As Rangers kicked their final ball of the season at Ibrox, any notion of an emotional send-off was quashed by the Union Bears.
Ordinarily the final game of the season in Govan will see the Rangers players applaud the support with their families coming on to the park.
But as the final whistle blew, the Rangers fan group quickly disappeared out of the stadium to send a firm Ibrox message about yet another title collapse.
Despite wrestling their way back into Scottish Premiership contention, many in the Rangers squad blew their chance in the eyes of several supporters in the final furlong.
Now, ahead of Philippe Clement’s summer ‘rebuild’ it’s time for change and the Union Bears walkout reflects a sentiment in the Rangers support that the jig is up for several in this team.
Union Bears head for Ibrox exits
Rangers players might feel a little hard done by for their contributions this season but enough is enough.
For too long, Rangers fans have been encouraged to celebrate a level of mediocrity, justified by the club’s financial collapse in 2012.
That time is officially over and any Rangers players expecting applause for second place finishes better get on the phone to their agents heading into the summer.
In a clear message, the Union Bears staged a final whistle walk-out with the Rangers team left applauding a near empty Ibrox after another season where they bottled their title opportunity.
The fans are paying increasing amounts of money every single week to follow Rangers and this has to send a message to the board, the management and the squad.
Rangers have to go hell for leather in the title race from the first kick next season and it’s clear several of this team don’t have the guts for the title battle.
Let’s go and find players who do.
Rangers manager questions squad’s ‘internal fire’
Philippe Clement has also been speaking about the changes that are coming to Rangers this summer.
Speaking after the game, the Rangers manager is clear that if anyone wants to play for this club, then they need to be switched on from the first whistle to the last.
In a damning indictment of his team’s first half performance, Clement once again referenced rebuilding the squad and it’s time for the Rangers board to step up and deliver.
“That’s a difficult one because it’s a personal one,” said Clement when asked about causes the ability to change tact regularly at half-time.
“It’s not also about XI players in the first. These are individual things. I told them also, if you want to play for a team like Rangers, that’s the basics.
“That needs to be there every time.
“If you want to play for a team half of the league, yeah you can have one moment yes, one moment no.
“Here it’s all the time switched on, aggressive, in everything you do, with and without the ball.
“So we need to build a squad like that, where everybody has this internal fire to do it everyday, every game.”
Rangers will now head to Hearts for the final game of the Scottish Premiership season before a Scottish Cup Final clash with Celtic on the 25th of May.
