shannon2007

Paulo le Guenne was not what the Rangers support had ordered. He was also not what the players had ordered. Jeremy Clement, Libor Sionko, Sasa Papac, Filip Sebo and the likes claimed they had only joined the club because to the lure of Paul le Guen and had no intentions of playing under a nobody. And certainly not a Belgian. David Murray though was determined these players would honour their contract, and as the chaos ensued at Ibrox, so the rest of Scotland felt content to sit back and have a wee laugh to themselves. Scotland's biggest club was a mess, and with any luck their new manager would get them relegated.

Matters were further exasperated when in an interview with the Daily Record, Le Guenne suggested that the depth of talent within Scotland was very limited and that there were few, in any, young Scots that had caught his eye and that if the club were to be successful then perhaps they might need to bring in more players from overseas. This was not what the fans, or the press, wanted to hear. And it was also a surprise therefore when the Belgian's first Rangers line up - for a friendly with Partick Thistle - contained no fewer than seven Scots, the manager even prefering Allan McGregor in goal over Frenchman Leitzi.

There was very little money to spend, but Murray had told his manager he could have £3.5M if he really needed it. When Real Betis offered defensive midfielder Miguel Angel to the club for £1.3M, Le Guenne snapped him up, a signing that stunned a few people because it was generally believed the club did not really need any more midfielders at this time. Especially not a Spaniard that few people had heard of and even fewer actually rated. It was another slap in the face the youngsters desperately trying to make their mark at the club.

Although Le Guenne had stated his dislike of young Scots, he was later to claim he had been 'misquoted' and cited players such as keeper Scott Gallacher (17) whom he sent on loan to newly appointed feeder club Clyde, 17 year old midfielder Ally Park and 17 year old striker John Fleck as being players he felt could become decent quality in a few years. But not just now, they were too young and would have a lot of learning to do - probably at a farmed out location.

The support were not overly enamoured by this kind of talk and although the line up against Partick for Paulo's first match as boss looked half decent, there were still a lot of doubts. Le Guenne went with:

Allan McGregor; Alan Hutton, Brahim Hemdani, Ian Murray, Steven Smith; Barry Ferguson, Jeremy Clement; Charlie Adam; Libor Sionko, Kris Boyd, Filip Sebo

A large proportion of home grown talent, but the manager stated that this was only because his hands were tied at the moment. These players though could try and prove him wrong, but he seriously doubted they could. Certainly, in labouring a 1-1 draw - a 90th minute strike from substitute Nacho Novo saving Rangers blushes - the manager seemed to be justified in his comments. But to most Rangers fans, it was all his fault and when the side produced a dull and pathetic goalless draw against Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise, the knives were already being sharpened and a small but growing bunch of protesters were gathering outside of Ibrox.

retired_anitah

That's great! Brilliant! Sounds like one of those football hardcore films..lol

shannon2007

Thanks I think

shannon2007

'Man this is crap' Frankie turned to his mate Gary and moaned, 'If Le Guen had come we would be unbeatable'

'So true' Gary bemoaned, 'I can't see what this diddy can brung us and to think I paid all that money to come to Switzerland to watch this pish.'

'I think I might just go' Frankie was near to tears, 'This is cra....... Sebo \o/'

Thirty four minutes into a dull and frustrating preseason friendly against the Grasshoppers of Zurich, Filip Sebo showed his early promise with a fine goal. It was far from spectacular stuff, but when Barry Ferguson added a second in 56 minutes, there was an audible sigh of relief from the few hundred Rangers fans who had made the trip to the Swiss town. Fair enough, it was only a friendly, but the side had been so unimpressive so far, and the lack of a top class manager had disgruntled many of the ever fickle Ibrox support. Six minutes later 17 year old substitute John Fleck brought the roof down with a fine strike and this was more like what the Rangers fans wanted.

'I always knew this guy had what it takes' Frankie beamed.

'Aye' Gary laughed in reply, 'Paul le who?'

The final warm up for the season was a bit closer to home as the trip to lowly Stenhousemuir should at least give the players a chance to find some goals. Getting the players to gel was what it was all about - although Barry Ferguson misheard his manager and brought in a tub of hair gel. Which was funny because Paolo Le Guenne was as bald as a coot. Whatever the hell a coot is. Charlie Adam, Kris Boyd, Barry Ferguson and John Fleck were all on the scoresheet as Rangers romped to an expected easy enough win.

The stage was set for the opening league match of the season, at Ibrox against Dundee United.

'Should be a dawdle' Frankie declared as they left Ochilview, 'I can see this guy taking us all the way.'

'Yeah' Gary answered 'But all the way to where exactly?'

'Aye' Frankie replied intelligently.

retired_milla0225

As brilliant as ever PM7. We all are realy going to have to go some if we want to grab the Story of the Year crown from your iron grip....

Strange that, I was thinking of running all my FM2007 stories from the same, big, career game. :eek:

shannon2007

So far, just going by this and this massive game I started with HD (albeit most of the leagues there were on view only) its certainly possible!

shannon2007

Steve was getting excited. But enough of the porn mags he had found under the bed. No, he was excited because here he was, at last, the manager of a professional football side. Sure, so this wasn't the Premiership, it wasn't Chelsea, it wasn't the SPL - hell it wasn't even Ayr United and that would have been bad enough. Yet despite the fact he was being paid very little money, the club had no money, the players were garbage, the traffic was bad and his nose was itchy, Steve MacDonald was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning.

'Ok' He rushed into the dressingroom 'Lets get this show on the r.....erm hello?'

Steve looked around the empty dressing room. Where the hell were all his players? Where were Mohd, Mohd, Mohd, Mohd, Mohd, Mohd, Mohd and Mohd? Where was M. or S.? where were Azrine, Hairi, Zamuri or Ahmad? And what had happened to the strangely named Steven and Walter?

'They're dead Dave'

Steve looked around for the voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

'Everybody's dead Dave'

Quicky, he shook his head. This wasn't Red Dwarf, his name was not Dave and his players were not all dead. Not yet anyway.

'Mind you, that might not be a bad thing', Steve thought to himself as he raced down the corridor to the chairman's office. 'They couldn't be that much worse dead than alive and at least they wouldn't talk back'

Steve burst into the chairmans office. Mr Shah was sitting behind his desk, reading Playboy.

'Mr Shah! Steve called out, 'The players! My Players! They're all DEAD!'

Shah looked up from his mag with a quizzical look on his face, 'Are you sure they're not just sleeping?'

Steve paused.

'No wait' He reminded himself, 'That was Red Dwarf sorry. No they players, they're not dead - leastways I don't think they are - but its just this sir, they're, well actually I don't know where they are. Thats my point. The players are missing! And the season starts soon!'

'Ah no. Season not start for six more monfs! You are flee to play!'

Steve thought for a moment.

A moment passed as Steve thought.

'Bugger that' He exclaimed, 'We'll play friendlies'

And thats how Steve MacDonald ended up in a Vietnamiese prison cell.

shannon2007

There wasn't a hell of a lot of confidence as the Rangers fans made their way to Ibrox on the 29th of July 2006 for the League opener with Dundee United. The team had looked dodgy, and the new players had not really done too much to impress. Ninety minutes later, the fans poured out of the ground in jubilation as strikes from Sebo and Boyd gave Rangers the win over a United side reduced to 10 men after an hour.

It was the start the fans dreamed about, but now it was off to Pittodrie to take on the hated sheepshagging bastards. Miguel Angel's stupid red cared after just six minutes did little to help the Rangers cause, and on the hour the sheeplovers were ahead. It was a frustrating performance but as the match entered injury time and it looked like a defeat for Le Guenne, so Charlie Adam rattled home from a corner and the draw had been salvaged. With 93 minutes gone, it was Adam again who got on the end of a Murray free kick to sensationally steal all three points and with luck like this, the Rangers fans could start believing in the title. A Libor Sionko hattrick brushed aside a Hearts team who were reduced to 10 men after 37 minutes, but then a dissapointing 1-1 draw in Kilmarnock reminded everyone that this side was far from the finished article. August though was to end with an easy 4-1 home win over ICT, a Sebo brace added to by singles from Boyd and Ferguson had the Rangers support singing the blues in a happy refrain.

The UEFA Cup 1st round draw saw Rangers pulled out of the hat against NK Dinamo of Croatia, which most observers believed would prove a tough obstacle to the group stages. A 62nd minute Alan Hutton goal was enough to give Rangers all three points at St Mirren Park, before Dinamo came to Glasgow. What should have been a stern test for Le Guenne's fledgling side, instead turned into a rout. Sebo added two more to his tally, Sionko, Murray, N'Diaye and Buffel were all on taget in a sensation six nil triumph that virtually guaranteed a place in the groups. Sebo was on target again in a 1-0 win over Hibs at Ibrox, and then Gretna were seen off 2-0 in the League Cup.

September would end with the first Old Firm match of the season and the return in Croatia. With both sides still unbeaten, the Old Firm match at Celtic Park would provide a little tester for who might emerge as early title favourites. It took just 17 minutes for Filip Sebo to send the visiting fans into raptures and another 17 minutes passed when Prso made it 2-0. Rangers were coasting, but in the OF match you can never do that and just before half time Jarosik made it 2-1 and it was game on again. Goals on 62 and 66 minutes though from Sebo ended the match as a contest and although Kenny Miller bagged a late second in a pulsating contest, and Celtic had chances to steal a point, in the end Rangers ran out deserved winners to take an early lead in the race for the SPL.

In the UEFA Cup, Dinamo were seen off 2-0 and the group stages were reached more than comfortably. And certainly Rangers could not complain about the drawn, being placed alongside Brondby, Setubal, Ried and Hertha. Certainly, you would expect them to come through that little lot. Paulo Le Guenne had made a sensational start and the Rangers fans were already beginging to forget he was not the man they really wanted. But there was still a hell of a long way to go....

shannon2007

The drama of what was to come off the park was in no way underlined by the lack of drama on it. As of yet, Steve MacDonald had no real idea the quality of his side. What you see in training is not always what you get in the tin, and Steve had hoped that once the players got into an actual match they would show signs of improvement.

They didn't.

The other problem for Steve was that he was totally unaware of the standard of the teams he was playing again, particularly in comparison to his own mob of losers. The opening match of the four game Vietnamese tour would take place in Thu Dau Mot against Binh Duong. Having come 3rd in the Vietnamese Premier league in 2005, this could be regarded as a tough test yet after 28 minutes Kelantan had the chance to go ahead from the penalty spot, but Zamzuri Mohd missed. A decent enough first half, a decent enough performance but on 59 minutes Tran Anh Tuan ensured a narrow win for the Vietnamese side. Steve though felt his side had played not too badly, and they perhaps he was being a tad harsh on them.

Da Nang were runners up in said Vietnamese Premier League in 2005, and so it was to be expected this might be a slightly tougher game. slightly being the operative word. Fourteen minutes into the match, Da Nang were 3-0 up and this was looking like a cricket score, a fourth before half time and luckily enough the home side started to take it a bit easier. This was, after all, supposed to be a friendly. Although Mohd Safri Amit did gain a consolation goal for Kelantan, Danh Minh Duc grabbed a 5th for Da Nang and in the end a comprehensive win for the Vietnamese side. Not very pretty and not vert encouraging for Kelantan.

Another tough match was expected against Hoang Anh Gia Lai, Vietnamese Champions in 2003 and 2004. They though seemed to lack the stomach to give their visitors a doing and managed only one goal, 12 minutes from the end. Three matches, three defeats and it was hard to see just what this tour was actually achieving for the club. The final match was expected to be the easiest, against Quang Nam who hadn't won anything of note since a Vietnamese Cup triumph in 1993. Yet perhaps this side had more to prove, and as the Kelantan players fumbled their way about the park, so the Vietnamese didn't and ran out 4-0 winners.

It hadn't exactly been a successful tour, but at least Steve for sure knew now how bad his side were. They were in fact, utter pish. Just as he had expected.

The drama on the park was minimal but at the airport on the way to board his plane back to Malaysia, Steve was confronted by two security guards, a screaming old woman and a rather young looking girl. The woman was pointing furiously at Steve and the young girl was sobbing. Eventually one of the guards spoke to him,

'This honorable woman say you have naughty way with her daughter. Daughter only 12, she say you bad man, have naughty way. She say you Gary Glitter. We say you pay us much money, we let you go yes?'

And that is how Steve MacDonald ended up in a Vietnamese prison cell.

BarryLFC

For some reason that post made me think of this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">On the Ning Nang NongWhere the Cows go Bong!And the Monkeys all say Boo!There's a Nong Nang NingWhere the trees go Ping!And the tea pots Jibber Jabber Joo.On the Nong Ning NangAll the mice go Clang!And you just can't catch 'em when they do!So it's Ning Nang Nong!Cows go Bong!Nong Nang Ning!Trees go Ping!Nong Ning Nang!The mice go Clang!What a noisy place to belong,Is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!</pre>