After a week of real positivity and excitement off the pitch at Ibrox, it almost felt like a shame that it had to end with Rangers actually playing a game of football.
If you can call the latest dollop of domestic dross served up by Philippe Clement’s team on Saturday afternoon ‘football’, that is.
When the idea of Stephen Robinson taking over at Rangers was floated to the likes of Cammy Bell and Marvin Bartley a few weeks ago, the reaction amongst the media was one of befuddlement.
Now, as Robinson’s plucky St Mirren side outwit their far more deep-pocketed opponents for the second time since Christmas, surely it’s about time the perennially-overachieving Northern Irishman gets the credit he deserves.
As for the man in the other dugout, while CEO Patrick Stewart again spoke out in support of Philippe Clement recently, an insipid 2-0 home defeat at the hands of those brave Buddies felt like if not the straw that breaks the camel’s back then certainly something which will do little to ease his lumbago.
Rangers lose to St Mirren as Declan John shines on Ibrox return
St Mirren had not beaten Rangers in successive league games since the 1979/80 season.
Thanks to a contentious, VAR-assisted Mikael Mandron opener and Toyosi Olusanya’s well-taken second, that 45 year wait ended this weekend.
To make that defeat all the more galling, a Rangers fanbase rapidly approaching their wits end had to endure the sight of Declan John flying down the flank. A performance far greater than any he served up during his brief spell at Ibrox back in 2018.
James Tavernier struggled to deal with John throughout. It was Tav on toast.
‘If you don’t laugh you’ll greet. He’s had Tav on strings today,’ one bemused Rangers supporter wrote on social media in response to John’s all-action display. Gallow’s humour, perhaps, is the best medicine for another miserable afternoon.
‘Declan John is better than any left-back we have,” adds another. “Some laugh, eh?’
“Declan John is better than what we currently have,” a fan agrees as another post-match autopsy begins. ‘Let that sink in!
‘Declan John looks like a superstar playing against us’.
‘Declan John was an upgrade on any of our full-backs today. Let that set in.’
Philippe Clemenet outwitted by Stephen Robinson again
Let that sink in, let that manager out.
If Philippe Clement was lucky to survive that Scottish Cup debacle at the hands of second-tier Queen’s Park, then the only explaination if he escapes another dreadful defeat is that his garden at home must be made out of lucky heather and a thousand four-leaf clovers.
To quote Billy Dodds, the former Rangers striker speaking on BBC Sport, St Mirren were actually pretty ‘comfortable’ against a team who never consistently threatened to beat Zach Hemming in the visiting goal throughout.
Vaclav Cerny was singled out by Stephen Robinson pre-match and he came closer than anyone in a blue shirt, rattling the crossbar at the death. Nedim Bajrami and Cyriel Dessers wasted presentable chances themselves, while Hemming had to be alert to tip aside a 30-yard Nico Raskin piledriver.
Yet, on a day in which Rangers had the chance to reduce the gap at the top of the table to ten points after Celtic slipped up at Hibernian, the fact that Declan John outperformed any current member of Clement’s team rather summed up the way things are going right now.
