Despite New Year fan acclaim, Rangers manager Danny Rohl faces uncertain summer after consecutive defeats to Motherwell and Hearts
Rangers manager Danny Rohl admitted his side’s second-half performance was an ‘abomination’ after a 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle that has all but extinguished their Scottish Premiership title hopes. “Second half, this is football,” he offered meekly. “We knew they would come with power and they did. They played much, much more directly in behind and we had less pressure on the ball. Hearts did Hearts things. They dominated the second half with Hearts football. This is what we expected.”
Rohl’s admission was striking given that he had warned his players at half-time, with Rangers leading through Dujon Sterling’s 22nd-minute goal, that Hearts would emerge with renewed aggression. Yet the visitors spent the second period in a trance as Derek McInnes’s tactical tweaks transformed the contest. Within seconds of replacing Islam Chesnokov with Blair Spittal and pushing Stephen Kingsley to wing-back, Hearts asserted control. Kingsley equalised in the 54th minute and Lawrence Shankland, the Hearts captain, fired the winner in the 71st minute. The result leaves Hearts three points clear of Celtic and seven ahead of Rangers with three games remaining.
Mental Weakness: A Recurring Theme
The questions about Rangers’ mentality have become inescapable. Rohl bristles when the subject is raised, but the evidence continues to mount. His side drew with 10-man Motherwell at Fir Park, squandered a two-goal lead against Celtic, and dropped points to bottom-side Livingston. Now, horrific back-to-back defeats to Motherwell and Hearts in the post-split fixtures have been added to the list. The question is only asked of the manager, as the narrative notes, because he and his players never put it to bed. They are demonstrably mentally weak, incapable of playing for 90 minutes.
That is on the players, of course. But it is the job of a football manager to instil an iron will and unshakable confidence. There is scant evidence that this is Rohl’s strong suit. The pattern of flatlining after initial improvement has become depressingly familiar at Ibrox. Since Steven Gerrard left in 2021, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale and Philippe Clement each oversaw upturns in results before plateauing and being shown the door. The issue clearly runs deeper than the individual in the manager’s chair. After multiple clear-outs and rebuilds, Rangers remain devoid of winners. Barring a miracle, just three major trophies will have been won in the decade since they returned to the top flight – a diabolical return for the money spent.
The problem for Rohl is that the story, as far as the American owners are concerned, starts only from the point they arrived a year ago. They have no concern about the relentless churn of managers because it did not happen on their watch. Appointing Russell Martin as their first act was an atrocious decision, but dismissing him did not indicate a lack of patience – they made a mistake and compounded it by failing to act. Football can be brutal, but short tenure alone does not mean a manager deserves more time. Wilfried Nancy was sacked after 33 days at Celtic; Liam Rosenior lasted 107 days at Chelsea after five consecutive Premier League defeats without scoring. When you know, you just know.
Tactical Decisions and a Tenure Under Scrutiny
It was not a good night for those who have championed Rohl’s tactical acumen. McInnes schooled him in the same way that Jens Berthel Askou had at Ibrox eight days earlier. For reasons only he could adequately explain, Rohl waited until the 69th minute to respond to Hearts’ second-half surge, finally replacing the again anonymous Andreas Skov Olsen with Djeidi Gassama. By then, Hearts had already equalised and were hunting the winner. Rangers supporters had seen the accident waiting to happen; rather than taking preventive action, Rohl crossed his fingers and hoped for the best.
A win at Celtic Park on January 3 had prompted Rohl to purr over the improvement he had overseen, but that assessment always seemed overblown. Rangers had already lost twice in the Europa League before he took charge and managed just one win in six against Ludogorets. A League Cup semi-final defeat to Celtic was glossed over. The mitigating argument that Rohl was only working with Martin’s expensively assembled squad ceased to hold water in January, when the hierarchy backed him to the tune of approximately £10 million. In came Ryan Naderi from Hansa Rostock for an initial £4.2 million, Tuur Rommens from Westerlo for around £3 million, and Tochi Chukwuani from Sturm Graz for an initial £4.3 million plus add-ons. Skov Olsen arrived on loan from Wolfsburg with the expectation he would be a difference-maker – yet in 11 appearances across all competitions he has scored only once and provided three assists. Pundits have noted his flat performance against Hearts and a perceived lack of desire to dictate play. Naderi has since suffered a serious injury that could see him miss the rest of the season.
The edifice began crumbling with a goalless draw at Easter Road on February 1. From that point, even when Rangers won, they lost goals. In 11 Premiership matches, the only clean sheet came at St Mirren. Six goals were shipped in wins over Aberdeen, Dundee United and Falkirk. The assumption that this would be addressed in a warm-weather training camp in Spain proved false. With a further five goals lost in catastrophic defeats to Motherwell and Hearts, Rangers’ title challenge is as good as over. Two weeks after supporters and those in the plush seats were licking their lips at the prospect of a £40 million Champions League windfall, they sit a distant third, contemplating Conference League qualifiers.
Under Rohl, Rangers have exited both domestic cups to Celtic and made no appreciable impact in Europe. Serenaded by fans at the turn of the year, he now looks increasingly vulnerable as summer approaches. As so many of his predecessors will attest, when the rank and file have seen enough, the die is cast.
