Scottish football's connection to Serie A is about to grow stronger with Josh Doig and Lewis Ferguson set to land deals with Italian clubs. After the success of Aaron Hickey at Bologna, Hotline callers believe it's a sign of good health in our game that our young players are now being tracked across the continent.
Paul Walker, Glasgow , said: "It's great to see young Scottish players now being sought after by teams on the continent. Doig's imminent move to Verona and Ferguson's Bologna switch is a positive sign for our game. Hickey has set the trend and he's shown our young players it's good to broaden their horizons."
Andy Innes, Perth , said: "It's been a long time since we've had so many young Scottish players being in-demand by foreign clubs and it's good to see. We don't sell ourselves as well as we should be doing when it comes to our best young talent and I've no doubt we have more youngsters capable of playing in the Italian top-flight and beyond."
Craig Adams, Edinburgh said: "As a Hibs fan, I'm disappointed to see Doig leave but an initial fee of £3million is decent value and if he does well then there will be more to come. Hickey showed what can be achieved by landing a £19million move to Brentford and both Doig and Ferguson can further their careers in a similar way."
Giovanni van Bronckhorst may not have implemented a royal blue version of 'Angeball' at Ibrox, but Gers fans are more than happy with how things are going, according to John Bruce, who emailed: "In a very short time in management terms, van Bronckhorst did a remarkable job at Rangers last season.
"He didn't reinvent the way football is played and come up with 'Gio-ball'. But Rangers fans are more than happy with the way he brought us the Scottish Cup, as well as taking us to a Europa League Final and gaining respect from across the continent along the way, without spending tens of millions of pounds to do so.
"Gio's only blip was taking his eye off the ball in the league to hook bigger fish in a bigger pond in Europe. I'm sure he'll have learned from that for next season and now that his transfer strategy has started to kick in, in a big way, it certainly looks like he has."
And there are suspicions that there was more to Saturday's floodlight farce against Sunderland than meets the eye. Tam Williamson, Lanarkshire , theorised: "The floodlight failure during the Rangers against Sunderland match has obviously been an inside job as the perpetrators must have thought to themselves, 'we have seen enough of this."
Stephen Johnstone, Ardentinny, said : "The light went out when Rangers played Sunderland but the power cut did them a favour and if they keep playing like this they will be wishing for more power cuts."
Antonio Colak's well-travelled career has some fans questioning whether he's all that. Jim McClean, Rothesay , said: "This great signing Rangers have made in bringing Antonio Colak to the club has made me laugh.
"He is only 28 years old but has had eleven teams in his career already. Does that not tell you something? Not many teams wanted him to stay for very long."
Scott Brown's lack of impact at Aberdeen has also come under fire after claims he'd prove a thorn in Rangers' side in red after years of being just that in the green and white hoops. George Wilson, West Sussex : "Hotline caller Gordon Ashley reminded us how he forecast that Scott Brown would be instrumental in Rangers' downfall last season whilst playing for Aberdeen.
"It’s difficult to keep up and remember all his nonsense. What I do remember clearly was last year he said Rangers would fold after Christmas and Celtic would win ten-in-a-row. Rangers were unbeaten and won the league by 25 points. More recently he said Calvin Bassey would only fetch £8 million in the transfer market. Let’s see how that one goes."
Gary Stevenson, Newtonhill, said: "How long must we have to read the drivel from Gordon Ashley? To claim that Brown was the most influential player in Scotland last year is something which the good people of Aberdeen might disagree with. He seems to have found his level in the football backwater of Hartlepool. Perhaps it's time he concentrated on his own side and left his fascination with all things Rangers to us."
Celtic look set to beat their rivals to the signing of St Mirren starlet Dylan Reid. But one Rangers fan would like to see chairman John Needham be as transparent about that deal as he was with previous comments regarding the Ibrox faithful. Drew Ferguson, Oban , said: "After past unbiased comments from the St Mirren chairman John Needham about Rangers fans, could he enlighten me as to the offer that was rejected from Rangers with regards to Dylan Reid. I would rather find out now before various tweets and emails surface in the future."
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