Gers can’t afford to risk this campaign getting any worse

IF everything was hunky-dory at Ibrox and an experienced manager was in charge there would still be cause for concern about how the rest of the season might pan out for Rangers.

A distant second in the table on goal difference and just three points ahead of a high-flying Hibs side in fourth with just five games to go is hardly ideal.

Then you look at the those games – Hearts at home, a daunting trip to champions Celtic, the visit of the country’s in-form team Kilmarnock and trips to Aberdeen and Hibs to finish.

Now throw in the chaos at the crisis club this week following their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of their Old Firm rivals in last weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final.

And the fact a manager who appears to be losing control of the dressing room and looks increasingly out of his depth will continue for the post-split fixtures – it doesn’t exactly fill the fans with confidence.

Rangers made the decision to knock back eye-watering figures for Alfredo Morelos in January and that is being questioned by punters with every missed Old Firm sitter.

Failure to secure runners-up spot would result in them missing an extra £320,000 in SPFL prizemoney on top of the reported £10million they could’ve banked from the sale of Morelos to Chinese side Beijing Renhe.

But the biggest catastrophe would be if the Light Blues missed out on a European spot next season – a scenario unthinkable for the club.

Yet given that tough run of fixtures, fourth place doesn’t seem impossible.

And that would mean a nervy wait to see the outcome of the Scottish Cup Final. Rangers fans could find themselves in the strange situation of cheering Celtic on to an historic double Treble as a Motherwell win at Hampden on May 19 will result in the top flight’s fourth team missing out on a Europa League slot.

Either way it’s a situation Rangers should not find themselves in but can they afford to risk things getting any worse with Graeme Murty at the helm?

As former Under-20s boss he has been placed in a difficult position and after a promising start looked like he might make the job his own.

But the manner of the Old Firm league defeat at Ibrox and last week’s post-match events that saw Kenny Miller and Lee

Gers fans could be in situation of cheering Celts on to a double Treble

Wallace suspended have proved otherwise.

Failure to beat Craig Levein’s Jambos and it’s hard to see how the Gers board can let the situation continue given it’s, on paper at least, the easiest of their games.

Murty won admirers for earning two draws at Parkhead but they’d be lambs to the slaughter this time.

It’s three years since Hearts visited for a snowbound game abandoned after 25 minutes on a night of protests outside Ibrox.

When the same opponents travel down the M8 tomorrow it won’t be like that night but a silent protest planned by the Union Bears fan group shows growing unrest.