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Latest NewsWeek Beginning 22 November 1997 29 November 1997 "We've now got two home games in a row and it is important that we use them to end our run of draws. We certainly need an upturn in fortunes with Hearts maintaining their good form. To get that we have to stop drawing games we should be coming out on top in." Ally McCoist will miss today's match with St Johnstone after picking up a hamstring injury at Fir Park last week but Paul Gascoigne returns for this match before beginning a four game suspension next week which will keep him out until the New Year. Brian Laudrup has recovered from injury while Gordon Durie and Rino Gattuso return after serving their domestic suspensions last week. American goalkeeper Brad Friedel has been refused a work permit by the Department of Employment. Liverpool had hoped to sign the player this week but Rangers are rumoured to be waiting in the wings with an offer if the move to Anfield falls through. Friedel can appeal the DofE decision but it is the fourth time a move to England has been rejected. Previous moves to Newcastle, Middlesborough and Southampton have already fallen through but the Ibrox side believe it may be possible to get him a permit to play in Scotland. Falkirk manager Alex Totten confirmed rumours that his side would like to take Ally McCoist on loan. He said, "I have spoken to Rangers about McCoist's position and they have told me he might go on loan in the New Year. We will monitor the situation closely until then."
"The newspaper says that I went to Rangers only for money but that's not true. The truth is that I wanted to sign for Rangers because they are one of the top ten clubs in Europe. Also, I love to travel and I wanted to live in a new country and experience a new culture. I owe Rangers a lot. I had only played just one year in Serie A when they came for me. It was not as if I was Maradona. But they came for me and I must say thank you to Rangers for that." "I told them I missed my parents and my family but that I am very happy in Scotland and with Rangers. I told them I want to stay here, I did not want to go home. Yes, I miss my father and my mother but that is normal. That was all that I said. It is not a reason to go home. I want to stay here for my full contract. I want to say thank you to the people of Scotland for treating me the way they have and let them know that I am very happy with Rangers. Now I hope to win the league and the Scottish Cup with my team-mates. I will never speak to the Italian press again." Gerard Baticle the Strasbourg captain has rejected a move to Ibrox. Rangers were interested in the 29 year old centre forward at the end of last season and he impressed Walter Smith by scoring three goals against Rangers in the UEFA Cup. Baticle's contract is up in the summer but he has admitted that he would prefer a move to the English Premiership. Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Bolton and West Ham have all expressed an interest in the player.
"I won't be a hypocrite, I have come to Glasgow for the money. But I have also come here to discover a new way of life. , to learn English and to travel.The thing that pleases me the most is the way I have fitted in with the people in Glasgow. Italian football is still the best in the world. But the Scottish game is developing all the time, and is tactically better than people in Italy think. I am up against highly skilful players every Saturday. Also, Scotland didn't need the play-offs to reach the World Cup Finals, unlike Italy!" "The game back home is all about damage limitation. Teams losing 2-0 will simply try not to concede more goals. But in Scotland they respect you more if you lose 6-0 after battling right to the end. I've scored more goals than I could have hoped for in my first season. I may not get another one, but the main thing is for us to win the title. They are used to winning championships at this club, but it would be a first for me. If I can break the Scottish goalscoring record as well, so much the better. I am glad I have been able to show the professionalism of Italian players." "As a footballer I should be judged on what I do on the field, and not on whether I go to discos. Italian papers will write about what I get up to at night. Everybody believes them. I certainly haven'tstopped going out, and Glasgow is a real entertainment capital." If Negri is still having doubts about his move to Scotland then the same certainly cannot be said for his compatriot Rino Gattuso. Gattuso said, "I was very lucky the Rangers scout spotted me when he went to see Marco play for Perugia. Now I am living a fairytale existence and I have a lot to thank Walter Smith for. Perugia's president Luciano Gaucci slammed the door in my face, but now I am a first team regular in the side that is destined to win the championship. And I am earning good money, unlike in Italy where young players earn £100 a month. Italian football ought to copy the British way. They are not paranoid about young players, if you are good enough, you are old enough." Walter Smith celebrated picking up his OBE at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday by having a drink with Paul Gascoigne's friend Chris Evans. Evans revealed on his radio show yesterday, " my friend and I went into this bar and in the bar was Walter Smith in his kilt. I know Walter 'cos he's Gazza's boss and he's had a few words with me in the past. He said 'hello' and I said 'do you fancy a drink' and he said 'if you're having one', five hours later Walter leaves with his sons in hand. He had his OBE there and we had a few cigars and a couple of glasses of champagne to wish him well." "We think, and he thinks, it was for services to English football for keeping Gazza in Scotland for two and half years and looking after him! It was a good day. Walter and I had a long chat about all sorts of things. The last time I spoke to him he asked me not to lead Gazza astray but we get along very well."
"Sebastian will be back in Glasgow early next month and he will work for a few weeks. We are looking at 20 minutes or so against Hearts on 21 December, then hopefully 90 minutes against Dundee united a week later. Of course, the big game is against Celtic on 2 January and Sebastian is looking forward to being available." Former Rangers player David Robertson has become the target for Leeds United fans. The abuse has become so bad that team-mate Alf-Inge Haaland has begged the fans to give Robertson a break. Haaland said, "I think it's a shame if one player gets abuse as it's a team game. David has come down from Scotland and will need time to settle into our style." Robertson's agent, Jim McArthur, said, "he had a bad second half against Reading in the Coca-Cola Cup and the fans got on his back a bit. But he's perfectly happy and Leeds are doing well so there are no problems for Davie." Rangers UEFA Cup conquerors Strasbourg beat Inter Milan 2-0 in the first leg of their third round tie in France last night.
Finance company ENIC have apologised to Rangers over AEK Athens move to sign Brian Laudrup on loan. The move was promised to Greek fans by Gregory Dedes, head of ENIC's operations in Greece. But company chairman Howard Stanton said, "there is absolutely no truth in this. For a start, I am sure David Murray and Walter Smith have no intention of letting Laudrup leave. What was said in Athens was ill-founded. He had no authority from us. We may have invested money in Rangers, but we have no right to tell them what to do with their players." ENIC have also cancelled a planned meeting in Glasgow scheduled for the beginning of next month. The meeting was supposed to be secret, but Dedes leaked details to journalists. Scottish referee's supervisor, George Cumming, is annoyed at the furore surrounding Paul Gascoigne's sending off last week. He said, "the pressure that referees are under is no less than the pressure facing managers. John Rowbotham will be able to handle this one, I've no doubt about that. It should also be pointed out that since the infamous Aberdeen - Rangers match in November 1995 he's been in charge of Rangers games on five or six occasions, including one against Aberdeen. My senior referees should not have to deal with publicity like this."
"We used to win these games. I suppose you could say the danger signs are flashing because these are games that normally we would have won in the past, especially after being in front at Parkhead and Fir Park. You have to be aware of these patterns emerging and we have to nip this one in the bud. Look at it this way. If we'd won these games we'd have been five points clear on Saturday night. Instead of that Hearts go into their game against Kilmarnock looking to go four points clear." "All credit to Motherwell, they deserved the result. We did not impose ourselves on the game in the second half and Andy Goram kept us in it. The disappointing thing is that we are letting far too many crosses into our own box at the moment and we need to sort this out. Of course we missed Gascoigne and Laudrup because they are world class but we have a pool of 40 players so it shouldn't be a problem." Walter Smith added, "I don't think we got any more than we deserved. Perhaps in the first half we warranted our 1-0 lead but in the second Motherwell had by far the best of the game. It was only after they equalised that we started to show the necessary urgency. Perhaps Wednesday's game against Celtic had an effect on us and it maybe allowed for the fact that Motherwell were brighter than us in the second half." "But the truth is we should have been much better than we were. That's the two bottom teams we've played in two weeks and maybe their own fans would say that playing against Rangers doesn't seem to be the problem. It seems that playing against the other sides is not as easy but that's not our concern. Yes we missed Gascoigne and Laudrup but we have got to get on with it. The fact is we didn't apply ourselves properly in the second half and there are no excuses."
"Paul hadn't been booked prior to the incident with Morten Wieghorst but the ref felt he had to send him off as he was reacting to pressure placed on him before the game. But he shouldn't have been appointed in the first place after being told he should have been more severe in the past. After being told that there was no way he was going to allow anything to happen this time. However, we will make our feelings known to the League. I know he's been involved in incidents before but it wasn't his elbows that made contact. I have sympathy for Paul as I'm sure most people do." Ally McCoist has been offered a two year deal by American side Tampa Bay Mutiny. The 35 year old striker knows he will have to get first team football to stake his claim for a place in the Scotland World Cup squad but he has only started 4 games this season. McCoist is believed to have been offered a contract by Washington DC United but favours a move to Florida where he has spent the last few summers on holiday. Walter Smith criticised his players after yesterday's draw with Motherwell. He said, "we didn't get any more than we deserved. Our performance had nothing to do with the players who were missing or those who played. It was simply down to the fact that we didn't approach the second half in the right manner. Obviously I would much rather that Gascoigne was playing. But we've had to do without him at some stage during the past couple of seasons and we've managed alright." Alan McLaren will spend the next five days in Germany in a bid to resurrect his career. The 26 year old has not played since Rangers clinched nine-in-a-row at Tannidice in May but Walter Smith hopes he will be given the all clear to begin training again by a German specialist. Smith said, "we hope he returns ready to push himself back into contention again." Reserve striker Brian McGinty has joined Hull City for a week's trial. If he impresses their boss, Mark Hateley, then he will be offered a long term deal by the English third division club. Ally McCoist believes that Paul Gascoigne would not have been sent off against Celtic if Morten Wieghorst had stayed on his feet. He also believes that Gordon Durie saved Stephane Mahe by staying upright in a similar clash. McCoist said, "the incident involving Gazza was never a sending off but it was a tough one for the referee to call because Morten toppled. If Wieghorst had done for Gazza what Durie did for Mahe and stayed upright Gazza would have stayed on the park." "Gordon took a whack in the mouth from Mahe's elbow but managed to stay on his feet and Stephane was only booked. In my opinion Gazza was sent off for a lesser offence and wouldn't have seen red if Wieghorst hadn't gone down. I'm not saying Morten was guilty of anything, I just feel that the furore would never have occurred if he had kept his feet."
Rangers gave one of their poorest performances of the season at Fir Park as they continued the past week's run of 1-1 draws. In the matches against Aberdeen and Celtic Rangers dominated for long spells but that was not to be the case against a Motherwell side buoyed by their victory at Parkhead last week. Ally McCoist gave Rangers a deserved half time lead when he scored in the 20th minute. Jorg Albertz picked up the ball just inside the Motherwell half and strode forward before sending a delightful defence splitting pass to McCoist who neatly chipped the 'keeper. Motherwell came out for the second half looking far hungrier than their opponents and only some brilliant goalkeeping from Andy Goram preserved Rangers' lead. The pressure finally told 10 minutes from the end. Shaun McSkimming went for a 50-50 challenge with Joachim Bjorklund and the ball broke to Owen Coyle on the left. Coyle moved into the box before passing to Tommy Coyne at the back post and he bundled the ball home from 2 yards. In the end a draw was probably a fair result. Rangers had the better of the first half chances and Motherwell dominated the second. The Ibrox side did pick up the pace after Motherwell equalised but still didn't manage to put a great deal of pressure on Stevie Woods, the Motherwell 'keeper. Rangers Goram 7 McCall 8 Cleland 6 Porrini 5 Gough 6 Bjorklund 5 Thern 5 Ferguson 4 Albertz 5 Negri 5 McCoist 5 Durrant 3 (Sub) Stensaas 2 (Sub) Johansson 2 (Sub) Man of the Match: Stuart McCall Falkirk Follower
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