've got quite the versatile player on our hands. The determined attitude and competitiveness of both players makes them a good match and they'll be competing with each other heavily soon enough". With 37 appearances under his belt he'll be looking to push on from his first professional season but he has a long way to go to push Lee Wallace out of the team and will need to work the hardest that he has had to in his life to make it into the big time. Rangers have paid 35k for him and he will be on 90k a year, a big sum for a 17-year old but nothing compared to what the other teams he was speaking to will have been offering.

The Scottish Premiership season didn't quite go according to plan for league champions Celtic as the Parkhead club could only muster up a 4th place position. Their fans have vented their anger at the clubs board all season for going with the cheap option of hiring Scandinavian Ronny Deila instead of paying the going rate for a top class manager. The departures of Fraser Forster, Virgil Van Dijk and Efe Ambrose didn't help the club at all and they weren't really replaced either much to the fans dismay. Deila was shown the door in early April but the unusual appointment of Alan Archibald as his successor didn't help the club any further. A massive shock was the eventual champions of the campaign... St. Mirren!! Helped by their link with Newcastle they were able to bring in 4 quality players in the shape of Sammy Ameobi, Shane Ferguson, Ryan Taylor and Adam Campbell, as well as them the experienced Lee McCulloch signed after his release from Rangers. Despite those players being good signings they shouldn't have led to a league win but it did just that. It was team work, determination and a little bit of luck which saw The Buddies land their first ever league title. They were closely followed by Inverness in 2nd and Motherwell in 3rd, both teams were astutely managed by former English Premiership managers Martin Jol and Felix Magath after taking over when the clubs were struggling under John Hughes and Stuart McCall respectively. It's only St. Johnstone who will be playing Championship football next year after Hamilton Academical beat Hibernian in the play off decider to stay up. It's fair to say that Rangers are coming in to a tougher league depending on which way you look at it perhaps. Maybe just maybe their task becomes easier due to Celtic's fall from grace. You'll just have to tune in next season to find out.

St. Mirren champions? I find it hilarious that Celtic finished down in fourth.

Congrats on getting Rangers promoted at the first time in asking, you have done better than they have in real life although that's not too difficult. I enjoy reading Rangers careers on here and they've been very few and far between iirc, I might have done the last one on FM14.

I know i didn't realise till the end of the season either! Cheers.. I'm having a read through your Rangers one too.

Leandro Galeano is another player who has left Rangers after just one season with the club. He will be making the move to newly promoted Barclays Premier League side Brighton for 2.6 million. A player who was once labelled one of the most promising defenders to come out of Argentina didn't have the best couple of seasons before he was thrown a lifeline by Christopher Burns back in December. Out of action and without a club for over 6 months he was brought in by Burns and quickly became an integral part of the team as he formed a great partnership at the back with Danny Wilson. Despite becoming a key player that didn't stop the Rangers manager putting him up for sale as he looked to raise some funds to enable him to bring in more players. The deal work's well all round though as Galeano gets a move to the English Premiership and Rangers receive a 2.6 million pound profit. Some great business by the Rangers management team as they receive 5.6 million for 2 players brought in on free transfers.

Ex Gers duo re-sign on free transfers

It's been well documented that Rangers manager Christopher Burns has a trait of bringing back ex players for a 2nd spell at the club and the acquisition of John Fleck and Rhys McCabe has added to last years Gregg Wylde and Danny Wilson transfers. John Fleck was once labelled the next Wayne Rooney, rightly or wrongly, at the age of just 16 but under Walter Smith he just couldn't break through and make the impact that he needed to and he eventually made the move to English League One side Coventry. Rhys McCabe however made all of the impact he needed to when he burst onto the scene in the late 2011-12 season. It was the follow up campaign where McCabe really begun to shine though as he cemented his place alongside Steven Davis in the heart of Rangers midfield for the majority of the season. He was one of the many players who refused to have their contracts transferred over to the new company Rangers were starting up. Clearly a fan of the two players in the past though Burns has moved to secure them both on 2-year deals.

Two more join up at Ibrox as Bamford and Blackett sign up

There were 4 newish players joining the Rangers squad on the 1st of July as McCabe and Fleck were joined by Patrick Bamford and Tyler Blackett. Having been in many Manchester United squads over the past year Blackett couldn't truly make the breakthrough that he really wanted to and decided it was time to leave the club after making just 3 cup appearances during the season. Bamford was loaned out to English Championship club Middlesbrough but he too had a tough time of it as the forward made just 6 appearances for the club with just one of them being a starting spot on the team, despite that he did manage a couple of goals. Both players will be looking to make their mark in the Scottish Premiership with Rangers though as they look to become key players.

Since joining Rangers from Kilmarnock 2 years ago Cammy Bell has went from No1 goalkeeper in his first season to being shipped out on loan last season. He overtook Dundee United's Radoslaw Cierzniak to become their No1 during his loan spell there but he obviously just isn't in Christopher Burns' plans as he was immediately placed on the transfer list on his return. Newly promoted English Championship side Sheffield United have signed the goalkeeper for 200k and he is likely to be their No1 for the upcoming season. That leaves a big question mark on Rangers goalkeeping situation as the only goalkeeper they have on their books now is last year's No1 Robby McRorie but are they going to place their faith in the 17-year old for their first season back at the top?

Meanwhile it has been confirmed that Kyle Hutton has joined Aberdeen on loan until the end of the season, Barrie McKay and Liam Kelly have left on loan to Morton and Dunfermline respectively while several players have been released such as Laste Dombaxe, Darren McGregor, Callum Gallagher and Kyle McAusland.

Kyle Hutton's new home ground for the season

After the recent departure of Cammy Bell many fans and pundits were beginning to question whether first season back at the top of Scottish football was going to proceed with 17-year old Robby McRorie as No1 goalkeeper. Those fears have been allayed though as Chelsea's Matej Delac has joined on loan until the end of the season. Since signing for Chelsea in 2010 Delac has been loaned out to 8 clubs with Rangers being the latest, that's 8 clubs in 6 years! It's quite clear though that he isn't going to make the breakthrough at Chelsea and with this being his last year contracted with them he may be set for a long term future with Rangers should everything go well. It is also worth mentioning that Robby McRorie done really well last year for his team and there are no doubts about his future at the club or his ability it was just perhaps too much of an ask for him to make the step up to the SPFL as No1.

Vastly experienced defender makes Glasgow his next and perhaps final destination

Everyone will know Rangers latest acquisition from his 7-year spell with Arsenal in the Premiership but Emmanuel Eboue has spent has past 4 years playing in Turkey with Galatasaray. Two very big clubs in their respective countries and Eboue is a helluva coup, the 80 times capped international has signed a 2 year contract on what is believed to be a massive wage cut which could be an indication to Eboue's motives. Time to wind down the clock in a lesser league for the love of the game maybe? That may be the thoughts of the doubters but he is still a very fit and athletic full back with plenty to offer to his new club. He will be fighting with 17-year old Chris Brown for the starting position at right back and despite his tender years Brown is no soft target and it should be an interesting battle between the two.

Some great signings mate!

Wow. Very interesting. I started a game with rangers too.

Cheers Dan, was quite chuffed with them myself haha! Nice one vonreichsm.

Central defensive situation resolved at Rangers with loan signing

With the sale of Argentine centre back Leonel Galeano earlier in the summer to Brighton for 2.6 million a gap was left with Rangers having just 3 centre backs to cover. Danny Wilson and Luca Gasparatto were joined by Tyler Beckett in July before the latest arrival provided some much needed strength in depth. Kyle Bartley has been in this position before after having a 2-year loan spell at the club from Arsenal between 2010 and 2012. After making the move to Swansea for 1 million pound after his return from his loan spell with Rangers the Englishman has failed to establish himself as he made just 10 appearances in 3 years. In that time he also had a 7 month loan spell with Birmingham where he made 17 appearances. He'll be looking to pick up where he left off with Rangers last time in order to resurrect his career and re-establish himself as a key player once again.

Opening day of the season, 2nd of August

After a busy and action filled summer the opening day of the 2015-16 has snuck up on us with Rangers facing Partick Thistle away from home on their return to the SPFL. A total of 9 players have been added to Rangers squad since the end of last season while there have been 28 players going in the opposite direction on free transfers, loan and transfer deals. Players such as Gary Mackay-Steven, Emmanuel Eboue and Matej Delac will no doubt add the skill, experience and ability required if the club are to compete at the top of the table in the forthcoming season. Ahead of this game against Thistle however Mackay-Steven was ruled out by injury as were John Fleck and David Templeton. Delac, Eboue, Tyler Blackett and Patrick Bamford make their débuts from the start of this match with Conor Bell able to make his début from the bench as well as Kyle Bartley and Rhys McCabe who will be making their 2nd débuts for the club if they're brought on.

Partick Thistle v Rangers

In an otherwise uneventful first half the only incident of note was the booking of former Rangers player Ian Black on the half hour mark. After a penalty box scramble an hour into the match Martin Odegaard slammed the ball into the net to finally put Rangers in front after they had dominated proceedings throughout. Lewis MacLeod saw red after 2 bookable offences in 9 minutes, 72 & 81, which meant Rangers had to sit back a bit in order to hang on to the result. Their counter-attacking play worked perfectly though and Pavel Savitskiy got a 2nd when he headed in Gregg Wylde's cross on the 90th minute. A comfortable 2-0 win on the opening day is all the fans could've asked for and they'll be going happy tonight.

Partick Thistle were Rangers opening day of the season opponents in their first game back in the SPFL and in an otherwise uneventful first half the only incident of note was the booking of former 'Gers player Ian Black on the half hour mark. After a penalty box scramble an hour into the match Martin Odegaard slammed the ball into the net to finally put Rangers in front after they had dominated proceedings throughout. Lewis MacLeod saw red after 2 bookable offences in 9 minutes, 72 & 81, which meant his team had to sit back a bit in order to hang on to the result. Their counter-attacking play worked perfectly though and Pavel Savitskiy got a 2nd when he headed in Gregg Wylde's cross on the 90th minute. A comfortable 2-0 win on the opening day is all the fans could've asked for and they'll be going happy tonight.

Despite East Stirlingshire being Rangers Scottish Cup first round opponents manager Christopher Burns wasn't taking it easy as he named a full strength side for the match with just one change, Chris Brown for the injured Emmanuel Eboue. An injury to Martin Odegaard 25 minutes into the match gave the returning Rhys McCabe his 2nd debut as he came on for the Norwegian. Just minutes before Odegaard's injury Rangers took the lead when Patrick Bamford's shot deflected into the net off of defender Jordan Tapping. Goal number 2 came just ahead of the half time whistle as Bamford struck a shot low and hard into the corner with his left foot after receiving the ball from Gregg Wylde out wide. Youngsters Conor Bell and Ryan Hardie came on for Lee Wallace and Bamford on the half hour mark and the former made an immediate impact as he scored a header from a Fraser Aird corner just minutes later. A comfortable 3-0 result sees Rangers through to the 2nd round where they will face Queen of the South.

An injury to Lewis MacLeod forced Rangers into at least one change for this match against Dundee as Rhys McCabe took his place. A further 2 changes were made though as Rangers midfield 3 looked different this time out with John Fleck and Lefteris Troullis taking the places of Fraser Aird and Martin Odegaard. Despite it being a pretty dull first half Rangers did take the lead and it came in the 39th minute when Pavel Savitskiy fired in a well taken 30-yard free kick. An injury to Troullis brought about a couple of changes as both he and John Fleck were replaced by Aird and Odegaard. Savitskiy got his 2nd of the day when he was played in on goal by Odegaard on the 80th minute. It was time for the match ball soon after for Savitskiy as he netted the rebound from Aird's 20-yard effort to grab his hat-trick to seal the 3-0 victory.

With their first choice goalkeeper picking up a month long injury Rangers started with Robby McRorie in goals with new loan signing Viktor Noring starting on the bench. Lewis MacLeod, Fraser Aird and Martin Odegaard reclaimed their places in the centre of midfield. With Patrick Bamford injured John Fleck was surprisingly given the nod to lead the line. John Fleck got the match off to a flier when he headed in from a deep Gregg Wylde cross just 10 minutes into the game. Fleck returned the favour for Wylde just before half-time when he passed to the left winger who hit a sweetly struck effort into the top corner of the Inverness goals. Danny Wilson's 82nd minute red card after receiving his 2nd yellow could have put his teams chances of the win in doubt but in the end the 2-0 scoreline was just enough to see off Inverness Caley Thistle.

There were plenty of changes for Rangers ahead of this match against Queen of the South in the Scottish League Cup second round. Starting from defence where Conor Bell, Emmanuel Eboue, Luca Gasparatto and Kyle bartley replaced Lee Wallace, Chris Brown, Tyler Blackett and Danny Wilson to complete a new look defence. Lefteris Troullis, Rhys McCabe and Gary Mackay-Steven took the changes to the team up to 7 as they too started ahead of Lewis MacLeod, Martin Odegaard and Gregg Wylde. Despite making those changes I don't think anyone expected Queen of the South to be leading 2-0 at half-time. Christopher Burns certainly didn't and a few changes were made at the break with Gasparatto and Troullis making way for Wilson and MacLeod along with a few tactical changes. From minute 52 till minute 64 Rangers were superb though and fought back brilliantly to take the lead. Savitskiy, Fleck and debutant Mackay-Steven provided the goals which sparked the comeback which sees their team through to the next round where they will face Aberdeen.

Following a slightly disappointing result at Queen of the South there were a few changes to Rangers starting line-up to face Kilmarnock. First of all Lee Wallace and Tyler Blackett replaced Conor Bell and Luca Gasparatto while Lewis MacLeod and David Templeton were chosen ahead of Lefteris Troullis and Pavel Savitskiy. Martin Odegaard will miss out again after picking up an injury in training and will miss 6-7 weeks of football with strained knee ligaments. Truth be told this match was dull, boring, blank and forgetable; A Templeton goal was enough to secure the 1-0 win however. This win was our 4th league win on the trot which means we've now overtook Motherwell to the top of the table on goal difference.

Super start matey! keep it going

Cheers mate will do hopefully

September

The only changes to Rangers line up for this match against Hamilton are Danny Wilson and Pavel Savitskiy who replace Kyle Bartley and Gary Mackay-Steven, Bartley misses out with the flu. What played out in this game was a very, very poor first half and 7 minutes and then it was brought to life. Surprisingly though it was Hamilton who got that goal as they countered Rangers and scored through Paul Coutts. That goal sparked immediate changes from Rangers as the ineffective Fraser Aird and John Fleck were replaced by Gregg Wylde and Patrick Bamford. Bamford was the star man as soon as he stepped on to the pitch as he pulled his team level when he converted from a Lee Wallace cross 15 minutes later. Just 11 minutes later and he had the ball in the net once again as he volleyed in from an Emmanuel Eboue cross to put his team in the lead. For the third and final goal he was the architect as he crossed for Danny Wilson to score his first goal of the season. The super-sub Bamford picked up the man of the match award in his 35 minute display and deservedly so as he stretched his sides winning streak so far this season to 7 games in a row.

With Danny Wilson and Kyle Bartley both out the only change to Rangers line up was a defensive one as Lee Wallace steps in to play centre back with Conor Bell in his place at wing back. The game started with a bang with Pavel Savitskiy scoring just after 5 minutes after being played in on goal by John Fleck the Belarusian couldn't and didn't miss with his effort. The other goal in this game also came in the first half as Tyler Blackett headed in from a Fraser Aird corner which proved to be the last meaningful piece of action in the game as the second half was a stalemate.

There were three changes to the line up for this clash with Aberdeen as Rangers decided to start Matej Delac in goals ahead of Robby McRorie with Gregg Wylde coming in for Conor Bell at wing back and Gary Mackay-Steven in for Fraser Aird too. After just 7 minutes of play a John Fleck had Rangers in cruise control with a quickfire double. Wylde didn't last long in the match as he went off with an injury and was replaced with Bell. When Mackay-Steven was brought down in the box in controversial circumstances the referee made the decision to give Rangers a free kick and Fleck netted past Jamie Langfield to complete his hat-trick. Aberdeen did score a consolation late on however the game was well beyond them by that point as man of the match John Fleck ran the show. As a result Rangers go through to the quarter-final where Dundee United will be their opponents after they saw off Hibernian with a 2-0 win.

There were just the two changes for Rangers against Dundee United as Conor Bell comes in for the injured Gregg Wylde who has been ruled out for two months with a dislocated shoulder, Patrick Bamford was also selected ahead of John Fleck quite surprisingly after his hat-trick last time out against Aberdeen. Things didn't quite go to plan for Rangers though as they went behind to a John Souttar goal on 15 minutes, quite ironic for it to be Souttar as Christopher Burns has spoke publicly about signing the defender quite a few times this season. With a shuffle of the pack at half time and a change of formation Rangers eventually found a leveller with 20 minutes left to play as Bamford volleyed in from a Gary Mackay-Steven cross. There was to be no winning goal for them though despite Miguel Pallardo's red card for the away side.

Despite remaining unbeaten overall this season and in seven league matches it hasn't been enough to keep Rangers top of the table as we head into October as Felix Magath's Motherwell lead the pack with seven wins on the trot. It's Christopher Burns first Old Firm match in the first week of October and it's going to be an interesting game as it's the first Old Firm in four years. With an injury list growing in strength by the minute though can they pull off a shock win?

October

With eight injuries within Rangers first team there were two under 20's players on the team sheet and it was Ross Lyon and Matt McLaughlin who were brought up to get a taste of the Old Firm derby. Those two of course started on the bench while John Fleck came in for the injured David Templeton. Surprisingly though there was a first change of formation for Rangers this season as manager Christopher Burns opted to play a 4-2-3-1 system. With the game in it's early stages Pavel Savitskiy's surging run down the right wing brought about a goal in 2 minutes as Lewis MacLeod tapped the ball in from a great cross by the Belarusian winger. Rookie Celtic defender Eoghan O'Connell got himself sent off just 15 minutes into the game which put his team under immense pressure. Rangers seemed to amp up the pressure with an attacking display from then on out as Celtic never recovered. Goal number 2 came with 15 minutes to go as stand in centre back Lee Wallace netted past international team mate Craig Gordon after being assisted by local boy and man of the match Conor Bell. An excellent display by the away side and a great first victory for their manager to cherish. That result sent Rangers top of the league after Motherwell slipped up and lost 1-0 to Dundee.

After an excellent derby win over Celtic last time out there was to be only one change for Rangers as Tyler Blackett was ruled out for this game against St. Mirren and as such he was replaced by Chris Brown, meaning there were four full backs playing in defence. There's no point in going too in depth with this match so we'll just say three words to sum it up; Savitsky + penalty = win.

With title challengers Motherwell visiting Ibrox Rangers manager Christopher Burns decided not to make any changes to his team. After a first half annihilation it took 44 minutes before Rangers got a goal and that goal came through Emmanuel Eboue who headed in from a Lee Wallace free kick. Wallace's next course of action in the game was to get himself sent off and his red card came with 20 odd minutes left to play which could've been a game changer for his side. Fortunately for him and Rangers though it wasn't, not in a bad way at least, Gary Mackay-Steven set up Patrick Bamford for goal number 2 and Pavel Savitskiy scored goal number 3 from Conor Bell's long throw in to complete the scoring and the 3-0 victory. A victory which extends Rangers unbeaten run this season to thirteen matches.

There were a couple of changes in this last match of October against Dundee United in this Scottish Communities League Cup quarter-final as Danny Wilson and Tyler Blackett reclaim their places at the heart of the defence with youngsters Chris Brown and Conor Bell dropped to the bench. Two new signings made their début from the start too and it was former Celtic and Barcelona midfielder Marc Crosas who replaced Rhys McCabe in midfield. He was joined by former Manchester United attacking midfielder Jesse Lingard who replaced Pavel Savitskiy who was given a rest. The last change was the return of Martin Odegaard, coming in for Lewis MacLeod after a spell out injured. This game was to be Christopher Burns undoing though as the game remained goalless until the 76th minute when Jordan Moore scored the winning goal for United which sees his team progress through to the next round instead of Rangers despite the home side dominating the match from start to finish.

With the transfer window shut and his team performing well you'd think Christopher Burns would be happy with his Rangers side but apparently not as he has brought in three midfielders over the past month. It has been the midfield who have excelled primarily for Rangers this season but obviously there's always room for improvement and that must be Burns' thinking behind these moves. First in the door was Jesse Lingard then Anderson both formerly of Manchester United joined soon after. Sandwiched inbetween those two was the signing of ex Barcelona and Celtic midfielder Marc Crosas. There have been some doubts raised over the signings as Anderson has long been a player troubled by injury and form which has resulted in a lack of appearances of these last few years. Crosas has played in the Ukraine and Mexico since leaving Celtic but it's that Celtic association that seems to be the stickler for the 'Gers supporters as they struggle to understand their managers decision to sign the Spaniard. Lingard was tipped as 'the next big thing' for a while at Manchester United but he was never really given the chance to prove himself there. Loan spells with Brighton, Birmingham and Fulham have been fairly good for the attacking midfielder though and he'll be hoping to finally prove himself here at Ibrox as will Anderson and Crosas.

November

Despite a lacklustre performance and eventual defeat to Dundee United in the Scottish Communities League cup last time out Rangers made just the one change and that one was forced on them as Lee Wallace was suspended, he was replaced by Kyle Bartley. There were no goals in the first half of this game and Rangers seemed to come out from the break with a more focused and attacking intent as they went on to score a goal finally. Gary Mackay-Steven had a tap in after John Fleck's shot was saved and that was the only goal in this match as Rangers got the narrow 1-0 victory.

It was back to four full backs in defence for Rangers as Christopher Burns opts to rest a few key players with this match coming just a couple of days after the last. A further four changes were made to the midfield as Lewis MacLeod, Rhys McCabe, Fraser Aird and Pavel Savitskiy were selected ahead of Marc Crosas, John Fleck, Martin Odegaard and Jesse Lingard. Partick Thistle were a law into their own though as they weren't taking this one lying down. Steven Lawless put them ahead on 40 minutes. That lasted all of 3 minutes though as Rhys McCabe's first ever goal for Rangers pulled his team back level. Despite a couple of half time changes Rangers just couldn't make their domination count as the match petered out at 1-1 which still extends Rangers unbeaten league run to 12 games.

After another poor performance last time out there were some big changes to Rangers line up as Danny Wilson and Tyler Blackett return to the centre of defence, Martin Odegaard and Anderson, making his début, start in the centre of midfield as they replace Chris Brown, Conor Bell, Rhys McCabe and Gary Mackay-Steven. It was almost the same outcome of late for Rangers as they dominated from start to finish with almost no reward, even as Inverness went down to 10 men after Daniel Devine was sent off an hour in. A goal did eventually come though and that was through Martin Odegaard who spared Rangers blushes against rock bottom Caley Thisle. Anderson went off injured....

Just two changes to Rangers team for this William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Kilmarnock and those were Robby McRorie and Ryan Hardie in, Matej Delac and Patrick Bamford out. It would seem as though Rangers have forgot to play however. Pavel Savitskiy put his team in front but just 17 minutes later it was 2-1 Kilmarnock as the away side fell to pieces. With injuries to Fraser Aird and the impressive Anderson Rangers were forced into a couple of changes but just couldn't get to grips with the game and David Goodwillie added a 3rd for Kilmarnock as Rangers crashed out of another cup competition.

An away trip to Dundee kicked off the month for us and it was quite an eventful match with six goals scored all in, We got more than Dundee though and a Ryan Hardie double helped us toward that win. Three further narrow wins over Kilmarnock, Ross County and Dundee United were hardly convincing but the performances by the players on the day were just enough. The same can't be said for the last two games that were played in December though as we needed a 90th minute goal from GMS(Gary Mackay-Steven) to snatch a measly draw. Against Celtic for just the second time in my short managerial career things didn't go to plan at all as we lost our first league game of the season. A terrible, terrible result considering we dominated the from start to finish and had twenty shots to their six. What we're really missing is an out and out 20+ a season goalscorer as Patrick Bamford just isn't capable of that despite playing well. After a busy festive period we still sit top of the table, Celtic getting the victory over us has cut that lead down slightly however. Motherwell have slipped down the table slightly but having recently been taken over by Greek tycoon Stelios Kostikos their manager Felix Magath will have plenty of money to spend on improving his squad to put up a fight for one of the top two positions in the league in the second half of the season once again.

Doing very well matey! Looks like you're clear of Celtic early on!

Cheers Dan, aye it's always good to be ahead of them but ideally I'd like to be more than eight points ahead as that's too slim a lead in my opinion. Hopefully we can kick on in the second half of the season though.

After a disappointing last couple of games it was absolutely vital that we got back to winning ways if we wanted to re-establish a bigger lead over our nearest rivals for the title once again. With the club now in a better position I made the decision to dismiss my previous assistant manager Steve Kember and bring in Inverness' manager Martin Jol's ex assistant Michael Lindeman. The Dutchman will be a great addition as his experience with big clubs will ensure that standards won't be slipping here with him and myself striving for greatness here. We had a little setback against Motherwell after opening the month with a narrow win over St. Mirren but thankfully that was to be the only points we'd drop in January as we won four games in a row immediately after. The lads were getting to grips very comfortably with our change of tactical strategy and as a result we steamrollered Aberdeen, Partick Thistle, Dundee and Inverness Caley Thistle. None of our results were won by as many goals as we'd like but our possession has been incredible in the last month and that's something which we hope will lead the way to more goals in the long run. After having a chat with Patrick Bamford and putting it to him in no uncertain terms that he needed to score more goals the lad netted five times in six games this month which is exactly what we need from him. There were two departures this month too as Luca Gasparatto joined Italian side Brescia for 500k and Anderson left on loan to Brighton. Anderson has been impressive in the games he's played for us but Brighton offered 100k per month to loan the midfielder and we felt it was a deal worth accepting, unfortunately he has since been ruled out for eight months with damaged cruciate ligaments.

With twelve goals in four games it's fair to say we found our scoring boots in February but our month ended in disappointing circumstances nonetheless. We hammered Kilmarnock five nil in our first match of the month and with them overtaking Motherwell into third position in the league it was quite the performance over a team fairly close to us. It was just a one nil victory which took us over the line against Ross County and what a boring game that was after Patrick Bamford put is in the lead in the first minute. An excellent first twenty five minute spell against Hamilton Academical had us in cruise control as we led five nil at such an early stage of the game. Hamilton recovered slightly though and scored two goals in the ten minutes afterwards. A goal by substitute John Fleck rounded off another big one for us before it was time to face our closest title rivals Celtic. Not a performance to be proud of by my lads against our Old Firm rivals as they comfortably beat us two nil and if I'm honest it was lucky not to be any more than the two goals. Verdict? Must do better, five points separate us and Celtic now.

Getting beat two nil by Celtic in our last match was a big kick in the teeth for us and a potential dent in our title hopes. My players had to bounce back from that and we had a little meeting just to reassure them about how well they've done this season and that just one final push could over this crucial last stage of the campaign could see them deservedly become league champions. The players responded in exactly the way that we had asked and that we required as we won our three games in this short month. A two nil victory over Motherwell started us off and then a great midfield display against Dundee United saw us run out three one winners with three different midfielders getting on the scoresheet. Things weren't exactly plain sailing again St. Mirren and it took a half time bollocking to get the players going but they did get going. Our wingers got the goals for us in the second half and it was Pavel Savitskiy's fourteenth goal of the season which kicked things off and then the impressive Jesse Lingard netted his sixth and seventh goals in just sixteen games to seal it. Whilst we played just three games in March Celtic played six times and a bit of fatigue may have set in for them as they slipped to a five four defeat against Kilmarnock and a one one draw with Ross County. That slip up by them sent us ten points clear at the top of the table with six games remaining and the league title was ours to lose now,

Rangers reach pre contractual agreement with Premiership duo

With a first Scottish Premiership league title almost under wraps after years without winning it Rangers have begun to look ahead to next years European campaign and possible League title defence with the pre-contract agreements with two players today. Wingers-cum-strikers Callum McManaman and Steven Naismith are the two players who have agreed to a move to Ibrox in the summer. Since bursting onto the scene with Wigan several years ago now McManaman was well sought after by several other Premiership clubs until his progress began to stagnate in the past couple of years as injuries and a resulting lack of appearances saw him drop down the pecking order at Wigan. Naismith on the other hand has been in and out of the Everton team in his four years there but he has predominantly been used as an impact player and as a result he hasn't been able to truly shine or reach the potential that he should have. Both players will be hoping to make a big impact at Rangers like several others who have made the move there have recently such as; Matej Delac, Tyler Blackett, John Fleck, Patrick Bamford, Jesse Lingard and even before them the likes of Innocent Emeghara and Leonel Galeano who went on to move for big fees. Meanwhile Pavel Savitskiy, Danny Wilson and Gregg Wylde have also signed new contracts with the club. Savitskiy's deal will see him make five million pound over four years and it's clear that Christopher Burns sees him as an integral part of this Rangers team.

McManaman and Naismith should be good signings in the SPL.

Aye they definitely should be bmg033! Naismith I definitely believe will be, McManaman's ability's dropped a little though I think. Both will hopefully fit in well though.

After our three wins in March sent us ten points clear at the top of the table we needed to win just three of our next six games to lift the league title. A two nil win over Aberdeen seemed comfortable enough but again we needed to give the players a half time rollicking to get them firing on all cylinders. That was followed up by an emphatic four one victory over Kilmarnock and it was disappointing to concede, with their late penalty giving them a consolation. In the game that we could wrap up the title race, we did just that. Aberdeen gave us a fright as we went two up, then conceded, scored one more, then conceded again but Gregg Wylde added a fourth to send us into the break four two up. Fraser Aird added a fifth goal only for Harry Wilson to again pull one back for the home side but that was all they could muster up as the match finished five three and we were crowned champions of the Scottish Premiership Football League for the first time in five years, first time winning the newly branded SPFL too. With Celtic slipping up against Hamilton and St. Mirren this month we were fourteen points clear of them ahead of our match. The gulf in quality shone through as a much different Rangers side showed up for this Old Firm clash compared with the last one which Celtic won two nil. Pavel Savitskiy opened the scoring with a penalty in the first minute and then added a third on the sixty fifth minute, inbetween Martin Odegaard's 18th minute goal. Jesse Lingard wrapped up an excellent performance and victory with his late goal giving us the four nil win. Our final two matches of the season weren't our best or most comfortable as we narrowly beat Motherwell and St. Mirren, conceding in both matches was a disappointment too. After we beat Celtic they went on to lose and draw their next two games in the league and remarkably fell to a three one defeat in the Scottish Cup by Tommy Craig's St. Mirren, a great retirement present for the buddies outgoing manager. It was those league slip ups which saw Celtic slide further and further behind us in the league however and in the end we ran away with it on one hundred points as well as that we were also the team to score the most and concede the least amount of goals in the league.

I was apparently a well sought after man this summer after being offered interviews and being linked with club after club over the summer but I'm not going anywhere any time soon, all approaches were rejected. We had a very active pre-season this summer and there will be many people who will disagree with a few of my decisions over that period. Of those decisions it's fair to say that we, sorry I, will receive a fair bit of stick for my decision to play twelve of the best teams in Europe for our pre-season. Subsequently we were beaten in almost all of those matches with people claiming that my lads would be disheartened by their pre-season as a result. Between gate receipts, season tickets and player sales we raised twenty million last month and I'm certainly not going to care if we come in for some criticism because for me, raising that kind of money is what this club should be doing and the fact that they weren't doing that a couple of years ago sunk this great club. Our players won't be locking themselves away crying because they lost a couple of friendlies! I arranged those friendlies but I let Michael Lindeman take control of them as in all honesty I've absolute no interest in friendlies. In between those friendlies we overcame Dinamo Zagreb nine two on aggregate and that is an extraordinary result given the stature of the Croation club, we've also gave ourselves a great chance of progressing to the Champions League Play-Offs as we hold a two nil lead over Videoton from the first leg. I was in two minds whether to sell Fraser Aird and Patrick Bamford but we kept receiving bids for them and when our asking price was eventually matched I made the decision to accept the offers for them. Twelve and a half million is tremendous profit on two lads who haven't cost us a thing while we'll also benefit from any future sale of the two players as we've inserted a clause in their deals which will see us get fifty percent fee of any future transfer either player may make. After two years of chasing him we eventually managed to get John Souttar in the door and he will be a big player in the centre of our defence for many, many years. After Matej Delac's successful loan deal with us last season I was looking to bring him in permanently with his contract expired but unfortunately he decided to go to Manchester United where he will spend his time in the reserves for the foreseeable future, probably, Alphonse Areola was brought in as our new number one goalkeeper and hopefully he can finally fulfil some of the potential that's been expected of him for years. Seeing Nick Powell without a club I decided to bring the lad in and then immediately loan him out to Premiership side Watford after they bid two hundred thousand a month plus his full wage for a year. That's almost two million in profit without us even having to do anything with him. Our new/old striker Steven Naismith picked up an injury in training which will see him miss four or five months of football with knee tendonitis. I'm hugely positive about the upcoming season regardless of any negatives or doubts anyone may have.

Well that was easy