Thistle do not so nicely

Credit to Rangers for taking time out of their busy schedule of self-implosion to play us in our third Scottish pre-season friendly on Tuesday night - the first we've failed to win.

The fixture doesn't present anything like the test it might have done in years gone by, with the side described by Charles Green as the worst in the club's history (much to manager Ally McCoist's anger) languishing in the third tier of Scottish football and fresh from a humiliating first-round League Cup exit at the hands of Forfar. So it was somewhat embarrassing that we turned in a poor display and only managed to salvage a draw thanks to a last-minute strike from substitute Big Lad - even more so when you consider that we began the game with arguably our first-choice XI.

While Paul Dummett appears to find himself in the first-team picture, replacing Davide Santon shortly after the hour mark at Ibrox, fellow former St Mirren loanee Conor Newton doesn't - and indeed, as I'd anticipated, has just headed back to the Buddies on loan until the new year. There's been reports of them temporarily recruiting striker Adam Campbell too - which, again, would be a good deal for all concerned - and Newton has been talking them up in the hope that he'll end up playing alongside another club colleague north of the border.

Pies and pie charts

That prodigious gut indicates that Jabba is fond of pies - though he seems to be as keen to put his fingers in them as to stuff them down his gullet. Last week financial regulations forced Rangers to reveal that he is the club's third largest shareholder, with 8.9%. So, fans of the fallen giants, you'd better get used to the idea of playing at the Sports Direct Arena because there's no doubting he's got substantial clout.

As we've said before, the potential for distraction and loss of focus is a bit concerning - particularly with a critical transfer window fast approaching.

SDA ya ken?

According to the Daily Heil, Jabba is in talks with Scottish tax dodgers Rangers about renaming Ibrox as the Sports Direct Arena.

Given Jabba's business model of piling cheap sportswear high and selling it off cheap, one can only speculate why he thinks he'll find a target market in Glasgow.

Joking aside, for Rangers fans worried/angered by this move, as Newcastle demonstrated the reality is that while some sections of the media will inevitably embrace the rebranding, for every football fan Ibrox will remain Ibrox, in the same way that St James' Park remained the same, regardless of the name which was officially stuck on the wall outside.

If it brings in some cash which helps Rangers climb back to the top flight of Scottish football, then from their perspective it might be worth the sacrifice.

Jabba's Rangers rescue

So, what to make of Jabba's reported investment in Rangers? It's too soon to comment at length, but perhaps a few initial thoughts might be justified.

On the one hand, he deserves great credit for the way he's reversed and rectified decades of financial mismanagement, and what he does with his money is his own business. On the other hand, that doesn't stop me from feeling unhappy at our owner helping to prop up a club who find themselves in dire straits through their own shameful misconduct.

There's no direct conflict of interest in that the two clubs are in different leagues and the possibility of them meeting in European competition looks remote, at least for the next two or three seasons. However, Jabba's interest in Rangers does become an issue if it starts to interfere with his day job at the helm of Newcastle - and, given the conspicuous absence of notable arrivals over the course of the summer, it might be suggested that he should be devoting all of his energies to our cause rather than allowing himself to be diverted to that of another club.

Add to that the fact that there's talk of Rangers borrowing up to nine of our players. What purpose would be served by sending our youngsters to play in the fourth tier of Scottish football? While the benefits to Rangers are obvious, they certainly aren't so to us. Unless, perhaps, the arrangement hints at plans to establish Rangers as a feeder club. The issue has been raised in connection to the Pozzos' recent takeover of Watford - new manager Gianfranco Zola denied that was the intention, though the Hornets then borrowed no fewer than five players from the Pozzos' Italian and Spanish sides Udinese and Granada respectively. I can imagine how Rangers fans might feel about the prospect of being nothing more than a breeding ground for talent which we then hoover up (or a dumping ground for our development squad) - and I doubt many of our fans would be too comfortable with it either.