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Rangers are an enormous institution selflessly subsidising not just Scottish football but much of the wider economy. For that reason, I have come to the conclusion that the normal rules should not always apply to them. I know that they were not in the original draw but I seriously believe it is time to stop persecuting them amd to cut them some slack by allowing them to compete in the Ramsden's Cup.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18625293 Interesting read on the bbc website. Glad to see the 1st div clubs standing up for footbal integrity by expressing their disapproval for a newco rangers in the 1st div next season. Why cant the SPL/SFL just do the right thing for once and put rangers in the 3rd div and move one team up a league. This would have happened ages ago had it been any other non OF team in this same situation

I'll reserve judgement till i see the new boys in action but to some extent i agree with you and have the same doubts. The club dont have the excuses of last season for the changes and i find it hard to believe that we are faling to attract players in Scotland as this wasnt even a problem when we came back up to the SPL. I refuse to believe that players in Scotland price themselves out of a move here, that is the club more or less saying that clubs in a lower league can afford better terms than us...concerning. What does worry me is that this was supposed to be the ICT of the future and a year on we've gone backwards if nothing else. A mass exodus that has included our top scorers and other first team players does not bode well as we will have the same problem next season if the current crop impress and bigger team comes calling. The stalwarts that left e.g Munro and Tokely were what made this club special and now that they have gone there is nothing that really seperates us from the rest and i think we just have to come to terms with it. The buck has to stop somewhere though. We cant keep reshaping and rebuilding every season, its not healthy, especially if the club are as serious as they say about making progress. As ive said i will reserve judgement though, its early days and TB has a reputation for finding some gems...heres hoping, still got faith.

The worst and most negative post I have ever seen on this forum, I would hate to be a newly signed player reading this thread. Your a disgrace and your comments are not helpful and not welcome.

Can we invite Aldershot or Bristol Rovers to apply? Lets look at the pros and cons of Dundee and Dunfermline in the SPL. Dundee stewards are one of the worst in the country. Dunfermline have very good stewards. Dundee 0-1 Dunfermline We already have trips to Dundee to watch Utd so it may get boring going to the same place more often. Dundee 0-2 Dunfermline The catering (particulary the bridies) are better at Dunfermline Dundee 0-3 Dunfermline Dundee are stronger that Dunfermline imho, so Dunfermline would be more likely to finish 12th Dundee 0-4 Dunfermline Dundee voted against our inclusion and Dunfermline voted for our inclusion in the SPL in 2004. Dundee 0-5 Dunfermline Half Time. Second half It's a kerfuffle getting to Dunfermline on the train Dundee 1-5 Dunfermline In general, Dundee is a better day out that Dunfermline Dundee 2-5 Dunfermline Dundee got relegated in 2005, so it would be nice to have them back for a change. Dundee 3-5 Dunfermline Dundee will bring another SPL derby. Dundee 4-5 Dunfermline Dunfermline finished bottom of SPL with little reistance and Dundee had a very good season finishing 2nd in SFL1. Dundee 5-5 Dunfermline Full time Dundee 5-5 Dunfermline Extra time. Dundee in the league will pi55 off this man..... Dundee 6-5 Dunfermline Welcome to the SPL Dundee

where`s IHE when we need him ??!!

I understood your satire Kingsmills

Anyway...what rules? The ones which only last until they become inconvenient and are then re-interpreted to suit? No need to bend them.......we are talking about Rangers here.....the club which, like the banks, are deemed to big and important to fail..by themselves and their supporters mostly, but also by too many Scottish Football Clubs who appear to rely on them for their existence..or think they do. The rules are expendable.......just as they were with the banks. All it illustrates is that money talks louder than anything else....louder than fairness and decency, financial acumen and probity, sporting integrity........just basic honesty. Now, maybe it's just me...but if any business relies one single source of income to make the difference between profit/breaking even/manageable debt....and bankruptcy/liquidation or whatever.......then it is a business which is not offering a product that enough people want to buy in the numbers required....or is pricing that product out of the reach of the general population....and is a business which wants to get a grip on the reality that if it cannot structure its product to exist without a "sugar daddy" then it has no viable product. If we kowtow to Rangers illusions of their superiority in Scottish football now, and make concessions to them....will that not set a precedent for the likes of Hearts, Hibs, Kilmarnock, or Motherwell or, heaven forbid, ICT, etc spending silly money and doing exactly the same? Funnily enough, I don't think it will...any more than I thought Ardrieonians under the guise of Airdrie United were entitled to buck the rules and get an immediate return to the SFL......and that is the main problem, imo...the SFA, SPL and SFL have nothing to do with the good of football in Scotland.....but everything to do with pecuniary self-interest. They may disguise it as concern about the clubs.....but if the SFA had ever been at all concerned about Scottish football, they would never have agreed to the SPL, the vehicle for OF hegemony in the first place....they'd just have said to the OF......"if anybody else, anywhere else, wants you.....bugger off and leave us to do our own thing. " Well past time Scottish football decided to join the real world of the 21st century..and stopped actively encouraging sectarianism by giving the two most sectarian clubs in Scotland an importance in the game which embarrasses every other team in it because the telly likes to film Rangers/Celtic matches, because they are not allowed to film dog or ****-fights.

Most clubs of our size tend to be selling clubs yet we are losing players for free. With the greatest of respect to the players we have signed under Butcher many of them have been poor aquisitions who have come from obscurity. I look at a First Division club like Dundee who at the end of last season signed Mark Futheringham and Carl Finnigan, recently signed John Baird from Raith Rovers and were linked with former Scotland international Nigel Quashie and I can't help but be a little frustrated that a club in a league lower than ourselves (for now) are signing name players. I appreciate that we are under budget constraints but I find Butcher's transfer policy of signing players from England with a history of injuries or with little experiance of first team football rather frustrating when I'm sure there are players in Scotland who would jump at the chance to play in the SPL who may well be available for a similar amount of money. Today we signed a striker whose main experiance is in the Welsh Premier League which is of a very low standard. I'm not judging the lad until I have seen him but I can't help but think it would be easier to sign someone from the SFL2? We have seen three players sign today and I have never seen any of them play so I can't judge how they will turn out. I hope they do well, I hope Butcher does well, I have renewed my season ticket today but I can't help but feel a little cynical about the season.

Raven - IN Reguero - IN Oswell - IN Beevers - NO Tunnicliffe - NO Must be at least two others then....?

So it's more like Gamm over then

Good luck to all and welcome to ICT

Antonio Reguero, seems like an ex-real madrid Gk, not having much luck finding out too much about him yet: Jason Oswell, young striker from Crewe Alexandra by the sounds of it, again not too much info readily available:

IF this new proposal is true and the BBC are correct in saying SPL clubs will vote, then I urge Kenny to vote NO. This is nothing short of bribery and is corrupt to the core. For years there was no reconstruction so that smaller clubs could be kept out. Now the shoe is on the other foot. I'd welcome play offs etc even if it means we're more likely to be relegated, as it's good for the game on a whole. But not, if the team getting promoted has not earned the place there. It HAS to be Division 3, or no SFL for Rangers. Any bribes should be rejected. The fans have made it clear. Any successful application must start in Division 3.

No matter how bad we are, nothing should stop us laughing at County, at every opportunity.

As I said something different being reported elsewhere supposedly, according to P&B STV reporting that the SFL clubs wont get to vote, because the SPL board will 'relegate' "rangers" and promote Dundee. If this was being stitched up while Chairman were granstanding their "no to newco' views to appease fans while actually duping them into buying season tickets, then the anger of fans will only grow.

I am getting worried again!! As alluded to by certain posters in other threads the airwaves appear to have been clogged up with chit-chat about feckin Rangers and all the side shows, the return of County and a leave him alone and let him get on with it attitude towards Terry Butcher. This per season is beginning to feel like d

I won't laugh at County as from where we are at the moment they have a better squad than we do. We have been told that we were well ahead for 7 new signings and some were already looking around the area and that all would be in place by start of pre- season training !!!! that starts tomorrow so where are all these players. I think like last season we will struggle to stay in SPL far too many changes again this season. Time to offer more than 1 year contracts !! I hope I am wrong

It was mentioned a couple of years back that the stadium could do with a fresh lick of paint and some work done to parts of the stadium (Toilet Facilities, Catering Counters etc etc) Volenteers turn up to shovel snow in winter, but would anyone be willing to help decorate? How's about people use this thread to discuss ways to actively SAVE THE CLUB MONEY, rather than raise funds. After all, money saved is just as good as money raised. I'd happily grab a roller from homebase and join fellow fans in giving the lavs a lick of paint.

So the registration of strip....another deadline that NewCo wouldn't be able to meet!!!

I'm sure they claimed not long ago that they were ahead of schedule. That aside I have no problem with them sharing other than the pressures that are put on the pitch and on our goundsmen. My personal opinion is that, if they are not ready then the authorities should be able to take decisions on a month to month basis. If they need to share for a couple of games then fair enough. Let them reapply to use their own ground the following month. Groundsharing does a lot of damage to the pitch and to clubs finances. We fought long and hard to get the rules changed so that we could put criterea in place to allow us to return to our own stadium earlier than initially planned. The rules that were put in place by government were taken to extreme by the SPL, for no other reason than they thought they could select and control who were the members of their little cartel, and eventually, first by challenges from Falkirk and then from us, they faced the wrath of honest fans who could see through their schemes and relented somewhat. Now they are seen even further, by the efforts to try and save Rangers in the SPL, as being dishonest and unfit to run our game. The tide is turning and Ross County can be another big player in turning that tide.

That, my friend, is scaffolding.

BTW, I like both Dunfermline and Dundee....if it was up to me then I'd relegate St Mirren just for the hell of it and let both of them in

The teacher said, "Let's begin by reviewing some American history. Who said 'Give me Liberty, or give me Death'?" She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Little Hodaiki a bright foreign exchange student from Japan, who had his hand up: 'Patrick Henry, 1775', he said. 'Very good!' Who said, 'Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth?' Again, no response except from Little Hodaiki: 'Abraham Lincoln, 1863'. 'Excellent!' said the teacher continuing, 'let's try one a bit more difficult...' Who said, 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?' Once again, Hodaiki's was the only hand in the air and he said: 'John F. Kennedy, 1961'. The teacher snapped at the class, 'Class, you should be ashamed of yourselves, Little Hodaiki isn't from this country and he knows more about our history than you do.' She heard a loud whisper: 'F . . k the Japs,' 'Who said that? I want to know right now!' she angrily demanded. Little Hodaiki put his hand up, 'General MacArthur, 1945.' At that point, a student in the back said, 'I'm gonna puke.' The teacher glared around and asks, 'All right! Now who said that!?' Again, Little Hodaiki said, 'George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.' Now furious, another student yelled, 'Oh yeah? Suck this!' Little Hodaiki jumped out of his chair waving his hand and shouted to the teacher, 'Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!' Now with almost mob hysteria someone said, 'You little ****. If you say anything else, I'll kill you.' Little Hodaiki frantically yelled at the top of his voice, "Michael Jackson to the child witness testifying against him, 2004.' The teacher fainted. As the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said, 'that`s it, we're fecked!' Little Hodaiki said quietly, ‘Ally McCoist, 2012.

Reminds me of a time many years ago when I was at sea. Game arranged for a sunday afternoon against an Italian ship. We had been out the night before on the lash. Turned up at the venue in cut off jeans, many different t-shirts and sandles. Italians arrive in a luxury coach. All stripped in national colours with boots and shin guards. We won 14-1.