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[rabboyle]

#SMSPORTS Design: MLS Team Line Ups

HERE we go with the third of an as yet undecided length of series looking at team lines graphics in football. 

This time, it’s Major League Soccer.

There’s twenty clubs across two conferences. If you’ve read the two previous blogs then you know the drill by now. 

If not, then expect to find pics and some comments on the graphic design of images used to announce team line ups.

I decided to have a look at what’s happening in MLS because America is seen by most as being advanced when it comes to digital and sport.

Lets see if there’s anything happening across the pond that is more than what happens in ol’ blighty...

Chicago Fire

This one looks a bit like the LineupXI. It’s clear and has all the necessary stuff.

There’s a partner in the top left too and mentioned in the tweet accompanying it.

Columbus Crew

YELLOW! 

A text based graphic from the Crew, not too dissimilar to Leicester’s one - maybe just a little  more complex.

This serves it’s purpose well. Contains all the required information and also has a partner in the bottom right.

DC United

DC United one of few teams I’ve found so far who create a video for their team lines.

Only 15 seconds long (fine for multiple platforms) it’s a series of pre-prepared video sections pieced together, with a team line at the end.

A very good effort and I think the way that more teams will end up going in the future.

Montreal Impact

Clear and bold from Montreal. Team names, numbers, fixture details and subs. On brand from them too.

New England Revolution

Just a list of players from New England.

New York City FC

Very nice from New York. Player imagery, names and numbers. All the the required details there too plus a sponsor.

New York Red Bulls

Big graphic from Red Bulls. It’s a good effort that reminds me of the likes of Boro in the EPL. On brand and easily red, this is a good one.

Orlando City SC

Really like this. Bit of variety in the photography of the players, plus everything that needs to be there (perhaps aside from kick off etc). 

Philadelphia Union

Nice design, however I’ve no idea of many of these players are. A good addition would be the names of the guys.

There’s a sponsor there, which is good. The design of the background is great. Similar to the Everton one and some of the older US Soccer ones.

Toronto FC

List of names from Toronto FC.

Colorado Rapids

Another video for a team line. This one is great, really like it. Watch it HERE.

FC Dallas

Again, another nice graphic. Nice design that’s easily read and contains all the information about the match. Yet another partnership at the top right.

Houston Dynamo

This is a very nice example. 

Can clearly see what the team line is with all the required information. 

Excellent branding for Houston and it’s integrated their partner within the tweet and within the graphic.

LA Galaxy

Great effort from LA Galaxy using great imagery of the players plus lots of detail about the game. 

The overlap blue and yellow striping in the top and bottom left is nice, along with the ‘This Is LA’ logo in the top left.

Portland Timbers

Another square graphic that can be used across multiple platforms if required.

It’s simple but it does what it needs to. It’ll be easily updated in the hurly burly of a matchday. Also, note that there’s another partner there.

Real Salt Lake

Another team line without the names of the players. “Yes,  but they’re within the tweet Rab” I hear you say. 

Indeed they are, but I can’t easily decipher which player is which. One thing I’ve learned from this exercise is that if you’re going to fire players of pictures, it would be a good to link them to names of players.

San Jose Earthquakes

Simple graphic from San Jose. Can be easily updated on match day and has some very clear text. Another partner within the graphic.

Seattle Sounders

Simple and clear from Seattle. I expected to see more green and blue!

Sporting Kansas City

Very clear from Kansas. Text based with the only “graphics” as such being the logos of the club and the opposition.

Vancouver Whitecaps

Nice background image from Vancouver but again the disconnect between the players in the image and the names int he tweet.

So, as in the other blogs. 

By way of summary, from 20 teams, 16 have specific match graphics, two videos and two with just a list of names.

Noticeably, 11 with partners or sponsors visible.

Bonus, here’s some nice ones from US Soccer below. They’ve made some really nice images and videos in the past. 

Here’s two examples below - the second having the player graphics and not even a list of players within a tweet.

US Soccer

[rabboyle]

#SMSPORTS Design: SPFL Team Line Ups

HERE we go with the second of my series looking at team lines graphics in football. This time, it’s the Scottish Premiership.

There’s a mix of available resources within Scotland. Ranging from my team Rangers who have a decent sized digital media team and Celtic who will have similar numbers of staff, to smaller clubs who depend on volunteers.

Size of the media teams aside, there’s also the mitigating circumstances of (compared to EPL) poor stadium facilities; lack of WIFI, lack of mobile signal, lack of power, lack of space and more.

All of these kinds of problems mean that it can be really rough to get out anything at matches, but in my opinion, there’s usually always a way round stuff.

Anyway, as before, on with the pretty pictures. All of these are from the weekend of the 13 August 2016.

ABERDEEN

Good start this from Aberdeen. Team line can be clearly seen. Image has all the necessary, including competition, kick off time and more.

Aberdeen have a nice set of social media templates and they’ve much improved in the last couple of seasons.

Not really a fan of superfluous social media logos without the usernames associated, but that’s not really relevant here.

If it were me, I’d have swapped the Ladbrokes logo and the Aberdeen logo round. Own logo more important than the competition logo.

CELTIC

Simple. Bold. Easily read. 

I’m sure I’ve seen Celtic using a rectangular team line up as well, so they might have a couple of templates for use.

Either way, this is a decent image and is similar to some of the ones from down south; Middlesbrough and Man United.

DUNDEE

No image from Dundee, just a list of player names.

HAMILTON

Same with Hamilton, no image for announcing the team line.

HEARTS

No text within the tweet from Hearts, but a good graphic. Team line can be easily read, including subs and the other additional info.

INVERNESS CALEY THISTLE

Just a photo of a teamsheet from the ICTFC. 

Given the style of the Caley Twitter account, I think it’d almost be weird for them to have set social media templates.

KILMARNOCK

Just a list of players from Killie.

MOTHERWELL

Motherwell have very, very strong design game in general. From team lines to match posters, they’re top notch.

It’s the little things too, like the small line from the words to the player image.

For me, this is the best team line graphic in the SPFL.

Motherwell used to actually do a pretty slick video for their team news which looks like it stopped at the end of 2015 which is a shame. 

It was better than anything I’ve seen in Scotland and in England, maybe even further afield too. Must have been a resource issue that stopped it. 

Here’s an example:

PARTICK THISTLE

Thistle make some nice graphics, but there’s nothing on match day.

RANGERS

It’s a bit of a running joke that I get something wrong in every single game when creating these graphics.

To be fair, I usually do. This example is spot on though (I think).

We’ve not changed out graphic for this season and we probably will soon, maybe during the next international break.

In the past we’ve done GIFs and videos of images, so we’ll see what we can come up with for a new template, or even, templates!

ROSS COUNTY

This one isn’t from the weekend of the 13th as there wasn’t any tweets outlining the team. All County did was retweet a local journalist’s list of the team names.

ST JOHNSTONE

Simple list of names from St Johnstone.

That’s all folks, a mixture of things up in Scotland.

From twelve teams, we have five team news graphics made, five tweets with just text of the team lines and two photographs of team sheet print outs.

To be honest, it’s not a great set from the SPFL.

However, like I said at the start of this and in the other blog, there’s always mitigating circumstances both in terms of resource and in the way that football works.

Nevertheless, it’s possible to make improvements with little resource or required time, even through apps like LineUp11 which can be done on the phone and not on a laptop.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I’m open to suggestions as to where I look next?

[rabboyle]

#SMSPORTS Design: EPL Team Line Ups

IT’S a season which means there’s new social stuff to have a nosey at from across the English Premiership and beyond.

I’ve blogged before about the importance of graphic design and how it is a natural fit with football previously and this looks specifically at what some teams are doing in the biggest league in the world. 

Today I’m going to have a look at what English sides in the top division will use to announce their team selections on Twitter every week.

Of course they’re likely to change through the season, but it’s worthwhile taking a look as many will have changed templates for the new season and this is their debut match.

I’ll give a bit of commentary on them, but what that commentary won’t be saying or implying is that anyone at any of these clubs is doing something “wrong”, or indeed “poorly”. 

Particularly because I ain’t a graphic designer.

Also, I fully understand the pressures whilst working at a fitba club and that sometimes things just happen on a matchday meaning that your best intentions just don’t (and can’t!) happen for circumstances outwith anyone within a media and/or digital team’s power.

There’s no one size fits all solution and different sets of fans like different things - which is party why an exercise like this has value.

Anyway, wheest Rab, on with the pretty pictures...

AFC Bournemouth 

Simple and bold from Bournemouth. Gone for a rectangle to suit viewing on Twitter.

Arsenal

Arsenal are one of the clubs going for the more traditional TV team line up graphic. Red on red for the subs could be pretty tough to read though! 

Chelsea

Chelsea are interesting as they are the only club who used a Vine video to announce their team. Using their new signing Kante. 

Crystal Palace

Simple, clean and bold. Palace has really stepped up their game regarding design and video in the last season or two. 

Always on brand and if you seen any item of design they created, you’d know if’s from them.

Everton

Everton reminds me of US Soccer who like to use player cut outs in a montage.It’s a nice graphic, however the centre of attention is the players rather than the team.

Hull City

Hull use a GIF that runs through the back of the jerseys of the players in the starting eleven. 

It’s nice and Hull have definitely invested in some good social templates for their return to the top flight. 

Leicester City

This is new from the Foxes this season. No capital letters would be a pedants nightmare. 

It’s one of a series of different graphics the club have that all look similar. Clear and readable. Good effort and can be easily edited by the digital media team.

Liverpool

This is really nice from Liverpool and in keeping with their angular design across their social media imagery.

Can clearly read the starting eleven, subs too. It’s got the match details and the club website and hashtag. Square too so it can be used on instagram.

Manchester City

Nice from Man City. 

I think it would be better with the names of the starting eleven included for fans who aren’t as sure about who players are. 

Interestingly, the only club with a specific sponsor included and mentioned within the tweet.

Manchester United

I wasn’t sure about this one. I mean it’s easy to read and clear, but it doesn’t look like a graphic made by MUFC. Like the font!

Middlesbrough

It is what it is. List of players who are playing. It’s a bold, easily read graphic. A solid 6/10.

Southampton

Thumbs up for this from Southampton. Nice design. Clear to read.

Stoke City

Some of the names are pretty tough to read. It’s an ok design, but I think the space could be used better to make the names bigger.

Sunderland

No graphic for Sunderland, just a stadium pic. 

Could be that the media team didn’t get the starting eleven in time to make a graphic, or it could be intentional.

Swansea

Swansea’s graphic is great and is sized to also be posted on Instagram. 

It looks like one of the My Favourite XI style apps, which I guess is a compliment. Overall, I’m  fan of this, it’s a great wee graphic.

Tottenham Hotspur

This is another GIF and combines a bunch of pre-made player pics into one image. 

For me, it’s a little bit slow, but looks good.

Watford

Massive picture of the manager and a teeny list of players. If the graphic is there for folks to read the team then I’d suggest making them a wee bit bigger to fill the design and make use of the space.

West Bromwich Albion

West Brom are one of the few clubs who don’t have a specific team news graphic choosing to use a behind the scenes image from the dressing room to coincide with their team list.

West Ham United

The Hammers have moved to their new stadium and invested quite a lot in their brand image to coincide. 

Their social has noticably improved within the last year and they’ve invested in a new website too. This is a nice graphic.

Some decent efforts from most of the clubs and like I said, it’s always possible there was mitigating circumstances for why some clubs may not have graphics.

One of the things that I was surprised at was that only one club (Bournemouth) linked back to their website. I’d expected to find more than that.

Man City are the only club with a partner on their graphic and I’ve always thought this is a great place for partnership/sponsorship as it’s regularly one of the highest shared items that clubs post.

No video uploads, one Vine, two GIFs and two with no bespoke graphic with their team line.

That’s all folks, might do another. We’ll see.

[rabboyle]

I believe.

I believe in the little things: The simple hello to a stranger, the thank you to the person checking you out at the counter, a cup of coffee that warms the soul and waiting an extra two minutes just to hold the door. I believe in taking in the things around you: That every place, experience and moment- big or small- has something to offer. I believe in family: Both in the family you are born into, and the family that you make. I believe in moving forward and not looking back: I’ve made mistakes, but I can’t regret. Time does not rewind and let us go back. I believe in friendships: In quality, not quantity. Friendships are important at every stage in this life. Hold onto those friends that liven up your soul. I believe in reconnecting: That is never to late to mend a torn relationship, and that it never hurts to try. I believe in conversation: The power that it has in relationships, in love and success in this life. I believe in opening up your mind: You can stay true to your beliefs, while learning from others. If you don’t open up your mind, you don’t grow. I believe beauty: Beauty that shines through the soul, straight from the heart. I believe in love: That we must have a loving soul to live well in this world. That loving people is not just a romantic thing, but it is about compassion, friendships and all of our relationships in our life. I believe in romantic love: Romantic love is about an understanding, a passion, a comfort, a familiarity and an unknown. It is a strange combination of all that we as humans have to offer to one another. It is the greatest pardon we will ever get, and one of the most challenging yet rewarding things in this life. I believe in the power of grief: The ability for it to overcome, overwhelm, and harden. But thankfully, I believe in the power of the human spirit: Of the ability to to rise up, stand tall, and find small miracles in our grief. I believe in self-exploration: Take the time to understand your strengths, your weakness, your wants, yours fears, yourself. You should be comfortable being alone with yourself. You will be more empowered, confident and inspired. I believe in dreams and passions: Without dreams and passion in this life, what do we have to strive for? I believe in focusing on your life and not others: Everyone is fighting a battle, an obstacle, or some inner struggle… these difficulties don’t define us, unless we let them. I believe that we don’t have a right to judge: No one knows why people do the things they do or how they got to where they are today. Stop judging. It’s ugly. I believe that as humans we fall, get stuck in a rut and sometimes make poor choices: Don’t fret, don’t stress, don’t worry… just dust yourself off, pull yourself out and learn from those decisions. I believe in making plans: We must all need things to look forward to, whether it’s a simple date with a good girlfriend or a exciting trip somewhere… these are the things, big or small, that keep us going. I believe in a glass of wine: Life is not meant to always be such a stiff ride. Let loose and have some fun, however you choose. I believe in the power of forgiveness: People are human, we make mistakes. Forgive. I also believe in being gentle with yourself: It is not only important to forgive others, but to forgive yourself. I believe in compassion: It's the most beautiful trait a person can posses. I believe in e-mails, cards, a simple “I am thinking about you”: It’s amazing what the small things can do when a person has a heavy heart. I believe in the power of owning a dog: They really will years to your life. I believe in people: That, at the core of it all, people really are good at heart. And finally, I believe in myself: I am nowhere near perfect, and have a long way to go, but each day I take I can move forward, and find some grace. I can overcome the obstacles thrown my way, learn to love better, learn to live better and learn to grow… 

It is my hope you in believe in yourself too.

[rabboyle]

#GoingFor9IAR - Part 5 The Squad III

SEASON 2016/17 is the twenty year anniversary of the completion of Nine in a Row, won by that famous header from Brian Laudrup in Dundee in May 1997.

Can I do as Walter did and bring home the holy grail of the ninth league win with a squad creaking at the sides and battle weary after eight seasons of relentless winning?

Right, I’ve looked at the keepers, the defenders and the midfielders. Now it’s time to get stuck into the attacking players that I’ll have at my disposal for the season.

No point in faffing about, let’s get stuck in about it.

I always remember getting Trevor Steven and Gary Stevens mixed up when I was a bairn.

In the game here Trevor is 32 and in his second spell at the Light Blues after a brief sojourn at Marseille for season 1991/92.

He joined the club initially in 1989 and would play for the club again between 1992 and 1997 before retiring from the game.

He is an attacking midfielder who can play centrally or on the right. If I’m honest, I can’t see him being an option for me in the middle given the strength of talent I have there already.

He’s highly creative (17) and has a good influence (17). He has good statistics for intelligence, dribbling, marking, off the ball and technique.

In truth, he’s a good all-rounder and will be very useful throughout the season.

Brian McGinty. I don’t remember him first time round, but he played three times for the first team after coming through the youth ranks.

He left the club in 1997 to join Mark Hateley at Hull, where the English striker was cutting his managerial teeth – albeit to mixed successes.

McGinty had a good career and played for a lot of club, with St Mirren being the club where he had the most success.

He played a lot of junior football and only stopped after winning promotion with Bellshill Athletic in season 2014/15.

Taking a look at his stats, the 19 year old is pretty handy looking as a left attacking midfielder. A 19 for flair, a 16 for strength and a good mix of other statistics mean that he looks like the kind of player who could become pretty handy in a few seasons of the game with game time.

That doesn’t help me in this challenge though. However, I’d imagine he might be of use in cup games and in Europe.

It’s God.

Like Gazza in my previous updates, you don’t need me to tell you who Brian Laudrup is. He’s one of the few genuinely world class players to have graced the Ibrox turf in the last 25 years.

He’s 27 and is an attacking midfielder, forward right and left. There’s five 20’s within his attributes, for creativity, dribbling, flair, set pieces and technique.

Outside of that, he’s got 18s for pace, passing and shooting. Off the ball he’s got a 16 and he has 15 for influence, presumably because he’s well, god.

Laudrup is going to play in every game he’s fit. It’s just how I best use him with Gazza tactically.

Jukebox is 30 in the game and is just back from playing for Scotland at Euro 96. He plays as a forward left and centre – which might mean that a front three could work with Laudrup on the other side.

He’s aggressive (17), determined (19), has good positioning, stamina and is good off the ball (all 16).

Shooting is a bit lower than I’d have hoped (11) for a main striker, but there’s enough other stats at a good level to mean he’s going to be a useful player for me who might be a regular starter depending on my tactical shape.

It’s hard to talk about Peter van Vossen without memories of that miss being projected within the brain. It’s a bit of a shame for the lad who was a good footballer.

His name transcended his talent onto the football pitches of Scotland after that miss with any shoddy shank deemed a Van Vossen.

The Dutch striker came to Rangers in 1996 with a good pedigree and having won the European Cup and having represented Holland at the 1994 World Cup and ultimately, at Euro 2000.

He’s currently manager at Fortuna Stittard.

In the game he’s a central striker and is in his prime at 28. His highest attribute is a 19 for stamina and he’s also highly regarded off the ball (18).

Determined, a good influence, with a good passing stat (14) and 15 for shooting. He’s a good option for up front.

Erik Bo was a good striker for the Gers, remembered for a double against Celtic in a new year old firm.

He’s also got neon red hair that would give Stuart McCall a run for his money in the most ginger stakes.

Injury plagued him throughout his career and after only one season he went back to Denmark. After he retired, he won an election to be a politician. Bit random, I can’t think of too many others – George Weah?

Right of the bat, he’s got a 19 for shooting which is great. He’s strong, good in the tackle (oddly), good at marking (again, odd) and is determined.

Outside of that he’s not blessed with a wide range of good stats.

He’s got an 8 for intelligence and for creativity. A 9 for stamina is a bit of a red flag meaning he might struggle over the course of a season.

It’ll be a long season, so I’m sure he’ll get some game time.

I think Darren is still playing in Nothern Ireland to this day. He’s a 17 year old striker.

I did a wee Wikipedia search for him and it pointed to the fact that he was part of the Coisty film ‘Shot To Glory’.

His stats are okay for a wee laddie. He might come good and I think from a really sketchy memory, he did. That won’t help me since I’m only sticking about for a season.

One team that has Gazza, God and Super. That’s one of the reasons I did this challenge.

Ally was there for me and my colleagues throughout the uncertainty of administration and everything that went with that.

He was an important part of the family at the club during my time (and before!) and I’ll never forget that, or him.

That aside, on the pitch what a player he was. 355 goals throughout his time at the club is a record that will probably never be broken.

A few years prior to this game, his stats would have been markedly better than they are now.

Nevertheless, he’s determined, he’s influential, he can header the ball, he’s got great positioning, shooting and technique.

I think his 19 for off the ball is the game trying to quantify the knack that Ally had for being in the right place at the right time – the kind of thing that you can’t teach, it’s just pure instinct.

The fact that he’s 33 might account for the 16 for injury proneness, but when he’s fit, I’ll be playing him because he’s Ally McCoist and he’s my favourite Rangers player ever.

So that’s that then. I know my squad pretty well now and the different options that I have.

Goram is my first choice keeper. My defence will be anchored by Alan McLaren. 

Midfield I have a blend of different players along with Gazza’s brilliance. Up top I have some fairly good players. And God. And Super.

Next up, I’ll either consider my tactics or look at some of the key players from the League that I’ll come up against and the players that joined the league in the summer of ‘96. 

But for now, here’s some 2Pac from that same year as has become tradition for these posts...

Let's show these fools how we do this on that west side Cause you and I know it's tha best side

Part 1: Preamble - LINK Part 2: Euro 96 - LINK Part 3: The Squad Part I - LINK Part 4: The Squad Part II - LINK

[rabboyle]

#GoingFor9IAR - Part 4 The Squad II

SEASON 2016/17 is the twenty year anniversary of the completion of Nine in a Row, won by that famous header from Brian Laudrup in Dundee in May 1997.

Can I do as Walter did and bring home the holy grail of the ninth league win with a squad creaking at the sides and battle weary after eight seasons of relentless winning?

So, I tried to do a single blog covering the whole Gers squad at my disposal as I try to secure 9IAR but ended up blethering too much about each player.

This instalment will pick up from there and look at the midfielders in the 96/97 Gers squad.

Once I’ve ran through the players, analysing – used in the loosest possible way – their strengths and weaknesses, I’ll get all Jonathan Wilson on your erses and consider the best tactics to use to maximise the skill in my team.

Here’s a reminder of the squad in full:

Let’s get going…

Midfielder Neil Murray was a youth prospect with the Gers before leaving during 1996. He left to join Sion in Switzerland before playing for Lorient in France, Dundee United, Mainz in Germany before finishing his career in Scotland at Falkirk and Ayr.

He would go on to become a scout at the club following his playing career which was curtailed due to problems with injury.

Those problems are front and centre in his profile here, with a massive 20 for injury proneness.

He’s the kind of player who could be of use as a right wing back in a formation with a back five, but I couldn’t rely on him to be fit or complete a game.

That’s a shame as his statistics are pretty good, with a 20 for tackling and for stamina including high numbers for determination, influence, intelligence and work off the ball.

Stuart McCall was a midfield dynamo. In fact, he is the definition of a midfield dynamo.

When you look it up, there should be a picture of McCall’s excellent flame red mullet hair staring right back at you.

In the game, he is 32 and plays as a defensive midfielder. He’s got 20s for both determination and tackling and a 19 for aggression – exactly what you’re looking for in a midfielder who will break up play and recycle the ball.

As with guys like Bomber and Gough in the last blog, it looks a little like he’s lacking in a few other areas which might be due to his advancing years within the game.

Not creative, not good at dribbling, no flair, no heading ability and a poor passer of the ball.

He’s got average stats for marking, which might affect picking up someone specific who may be playing in the opposition number 10 role.

Nevertheless, he’s a battler and I’m sure there’ll be games through the season where Stuart will be just the man I need to McCall upon.

Sorry about that joke. That was terrible.

McKnight only made one appearance for the Gers and he’s still playing to this day for Distillery in Norn Irn – according to Wikipedia.

He’s 19 in the game and has quite a mix of good attributes. Oddly, he is an excellent header of the ball, smart, great at set pieces and tackling.

I’ve no idea how you’d use someone with that mixture of key skills. Especially when they have a 1 for creativity and flair. A 2 for technique and a 4 for strength.

Sub him on for being in the box for corners and for taking free kicks? I dunno.

I probably won’t be giving him any starts.

Der Hammer. What a player the German was. A left foot like a heat seeking missile strapped to a derailed steam train (I don’t know what that means either).

He signed for the Gers in the summer of 1996 and when he did he had a penchant for a wee shell necklace as far as I can remember. He gave that necklace up and replaced it with a penchant for 20 fags a day, but my goodness could he play fitba.

Jorg signed from Hamburg – a club we share an excellent relationship with and a long history between fans – and in the game, he is a 25 year old defender/midfielder left.

He has a good range of attributes with pretty average scores. His highest are for aggression and determination but, to be brutally honest, I’m a wee bit disappointed with his profile.

He doesn’t compare well to David Robertson who would get in the team at left back ahead of him.

He could be useful if I end up playing a four in midfield and need someone for that side of the pitch to play in front of Robertson.

I’d expect his statistics to improve to make him a really good player, but that probably won’t happen through this single season to try to win 9IAR.

There’s no way I won’t play him throughout the season though, he’s a good option to have on rotation.

I will not hide the fact that I love Ian Durrant. 

I have massive respect for this man and he embodies Rangers. He’s the Rangers fan who lived the dream during his time at the club.

But for his injury, he would have been one of the best midfielders in Europe and one of the finest Scottish and Rangers players we’ve seen in a generation. I think he was genuinely that good.

I’ve been lucky enough to be on the touchline whilst he is coaching and barking instructions to players on the pitch and shoot the breeze with him over a cold one (or two) and he is infinitely knowledgeable and insightful.

In the game he is 29 and has a good range of statistics. He has a 20 for determination and that’s spot on. Anyone who came back from the injuries that he did and had the career that he did needs to have an iron will.

That’s of course balanced by his 16 for injury proneness which means I couldn’t build a midfield around him as he might not always be available for selection.

He’s got a good influence rating, but more importantly, he’s great off the ball, great at passing, good from set pieces and has a good positional sense.

He’s Ian Durrant, he’ll do for me. Shame the game spelled his name incorrectly.

I should probably have included 23 year old Gary Bollan within my look at the defenders in retrospect as that’s what I remember him as.

I remember him having a panicked look in his face for his team headshot too for some reason. Weird.

Bollan looks like he’d be a good option for left back. He’s strong, he’s determined, he’s got good stamina and is a good marker that can tackle well.

I’d maybe use him as a back up to Robertson ahead of Albertz in truth.

He is probably a good balance to Craig Moore who is also a more defensive minded full back.

Derek McInness is a solid citizen midfielder.

That’s my memory of him as a player too. He was an old fashioned player in the middle of the park, balanced and doing all aspects of the position adequately.

His statistics kind of point to that too. He’s a wee bit creative. He’s good at marking. He’s good at tackling and passing.

Del will be a good option to have from the bench and to use on rotation in the centre of the park. He’s also a very dapper looking gentleman.

I once did a pub quiz with Charlie Miller in Tally’s in Dundee. I wish I could remember the team name. 

I remember he was wearing glasses and didn’t really look like what I thought footballers should look like. He was really good during his time at Dundee United too.

He was a bit of a regular at the boozer during the week when I was a student up in the Dee. Top bloke is our Charlie.

He was also pretty handy on the football pitch and perhaps doesn’t get the kind of credit that he should for his performances for the Gers in what was a very talented team.

A product of the Gers youth academy, Miller won the league on five occasions with the Light Blues which is not too shabby at all.

In the game, he’s a 20 year old centre midfielder and who is highly creative.

He’s got a 17 for passing and for creativity. He’s got 16 for flair, pace and set pieces with good stats for intelligence, stamina and his positioning. Most importantly, he’s got an 18 for technique.

Depending on how I end up lining up, he might be a very useful player in the midfield and one who would undoubtedly improve with game time.

Ferguson is one of three players who played a part in every season of 9IAR and he will do so for me in this game too.

Signed from St Mirren for £850,000 in 1988, Ferguson was an integral cog in everything good that the Gers did throughout his time at the club.

His stats are really good for a battling midfielder in the game with 20s for both off the ball and tackling.

He’s determined, he’s influential, he’s smart, fast, with excellent stamina and positioning. However, he has an injury proneness rating of 18, so he might not be dependable for the whole season – much like Durrant.

It’s Gazza in his pomp. Oh my. One of the reasons I was excited about doing this challenge and writing these blogs.

I don’t need to give you any kind of patter about Paul Gascoigne, you know who he is. You know just how good he was on a football pitch.

He’s got in jury proneness of 16, but when he’s fit, he’s going to be playing in the number 8 jersey for me.

His profile shows statistics that are comparable with any player, in any team, in the game.

20s for creativity, determination, flair, passing, set pieces and technique, plus a 19 for dribbling (19! Is there anyone better at dribbling with the ball!)

Simply, I can’t wait to get going and playing games with Gazza in my team.

My only potential problems are 1) keeping him fit and 2) making sure someone doesn’t buy him or unsettle him, as I’m sure the buzzards will be circling.

In general, that’s a very good spread of talent in midfield.

Youth mixed with experience. Flair blended with grit.

I’m pretty happy with my options in the engine room.

Tomorrow, or whenever I write again, I’ll look at my options going forward from the wings and up front.

I’ll bring the curtain down on this instalment with yet another tune from 1996 and today it’s a song that I remember writing the words out to on pieces of paper so I could learn every lyric.

It’s Coolio before he was bonkers and it’s Gangsta’s Paradise.

I’m the kinda G the little homies wanna be like

On my knees in the night saying prayers in the streetlight

Part 1: Preamble - LINK Part 2: Euro 96 - LINK Part 3: The Squad Part I - LINK Part 4: The Squad Part II - LINK

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#GoingFor9IAR - Part 3 The Squad

SEASON 2016/17 is the twenty year anniversary of the completion of Nine in a Row, won by that famous header from Brian Laudrup in Dundee in May 1997.

Can I do as Walter did and bring home the holy grail of the ninth league win with a squad creaking at the sides and battle weary after eight seasons of relentless winning?

And so, the Euros are over and it’s nearly time to get down to business. But what kind of a squad is at the Gers?

We know that Walter Smith signed Joachim Bjorklund and Jorg Albertz. 

Later in the season, the silver fox brought Chilean Sebastien Rozenthal, goalkeeper Andy Dibble and club legend Mark Hateley - but that’s another story.

Here’s what we’ve got at the club for the season. 

QPR won’t sell me Hateley and Sebastian Rozenthal isn’t in the game database - the lads at Championship Manager were a few years away from having obscure Chilean striker prospects in the game.

Championship Manager 2 has squads up to the size of 30, as you can see above.

Before I decide on what kind of formation I will need for the season to secure 9IAR - pretty sure there isn’t a give-the-ball-to-Gazza-and-God tactic default in the game - I’ll need to understand what I have to work with from within the squad.

So this blog will do just that, looking through the squad and finding the strengths and weaknesses of each player.

Up first, the keepers.

GOALKEEPERS

I think it’s pretty obvious that The Goalie is going to start between the sticks for me when he’s fit. 

He’s one of my favourite all time Gers players and (in my opinion) one of the truly world class players we’ve had at Ibrox in the last 30 years.

The game has a sense of humour too as this was who was interested in him when I started the game…

Goram is 32 in the game which is peak time for a keeper. 

20′s for shot stopping, influence and rushing out are spot on. Goram was one of the best in the business when one on one with a player and it’s reflected in his stats.

He’s determined, great in the dressing room, smart and has great technique. He’s my number one.

Theo Snelders is 32 and joined the club as a backup following an eight year spell at Aberdeen where he had replaced their club legend Jim Leighton.

He’s smart, an excellent shot stopper and has some influence but hey, he isn’t the goalie.

DEFENDERS

Oz joined the club as a youth player and prior to this season, he’d featured around thirty times for the club, making 23 appearances in 1993/94 and 14 in 1994/95.

Moore would make 31 appearances for the Light Blues in the 9IAR season, so he was clearly an important player throughout the season.

Looking at his stats, he has 20s for determination and for tackling. He’s also got 19s for heading and stamina, with an 18 for marking.

He has some excellent defensive statistics, but lacks a bit in terms of pace and dribbling, meaning he wouldn’t really be suitable for an attacking full back. 

Moore would obviously go on to play most of his football as a centre half and I think that’s reflected in these stats.

Ultimately, he’s a very talented 20 year old in the game who will undoubtedly feature throughout the season. Perhaps as a defensive right back or even as the right sided player in a back three.

Blonde curtains. Ears.

Next up is 25 year old Stephen Wright joined the club in 1995 for £1.5 million, form Aberdeen.

He didn’t really play much for the club, making only a handful of appearances before being loaned to Wolves and ultimately sold to Bradford.

Wright is aggressive, determined, strong, smart with good positioning. He’s got mid-teens for the majority of those and looks like an able back up option at right back if needed. He won’t start.

Bomber is 34 in the game and can play on the left or at the centre of defence. In the real world, he didn’t feature for the Gers in the 9IAR season. 

Seeing the big (no caps) beside his country reminds me just how bonkers it is that a player of his calibre never represented his country - he was a top, top player and fierce competitor.

Would have been nice to have an attribute that said, “ability to demand deeds 20″.

Brown is all about the tackle, with that his only 20. He has 15s for both determination and heading, but the rest of his stats represent a player in the final stages of his playing career.

I loved David Robertson when he played for Rangers. He made 28 starts in 96/97, so he was very much in Walter’s plans for the season.

From my memory of the time, he was a player ahead of his time, bombing forward at any and all opportunity - not dissimilar to our own Lee Wallace in truth.

In 1996, Robertson was 27 and actually coming to the end of his time at the club. He would go on to play with Leeds after leaving the Gers, but he never hit the heights of his time at the Light Blues again due to injury.

Nevertheless, looking at his stats, he’s a very capable left back.

He’s not got the pace that I remember, only 13, but he’s determined (20), has great stamina, strength and tackling. 

He’s also got a pretty high shooting score of 17 which is always handy, especially if he gets forward in the way I remember him doing.

There’s only an 11 for marking and a 9 for off the ball which would maybe be a bit concerning for a central defender, but given everything else he has in his locker, I think he is probably in there with a strong shout for being my starting left back.

The Lionheart, in his testimonial year. He’s 34 in the game, but he’s Richard Gough. He made over 40 appearances for the Gers in this season, so he was vital for Walter Smith and his club captain.

The no caps for Scotland thing is a bit wonky as he served his country well, no idea what’s happened there within the game.

Looking at his stats, what we can see is something similar to Bomber Brown. He’s determined, he’s a big influence. He’s excellent in the air, has great positioning and is strong in the tackle.

However, he’s not that quick, with pace of 11 and has poor stats for stamina and strength (11). He has an injury proneness of 10, so if he played he’s likely to pick up some injuries through the season.

Undoubtedly, I’ll be playing Richard Gough through the season but whether he starts regularly is another thing altogether. 

Big Yugoslav Petric joined the club for the eight in a row season and played most of the season for Smith and the Gers.

He played 38 times for the club in season 1996/87 for the club and was clearly important to the team.

I don’t ever remember seeing him being interviewed but I don’t imagine him saying very much and being the guy you would hate to be stuck next to on a bus on a long journey. 

He was probably a lovely chap in real life too.

His highest stats are for strength and tackling, with many of the other key attributes for a defender fairly average.

Given the quality of several of the other defenders at the club within the game, it might be a push to play Petric very often, however that could change with injuries and depending on the formation I end up playing with.

Swedish centre half ‘Jocky’ was one of Walter Smith’s marquee signings for the 9IAR season from Vicenza.

He played 40 times in his debut season for the club and was a very decent signing for the Gers.

In the game he is 25 years old and uncapped and looks like the fourth member of a Swedish Eurovision entry.

His stats are okay. They’re a bit unerwhelming and meh. He’s the kind of player who might improve into real quality in a few seasons, but I’m not bothered by that as all I want to do is win 9IAR.

If I was playing for longer than one season, I might play him pretty regularly to make sure he blossoms, however necessity may overcome that as I just focus on winning games of football. 

To be honest, that was what the season was all about in the real world too.

He’s good at marking, he’s got good positioning, good stamina, tackling and is determined.

I’m now kind of talking myself into considering him for a starting position, but we’ll see how it pans out tactically.

He’s the man who would captain the Rangers side on the day that 9IAR was one. He would also interestingly and tragically never play another game of football following that season owing to injury.

He played 20 times during the trophy winning campaign of 96/97, but from looking at those stats, he might be playing a heck of a lot more for me.

 A 20 for determination. Strong in the tackle, excellent stamina, good positioning, an 18 for heading and is aggressive.

He’ll do for me as the rock of my central defence.

Right, I’d intended to go through the whole squad in this blog but I’ve blethered more than I expected about each player.

What I’ll do is put a pin in this for now and make the next piece about midfielders and attackers or maybe one separate for each. We’ll see.

Jings, I better change the title. Ach nah, it’s fine.

Well done if you made it this far through the blog without closing it to be fair. Gold star for you.

I’ll finish the blog with a cracking tune released in 1996, might make that a regular thing.

“Player, give me some brew and I might just chill”

Part 1: Preamble - LINK Part 2: Euro 96 - LINK Part 3: The Squad Part I - LINK Part 4: The Squad Part II - LINK

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#GoingFor9IAR - Part 2 Euro96

SEASON 2016/17 is the twenty year anniversary of the completion of Nine in a Row, won by that famous header from Brian Laudrup in Dundee in May 1997.

Can I do as Walter did and bring home the holy grail of the ninth league win with a squad creaking at the sides and battle weary after eight seasons of relentless winning?

And so it begins.

It’s the summer of 1996 and across the UK, important events such as the cloning of Dolly the sheep, the Spice Girls unleashing Wannabe (and themselves) onto the world, the Atlanta Olympics and Alan Shearer becoming the worlds most expensive player following his £15m move from Blackburn to Newcastle were unfolding.

Euro 96 has finished. 

Gazza is returning to a dressing room ready to rip right into Andy Goram for that goal he scored against him at Wembley which was followed by that celebration.

The Light Blues had seven players at the competition held in England.

Paul Gascoigne was representing England, Stuart McCall, Ally McCoist, Andy Goram and Gordon Durie were there for Scotland and Brian Laudrup and Erik Bo Anderson were there for Denmark.

We’ll check out their profiles in another blog.

There was another seven players who would go on to play for Rangers at the tournament in England.

A 24 year old Ronald de Boer, still at Ajax and who had just missed out on winning a second straight European Cup, was there with Holland along with a 26 year old Arthur Numan of PSV.

Looking at the stats below, he’s really creative, highly intelligent, with excellent passing, technique and a good shot. Sounds about right.

Arthur looks every bit the solid citizen at full back that any club would love to have. Numan in his pomp was simply one of the best left backs in the world.

Richard Witschge who had a trial for Alex McLeish as a veteran midfielder at Rangers was also at the tournament for Guus Hiddink’s side.

Colin Hendry was the man who spun like a top on the turf at Wembley, dizzied by the skills of Gazza and he would go on to join the Gers two years later in 1998.

Determined. Heeder a brick wall to get the ball. Highly influential. Tough in the tackle and excellent positioning. 

If we could remake Colin Hendry he’d be exactly what Mark Warburton should be signing this summer! That said, he’s be worth a fair few pound too.

That ghost that is Daniel Prodan was at the tournament with Romania and impressed so much so that he was eventually signed by the Gers two years later and never make an appearance.

Not sure I want to comment on Prodan. His injury proneness of 5 does make me chuckle.

Rangers were linked with a move for silver haired Italian striker Fabritzio Ravanelli in the summer of 1996 but a move didn’t materialise and he joined the revolution happening at Middlesbrough.

He would go on to don the dark blue of Dundee in 2003 during an ill-fated spell for both the club and for the player.

What a signing he would have been if it had came off. Very highly regarded within the game. 

Determined, influential, great off the ball, good at shooting with good technique and a lot of stamina.

A 27 year old Andrei Kanchelskis was at the tournament with Russia and was with Everton having finished his time destroying the English Premier League with Manchester United. 

Andrei is great at dribbling and has electric pace. Good technique and filled with flair. 

He’d have 20s for saluting whilst being stood on the ball and superfluous spins too if he could.

He would go on to play for Fiorentina before making his way to Govan to play for the Light Blues in 1998.

The final future Gers player at the Euros was Ibrox fan favourite Tugay. 

The 25 year old midfielder was at Galatasaray for the tournament where he would stay for another three seasons before joining the Gers in 1999.

Tugay as a right sided attacking midfielder and forward is a little bit lost on me. He was a diminutive passing genius in my memory - maybe this ain’t the same guy.

Scotland were typically Scottish at the tournament in truth. Their group stage matches kicked off with a goalless draw against Holland, before that famous 2-0 defeat to the English.

Ally McCoist scored the only goal of the final game in a 1-0 victory over Switzerland with an excellent strike for the national side to finish the group stage on four points, tied with Holland.

However, a single consolation goal scored by Patrick Kluivert in a 4-1 defeat to England meant that the Scots crashed out.

The tournament itself was won by Germany against the Czech Republic thanks to a brace from Oliver Bierhoff, cancelling out a penalty by Patrick Berger.

In the real world, the Gers travelled to Denmark for a series of friendlies and also played in a testimonial for club legend Richard Gough.

All that stuff was real. Now, lets kick off the land of make believe.

The game starts in August with the first match of the season a European Cup qualifier against a random team (more about that in a subsequent blog).

Walter Smith moved to add to his squad in the summer by adding Swedish centre half Joachim Bjorklund and German left sided midfielder Jorg Albertz.

Subsequent transfers throughout the season saw Andy Dibble, Mark Hateley and Sebastien Rozenthal bolster the ranks - a look at their profiles to come in subsequent blogs.

Here’s the Rangers squad in full for season 1996/97. 

In the next blog of this series, I’ll either dive straight in and work through the squad showing some player screenshots and discuss the first match of my tenure in European competition, or look at some of the players that joined other Scottish clubs in the summer of 1996.

Probably the latter. Anyway, until next time...

Part 1: Preamble - LINK Part 2: Euro 96 - LINK Part 3: The Squad Part I - LINK Part 4: The Squad Part II - LINK

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#GoingFor9IAR - Part 1 Preamble

SEASON 2016/17 is the twenty year anniversary of the completion of Nine in a Row, won by that famous header from Brian Laudrup in Dundee in May 1997. 

Can I do as Walter did and bring home the holy grail of the ninth league win with a squad creaking at the sides and battle weary after eight seasons of relentless winning?

I’m a bit of a geek who has always played and loved the Championship Manager/Football Manager series, since Championship Manager Italia way back in 1993 when I was but a spotty teenager of eleven.

I fell in love with the transfer system more than anything else, something that lives with me to this day when I binge on every new Football Manager game in the series through the dark winter nights.

I love nothing more than clicking my through the database like a robot, looking at players from around the world and weighing up variables of player age, attribute scores out of twenty, their positions in more.

All in the hope of finding the next Tonton Zola Mokouko, Cherno Samba, Kennedy Bakircioglu or well, Lionel Messi.

Rangers is my work. Rangers is my passion. 

Therefore, when planning for what to do to mark it through this coming season, my brain meandered to the annoyingly addictive series of articles by Iain Macintosh on The Set Pieces where he took control of Everton and played CM 01/02 in the (thus far) vain hope of winning silverware. 

They were like crack to me.

So, I decided to mark the anniversary of the Gers winning 9IAR by stealing Iain’s idea seeing if I can mimic the master Walter Smith and bring home that legendary ninth league trophy in a row within Championship Manager 2 (1996/97).

I’ve found a copy of the game on the fail-safe world wide web and I’m going to play a season with the primary goal of winning the league. Anything else I can do throughout the season is a bonus.

I aim to write an update for every month of the season (plus maybe a few bits more here and there) and will publish them here on this blog.

The parameters I’ve very loosely at the start are that I can’t add anyone to the squad who didn’t play as part of that squad in that season.

Part two will take a look at the Gers players who played during Euro 96, the future Gers at the tournament and a little more.

Here’s a sneak peak at the Gers squad, a few pretty tidy players there...

This is going to be fun.

Part 1: Preamble - LINK Part 2: Euro 96 - LINK Part 3: The Squad Part I - LINK Part 4: The Squad Part II - LINK

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Aberdeen’s season ticket campaign revolving around a simple strapline:  "To be inspired is great, to inspire is incredible"

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Celtic's season ticket campaign for 2015/15 centres around the fans being "The Sound of Celtic". A nice creative of a fan montage making up different players and the manager. Also keeping the trend for clubs to have landing pages with unique URLs to match the campaign. In terms of pricing, there's a series of tiers and price points for younger fans plus the addition of a competition and fan benefits.

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Consistency. Southampton have been upping their social media game this season and one of the key elements they have is that everything looks the same. The diagonal block is consistent in all of their imagery and is undoubtedly a series of saved Photoshop templates that can be created quickly when required. One advantage is that even if images created by the club are used by fans or non-official accounts, their provenance is obvious.

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Kilmarnock season ticket campaign 2015/16.

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Swansea’s season ticket renewal campaign. Lots of drones. I wonder if that’ll be a theme this summer.

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Nearly organised images. Would be great for retail on Instagram.

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More Bournemouth

Some nice imagery on display (plus some nice partnership activation!) for social media posts asking for retweets to vote.

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Bournemouth Matchday Programme Is A Bit Different