When former Premiership midfielder Scott Allen took aim at Nils Koppen this week – Rangers’ opinion-splitting technical director – he came with receipts.
Koppen may have outlived Philippe Clement at Ibrox but can the former PSV Eindhoven scout consider himself a little fortunate?
Yes, Koppen masterminded the signings of Hamza Igamane and Jefte – two raw but highly-talented youngsters already on Premier League radars – but he also green-lit deals for Nedim Bajrami, Rafael Fernandes and, a player he will have known very well from Dutch football, the much-maligned Robin Propper.
Bajrami started well but 2025 has been a disaster so far, from a personal perspective. Kris Boyd labelled injury-hit Oscar Cortes the ‘Where’s Wally’ of Scottish football last week but perhaps that moniker best fits forgotten man Fernandes. It’s telling, meanwhile, that Barry Ferguson started three central defenders against Dundee last weekend but Propper was not one of them.
Though one decision Koppen and Rangers did get right – a decision which looks more inspired by the week these days – involved keeping Cyriel Dessers at Ibrox for at least another few months.
Keeping Cyriel Dessers was the right move by Rangers
It is easy to forget just how close Dessers came to leaving Glasgow in January.
According to reports, Rangers opened preliminary talks with a number of interested parties amid links with clubs in France, Spain, America and Italy. Cyriel Dessers himself felt the need for clear-the-eye talks with the team bosses, having slipped behind Hamza Igamane and Danilo in the pecking order around the festive period.
Three months on, Dessers topsy-turvy campaign has seen him go from first-choice to third-choice and back again.
In the Barry Ferguson era alone, Dessers fired Rangers to comeback wins over Kilmarnock and Dundee – hitting a 94th minute decider at Dens Park last week – while also playing a starring role in that Europa League triumph over Fenerbahce.
In fact, since the reports emerged claiming that Rangers had opened talks to sell the former Feyenoord hitman, Dessers has scored or assisted 10 goals in 14 matches across all competitions.
”I’ve been so impressed by him,” Neil McCann said on Thursday; Rangers’ assistant coach has seen his admiration for Cyriel Dessers grow at close quarters. “I have to say, I had an outside opinion of him.
“I just thought he was a brilliant guy. If you can be a brilliant teammate, it’s so important to your group because you can rely on the work rate. It’s never going to dip. Yes, he might have an off day, but I was particularly pleased for him [after scoring the winner at Dundee].
“Not only for getting to 4-3, but for him personally to get that goal. You saw his celebrations and how much it meant to him. He’s a really important member of the group.”
St Etienne destined for relegation as Dessers dodges disaster
Of the many clubs credited with an interested in Dessers during the winter, one of those is now staring down the barrel of relegation.
St Etienne considered Rangers’ well-travelled number nine before deciding instead to put their trust in a crop of young talent. Les Verts have one of the freshed squads in France’s top flight. In hindsight, a bit of additional experience – not to mention a reliable goalscoring streak – could very conceivably have been the difference between survival and relegation.
Because not only are St Etienne averaging just 1.03 goals per game this season, they are also now second-bottom and two points adrift of safety.
The fallen giants of French football led Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 until the brink of half-time last weekend. A second-half rout from the nouveau-riche princes of Paris rapidly turned a 1-0 deficit into a 6-1 victory. Thus, epitomising a campaign unravelling at a remarkable speed.
St Etienne coach Eirik Horneland drew a line under those Cyriel Dessers links just before the turn of the year.
Twelve games, one win and fourteen goals later, as Dessers keeps Rangers’ Europa League dreams alive while also strengthening Ferguson’s argument for the full-time gig, Hornelund may be wishing he could roll back the clock for a number of different reasons.
“We conceded goals quickly, which hurt us mentally,” sighed Hornelund after PSG turned on the style at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard. “We lost our discipline, tried to get back into the game by getting a bit too agitated, and gave PSG too much space.
“We didn’t have the same energy to attack.”
