I do wonder sometimes what have I done for all of these calls to go against me?

SAYS RYAN JACK

RYAN JACK has appeal.grown wearily accustomed to being at the centre of a refereeing storm. Sent off a record four times last season in the Premiership, the Rangers midfielder subsequently saw two of his red cards rescinded on

By contrast, the 26-year-old remains raw at the challenge by Motherwell’s Cedric Kipre last December that ended his season but was not even deemed a foul by referee John Beaton.

The latest instalment in Jack’s personal collection of grievances with match officials came in Sunday’s Old Firm loss at Celtic Park.

After a coming together with Tom Rogic in the build-up to the game’s only goal, scored by Olivier Ntcham, play was waved on by Willie Collum.

For Jack, it only added to his nagging doubt that he and his club get a raw deal from the nation’s whistlers.

‘Sometimes you do think: “What have I done for all these decisions to go against me?”,’ said Jack a mere 24 hours after the Parkhead clash.

‘Is my number of overturned red cards a record? It can’t be far off it!

‘As a player and as a club, we are the ones who have to suffer on the back of it.

‘That time I got my injury against Motherwell I certainly suffered.

‘When I was out for six months with my knee, the referee (Beaton) said it wasn’t even a foul, let alone a red card!

‘That’s another decision where you think: “That’s six months of my career!”.

‘There are other times when refs give a red card when it’s not a red card. So you wonder what goes on in the background.

‘I lost six months of my career. It wasn’t great but, thankfully, I recovered fine and I am back playing.’

After an opening-day 1-1 draw at Aberdeen in which Alfredo Morelos was sent off, Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard boldly proclaimed that the world was against Rangers. Morelos’ red card was subsequently downgraded to yellow on appeal.

So do the Ibrox players agree with their boss?

‘Is that what the players think? We don’t really speak about that,’ responded Jack.

‘Are Rangers treated differently to other teams? I don’t look into that.

‘We just go out and try and compete in every game. As long as we do that within the rules of the game — and that’s the case on both sides — then that’s fine.

‘That’s what the referee is there for. Anything that gets out of hand or goes against the rule book.

‘But you just have to get on with it. You can’t mump and moan that you don’t get decisions.

‘I am sure over a period of time you will get some that maybe you shouldn’t get and you won’t get some that you maybe should get.

‘But, as a player, you take defeats home with you. And when it’s such a high-profile game with so much riding on it, and there is a lot of pressure when you lose, it’s disappointing. You have a hangover for a few days.’

While Gerrard was in the Pittodrie press room complaining about the treatment of Rangers by referees back in August, Jack was on his way to hospital after clashing heads with Aberdeen’s Stevie May.

The former Pittodrie skipper also revealed he was abused by Dons fans as he was stretchered out of his old stomping ground.

‘After the game, I had a wee bit of a turn, a bit of concussion, and it wasn’t too good,’ he said.

‘I had to lie down. They felt the best way to get me out was on a stretcher out the main door because standing up with a head or neck injury would have been dangerous.

‘Obviously, there were fans waiting at the main door. I heard what was said and it wasn’t nice, let’s just put it that way.

‘But I am big enough to deal with that.’

Gerrard had hailed Jack’s Pittodrie performance that day as ‘magnificent’ and even admitted to being ‘jealous’ of his performance in the Europa League qualifier against Osijek at Ibrox.

Thriving under the former Liverpool and England captain, the midfielder’s fine form has seen him called up by Alex McLeish for the upcoming international double-header against Belgium and Albania.

‘It was mindblowing to hear how much the gaffer enjoyed my performance (against Osijek),’ said a smiling Jack.

‘Coming into pre-season, I didn’t think he would have seen much of me, so I just wanted to work as hard as I could and get as fit as I could to be a part of his plans.

‘Now I just want to keep that going.

‘I’m delighted to get the call-up from Scotland and I hope to make the most of this week.

‘I missed out on the original squad but you just have to deal with that and be ready if called.’

Sunday’s defeat at Celtic Park has the Ibrox side in seventh place with five points from an available 12.

It is the club’s worst league start since 1989-90, but with qualification for the group stage of the Europa League secured, the tally does not tell the whole story.

For Jack, there has definitely been progress but how much can only be gauged in early 2019.

‘It is too early for us to be saying whether the gap (with Celtic) has closed or not,’ he added.

‘Maybe in January, we can see what the table is saying then. But I think in my time at Rangers there definitely has been a massive improvement.

‘Everything seems to be on the up at the minute. We have made progress and reached the group stage in Europe.

‘We haven’t picked up as many points in the league as we would have wanted. But we will dust ourselves down, recharge the batteries and be ready to hit the ground running when the league starts up again.’