Big Bougherra

Bougherra had to ability to be world class and bottom of the class in the same game. Remember his clearance off the line in the first game last season against Aberdeen? Absolutely brilliant. Then remember his attempted clearance in the 1-0 Old Firm cup replay as Papac lay unconscious on the goal line? The fat boogherra went up in instalments.

Bougherras been working his ticket since he arrived.

Good player when his head is in the game. Unfortunately his heads been elsewhere for the last year and a half.

Lets get a centre back who just wants to defend and spend a bit of extra cash on a proper winger who can go charging up and down the touchline.

Bougherras runs were entertaining at first but fairly quickly became tiresome, risky and counter-productive.

If yuo read the article, yuo can see why he wasn't offered a 5-year deal...
It simply wouldn't have been worth the piece of paper it was written on, as from the other comments he's given, he was clearly hawkinh himself around other clubs for months or even years now.
You reward LOYALTY with the same in return.
You don't reward someone who is only staying because he's got nowhere better to go...

That being said, had he not been up to the shenanigans that have put the fans right off him, he would have been one of the first guys I would tie up on a long-term deal.
He was at his peak a couple of season back when he got named in the Champions League team of the week for 3 weeks in a row.
Back then he was looking every part an £8m defender.
Looking at him now, he wasn't worth any more than £3m or so, even with more time on his current deal.
He let his ego get in the way of doing his job, and you could clearly see that Walter had even had a word with other guys in the squad to stop him going on the mazy runs...
They were a treat to watch when they came good, but 3 out of 4, were handing an opportunity to the opposition.
He would normally take the 1-2 and shimmy past a few players on the way to a great shot at goal.
By the end of his time, you could see him breaking out of defence and noone would pass back to him for the 1-2.
Things could have been very different, but he clearly thought he was too good for Rangers, and as it turns out, he isn't

I think people are being a bit harsh on him actually… yes it is ridiculous for those outside the game to see players complaining about contracts that are thousands of pounds a week – but football is different from other jobs. The money is simply outlandish to those looking in at it – but on the inside it is not unlike other jobs – where you want to be paid what you feel
you are worth.

As for rewarding loyalty with loyalty… I am not really sure I agree with that completely… the club has to do what is right for the club. That may mean selling a player, or not renewing a contract – in spite of the player’s loyalty in the past.

Also – even if he had been wanting other clubs to come in and buy him – extending his contract still would have been sensible. He wouldn’t have stayed for the entire term of it - but it would have added to the money we could have got for him!

With regards his ability – his head being on it or not on it is a bit of a cliché, I’d say that he has consistently been one of the top performers for the club, yes he’s made a few errors of judgment, but on the whole he was superb.

Looking forward to seeing Bartley more this season though in his place!

Its not harsh at all because he is prob earning about 15000+ he is just greedy like every other player

sad to see boogie go. His mazy runs were exciting. Quite extraordinary for a cb.

We were right to sell now tho, rather than lose him in 12 months for nothing. We did that with too many players.

He is a typical arrogant Frenchman. Loves himself and thinks we should all do the same. That interview with him is shocking and his legacy will be his cr@@p attitude, not how good or not he was. Good riddance.

Quite right to sell now – I’m a little bit surprised we got that much though!

And it is a bit harsh judging him as greedy… the fact that it is £15k a week he is already on isn’t really the point is it? Yes to us it seems like a lot of money, and most of us who aren’t on that sort of money would be happy and settle for that – but in football the numbers are ridiculous and you can earn more.

He isn’t a Glaswegian… and it’s not like he was a fan of the club before he joined… he signed for money remember, we had to buy him – he didn’t come for the love of the team! So I think labelling him as greedy is a bit harsh. It’s a capitalist world… and being a footballer is a job.

Are all the players we sign for more money than they are on just greedy? Surely we rely on greed being a factor for players that’s why we offer them more than most other SPL teams!

I'm not saying he was a total boaby or anything...we'll still miss him greatly. IMO, he's been in the top 2 or 3 players at the club every season he's played here, so we will definitely miss him.
Had it not been for the fact he was openly hawking himself around other clubs, you can live with the turning up days late from international duty, and the mince attitude he sometimes had.
He was a good player, and 95% of the time he had the right mentality and had a good game.
The last thing you want tohear as a fan of any football club though, is that he had 4 agents on the case trying to secure him a move away, yet he was upset when we only offered him a 2 year extension.
He had already made it clear he wanted to leave, so who wants to stand in the way of that?

Thanks for the good times, there were plenty of them.
At the same time, it's somewhat satisfying to see that his hawking only got him as far as a Qatari club

It’s funny because I look at it the other way around. The hawking around I am not as bothered by – he can be trying to get into an EPL team if he likes… it could even have a positive impact for the club, his performances could improve as he seeks to impress – and of course the money from the sale would be welcome.

So long as he is professional and serves the club while he is there I don’t really care. Yes it’s not good to hear he was so desperate to leave but, he was a top performer for us.

The coming back late from international duty annoys me more – it’s unprofessional and utterly disrespectful to the club and his teammates.

So yeah – thanks for the good performances – and thanks for the hawking… it got us loads of money