The defeat to Hibs is now in the record books but the fall-out from Connor Goldson’s post-match interview will linger over Ibrox for some time to come.
At Manchester United Harry Maguire has been trotted out after every humiliating defeat to say nothing in particular. Apologise to the fans, must do better, work harder in training are all covered without a hint of criticism of team-mates.
PR chief Dave Graham was obliged to put someone up for interview with Premier Sport- the message from the former Shrewsbury starlet fanned the flames of discontent inside the club.
No one was named but the frustration and anger was obvious to everyone looking in.
Before Giovanni van Bronckhorst can get started in his new job he has to deal with Goldson’s comments and remove those in the dressing room who don’t have the hunger required.
Were the Rangers players off form or was it Hibs that played well?
I’m not going to sit here and not give them credit. They have beaten us fair and square. We didn’t deserve to win the game. As Rangers football club our standards need to be so much higher. Defensively poor. Three chances and three goals in the first half. You can’t give yourself a three-goal mountain to climb. Attacking wise we didn’t create anything again. As a team at the minute, we are not performing and it’s as simple as that. Back to front not one individual can come off that pitch and hold their head high and I think we have a lot of work to do.”
Was this performance in any way down to the circumstances of the last week?
Not at all. The staff have been brilliant and covered everything this week. We’ve let ourselves down, players don’t follow instructions. The first two goals are from a corner. People are in the wrong position which we have worked on yesterday. The second is from a throw-in and people are in the wrong position and if players don’t want to follow instructions then we can’t blame coaches because they give us the information to do our job and players don’t want to take that on board. Then we are 2-0 down and they score a third and the game is over. We can be in there at half-time and say believe in ourselves blah, blah, blah but the game is over at 3-0, 3-1 down at half-time. But no, back to your question, not at all, it’s nothing to do with them.”
A new era starts tomorrow. Is that something to look forward to?
Well, we have to. We know that the new manager was there today and you’d hope they would want to impress but after that performance, we need a change. We need a spark. I feel like, and I don’t want to say this but we have lost a bit of hunger. All of a sudden we are champions and we don’t need to work as hard which is wrong and I feel like that has crept in this season. We haven’t been good enough for the whole of this season so far. Hopefully, the new manager can come in and give us a spark.