STRACHAN Gers can’t handle off the park madness
Strach: Gestures, statements, and Translategate have blown up Ibrox title bid
GORDON STRACHAN suspects Rangers may have torpedoed their own title hopes by becoming embroiled in a war of words off the park. The former Celtic and Scotland boss spoke exclusively to Record Sport yesterday after the Parkhead champions opened up a BY KEITH JACKSON 12-point lead over their rivals at the top of the table.
And, although Strachan insists the top-flight campaign may still go all the way down to the wire, he says Steven Gerrard’s players may have
been sidetracked from the title battle by a storm of controversies that have been played out in the public eye.
The Ibrox club has been at the centre of numerous headline spats with star striker Alfredo Morelos involved in most of them, including an investigation by the SFA into a throat slitting gesture, a police probe into claims his car was tampered with and an interview with Sky Sports that sparked the translate-gate scandal.
The Colombian’s form has nosedived since Rangers returned from the winter break.
And Strachan believes Morelos may not be the only key player in Steven Gerrard’s dressing room to have become distracted at a massive moment in the campaign.
He said: “You didn’t see it coming in December. At that point in time Rangers looked like a focused team.
“Now I don’t know if this is right or not – I’m just trying to come up with a reason for what’s happened – but could it be that all the nonsense in the media has affected the Rangers players more than Celtic’s?
“Over the last couple of months I’ve not been able to pick up my Daily Record without seeing some latest row blow up.
“We’ve had everything from gestures to statements, interviews and mysterious translations. ‘Who was behind that?’ or ‘What’s this guy doing?’ or ‘What does that gesture mean?’ It’s been madness.
“Now I don’t know if it’s been a factor or not but something seems to have affected Rangers’ players and it could be all these things away from football.
“I just don’t believe that guys of the calibre of Gerrard, Gary McAllister, Steve Davis and Ryan Jack could allow complacency to slip in if they were all just concentrating on winning games of football.
“Maybe they went on the winter break and thought, ‘We’re looking like favourites to win this thing now – I don’t want to be the manager or the player who is blamed for throwing it away!’
“Sometimes players can put themselves under too much pressure to keep on delivering.
“It’s strange the way demons can get into people’s heads at times.
“Mistakes will go against you, breaks will go for you but you have to stay focused on what you are trying to achieve.
“So far Lenny and his gang have handled it all extremely well.”