Heroic Derek Johnstone puts his Rangers job on the line at Ibrox lotto draw | OneFootball

With yet again another laboured win for Rangers, who we can’t exactly say bounced back from the dreadful loss at Tynecastle, another three points were secured. Few Rangers fans will feel satisfied at the performance, which was once again attritional at best and downright awful at worst. It was yet more of Rangers slop, as has been the case all season. That new manager bounce under Danny Rohl is a long gone memory, and while he did get the points, we can’t exactly say there was much to cheer about either the starting eleven or the performance. Only a messy late goal from Thelo Asgaard made the difference in what was, frankly, a borderline fortunate win. Motherwell were solid, hardy, and sturdy. Ibrox Noise knew that the Steelmen would prove a challenge. Rangers were not up for the fight.

Derek Johnstone calls out the club

However, the point of this piece is Derek Johnstone. Coming out at half time to do the lotto draw, the former Rangers striker absolutely slaughtered the players, and indirectly, the manager. Johnstone came out to do the draw, and speaking on the microphone, as they always do, DJ announced his displeasure at almost everything he had seen, and indirectly called out the transfer recruitment policy and the players that Danny Rohl is currently attracting.

He basically called out the work rate, the cohesion, the passion, the system, the tactics, and indeed, the selections. He called out the lot, and got a massive round of applause and cheer when he uttered no surrender at the end. This wasn’t just an attack on the players. It was an attack on the entire Rangers ethos these days. A lazy, good-for-nothing club that has utterly gone in upon itself and is nothing like the old days. This is not Rangers.

DJ puts his job on the line

When a Rangers legend is willing to put, quite literally, his job on the line, as Johnstone did, by calling out essentially the entire club, you know it’s serious, and you know it’s real. This is not Rangers. Any Rangers fan who believes that this resembles the club that we know is delusional. There is no fight, there is little quality, there is no heart, and specifically, the manager’s systems are non-existent.

There is no question that Danny Rohl is no better than Russell Martin. There are a few hipsters who will make a massive case for him. But the fact is, his every selection is dire, his every performance is even worse, there is no good football, and any win is an achievement. Motherwell were literally favourites going into this match, not just because Rangers squad is so poor, which we know that it is, but because the management doesn’t have a clue either.

A clueless regime from top to bottom

Danny Rohl has made the appalling mistake of bringing in absolutely no one over Rangers persuasion. He talks about it in the press that he will do exactly that, but he’s been at Rangers now for enough weeks to have wanted to bring in more than one Rangers man on the staff. Even the odd free agent who used to play for the club would be a better bet than the rubbish that is in the squad and in the staff.

Instead, he brings in League 1 slop in the form of Scott Fry, and some lower league German tactical pundit called Tristan Steiner. That’s the mark he seems to want to go with. Meanwhile, the players we’ve been linked with in January are no better. There’s one chap with Westerlo, he’s not a bad player, that’s something reasonably decent, but the rest are all lower league EFL slop level players.

DJ was bang on

As Ibrox Noise reported earlier, the fact is that Johnstone was bang on. It is not just the players, it is Rohl, but it’s not just strictly Rohl, it’s the procedure of his selection that was the problem. Because of course, he was picked by the current regime. He was endorsed fully by Andrew Kavanagh, who proudly presented himself at the unveiling press conference. All four of them, of course, that day. The former, Stewart, Thelwell, and current Cavenagh, and of course Rohl.

So this is a full Cavenagh endorsement, but we can clearly see that Rohl is not the right man. Of course he wasn’t the right man, he never was. He’s a lower league English based manager who has achieved nothing in his career. Rangers are far too big a job for a manager like that.

Players just as guilty

But let’s not let the players off the hook either. While there is some talent in this squad, and there is, there are some good players. Equally, there is so much chafe, so much rubbish. We say the same things after every single match. That is the very definition of insanity itself. Repeating the same stuff over and over again, and hoping for a different outcome.

The difference here is, we’re not hoping for a different outcome. We’ve come to expect failure every time. The difference here is we’re simply calling it out over and over again. In the hope that it might actually change. But if we’re going to be bringing in yet more EFL slop in January, what’s the point?

Fry and Steiner doing nothing

It was called out by one Rangers fan. What on earth has this set piece specialist, Scott Fry, actually been doing? Not much is the answer. We have not seen a single improvement from dead ball situations at all. Defending’s no better, attacking’s no better, it’s all the same stuff. James Tavenier is still pretty much on everything.

We can’t really say we’re seeing a massive benefit on, well, bringing in a Lincoln City set piece specialist. Isn’t really going to help Rangers. But that was Rohl’s choice. Just like Tristan Steiner. And just like all the slop he’s trying to bring in in January. But here we go again. The same old, the same old.

Rangers identity is gone

Derek Johnstone, a Rangers legend with a club’s interest at heart. Was willing to put his neck on the block and possibly lose his job over what he said at halftime. But he did it. That is a proper Rangers man. He knows what it is to win for Rangers. Yes, he played during a time where Rangers were weaker in the early 80s. But of course he was a barstool and a bear.

He knows what it is to win at this club. And he knows what it means to play for this club. If anyone knows about Rangers, it’s him. And he put that neck on the chopping block. Called out the whole lot at halftime and got a rousing reception from the fans.

Rangers need more men like that in the club. Because right now the identity and soul of Rangers is well and truly AWOL. We did of course lose the beloved and late Walter Smith and Jimmy Bell. And many have argued that that has been the soul ripped out of the club. By the loss of those two Titans. And we must say there’s a big case for that. Because right now it feels like an empty shell entity.

Time will tell

Will this change? Will DJ’s point make impact? Time will tell.