Barry Ferguson doesn’t want to hear about James Tavernier issuing a rallying call to his Ibrox team-mates.
A grim run of results was brought to an end with a 2-1 home win over bottom of the table Dundee United but the club captain seemed to be in hiding, even from in-house media.
Not only were the defeats from Celtic, Ajax and Napoli emphatic but there seemed a distinct lack of appetite for the battle, after going behind there was no sign of Tav’s rallying cry, more an acceptance of the outcome and damage limitation exercise.
Only losing 3-0 at home to Napoli has been spun into some sort of moral victory since the match was goal-less at the time.
Celtic’s defeat at St Mirren seems to be the sole reason for belief and optimism at Ibrox with Ferguson not happy with the message coming from the captain.
Picking up on his appearance on Go Radio, the Daily Record reports Ferguson saying:
At five points, I would never say it’s over at five points, but before St Mirren Celtic were looking relentless and blowing teams away.
You are back to two points. The focus is on getting the three points at Tynecastle and putting the pressure on Celtic, whether that is playing good, bad or indifferent.
The captain should be doing that, a rallying cry. But the players should be up for it anyway, they shouldn’t need to do rallying cries. But it gets the fans fired up for what is a massive afternoon.
A win for Hearts would see Robbie Neilson’s side move into second place on goal difference.
