Players urged to focus on the cup, not second
Former Rangers defender Arthur Numan has urged the current crop of players to focus on winning the Scottish Cup rather than finishing as league runners up. “The cup is very important, it is better to win the cup than finish second. It is all about winning trophies. You want to stand there at the end of the season and lift silverware.” Numan, who lifted multiple trophies during his five years at Ibrox went on to admit that next season may be too soon for Rangers to challenge Celtic for the title. “Hopefully they will do better than this year and make the gap a bit smaller. They showed in the last game that they could get a result at Parkhead so that was good for Rangers and gave everybody confidence. It was important for the [Scottish Cup] Semi-Final as well.”
Winger’s future thrown into doubt
Michael O’Halloran cast doubt over his future at Rangers after failing to turn up for an Under 20s match on Monday night. He was left out of the senior squad which travelled to Aberdeen at the weekend and was due to play in the U20’s against Hearts. Rangers won 2-1 but the 26-year-old winger did not show. The cause could be as simple as a miscommunication as the player was apparently unaware of his call-up to the team as he is thought to have attended training yesterday. O’Halloran could now face disciplinary action for missing the game and the incident may cause his manager to look unfavourably upon him in the future.
‘Dream’ job for new coach
Former striker Jonatan Johansson says that joining the Rangers coaching staff as the ‘local assistant’ was an opportunity he couldn’t miss out on. “It’s exactly how I wanted my career to progress, with a massive club like Rangers and also in a role at the moment to be working with players every day.” The 47-year-old former striker was working as assistant manager at the Finnish national side and although sad to end that role, he is excited by the prospects at Ibrox. “The Finland work and setup was great for me. I was so proud to work for my country and leaving it is a little bit sad for me, but this was an opportunity and a chance that I couldn’t turn down.” “Working every day on the pitch, with top class players, it’s a dream for every coach and that’s no different for me.”