Rangers

Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton believes Celtic are out of the Scottish Premiership title race and fancies his old club to win the league. This season has been one for the ages as Hearts, Rangers and Celtic are all competing for the title. It’s tight at the top as Derek McInnes’ men are two points ahead of the Light Blues and five ahead of the Parkhead club. The Hoops’ title hopes took a massive blow after losing 2-0 to Dundee United at Tannadice just before the international break. Danny Rohl’s men made it two wins on the bounce after a dominant 4-1 display over Aberdeen. One man who knows Scottish football and the Ibrox club well is Mark Warburton, and speaking on the GersNet Podcast – he was full of praise for how well the Jambos have done this season but fancies the Gers to be crowned champions this May. “Normally, without being rude it’s normally a two horse race. “So the interest, obviously the involvement of Tony Bloom, and what he brings to the club in terms of recruitment. “That will not have been missed by the Rangers board I’m sure. “It’s all about recruitment, it’s the quality of recruitment, accessing markets, finding players of value and Tony Bloom and Matthew Benham in Brighton and Brentford are the two very best. “So, I think that’s a game changer, we’re seeing that already in Scotland and that will certainly put Rangers and Celtic on their heels and they have to respond – you have to respond to that because if you let someone get ahead they won’t just sit on their lead. “They will certainly keep pushing in terms of quality of players they’re bringing in and investment et cetera. “It’s great for the neutral watching it and it’s coming down really tight and obviously there has been some shock results – there seems to be a shock result every weekend but right now I think it’s between Rangers and Hearts. “Celtic won’t like me saying that but it’s between Rangers and Hearts, in my humble opinion and I fancy Rangers. “I just think at the final hurdle they’ve got enough to get it over the line.” Warburton spent two years at the Govan club and got them promoted back to the Premiership in 2016. The former Brentford manager is currently the President of American footballing side Sporting Jax of the United Soccer League

Youssef Chermiti has been named the Scottish Premiership Player of the Month for February and also picked up the Goal of the Month award after his breathtaking overhead kick against Celtic. The Rangers striker and has been under the microscope since joining the Light Blues for £8 million last summer from Everton. The 21-year-old has bagged a total of nine goals in 29 appearances for the Ibrox club and scored a brace against the Hoops in back-to-back Old Firm games. Chermiti scored his first professional hat-trick in the Gers’ 4-2 victory over league leaders Hearts last month. Speaking to the Rangers club website, the Portugal under-21 international spoke of his delight after picking up two awards. “I am delighted to win both awards. “My first goal against Celtic is something that will live with me forever. As a striker, you want to play and score in these games, and thankfully, I have been able to do that several times this season. “But I couldn’t have achieved anything without my teammates and the staff here at Rangers, who have helped me settle at the club. “Now I want to repay them and the supporters by continuing to score goals and help us win matches.”

Danny Rohl admits that he doesn’t want to see away fans barred from Old Firm games after the ugly scenes in last Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final.  Celtic defeated Rangers 4-2 on penalties but the result was overshadowed as both sets of supporters stormed the pitch after the game. It was the largest travelling Hoops support at Ibrox in eight years but it’s safe to say that we won’t be seeing 7,500 away fans in this fixture anytime soon. The Light Blues have been granted an allocation of 2,500 for the final Old Firm derby of the season at Parkhead. The SFA have launched an independent investigation into the events from last Sunday and plan to ‘ensure’ it doesn’t happen again. In his pre match press conference ahead of the clash against St Mirren, Rohl fears that the away allocation could be cut altogether. “Yes, it would be a shame for us – for all of us. “Since I have been here, I have really enjoyed this game with the supporters at both ends. I think this is great. “If you are away or at home, it makes football exciting and hopefully it can carry on. But, of course, if such things happen then you have to be careful because it could be that there is a consequence. “I think that nobody likes to see this sort of thing. It was for over 120 minutes an exciting game with lots of big emotion, on the pitch, off the pitch. That’s what we want. “Then after, we only talk about the situation on the pitch that shouldn’t have happened. “I wouldn’t say it opened my eyes – that is the wrong word – but nobody likes to see this. “The emotional part during the game was great. It makes the atmosphere in the stadium. And I think everyone should take responsibility and that we can keep going with this. “I think there is an investigation and they will look for things. There will be some consequences but let’s see what this is.” There’s nine games left in the season for the Ibrox club as they trail league leaders Hearts by six points and the Gers head coach knows his side can’t afford to drop anymore points.

Danny Rohl aims to silence the 7,500 travelling Celtic fans in this Sunday’s Old Firm Scottish Cup quarter-final showdown at Ibrox. It will be the largest Celtic support at Ibrox in eight years. The Light Blues currently trail Hearts by six points and have only won one of their last four games. Rohl’s men blew a 2-0 lead to the Celts last week after dominating the first half but conceded a late equaliser as Reo Hatate scored from the penalty rebound to salvage a point. The German head coach was asked in his pre match press conference if the Hoops’ allocation will have an impact on the game “Of course it will have. But if we play 50 minutes like we did then the 7,500 will also be quiet. “I think this is the part in the game where you feel it. We influence, we can influence, we can make the impact on our performance on the pitch. “The atmosphere was incredible for 50 minutes, really incredible. It was amazing to feel this. “We pushed our players forward, forward. Then it comes to 2-1 and you feel it in the stadium as well. But this is also part of the game. Maybe we can do it together, that we come through these small minutes where you feel the opponent comes in better into the game. But this 50 minutes was really, really outstanding. I really enjoyed this, to be in the touchline in such a game.” The 36-year-old knows that if the Ibrox club are to progress to the semi-finals they can’t have a drop off in performance like last week. “I think when you ask me how should be a Rangers team in the future all the time, then we bring our level versus Hearts and also versus Celtic in a really good way. “This is the most important key, I said this many times. If we can do this, keep going, then it will be tough to beat us in the future.”

After Rangers blew a 2-0 lead against Celtic, Danny Rohl has come under-fire from the Ibrox faithful with some having doubts if he is the right man to take the club forward.  There is no doubt that the Old Firm result felt like a defeat for the Light Blues due to the comfortable position they found themselves in. Rohl’s side dominated the Hoops in the first half and it looked like they were on course to getting back-to-back victories against their bitter rivals. It was the complete opposite from the Gers in the second half as they sat off the Parkhead club and allowed them to grow back into the game with Reo Hatate scoring at the death to salvage an all important point. After the match, Rohl said he and the group were disappointed in the result but remained defiant that his players have the mentality to win the Scottish Premiership. To put it bluntly: it was a bottle job from Rohl’s men in that second half – simple as that. The Celts were wounded and were there for the taking. It was a huge missed opportunity and the Celtic boss admitted after the game when his side were 2-0 down going into half time that the title race looked rather ‘daunting’ for the Scottish champions. Rohl’s in game management has received criticism and rightly so as Rangers have failed to kill games off. The Light Blues were all over the place in the second half and couldn’t string simple passes together. It was obvious as soon as Kieran Tierney pulled one back that they were going to snatch something from the game. The decision to not bring James Tavernier on was a baffling call from Rohl. I understand that the Rangers captain can’t play every game as he is going to be 35 this year, but he’s the most experienced player at the club and knows this fixture inside out. Tavernier would have brought a calming presence to the side – something Rangers desperately needed. Youssef Chermiti bagged a brace and scored one of the best Old Firm goals of all time. However, in the second half, Rohl took Ryan Naderi off who was accommodating Chermiti excellently but after that call – he was non-existent up front. Despite some of the justified criticism Rohl has received after Sunday, he has still done an unbelievable job. Do some Rangers fans have short memories? Five months ago the Ibrox club were eighth in the table and looked dead and buried in the title race. Since Rohl’s appointment, Rangers are the most inform team in the league with 48 points and now have a great chance to win their 56th title – something that seemed impossible only a few months ago. The 36-year-old has worked wonders with a bang average squad and is getting results. He’s brought the feel-good factor back to the club and Ibrox is an enjoyable place to go to now. The title race this season has been one for the ages – it’s been box office and it’s still all up for grabs. Some of the criticism has been way over the top towards Rohl. Rohl has shown enough that he is the RIGHT man to bring the glory days back to Ibrox. Regardless of what happens this season, he deserves next season to build his own squad. It’s going to be a mouth watering end to the season and the Ibrox faithful need to fully back the team and their head coach as they need it more than ever if they are to be crowned champions this May.