Rangers FC

Alarm bells go off as Pundit notes senior Rangers ‘Flagged Up’ indications of ‘disagreement’ in the locker room.

Published

2 months ago

September 9, 2024

John Souttar may have revealed disharmony in the Rangers dressing room amid a rough start to the season off the back of a frustrating summer, fears Derek Ferguson.

The Gers centre-back gave awkward answers in his press conference duty on 16 August in which he showed signs of discomfort in answering questions about how long the side would take to be up to speed under Philippe Clement.

And Ferguson isn’t surprised to see signs of something being amiss behind the scenes when he had also detected potential issues from watching the players during a run of poor preseason results.

He exclusively told Ibrox News: “There could be, and the reason I’m saying that is because I watched all the preseason games and at times you look at the body language of the players and it didn’t look too clever to me in certain games.

“So that flagged up for me. And this is an experienced player that’s been around the block so there might be a little bit of a disagreement there.

“Sometimes you keep that in house and you’ve just got to box clever when you’re speaking to the press. It just sets alarm bells ringing a little bit.”

“But sometimes you just get a sense that everything ain’t rosy. Just watching games and watching them out there at times, the relationships between the players, cameradery, I don’t know, it’s just not quite there.

“We’re struggling in so many departments. It’s all doom and gloom with me but it’s quite scary when you look at the position that Rangers are in at the moment.

Rangers defeat at Celtic piles more pressure on at Ibrox

Ferguson was already worried about what he’d seen from the players and the manager before the campaign kicked off and the stuttering start to the season will have only added to that.

Souttar was understandably morose after the controversial exit from Champions League qualifying, but seemed to indicate a lack of belief in the current operation when quizzed on his manager’s plans.

Any positivity that was subsequently built up by the 6-0 win over Ross County on 24 August and some late movement in the transfer market since then was comprehensively blown away by a dismal loss at Celtic on 1 September straight after the widow closed.

Clement had suggested it would be weeks into the season before his work-in-progress side was firing on all cylinders, and after the Parkhead defeat pointed to the first return at Ibrox in January as the time to pass real judgment.

But if there are problems behind the scenes there is still the possibility that things could get worse between now and then.

Rangers frustration as offer to reverse Ibrox fixture ‘rebuffed’ – full list of SPFL amendments including ‘unusual’ Sunday slot

Glasgow road closures impact on SPFL schedule

Rangers have expressed frustration after one of their fixtures was moved to an 8pm kick-off on a Sunday.

The William Hill Premiership match against St Johnstone due to be played on Sunday, October 6, has been pushed back to the later time due to the Great Scottish Run taking place in Glasgow on the same day.

Road closures around the southside of the city mean that Ibrox will be unable to safely and efficiently host 45,000 spectators for a traditional afternoon kick-off.

Rangers had been willing to reverse the fixture to McDiarmid Park in order to maintain an earlier kick-off, but those advances were turned down.

A club statement read: “Rangers put forward a number of alternative options including an earlier kick-off and a fixture reversal, but all were rebuffed by the other stakeholders involved.

“Playing on the Saturday is not feasible given our match with Lyon takes place on the Thursday evening, while the Monday evening is also not possible with that falling in the international window.

“The club is fully cognisant of the inconvenience this will cause to many of our supporters, and we share in your frustration at this situation.

“We will continue to engage with stakeholders including public transport providers and Glasgow City Council, and update supporters on access plans and routes closer to the match taking place.”

The match, which has been selected for live coverage on Premier Sports, is among several fixtures to be given new dates and times by the SPFL.

A total of 13 matches have been moved to Sundays following publication of the fixture lists for UEFA group stage competitions, while broadcast selections have been made for the weekends of September 28/29 and October 5/6.

Sky Sports will show Rangers v Hibs on Sunday, September 29 and Ross County v Celtic on Sunday October 6. Both games will kick off at 12 noon.

Premier Sports will have live coverage of St Johnstone v Celtic on Saturday September 28, kick-off 5.45pm, and the aforementioned Rangers v St Johnstone fixture.

SPFL Chief Operating Officer Calum Beattie: “I would like to place on record my thanks to the two clubs and all other stakeholders for their assistance throughout this process to enable the Rangers v St Johnstone match to take place on its scheduled weekend.

“The congested nature of the fixture list, compounded by the additional UEFA matchdays this season, is not without its challenges. We appreciate this is an unusual fixture slot for an SPFL match but our options were very limited.

“We are pleased to announce that Premier Sports will cover the match on the Sunday evening, ensuring that any supporters who are not able to attend on a Sunday evening will be able to watch the match live on Premier Sports. Travel information for supporters will be released by Rangers and St Johnstone ahead of the match.”