'change Needed To Solve Rangers Riddle That Foxed Ferguson'

The angst of a shot manager's life was writ ample complete Barry Ferguson's contorted framework successful nan dying seconds of nan past Old Firm derby of nan season.

A Rangers throw-in down nan Celtic extremity and an opportunity for James Tavernier to hurl 1 towards nan container successful nan dream of thing happening to move a 1-1 tie into a win.

Instead, Hamza Igamane gets it and flings it backmost towards his ain goal, whereupon Rangers are mugged and Celtic are away. Daizen Maeda, their main goalscorer each season, is scampering into nan Rangers punishment area - and Ferguson is practically jumping retired of his ain tegument successful frustration.

Gesticulating madly, he's for illustration a man who's been fixed electrical daze treatment. From nan gantry up above, you could almost consciousness his pain.

Celtic blew that moment, of course, but successful existent clip you'd person stake money connected Maeda picking retired Johnny Kenny for a reasonably regular tap-in winner.

At slightest Ferguson and nan Rangers fans were spared that misery and nan industrial-scale mocking that would person followed. The smallest mercy towards nan extremity of a mostly merciless season.

In nan aftermath of Philippe Clement's demise, Ferguson and his coaches - Billy Dodds, Neil McCann and Allan McGregor - were sent into Ibrox arsenic immoderate benignant of endurance experts, but it hasn't worked. Too galore ills, excessively overmuch harm done earlier they arrived, excessively small clip to activity connected a solution.

You consciousness Ferguson has dedicated each his waking hours to this cause, that he's emptied himself into nan domiciled pinch abandon. He's spoken brilliantly, he's sent retired each nan correct messages, he's practically tattooed nan connection BELIEVE connected his forehead successful an effort to resistance his players retired their torpor.

It's not been capable to reside nan bizarre contradictions astatine nan bosom of this team, a pack of players pinch a copy personality; assured and vulnerable against bully teams, afflicted by uncertainty and impotence against supposedly inferior opposition.

Rangers person gone distant to Fenerbahce and won a Europa League lucifer but person been knocked retired of nan Scottish Cup by Queen's Park, nan eighth-best squad successful nan Championship.

Under Ferguson, they've beaten Brendan Rodgers' runaway champions successful their ain backyard astatine Celtic Park (scoring 3 times) and yet they've mislaid astatine location to Queen's Park, St Mirren and Motherwell (scoring once), though only nan second fixture was connected Ferguson's watch.

They reached nan past 8 successful Europe but haven't won successful 7 games astatine Ibrox. They've mislaid 1 successful 4 successful nan convention against Celtic, but they're 17 points down them. They've outscored Celtic 7-6 successful Old Firm games, but Celtic can't moreover spot them successful their rear-view mirror.

Across nan span of nan league, Rangers' grounds against Celtic is markedly amended than their grounds against St Mirren, who are sixth. They've dropped arsenic galore points against Hibernian, Aberdeen and Motherwell arsenic they person against Rodgers' serial convention winners. Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur only sewage a tie against them successful Europe. Seven different home teams (including cup ties) person beaten them.

The fans person many times turned connected Cyriel Dessers, who has now scored 25 goals this play and has 47 goals successful 107 games, while giving small of nan aforesaid benignant of vitriol to Danilo, who they signed for £6m for a return (when fit) of 12 successful 46.

Very small of this makes sense. Not for nan first clip this season, we tin get Winston Churchill's words to picture this utter handbasket case: "A riddle wrapped successful a enigma wrong an enigma."

Rangers were combative connected Sunday, arsenic predicted. They were fired up and, astatine times, threatening. Nothing astir that was surprising. They scored first. Again, it wasn't a shock-horror moment. They've now taken nan lead successful 4 Old Firm games successful a row.

The puzzle astir really they tin look beautiful coherent successful these games and look truthful bereft successful others remains unsolved. Yes, they person much state to play erstwhile up against beardown guidance who don't edifice to nan debased artifact to frustrate them, but that only goes a definite portion of nan measurement successful explaining nan immense disparity successful performances.

How tin you spell toe-to-toe pinch nan apt Europa League finalists Spurs and Manchester United - scoring successful both, drafting 1 and losing nan different to a late, precocious extremity - and yet autumn successful a goalless heap against teams pinch a fraction of your playing resources and questionable protect records?

At their worst this season, Rangers person lacked nous, steel, pace, leadership, creativity, goals from midfield, isolated from Vaclav Cerny, and goals from a striker different than Dessers.

All 4 of Celtic's starting defenders connected Sunday person scored much times this play than Conor Barron, who's connected zero. Liam Scales, a centre-half, has arsenic galore arsenic Nico Raskin, a protect midfielder.

Of nan XIs who began astatine Ibrox, Rangers had 2 players successful double figures for nan season, Celtic had 5 - and that was pinch Nicolas Kuhn injured and Kyogo Furuhashi sold. Luke McCowan, an unused substitute connected nan day, has scored much goals than 7 of Rangers' outfield starters.

Despite each of this, they tin unrecorded pinch Celtic connected immoderate fixed day. They conscionable can't unrecorded pinch nan unit of should-win and must-win games.

We're told nary of this is mislaid connected nan prospective caller owners. They cognize nan squad and its foibles, they cognize nan Scottish scenery and who dominates it, they cognize nan region they must recreation crossed immoderate rocky terrain and they cognize each inch of advancement is going to beryllium hard-won.

Rangers are tin of flash-in-the-pan performances, for illustration Sunday and nan different ones that went earlier against Celtic, but there's an quiet feeling, an irrelevance erstwhile you fishy their adjacent gaffe is conscionable days away.

Unbeaten, but still bowed, Rangers people will want to spell to slumber now and aftermath only erstwhile nan caller owners are successful and making nan benignant of profound alteration that's required.