Rangers-Killie Match Preview

1945, Tuesday 27 Sept, Ibrox Stadium, SPL fixture nine

After steamrollering Dunfermline at a sun-drenched East End Park on Saturday, Rangers showed that they have returned to form, at least in the SPL. A 4-0 demolition of the league's new boys put paid to any remainders of last week's hideous lethargy that saw a young Falkirk side dispatch us from the League Cup with some ease.

The same starting XI that had thrashed Celtic were picked to get the team back on the move and they delivered in some style. Many will be expecting almost the exact same side to take on Kenny Shiels' Kilmarnock and open up a seven point lead, albeit with Celtic having a game in hand.

We sit deservedly top of the SPL after eight games, the opening day 1-1 draw with Hearts the only blot on our copybook this league campaign. Kilmarnock's form has been indifferent so far, beating Hibs 4-1 and getting a well-earned point at Pittodrie, but losing away to St Mirren and Inverness CT. If anything, this suggests that their away form is pretty poor, another good omen for the Bears, if we needed one.

Last season at home we beat Killie twice, both times by a narrow 2-1 scoreline, both with fairly average performances from us on the opening day of the season and in mid-March. Miller and Naismith were the scorers on the opening day of the season, with Diouf scoring in March and a late Tim Clancy own-goal giving us the three points.

At home so far this season, we've been a bit of a mixed bag. There have been some good results, such as beating Aberdeen 2-0 and destroying Celtic 4-2 going on 7-2, but the performances have been sketchy at best for most of the season so far. The only foreseeable change to the starting lineup may be the inclusion of Alejandro Bedoya in for the suspended Steven Naismith, who will be serving the first of a controversial two-game ban for violent conduct.

Probable XI - McGregor, Papac, Whittaker, Goian, Bocanegra, Bedoya, Wylde, Davis, Edu, Jelavic, Lafferty.

See Just For This Week, Can We Get Behind The Team?

We all know things aren't looking as rosy as many of us hoped they would off the park since the arrival of Craig Whyte.

We all know the financial perils that may face us in the imminent future.

Can most of you fucking lay off and get behind the club this week? The negativity on here is frightening, with some already in the 'Whyte Out' camp by the look of things.

We've got a massive match coming up this weekend and the fact is, winning 4iar will bury the east-enders in the financial mire every bit as bad as the tax case going against us.

Every Old Firm match is a must-win match, but at Ibrox, trying to hold onto a one point lead or go four clear, we should not be losing. The team needs your support.

I'm not saying don't question things, bury your head in the sand or examine/debate/argue about the ins and outs of the club, the financial details and the virtues of CW, but let's not have RM be a cesspit of negativity and prophecies of doom this week. RM may be a ghost town if we win on Sunday.

First and foremost, we're born bluenoses, not chosen. We should remember that this week, that our main love and raison d'etre here is supporting the best team in the world, The Rangers.

As much as this week can be summed up by our famous cry, 'No Surrender', I'd like to think that just for the next six days, it's accompanied with, 'No Negativity', 'No Bitching' or 'No Doom-mongering'.

New Chelsea Signing Racially Abused By Celtic Fans

Monday 12/09/11 1931


CHELSEA starlet Islam Feruz was given a parting gift from Celtic fans as he left the Parkhead club for London - racial abuse on the internet.

The Somali-born youngster has signed for Chelsea, leaving the youth setup at Celtic where he had flourished at schoolboy and under-16 level for a number of years.

The sickening abuse was left on the Scotland youth star's fan page alongside Chelsea fans congratulating him on joining the London club. Some Celtic fans were wishing the starlet good luck for the future but their comments were in the minority of those from Hoops fans.

One of the comments, made by Hoops fan Kevin Kerr, said that, 'Your a wee dickhead Islam with a criminal record, your tainted already. Tommy Burns saved you from cowering from soldiers in a mudhut to give you a chance and you piss all over that mans grave. I'll never cheer you in Scotlands colours you turncoat prick.'

Mr Kerr, who works for Spanish banking giant Santander Group, also lists 'beating huns' on his Facebook page as interests, showing him to be sectarian as well as racist due to a Sheriff Court judge decreeing that 'huns' can be construed as sectarian.

Another Celtic fan, Dean Osborne, tried his best to racially abuse the Somalian, but couldn't even get his racial slurs correct, stating, 'fuckin immigrant spick !!!!!!!!!'. For those not in the know, 'Spick' [sic] isn't even an insult that could be thrown at Feruz, it's predominantly an anti-Latino/Hispanic slur.

Aside from racially abusing the forward, some sickos were wishing physical harm on the lad, with Celtic fan Kevin Coll saying, 'hope u break ur leg nd end up back in somalia fucking scum bag!!'.

Yet another of the self-proclaimed 'Greatest Fans In The World' decided that signing for Chelsea was enough to wish serious harm on the player. 

Johnpaul Monaghan, a self-proclaimed 'Coatbridge Republican' and fan of Irish Republican band Charlie and the Bhoys, stated that, 'ya dirty wee cunt, i hope you have a bad injury and never play fitbaw again ya wee prick for everything the club has done for you and your family you go and sign for that shower of scumbags, consider yourself no longer part of the celtic family as a player or a fan, greedy wee fucking prick, HAIL HAIL.'


With moving to a new and more urban and dynamic city in London, Feruz should at least find himself within a support more open to players of all creeds and colours and not one that subjected Mark Walters to the worst instance of racial abuse ever seen at a British football ground.