Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland cut a forlorn figure as he faced the media following the Scottish Premiership draw with Dundee United.
The Rangers vice-captain, who donned the armband for the team’s latest tepid performance, was up front and honest about the state of play in Glasgow.
But in doing so, Jack Butland has rather ominously given an insight into the Ibrox dressing room with was an unconvincing defence of his Rangers teammates.
Jack Butland’s unconvincing Rangers defence
”I hope so,” Butland said unconvincingly when asked if everyone in the dressing room understands the demands of being at Rangers.
”It’s something that we try and reinforce all the time. If the building, if the training ground aren’t reminders of the success, then I don’t know what can be.
”It’s not like any other club. It’s a special place and it demands it, all the time, day in, day out, from us all. And that’s what it needs to be.
”I think for most it’s been there the whole time. Others, if they haven’t learned it, they need to learn it quick.
”That’s on everybody to step up and do better because that’s what the shirt deserves.”
Needless to say, if this Rangers squad does not understand the gravity of playing for the club, in this season in particular, there are substantial failings at every level that will fill the club’s support with fear.
Celtic are on the verge of usurping Rangers’ trophy record having pulled level on 118 with the Scottish Cup win and are now odds-on favourites to lift a record-matching 55th domestic title.
That the club’s vice-captain is unconvinced that some in the Rangers team are not tuned into the demands at Ibrox shines very badly on the leadership at Ibrox.
It’s also yet more evidence of a club and team lacking identity and increasingly disconnected from the culture and expectations of the support.
Rangers must ‘stick together’ to find form
Jack Butland has also been speaking about what needs to happen at Rangers in order to turn the tide this season.
The pressure is mounting on manager Philippe Clement amid a string of abject, disinterested performances from players who are proving that they, quite simply, do not have the mentality to play at Ibrox.
It is a damning indictment on the entire squad, the management of Clement and the brief directorship of Nils Koppen that Rangers have been unable to sign players with the mentality to come and deliver at Ibrox. There is a startling lack of leadership and responsibility in the team.
Rangers fans are leaving in their droves and feel completely disconnected with the club on and off the park. The situation is shambolic and shows no signs of turning. There is a collective feeling it’s about to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.
A despondent Butland – who looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders – claims that everyone at Rangers has to step up.
Whilst it’s Philippe Clement staring down the barrel of the Ibrox gun, Butland reckons the shambolic situation as it stands rests at the feet of every single member of the set-up at Ibrox.
”We can speak about it until we’re blue in the face,” said Butland. “It’s not for the want of trying, it’s not for the reminders.
”People have got to do it. People have got to take the initiative. It’s unfair to point fingers or whatever. Everyone has to just step up. It’s as simple as that.
”Step up, do your jobs better, track your runners better, get forward better, do everything (better). It’s on everyone.
”We’ve had discussions unfortunately already this season that we’ve felt we haven’t done enough of that in games where we’ve been beaten.
”Even games we’ve won where we feel like we need to have done more.
”You can speak about it. People have got to do it. It’s on the individual ultimately to push and to make sure their standards are high enough then everything else follows collectively.
”There’s no one group to blame. We all just have to step up and start doing our jobs better.
”(Manager pressure) is part and parcel. It’s all on all of us. If you’re not winning at Rangers, it’s on all of us.
”Ultimately, the manager faces (pressure) that and he has to face that more than any of us but it’s on us all.
”We’re not going to be pointing fingers. We’ve got to stick together. I completely understand the fans’ frustration, rightly so.
”They turn up and support us everywhere we go, horrible conditions, great conditions, whatever it may be, they expect to see more and that’s not just on the manager that’s on all of us.”
