SPL Fanzone: Rangers

Sometimes statistics say more than words: in this case, winning one in seven cup games this season and a 16,000 home crowd for the UK’s fourth-best supported football club points firmly towards a crisis – and, be in no doubt, Rangers are in dire straits.

Sunday’s defeat wasn’t just about pub team defending for both United goals, or about a front pairing of Andy Little and Salim Kerkar where once there was Jelavic alongside Lafferty or Naismith. This had more than a whiff of the inevitable about it.

Steve Davis deployed traditional player understatement, describing the loss of Jelavic and not replacing him as “a bit of a blow”. To me, it is the equivalent to giving a get out of jail free card to a deeply-mediocre Celtic side with an erratic and vulnerable manager. The fat lady isn’t singing, but she’s certainly clearing her throat…

Stephen Smith

www.theRST.co.uk