Sat for a while thinking of something to type for Remembrance Day.  However, I admit i am stuck for words.  How do you type an article which is befitting of the men and women who have lost their lives to give us our freedom?

It is not an easy task, i have scrapped about half a dozen ideas already - they didnt seem right.

However, and im not taking the lazy way here, here is a poem you might have heard.  It is called For The Fallen and it is written by Laurence Binyon.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is a music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end they remain.

Click here to visit The Poppy Appeal website.

Yet again, following an Old Firm defeat Rangers fans are being questioned over the singing - this time of “The Famine’s Over”.  A single Celtic fan complaining to the Irish Government has sparked calls to the Scottish Government and Rangers to do something about fans singing a song which, at worst, is a playful dig at their city rivals’ need to claim Irish ancestry and express hatred to the country of their own birth.

A club who have an Irish tricolour flying at their stadium, a support who celebrate their Irish roots and at the same time display hatred towards the country they live in at each game with banners, flags and songs - yet each time a defeat comes their way against Rangers, they go out of their way to find something to be offended about.

It’s not the first time since the Old Firm game either.  The Blue Order displayed a banner poking fun at them yet the conspiracy theories of it having alternate meanings, including mocking the death of Tommy Burns, Phil O’Donnell and other more sinister and more sectarian allegations.  Each Celtic fan you ask will have a different story of what “they heard” it was about.  However, the complaints were laughable at best; simply sour grapes following an Old Firm defeat (4-2 at Parkhead, in case you missed it, Celtic fans).

But what is the most disappointing thing about the complaints made about the “famine song”?  Again, Rangers FC are silent on the matter, choosing not to question the complaints, but in going as far to ask the police to arrest fans for singing the song, and asking them not to sing it anymore.  This has angered many, as the song does not have any sectarian undertones, it does not do anything but poke fun at Celtic fans’ need to swear faith to a foreign country, to pay tribute to dubious “causes” and to call themselves an Irish club.

Rangers have been stupid to follow the media’s lead and condemn an inoffensive song.  Had the support been singing songs about paramilitary groups killing opposing players, then yes, the offenders would have no way of arguing their songs are sectarian.  Indeed, a song detailing the wish for Nacho Novo to die in this fashion was sung by the home support at the Old Firm game.  Instead, a smear campaign against an inoffensive song has overshadowed events at the game and after, not only including the song mentioned, but also the posting of Novo’s address on a forum described best as a cesspit of republican bigotry.

Time for common sense.  The famine song is not sectarian, is not offensive to anyone unless they are looking to be offended.  Was this a direct result of the defeat at Celtic Park?  Yes.  The song has been sung before at matches between the clubs, however the previous two matches resulted in wins for Celtic, so again you have to remember that these fans, deprived of bragging rights and humiliated at their own ground, have questionable reasons for looking for things to be offended by, which is all too often the case as they have proven to be specialists in the subject.

It’s time Rangers took a stand and were not bullied into condemning inoffensive songs.  It’s time the Scottish Government questioned the validity and reasons for citizens of their own country to complain to foreign governments about matters regarding Scotland.  And time Rangers fans stood up to the media manipulation and bullying of Celtic football club, its support and all other bodies aiming to bring Rangers FC down.

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Post by TheQueensXI

Ok so boredom strikes again, and im attempting to pass the time until its a reasonable hour to start on the beer. so i thought what better subject to discuss than Rangers FC. It’s the turn of Kilmarnock to come to Ibrox at the weekend and we find ourselves in a much improved situation from the one we faced that rainy night in Lithuania against Hearts Reserves second eleven. So what better time to discuss the changing fortunes of our club, players who have arrived, those who have left and the future for the world’s most successful football team.

Last weeks 4-2 win at Parkhead was a statement of intent fired across the bow of our Glasgow rivals, and for many bears out there was the arrival of a new era for our club, the Mendes masterclass or the Miller mauling, either way the new boys done good. This leads me to the first area of discussion, are we too quick to jump on the backs of those in charge of our club when things aren’t running smoothly? Was the intention always there to bring in the orchestrators of the resounding victory last weekend or was it simply a reflex reaction to the outcry from the fans?  More to the point, do we have right to demand success?

The aforementioned catastrophe in Kaunas has been neither forgiven nor forgotten but it does seem less painful due to the addition of the best part of ten new faces and that crowd pleasing victory at Parkhead.  Could it all have been avoided if our chairman had been quicker to get his hands in his pockets? Few will argue that moves in the transfer market should have been made earlier, and many of our fans would like Sir David Murray to clear his desk, but what is the alternative? Sheik Moneybags buying every player with a big name and paying them £100,000 a week, Rangers losing our identity, built up since 1873, ending up with a squad full of players who don’t feel any pride in the shirt they wear, only the cheques they cash. Do we want this for our club, bought success? Or do you feel we revel in our role of plucky underdogs in the grander scheme of european football?

In Walter Smith we have a manger who knows our club inside out, and more importantly cares about it’s wellbeing and success, however it is important to remember that following the disaster in Europe many of us (myself included) were asking if he was the right man for the job, again I ask what is the alternative? Smith tends to use players out of position, sometimes gets it very wrong tactically, and seems reluctant to use promising youngsters, but he tends to get results in the games that matter and has the respect of his players. Do we think he is the man to take the club forward? Do you feel Mccoist can step into his shoes?

Finally, on the subject of success and the future for our great club, realistically what are our expectations for this season and beyond, do we expect the treble this year by way of compensation for the embarassment suffered in the rain in Kaunas? Is that too much to ask? Do we feel that with the addition of a quality player or two in key positions could once again thrust us to the dizzy heights of a European final in the future, is that getting above our station, or is that where we belong? I look forward with excitement to finding out, I’m sure every blue nose does.

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Original post by daveybrfc @ dothebouncy.com

Well King Berty i think we need to look at those two sales.

1. Hutton, right fare enough he was arguably our best player at the time but we got £9m for him, thats a record transfer fee for a British player in that position (i think?), plus looking at the SPL in the last 5 seasons its a huge sum of money for a single player that in theory should be replaceable (given his position not his skill).

2. Cuellar, ok so we did sell him but he had a transfer Clause, theres nothing we could have done to stop somebody bidding £7.8m and there’s nothing we could have done to make him stay bar simply asking him. He seems to have been blinded by the big bucks down south and while its regrettable its life in this day and age.

Both of those to me seem to indicate that of the two times we have sold our “best” players there have been exceptional circumstances in both cases.

Now look at what we spent the money on…

Mendes who has now played for 2 teams this season so he cant be sold until 09/10 at the earliest, and who would buy him? he was not getting a game down south and he has spent 4 years down there, now that hes up here hes almost guaranteed a game every single week if hes fit and he will get European football not to mention man of the match awards (3 for 3 and counting) plus hes been called up for the Spain squad for the first time in years.

Would he throw all of that away just to go back down south? Not to mention i suspect that Walter and Ally realise he is almost single handedly driving us forward in every game so i doubt they want to get rid of him.

Miller, Its hard to say but i think he will be with us for the foreseeable future and rightly so, the CP game proved that he is exactly the type of player we need up front next to another striker.

Davis, again a player who was not getting a regular game down south, who now has the chance to play for his actual favourite team. He will probably be played all the time as well and he will get European football plus domestic Titles and cups.

Lafferty, Pretty much the same as Davis except the lad has so many years ahead of him that he can become a proper Rangers legend if hes good enough.

Bougherra, Edu and Aaron imo are wildcards, especially as all 3 have many seasons ahead of them (and Aaron and Edu have practically their entire career)… They could all be immense for the team but if they do become brilliant will that success whisk them away from Ibrox? Time will tell.

So to really round off on the signings etc… we have made this year i think we need to look at them realistically. (excluding Hutton since he was sold in January)

Cuellar: big loss for us.
Sebo: no loss
Cousin: i dunno to be honest, he is a talented player but he can be great one minute and absolutely dire the next minute.

Mendes: fantastic signing and even though its only 3 games into the season for him… POTY potentially.
Lafferty: Injury aside he has a goal and an Assist in his two games plus he looks fast and strong with plenty of potential, good singing.
Miller: Could be the player we have been dying for upfront, and he will never stop trying to attack.
Edu: still to see him play a game but based on walters other international signings plus his achievements in the MLS he is sure to be good.
Bougherra: honestly if he grew his hair and got some braces would we even notice the difference between him and Cuellar so far?
Aaron: again yet to see him play but the lads captained the Spanish youth team and imo its players like him we should be gambling with every now and then.

I feel that the loss of Cuellar is completely forgotten when we consider just how much we have strengthened the squad.

by DougyM @ dothebouncy.com

This post is coming in a bit later than expected, due to the upgrading of the website, which is looking great and is running faster than the old one.  Blue-C worked hard to get the site upgraded with few problems and little loss of service to everyone - and now the various parts of the site all sport the new look.  However, the added days have probably given a lot more time to reflect at what’s been happening at Ibrox recently.  Had I posted this before the Hearts game, it may have been a different perspective…

Cuellar - its ironic that i write about him going nowhere then he shoots off down south with pound signs in his eyes, but thats the nature of football.  One moment the assurances are there that he will stay, a couple of days later he is out the door.  No wonder fans were unhappy, some still aren’t.  It was the way it happened, here one day, gone the next, without any regret, the club getting a relativley low fee for one of the best centre halfs in the UK.  Fingers were pointing at the management and the board, protests were being planned, season tickets would have no doubt been ripped up had they not been swipecards these days.  But the fans made it clear - their club was looking like a club going backwards, in crisis, and out of Europe.  And how could we attract talent when we’re not in europe?

But what a difference a week makes.

The fans calls for investment were answered almost immediatley, with a level of spending not seen since the Advocaat era - the club had already invested £8 million in 4 new players, and added Aaron Niguez - promising youngster on loan for two years with option to buy from Valencia, Pedro Mendes from Portsmouth, the type of attacking midfielder fans have been calling out for, Maurice Edu, one of the best prospects from the MLS who almost single handedly made any protest disappear at the door of Ibrox with his arrival to take in the game against Hearts and lastly, the return of Steven Davis, the man from Northern Ireland who was instrumental in last season’s run to the UEFA cup final.  £17 million is a lot to spend to bring the SPL trophy home, but the management are making it clear they mean business.

On the football front, things havent been bad at all either.  A 2-0 win over Hearts at Ibrox coupled with Celtic losing 2 points the following day helped heal any wounds.  Pedro Mendes hadn’t even trained with his new team and made an outstanding debut, giving the fans a taste of what to expect, and gaining man of the match in the process.  On the down side, the Velicka/Boyd partnership looked rusty but there is more football to be played before we can judge them properly.

In the reserve league, Aaron made his debut and gave an impressive display against Kilmarnock in a 2-1 victory, and should feature in the coming weeks with the first team squad once fully match fit.

With the influx of new signings, Steven Lennon, another of Murray Park’s best products, moved to Partick Thistle on loan in order to establish himself and get regular first team football and prove himself worthy of a place in the Ibrox first team - the same type of experience helped Adam and McGregor.  Webster also moved on loan, to Bristol in the Championship, to get games under his belt after long succesive injuries, however I believe it is more to do with putting him in the shop window than anything else.

We still have players yet to leave, with a week of the transfer window to go there will be a few heading out the doors of Murray Park.  After the past few weeks I won’t make any predictions of who will be leaving, though I cannot see us buying any more players - even though we have a right-back position in need of strengthening.  Thankfully when the window is shut the media will go back to reporting about football.  Maybe.

This week saw Rangers crash out of Europe to unfancied Kaunas of Lithuania, due to sloppy play and Walter Smith’s stubborn attitude sticking to his preferred 4-5-1 formation.  An early chance on goal by Kenny Miller was hit too high and over, Having taken the lead from a Kevin Thomson goal just after the half hour mark, Rangers played it cautiously to retain their one goal advantage.

However, Rangers lost a goal to an outstanding free kick drilled into the net by Nerijus Radzius just before the halftime whistle.  No substitutions were made at half time and the team seemed to be playing for the draw, while Kaunas, who played a similar cautious style to ours during the first half and first leg, stepped up a gear and kept pressing Rangers.  Their attitude paid off when Christian Dailly gave away a corner in the dying minutes and Pilibaitis netting from the cross making it 2-1.  Smith made a substitutions a minute before the end with Lafferty and Boyd coming on and the team reverted to a “punt it up the park and hope for the best” while the minutes ticked down.

Supporters representatives met the Ibrox management on Friday for discussions on the teams performances and signings, especially the lack of them in the midfield.  The management assured the delegates that the club were activley looking to bolster the squad in the midfield, where we are clearly lacking in a creative force with Barry Ferguson out with a long term injury.

The newspapers this week have been the usual doom and gloom - themes following the Kaunas defeat include scare stories of top player Carlos Cuellar leaving for a variety of premiership clubs, “mass cull” of players and virtually every reporter writing the team off before the league had even kicked a ball.  Their intentional and misinformed reporting is infecting the Rangers support and for many, they are their only source for information on their club.

Smith has assured the club in a BBC interview that no offers have been made for Cuellar, and that he is not interested in selling him.  Doing so would do nothing but fan the flames of unhappiness amongst fans of Rangers, who are quickly losing patience with the manager.  However, despite this interview, the Saturday rags were back doing what they do best; stirring up the Cuellar saga again.  It makes you wonder why fans of both sides of the Old Firm hate the Sun and the Daily Record.

Moving onto the weekend, the SPL season kicked off today with an away tie to Falkirk.  Rangers played well enough to secure a 1-0 victory, but the mounting injury list is apparent, no Barry Ferguson, Carlos Cuellar, Nacho Novo or Kenny Miller to name just a few who are currently out with knocks ranging from a few days to a few months.

After a scrappy game with only one goal seperating the teams, new boys Lafferty and Bougherra gave impressive displays, and the other player making his Rangers debut, Velicka, netted the only goal of the game.  A notable performance from Kirk Broadfoot showed he can perform, lets hope he can find some consistency over the coming weeks.

Falkirk were awarded a penalty in the game, McGregor saved it with ease - earlier in the match he looked as rusty as he was against Kaunas but the penalty save seemed to give him the confidence he needed, and continued to play solidly for the rest of the match.

It was good to see Smith revert to a 4-4-2 formation, though weather this is due to the lack of players who can fill midfield roles, or pressure mounted on him after the midweek tie at Kaunas is anyones guess.  It worked, and I hope Smith does not decide to drop this tactic against Hearts next week at Ibrox if Miller is back in contention for a place in the squad.

Other good news this week:  Barry Ferguson’s ankle operation was a complete success and he will be back in action by November.

Well, thats Euro 2008 over. Spain now crowned champions of europe, Spray crowned champion of the forum sweep. Big thanks to everyone who took part and especially spray for making all the losers signatures - the thread was one of the most popular we have ever had and has been a huge success.

Other news - we would like to say congratulations to Jasonsco who was asked to join the moderating team, in a similar role to billyboys but in the media and gaming and tech areas. Shortly after he decided to start up our very first signature contest, which is underway now.

New site look - as previously mentioned the site redesign is well underway and the main site will be online tomorrow night with its new look - which if youre too lazy to read further down this page, is pretty similar to this blog. We will have some other surprises over the next week or so, so stay tuned for them.

TheQueensXI

We have had a bit of a random sweep amongst the members, each taking a team to win the tournament. Now the groups are all drawing to a close, half of us (and i say “us”because im one of them) have been kicked out and half are still in. So to see who now has one of Spray’s infamous “giruy” signatures, or people being berated for no reason other than their luck in the draw, pop into the Euro 2008 Sweep thread.

Still in: Italy montecristo, Spain Spray, Netherlands Glasgow/gary/rangers, Sweden Kendo, Croatia rfc1983, Russia The_Lion_Roars, Germany madman, Portugal steve, Turkey Aesthetic Relic

TheQueensXI

Well, here is the new look theme for the dothebouncy wordpress blog. Its based on a design made for a new layout for the main site, and should be fully functional by the time you read this. The new-look main site can be previewed by clicking here.

So any bugs or things to be reported, then drop me a pm and let me know. Big thank you to blue-c for working on the wordpress theme with me and making it work like it should Id still be looking at it aimlessly otherwise.

Im also working on a new layout for the forum too, to keep it in the same look as the main site, but you will still be able to choose whatever skin you prefer. I just thought id try and make things look kind of the same and see how they end up. We are looking into having our Articles posted into this blog too, so if you wish to add something to this blog then log in and fire away! And no it doesnt have to be about football. So keep eyes peeled for random drunken rants and things. You know what im like.

TheQueensXI

well today is a good day for Rangers with a well earned 3 points against ICT . good ro seee darche and cousin work well together.

managed to break the back of my phone, how careless can you get. cant believe i was so silly. bit fed up today cant seem to get anything right, really really need to get a new job and fast,

on a good note jessica made a beautiful cake today cant wait to try it.