Manager refuses to walk away despite worst ever winless run

Published on Monday 28 November 2005 01:47

RANGERS begin another troubled week contemplating the thought that a unhelpful set of results this weekend could condemn Alex McLeish's side to sixth place in the Scottish Premier League.

If that doesn't focus the mind ahead of the visit of Falkirk and then a Champions League second-stage clincher against Inter Milan then it seems nothing will. Whether McLeish will still be around for the Ibrox double-header remains to be seen. Rangers chairman David Murray's trial period had not been expected to end before next midweek's Inter Milan clash. However, a performance yesterday against Hibs that might rate as one of Rangers' worst of a sorry season could persuade even Murray to reconsider principles normally governed by loyalty.

McLeish wishes to steer Rangers back to a position where he is allowed to be his own arbiter when it comes to deciding when to walk away. This is appearing an increasingly fanciful notion. Rangers have now gone eight successive games without a victory for the first time in the club's illustrious history. As much as the seven trophies he has won as Rangers manager, this will be used as evidence in the current rush to judge McLeish. He is, though, adamant he will fight on, despite succumbing yesterday to a fourth away league defeat in eight outings this season.

"We heard the chairman's thoughts a couple of weeks ago," said McLeish. "Nothing has changed. I don't quit. I am not a quitter. I would love to get to the stage where the gap is closed and I might be able to think about going to pastures new."

Asked to describe the current mood at Ibrox, he said: "I wouldn't say its crisis stage. It's perhaps looking like a crisis. But we have not reached the point of no return. You saw what happened yesterday [with Dunfermline's win at Celtic]. Anything is possible."

The perverse nature of the season is evidenced in Rangers' own contrariness. While they continue to stumble through their domestic season a victory against Inter Milan next week would see them become the first Scottish team to qualify for the knock-out stage of the Champions League. This ambition sustains McLeish, and makes Murray an unwilling executioner. But the task has been made more difficult by an injury list that grew to ten yesterday, with the premature departures of Alex Rae and substitute Brahim Hemdani. "If a new coach came in he'd still be without those players," pointed out McLeish. "There is no magic wand. Just ask Sir Alex [Ferguson]."

He did, though, accept that Rangers had been beaten by the better team yesterday, even though Hibs were guilty of profligacy. The Easter Road side scored twice in the first-half but should have claimed five. Again in the second half they passed up a variety of chances that might have made McLeish's position an untenable one. Multi-goal defeats are meant to be inflicted by the Old Firm on miserable opponents, not suffered by them.

"We got battered in the first half," McLeish acknowledged. "That is the best a team has played against us this season. Tony [Mowbray] had clearly told his team to get right in about us. They deserved the victory."

It was, in the end, a narrow win if simply the score-line is considered. Barry Ferguson, who was later sent-off for a second bookable offence, scored in the early stage of the second half to make it an at-times nervy second period for the home side. But Mowbray's young team rode out the difficulties, and admirably refused to let memories of a collapse against Falkirk in their previous outing deflect them from their purpose.

"I have a lot of positives to take out if it," said Mowbray. "I am delighted at the way they dug in and saw out the game. For a ten to 15 minute period we needed to be strong but after that it was pretty comfortable for us." Not that he was getting carried away, particularly not by talk of title-challenging. "The three points lost last week against Falkirk are the three points we won this week against Rangers," he pointed out, before praising Derek Riordan, who scored his side's first goal, for a performance which righted some of the wrongs of his drunken behaviour in a bar last week. Mowbray saluted his striker's new-found willingness to track back, something that had been missing from his admittedly flourishing game. "To see him chasing back like he did today made me smile," said Mowbray.