Rangers are braced for a triple blow as the day of reckoning has arrived for the players who breached Covid regulations in mid-February.
Nathan Patterson, Calvin Bassey, Bongani Zungu, Dapo Mebude and Brian Kinnear were the players involved and after they were charged by the SFA earlier this month, they should find out their punishments at some point today, with a hearing scheduled.
Rangers will only really be affected by the punishments handed out to Patterson, Bassey and Zungu, given that Mebude and Kinnear are out on loan at Queen of the South and Annan Athletic respectively.
However, significant bans for the three first-team players would still have a significant impact.
Patterson is currently the only fit natural right-back in the senior squad with skipper James Tavernier out injured, while losing Bassey and Zungu would leave Steven Gerrard light on options at left-back and in central midfield.
Bassey is the only player who hasn’t featured for the first-team since the incident, with Zungu making four substitute appearances and Patterson enjoying the best run in the side of his career so far.
Given that Jordan Jones and George Edmundson received seven-match SFA bans following a seemingly similar incident in November, it’s possible that the trio will be ineligible for the vast majority of the remainder of the season.
Zungu will miss the Scottish Cup Third Round tie against Cove Rangers on 4th April, anyway, as he is set to have to quarantine upon his return to the UK following international duty with South Africa in Sudan.
Meanwhile, an international boss has expressed his disappointment after a Gers star was forced to withdraw from his squad due to injury.
