What is going on at Rangers? Hampden woe, infighting in the streets and the Danilo riddle

Ibrox botch job proving costly in more ways than one

Evicted from their home, evicted from the Champions League. The emotive language came very easily as commentators sought to portray the extent of Rangers’ agony following their defeat to Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday night.

It was left to visiting manager Oleksandr Shovkovskyi to provide the most potent context as he wished reporters a “peaceful and quiet evening” following his post-match press conference at the Hampden Park auditorium. “In Ukraine we have air raids so what we say in Ukraine is ‘have a quiet night’ - and glory to Ukraine!” he added as he walked out.

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These sentiments went unremarked upon at the time and drew only limited reaction as journalists concentrated on meeting deadlines. Philippe Clement had already fulfilled his media duties and so the focus was on his reflections on an evening that couldn't have gone much worse for Rangers, who saw £4 million slip through their fingers in the moment Jefte jumped to win a high ball just five minutes after half time.

An admittedly harsh second yellow card for leading with his elbow meant a red card and a tie that was already on a knife edge swung towards the visitors, who resisted the initial Rangers surge before picking them off with two well-worked goals near the end.

Rangers' Jefte pleads his innocence after referee Marco Guida shows him a red card in the Champions League defeat to Dynamo Kyiv. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Rangers' Jefte pleads his innocence after referee Marco Guida shows him a red card in the Champions League defeat to Dynamo Kyiv. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Rangers' Jefte pleads his innocence after referee Marco Guida shows him a red card in the Champions League defeat to Dynamo Kyiv. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Some perspective was later applied by Mr Shovkovskyi. However, purely in a football context, this all felt rather disastrous for the Ibrox team and their manager. The Rangers-fans-on-Rangers-fans melee that broke out on Aitkenhead Road about 90 minutes after the final whistle seemed to underline the tensions existing at the club just now.

Just what is going on? What is the situation with Ianis Hagi, the Romanian internationalist fresh from Euro 2024 and yet now playing – and scoring – for the Rangers B team? What about Danilo, who somehow became one of the stories of Tuesday night despite not stepping from the bench, or, indeed, because he didn’t step from the bench?

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Rangers posted a clip of him limping on X before the match before quickly deleting it, with Clement having to clear this up afterwards. Just the way he walks, apparently. With Rangers needing a goal, and then goals, the Brazilian still wasn't called upon, which was itself curious considering he was taking up a place among the substitutes. Even a disaffected Todd Cantwell might have been a better bet.

Still, it’s not difficult to feel sorry for Clement as figurehead of this sunken enterprise. Things have continued to slide at Rangers since that traumatic Champions League campaign in 2022-23. They were eliminated from the play-off round last season at the hands of PSV Eindhoven, the team who they overcame the previous year at the same stage. And now they have exited the Champions League at the third qualifying round after defeat to an ordinary looking Dynamo Kyiv outfit having gained a promising first leg result.

The failure now takes its place alongside previous painful aggregate defeats at the same stage against Kaunas (2008/09) and twice against Malmo (2011-12 and 2021-22). Who can forget Jon Dahl Tomasson's response when asked where the pressure lay prior to the second leg at Ibrox, where the Swedes were tasked with defending a slim 2-1 lead?

"Don't you think that they need the Champions League money here? I think so," smiled the then Malmo manager. Mr Shovkovskyi was not so impish on Tuesday. However, the same applies now, three years on. Perhaps more so. Clement admits his plans have already been compromised by the financial hit.

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There was a red card that night against Malmo as well – for the visitors, at the end of the first half. And yet they still prevailed 2-1, going through 4-2 on aggregate.

Like Malmo, Rangers had it all to do on Tuesday night but couldn’t secure a famous result when their backs were against the wall. And while that Malmo reversal – and the one before it, in 2011, when Rangers lost the first leg at Ibrox 1-0 – proves that playing at their own stadium is not a guarantee of success, there was surely more chance of Clement’s side staging a grandstand finish with ten men while being roared on by 50,000 fans. Indeed, one wonders whether Italian referee Marco Guida might have thought twice before making such a bold call as issuing such a contentious second yellow to Jefte in more intimidating surroundings than was the case at Hampden.  

As many suspected, the botched job of completing renovations at the Copland Road Stand in time for the new season is costing Rangers very dearly indeed. It’s a quantifiable price in terms of having to pay for laying a new pitch at Hampden when they have a perfectly good one available in Govan and lost ticket sales – 39,000 on a do-or-die European night at Ibrox is unheard of in modern times.

It might be harder to measure the loss of advantage from playing ‘home’ games at Hampden. However, it's already very evident that opposition teams are encouraged by being spared the hostility of Ibrox. In a season when they need everything to go for them in their bid to close the gap between them and Celtic, Rangers have made things harder for themselves. Or at least the Ibrox board have. And Tuesday means they have become harder still, even if some might argue that the defeat is a blessing in disguise in the long run. The Champions League is no place for Rangers these days.

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No one’s claiming for a moment that this weekend’s televised Premier Sports Cup match against St Johnstone would have had them packing into Ibrox. But it threatens to be an especially dispiriting experience at Hampden, which emits its own special brand of soullessness when half full. Craig Levein’s recently invigorated side will be emboldened on their return to the national stadium while the manager, too, has some history there. 

It will be fascinating to observe whether Rangers can provide their fans with some relief, but the fact there is the need to do so this early in the season is damning enough.  

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