Livingston v Rangers

[Steve1956]

Wow this is Bobbins....suppose I can watch Scotty play though

[Steve1956]

No forget it....I'm going for a walk,I cant believe how poor Scottish football is

[TommyJohnson]

Marvin Bartley playing for Livingston.

He was out of his depth at Burnley.

[tiger76]

Of course it's bobbins it's the SPL what do you expect, Rangers should be closer to Celtic this year, but after that it's a long way back to the rest, normal service resumed in the Scottish game. TBF the plastic pitch isn't conducive to flowing football.

Livingston's star man Lyndon Dykes has agreed a £2m move to QPR today, it'll be interesting how he gets on in the Championship, and whether he can make the step up to a much tougher league.

Scotty will be hoping to finally lift silverware this season, surely that must have been one of the main reasons he went to Ibrox, and thus far he's won nothing in his time up here.

[Steve1956]

Of course it's bobbins it's the SPL what do you expect, Rangers should be closer to Celtic this year, but after that it's a long way back to the rest, normal service resumed in the Scottish game. TBF the plastic pitch isn't conducive to flowing football.

Livingston's star man Lyndon Dykes has agreed a £2m move to QPR today, it'll be interesting how he gets on in the Championship, and whether he can make the step up to a much tougher league.

Scotty will be hoping to finally lift silverware this season, surely that must have been one of the main reasons he went to Ibrox, and thus far he's won nothing in his time up here.

In its time though its spawned some fantastic footballers,Souness,Dalglish,Nicol,to name just three at Liverpool....what happened?

[huw.Y.WattfromWare]

Scotty will be hoping to finally lift silverware this season, surely that must have been one of the main reasons he went to Ibrox, and thus far he's won nothing in his time up here.

Thought they were his boyhood club?

[Oshkoshclaret]

Thought they were his boyhood club?

Ummm I think that was a hurriedly improvised cover story. His family are Celtic through-and-through.

[box_of_frogs]

And some clowns think the old firm are top 6 material in the EPL!?

[tiger76]

Dire game and a dire result for Rangers, it finished 0-0 and they could have played until midnight and they still wouldn't have scored.

If Morelos is worth anywhere near £20m on his recent performances, I'll eat my hat, he looked disinterested and when he did get a good chance he blew his lines.

I genuinely thought Gerrard would get Rangers challenging Celtic this season, but on that showing they've no chance of sustaining a title tilt.

And if they don't win anything again this season, while Celtic complete yet another treble, he'll be on a shaky peg, contract or no contract, the Rangers supporters are rapidly running out of patience with Stevie, and he can hardly complain he hasn't been handed funds by the board.

[tiger76]

In its time though its spawned some fantastic footballers,Souness,Dalglish,Nicol,to name just three at Liverpool....what happened?

Difficult to put your finger on any one thing, but there's been lots of cheap European imports in the Scottish game over the last 20 years or so, so that may have denied promising youngsters a shot they would have got otherwise.

There has been a few notable exceptions to that rule, McGinn, Robertson and Tierney have all thrived in England, but yes compared to the 70's and 80's the numbers are nowhere near what they once were.

And there's the young boy at Hearts Aaron Hickey who's being heavily linked to Bayern and Lyon no less, so there is still some youngsters coming through the system, but it's nothing like the production line it was back in the day.

Now it could turn out that CV forces cash-strapped clubs to rely on their fledgling youngsters a lot more, and this might see more coming through the academies than would otherwise have been the case, we'll just have to wait and see.

[Spike]

What a terrible game, very little to offer from anyone

[daveyclaret]

It was an awful game and Scotty's performance suggested that he's brought down to that level. As mentioned in other replies, the plastic pitch
didn't help Rangers.

On that showing, Rangers won't beat Celtic to the title this season and that will give Celtic 10 in a row for League titles. I was watching Ryan Kent closely when the cameras allowed. He looks to be more of poser than the top player he supposedly is. Apparently, he came from Liverpool FC for something like £7 million and he was well known beforehand by Gerrard.

Gerrard will be under severe pressure to prevent Celtic's 10 in a row and I have doubts that he'll see this season through and may bail out if he receives a decent offer from an English club.

[claretburns]

And some clowns think the old firm are top 6 material in the EPL!?

Obviously current squad ability no chance, I think a fairer assumption would be that if Celtic and Rangers played in the EPL with Premier League incomes, then yes, they would be top 6 challengers.

[box_of_frogs]

Obviously current squad ability no chance, I think a fairer assumption would be that if Celtic and Rangers played in the EPL with Premier League incomes, then yes, they would be top 6 challengers.

Yeah, just like Leeds and Villa.........

[claretburns]

Yeah, just like Leeds and Villa.........

True, but you can say the same for many clubs like that, but you cannot disagree that a club of Rangers or Celtic's size, with the Premier League funding and correct transfer/ownership models would not be easily challenging the top 6 in the Premier League.

[Bosna]

Yeah, just like Leeds and Villa.........

Both Rangers and Celtic are much bigger than either Villa or Leeds. Bigger than Man City too.

[box_of_frogs]

Both Rangers and Celtic are much bigger than either Villa or Leeds. Bigger than Man City too.

I respectfully disagree, and will await the proof. Wikipedia and your mate down the pub are not accepted !

[Bosna]

I respectfully disagree, and will await the proof. Wikipedia and your mate down the pub are not accepted !

I know there are different ways of judging a club's size which is made more complicated by the fact that Leeds, Villa and City play in England and Celtic and Rangers compete in Scotland. In terms of fan base there really is no comparison; Rangers were selling out (c.50,000) in the fourth tier of Scottish football against outfits like Berwick. None of the above clubs would get 50,000 in a competitive game outside the Prem, hell Man City struggle in the CL (there were probably more Rangers fans than City fans in Manchester for their Euro Cup final in 2008). The Old Firm derby is the biggest and most hostile derby in the UK, absolutely no question.

It's also difficult to compare in terms of silverware as both Glasgow sides have won far far more, admittedly in a much poorer league (now more than ever). But both have had European successes in the past, and both have done well recently.

Obviously money has skewed things massively and the likes of Leeds will, as long as they are in the Prem, probably be a bigger draw than either. Even we arguably are, and with our current squad we'd probably be favourites in that league. But that doesn't make us a bigger club than Celtic or Rangers, and it doesn't make Leeds, Villa et al bigger either.

Both Glasgow sides are stuck in a crap league and partly because of their own 'issues' will never escape it. But they're size has been underestimated of late because of how poor the league is and how much money is floating round in England in comparison. Both are infinitely better supported than the vast majority of Prem teams and in this league, given a few years, would be challenging to win it, no question.

[BenWickes]

Both Glasgow sides are stuck in a crap league and partly because of their own 'issues' will never escape it. But they're size has been underestimated of late because of how poor the league is and how much money is floating round in England in comparison. Both are infinitely better supported than the vast majority of Prem teams and in this league, given a few years, would be challenging to win it, no question.

It'd be more than a few years. They'd have to start at the very bottom of the English pyramid. The very highest they'd be allowed to start is the second division of the northern league. If not lower. So at least 8th tier English football. It's never going to happen though so is a moot point. Imagine if Runcorn Linnets beat Celtic though in their first game in English football.