At this point – Rangers losing for a fifth successive game at Ibrox as Hibernian came to town and walked away with a 2-0 win – the home fans could be forgiven, in between a chorus of boos, for wondering if anything is ever going to change.
If Rangers felt they had turned a corner after Barry Ferguson masterminded wins over Brendan Rodgers and Jose Mourinho, well, this was an almighty fall back down to earth.
David Gray’s Hibs rolled up at Ibrox and won pretty comfortably, in the end.
Since Steven Gerrard walked away back in 2021 – the smell of champagne still hanging in the air after that Invincible, Premiership-winning season – Rangers have tried out experienced title-winning tacticians [Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Philippe Clement], an ambitious, up-and-coming coach in Mick Beale, and now a returning club legend.
Ferguson, having been out of work since a spell at Alloa Athletic three years ago, was brought in to restore standards rather than do anything particularly out-of-the-box, tactics-wise.
Yet, with the former captain the latest to try and fail to get a consistent tune out of this Rangers side, the next man handpicked to take the perennial runners-up forward will be greeted by a fanbase who have grown to expect the same old failings regardless of who is in the dugout.
Though there are plenty of examples of failing institutions who were finally awoken by their slumber by the right manager at the right time.
Take Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp, for instance. Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham. Carlos Corberan at Valencia.
Three massively underperforming clubs who had spent years trudging from disappointment to disappointment, with a few false dawns along the way, brought back to life by a talismanic head coach.
Rangers need their answer to Carlos Corberan as Valencia stun Real Madrid
Valencia, the most modern of those examples by some distance, looked destined for relegation out of La Liga when former Leeds and West Brom coach Corberan arrived in December.
The two-time Champions League finalists had won just two of their 17 games pre-Corberan. They have now won six in 13 with him on the sidelines.
Including, and most incredibly, Saturday’s dramatic 2-1 victory at Real Madrid’s iconic Santiago Bernabeu stadium. Valencia’s first triumph away at Real since 2008.
David Gray’s Hibernian ended a seven-year wait for a win at Ibrox but they were not the only ones to dispel some long-running hoodoo this weekend.
Ibrox flop Umar Sadiq a major part of Valencia’s La Liga turnaround
There was a familiar face in the Valencia line-up, too. Well, sort of. Rangers will not have particularly fond or particularly vivid memories of Umar Sadiq – he played only four games under Steven Gerrard during a loan spell from Roma – but the well-travelled Nigerian has been one of the posterboys of Corberan’s remarkable Valencia turnaround.
Fellow centre-forward Hugo Duro struck a famous 95th minute winner on the night. Sadiq has four in six La Liga starts since joining from Real Sociedad in January though – the Rangers flop even netted a sensational backheel against Osasuna – and the presence his 6ft 4ins frame brings to the Los Che attack has been invaluable.
So too, of course, is the influence of Corberan. One of the most tactically astute young coaches around.
For Rangers – Barry Ferguson left ‘fuming’ as Hibs followed in the footsteps of Queens Park, St Mirren, Motherwell and Fenerbahce – all they can do now is scour the market for a manager capable of emulating the impact Corberan has made at the Mestalla.
