Don’t feel blue, we’re ahead of the curve
Director Alastair Johnston says there’s no need to panic as Rangers’ recovery is ahead of schedule
TROUNCED BY CELTIC IN CUP STAR PLAYERS SUSPENDED BUT GERS CHIEF INSISTS..
BY ALAN MARSHALL RANGERS director Alastair Johnston last night claimed the crisis-hit club’s recovery is ahead of schedule.
And he insisted finishing third in the top flight would be a success this season, six years after they were playing in the bottom tier following financial implosion.
Rangers are still reeling from Sunday’s disastrous 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Celtic – the 10th successive Old Firm game the Light Blues have failed to win. Boss Graeme Murty looks a lame
duck in the dugout and skipper Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller are both suspended by the club after heated dressing-room scenes following the Hampden capitulation.
Celtic are strolling to seven in a row and stand on the brink of historic back-to-back trebles as Gers struggle to bridge the gap.
But Johnston reckons there’s no cause for panic.
He said: “We are probably doing a little better than we would’ve imagined back in the dark days of running out at Brechin in the fourth tier.
“In terms of looking forward from where we were four or five years ago at the bottom, the progress that has been gradually made, we are probably ahead of the curve in reality if we finish second or third.
“We are making progress. Hopefully the curve will be fast but it is still going to be gradual, it is not going to happen overnight.”
Murty is set to make way in the summer after stepping up from his role with the Under-20s.
But USA-based Johnston says the board’s decision won’t be swayed by the emotion of recent defeats.
Johnston, who joined the Rangers board last June having been chairman of the club between 2009 and 2011, said: “We have had the discipline of saying we will evaluate the situation at the end of the season.
“At any given time during the period of his tenure there has been a lot of support for him.
“We as a board have to take a very objective view and not be swayed by any result, whether it is positive or negative.
“The weekend wasn’t good. I was there. But as I said we have to be disciplined as a board and not be swayed by emotion.”