Takeover starting to look imminent

It was announced on skysports news today that Craig Whyte and David Murray have reached an agreement in principle for the club to be sold, I don't want to get to excited before the sale is finalised but it is looking very encouraging and if we are lucky the sale will have gone through before christmas.

It has been mentioned in the press about just how rich Craig Whyte is and that might have some fans wanting him to really splash the cash and bring in some big money signings in January but I myself would be content if the club was debt free, contract extensions were sorted out for players like Kenny Miller and a few players were brought in to strengthen the squad. Am not on about big money signings as for a start clubs usually end up paying over the odds in January but instead a few players that are bargain buys that will be decent back up to the first team, something we lack at the moment!

With Craig Whyte being a Rangers fan he will most probably have the clubs best interests at heart and will do all he can to at least keep us at the top domestically and maybe improve on our european form.

Monday Blues

With the feel good factor around Ibrox the past few weeks, there was bound to be a bit of bad news heading our way soon. It arrived today, with the announcement that Nikica Jelavic has suffered a serious ankle injury which requires surgery. He'll miss a few weeks, which makes him a major doubt to feature at the Tattie Dome on the 24th.

It's hard not be frustrated - Jelavic has settled in well, showed some excellent link up play and has bagged a few goals for himself as well. The "challenge", if I can call it that, by Ian Black was just a "you're going naewhere pal" scythe down, with absolutely no intention in playing the ball. He was given a yellow, but I'd make a case for these types of challenges, which are all too typical of the defending mentality in Scottish football, to be given a red. His only aim was to bring the opposition play down, and he's caused his fellow professional a serious injury because of it.

We won't know for sure how long Jelavic will be out for until after his surgery tomorrow, but the Croatian FA have described the injury as "serious", which doesn't bode well. Rangers released a short statement on the official website which confirmed;

"Following a tackle in Saturday's game against Hearts at Tynecastle, Nikica Jelavic suffered ankle ligament damage that requires surgery. The striker will now miss a number of matches for the Club."

So, with Nikica likely to miss the upcoming Celtic match, what does that mean for the team? We've seen a 4-4-2 used almost exclusively in the league this season, but I suspect Walter will play a defensive 4-5-1. He may have done this anyway, but the injury to Jelavic may have erased any thoughts of going 4-4-2. The other question mark for me would be Weiss - his performance against Hearts wasn't great, and we've already seen Walter's reluctance to play him in his defensive sides in the Champions League. We have Motherwell at home in the SPL before Celtic, so maybe he'll be a given a chance to impress in that game.

A bad start as we go into an international week. Many Rangers players will be involved in Scotland's two games, although Broadfoot has pulled out and McGregor is a doubt. Hopefully the lads can get some points for the country - Naisy reckons we can get four - and let's hope we get no more injuries.

Upon the return from international football, we have Valencia at Ibrox sandwiched between the Motherwell and Celtic games, so that'll be a hectic week. I'll try and get a few interesting Rangers related articles up for you during this break, so please do keep checking the blog.

Until next time readers.

Match Review: Hearts 1-2 Rangers

There's nothing better than a last minute win.

Sure, the 90 minutes preceding it are absolute torture, but the sheer joy and relief of securing the 3 points at the last second, knowing the opponent has no time to reply, is a brilliant feeling.

As Naismith turned his man and let off the shot, I think I let off a cry of joy that will have my flat in Aberdeen targeted for weeks. It was a fantastic end to a game we really should have put to bed earlier, and let our somewhat dodgy defence off the hook again.

We had started the game really well, with a high tempo and Naisy in particular was standing out well. We were fired a warning when Elliot looked to have been put through by a simple headed on long ball, and we didn't heed it as minutes later the exact same thing happened again. Kevin Kyle headed on a long ball, Weir was drawn to Kyle and couln't recover, Bougherra was nowhere, and Whitakker was too far over to the right. He put in a pretty meek challenge as Skacel raced through, got a lucky bobble off McGregor and stuck it into an empty net. All round poor defending, and very reminiscent of the goals we conceded at Pittodrie, after controlling the opening section of that match as well.

Still, Hearts sat back following their goal and we looked comfortable on the ball in the middle of the park, and to be honest I thought we would get back into the match quite easily - I thought the goal would come quickly. It never did. Kyle should have put Hearts further in front just after half time, but Hearts rarely threatened. Rangers were pushing forward well and Kello made several outstanding saves - one from an acrobatical Jelavic strike and another which he tipped onto the both from a Davis effort come to mind - before the break through was finally made.

Jelavic had been crudely hacked down by Ian Black, who had no intention of playing the ball, and was forced to come off late in the second half. On came Kyle Lafferty. It was the Ulster Gazelle who made the difference, curling a low free kick round a poorly constructed Hearts wall and into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Game on.

With 10 minutes left to play, it was the expectation that Rangers would camp out in Hearts' half, yet it didn't really pan out that way. Hearts looked better after conceding than they had done for much of the match for me, and Kyle's poor finishing again proved detrimental to the Jambo cause, firing a bullet header over the bar when he really should have burst the net. It was a moment of magic from Naisy that secured the victory, shimmying round a defender and finding the bottom corner - via a hand from the unlucky Kello. Cue wild celebrations from the bench, Walter nearly falling over in his joy. It's great to see how much it really means to the players, coaching staff and fans alike, and it's the togetherness in the camp that makes me believe we can retain the League trophy this season.

Naismith is one player in particular I've been really impressed with this season. If it wasn't for Miller's goalscoring feats slightly overshadowing him, I think he'd have picked up some personal awards too. He finally looks to be fulfilling the potential that we paid £2m for a few years back. Hopefully his injury problems are well in the past, and he can kick on from this great start. He's one of the first names on the teamsheet now for me.

On to the negatives - the defence is a real worry. Bougherra looked brilliant midweek, yet his SPL performances seem to lack concentration. Hopefully he can get his head screwed on properly, with a finally fit (I think?) Webster waiting in the wings for his chance. Vladimir Weiss also had a pretty poor performance, struggling to beat his man and making poor decisions. I think he's shown enough in the past to ease the criticism though, and anyone can have a bad game.

Overall a fantastic win, despite the lurking shadow of the "European Hangover", and I wasn't too far off with my prediction! It's a shame Celtic won too, it looks as if the Old Firm games will be even more crucial this season.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Match Preview: Hearts vs Rangers

Rangers travel through to Edinburgh tomorrow, a mere 2 1/2 days after the victory against Bursaspor, to play Hearts in an early Saturday kick off - 12pm to be precise. If you can't make it to the game, ESPN are showing it, and their coverage starts at 11.30am.

Although Hearts aren't on a great run of form - they've not won at home in the SPL this season - this will be a difficult match for our boys. It's not long since our victory against Bursaspor in the Champions League (worth mentioning again I feel!) and league matches following Euro games are notorious for throwing up bad performances - the dreaded "European hangover". I'm confident however that going into this game on the back of a victory in Europe (for a change), and a rousing pre match speech from Sir Walter, will see the lads fired up enough to bring back the points.

Hearts have a few injuries to contend with, Wallace and Driver being the biggest names that won't feature. Elliot, Templeton and Santana are doubts, but we know that means they'll probably end up playing anyway.

As for the Rangers, various news sites are reporting the Boogie and Broadfoot are both doubts, although I suspect that Madjid will feature if it's nothing too serious. Walter will most likely freshen up the squad from Wednesday's line up a bit, and I expect Jelavic to come in for one of the defenders (Broadfoot), and Weiss to come in for one of the centre midfielders (Edu). A 4-4-2 should be effective enough against Hearts, although we've seen Hamilton out fight the midfield already this season so who knows.

Indeed, Walter has mentioned the importance of carrying over European form to the SPL, on the official website:

"I think it can happen that you can take the higher level in the Champions League back in to the SPL and I would hope that's what would happen.

"I felt in the first three or four games we were slow to get going but that has got better and I'm hoping the involvement in the Champions League and the confidence from performing well there will help us continue in that vein.

"We have seen from the start of the season that there is not going to be much margin for error for us this year so it is important that we maintain the momentum.

"We have had to work hard for the results we have got and there have been good games and tight games along the way.

"So we know that we have to maintain that level because it seems we won't be able to drop too many points this season."

Let's hope he's right, and we can put Celtic under some pressure by winning before they kick off.

WATP

Rangers 24-7 Prediction: Hearts 0-2 Rangers

Kenny Miller: Player of the Month - again

Good afternoon everyone,

The main news today is that Kenny Miller has won the player of the month award for September, which is no suprise after maintaining his excellent start of season form that saw him win the award for August as well. Neil Lennon won the manager of the month award, but they're still second so we'll forget about that.

Kenny spoke to the official site today, showing his desire to be involved in every match:

"I want to play in every game. I got a rest last week against Dunfermline, but I was disappointed because I wanted to be playing in that game.

"It is tough, and not just on me. When you play on a Sunday and then you have a Champions League game on the Wednesday and the effort that goes in to that it's hard when you're away again on Saturday morning.

"It's been a really demanding week and because of that it's been pretty low key in training.

"But as long as we go to Hearts and get three points it will be a really good week"

..and you can't really argue with that. I think the main concern most will have with Miller is how his hamstrings hold up to playing twice a week, especially when he's putting in the kind of shift he did against Bursaspor - a role he's likely to play for Scotland as well. I'd certainly worry how we would replace him in European matches were he to pick up an injury, as Beattie has looked far from convincing thus far. I wish Jelavic was available...but that's just me being pessimistic (or Scottish?) and hopefully Kenny can continue his fine form and remain injury free.

The other worry of course is that he's still not signed a new contract, and can begin talks for a bosman move to other clubs in January. I'm confident he'll sign (mind you, I was also confident Boyd would sign, but that's another blog entirely), and the sooner we can get it done the better.

That's all for now. Match preview for the Jam Tarts match coming up shortly, check back later for that!

Welcome to Rangers 24-7!

Hello everyone, this is a quick post to welcome you to the site.

Please check back on a regular basis, as we hope to get everything underway shortly, and keep the blog posts flowing.