Gerrard and fans deserve answers from Ibrox stars
THE question that everyone associated with Rangers, from the board to the supporters, has been asking for weeks now is this: What has gone wrong with Steven Gerrard’s side?
If I’m being honest, I don’t know the answer. I doubt many of the fans do either.
The players must do, though. And Steven has to find a way of getting through to them, getting the answer out of them and making them perform.
Steven always speaks from the heart. Now it is time for his squad to do some soul searching and I have been thinking of what Jock Wallace did with us during my days.
We were going through a difficult time and Jock had us all in and sat us down in the home dressing room at Ibrox. He said: “Right, I am fed up bawling and shouting at you, it is not working. So I want you to tell me what is wrong.”
There were 25 players in the dressing room and he started at the first one in the line, which was big Peter McCloy and said: “You stand up and tell me and the rest of these players exactly what you think is wrong with the team.”
When he was up speaking, if he had a go at a couple of players then Jock didn’t want anyone shouting back at him. Everyone got their chance.
Peter spoke about the side defensively and then everyone had their say. It must have lasted over two hours and we got it out of our system so everyone knew exactly how we were feeling.
The manager knew as well and we picked up after that. A few home truths came out and it did help us.
Would that work these days? I’m not so sure. The game has changed and players don’t want to hear criticism or be shouted at.
I am not saying that is going to work at Rangers but Steven will be scratching his head and he has to find a solution to get this team winning games sooner rather than later.
Steven will have his own ideas on how to turn this around but that is what Big Jock did. And he was a man who won leagues, cups, Trebles and European trophies. He didn’t have the answers and he wanted it to come from the players that were out on the park.
The manager will always take the brunt of it. When the team are winning, he is the best boss ever, but when things are not going well we should get rid of him. That has always been the case and Steven will understand that. He will take all the criticism coming his way, and the reaction from the fans on Wednesday will hurt.
But he needs answers from his players. They have to be honest with themselves and honest with the group because this situation is completely unacceptable.
Every set of supporters is hard to please but the Rangers fans are a demanding and expectant crowd and when standards are not being met then they won’t be slow in telling you. And rightly so, you can’t blame them.
They have waited a long, long time for a team to look like they can win the title again and on December 29 they thought they had a chance of the Premiership.
Since then, it has gone horribly, horribly wrong and I am struggling to put my finger on just what has happened.
Before the game on Wednesday, I sat down with the 10 or 12 former players who meet up to find out our duties going around the lounges and meeting the fans. And nobody could pinpoint what was wrong.
There were guys from different teams and they all recalled difficult spells that they were able to get themselves out of. Colin Stein and Willie Johnston spoke about Jock’s way but like I said, I don’t know if that will work for Steven.
The only people that you can go to for the answers are the players themselves. They know how much they are giving in training, they know how much they care during games.
Once you cross that white line, it is on you and not the manager. You have your instructions, you know how good you can be, so go and win the games.
Rangers created more than enough chances to win that game on Wednesday but they couldn’t take them. That is not the fault of the manager, nor his staff. And nobody can legislate for the embarrassing goal that we lost, either. That comes down to people doing their jobs right and being able to handle the pressure.
For me, Hamilton wanted to win that game more than Rangers did. And I would say the same about Hearts at Tynecastle as well.
For that to be said about any Rangers side should embarrass every member of that team. That is not Rangers and that attitude can never be tolerated or accepted.
You don’t just turn up and win. Your attitude for Hearts, St Johnstone and Accies has to be the same as it is for Braga, Bayer Leverkusen and Celtic.
I have said time after time that you have to win the battle before you can win the war at Rangers. That message just doesn’t seem to be there with some of these players and they have to have a long, hard look at themselves.
Steven is being criticised more severely now than he has ever been at Ibrox. I don’t blame him here, though.
I am well aware that when teams aren’t performing then the manager is the first one to go. It is his team, his tactics and ultimately he carries the can like any boss at any club.
But the players that he has brought to Rangers, that he has put his faith in, owe him big time. They have got Rangers into this situation and they have to get us out of it.
I don’t know what has gone wrong for Rangers but I am sure the players do. They are the ones who need to resolve this situation, and it must happen quickly.
They have to be honest with themselves