THE BITTER END:
McCall rages at Mohsni as brawl mars Fir Park Final
STUART McCALL l ast night blasted Bilel Mohsni for his part in the shameful scenes at Fir Park as the Rangers promotion journey came to an ignominious end in Motherwell.
The Tunisian defender, who for much of his Ibrox stay has proved a dressing room liability, put the final lid on a heated 3-0 defeat in the second leg of the Play- Off Final by kicking and punching Fir Park striker Lee Erwin.
And l ast ni ght Poli c e Scotland confirmed t hey are to r eview t he incident, which continued up the Fir Park tunnel. Mohsni, Er wi n and his
Motherwell team-mate Fraser Kerr were all red-carded following the fighting at the final whistle of a game in which Rangers were once again outplayed and out-thought by Ian Baraclough’s side.
Mohsni, who apologised to his teammates after they criticised him for his behaviour, was later restrained at the Rangers team bus as he attempted to resume hostilities with Erwin outside the ground.
Branding his actions ‘disgraceful’, McCall will meet the Rangers board i n the coming days to discuss his future following a dire, tempestuous 6-1 aggregate defeat.
Wi t h another season in the Championship ahead, the Ibrox clearout will surely start with the departure of Mohsni.
‘Hand on heart, I’ve not seen it,’ said McCall after Mohsni’s refusal of an Erwin handshake escalated into the unedifying scenes beamed around the world.
‘I was down the tunnel and then heard the roar, so came running back. I spoke to referee Craig Thomson and I believe there were three red cards given after the game — one to ourselves and two to Motherwell.
‘If what you are telling me about the incident is true, then it’s obviously unacceptable and totally disgraceful.
‘No one can condone that sort of behaviour. Bilel’s contract is up but that’s totally unacceptable.
‘I don’t know if the club can take any action against him, but I don’t think there is any doubt he won’t be at the football club next season.’
As police horses moved in, Motherwell supporters staged a mini pitch invasion taunting the travelling Rangers supporters.
The Fir Park club will also face SPFL sanctions with Alan Burrows, Motherwell’s general manager, branding the reaction of supporters ‘disappointing’.
There is also likely t o be an investigation into the incident which saw Rangers skipper Lee McCulloch whacked in the eye by a home flag as he attempted to retrieve the ball from the touchline, while a flare was thrown onto the pitch after Motherwell’s second goal.
Mercifully, the Rangers fans who had remained inside Fir Park at the end of the match refused to confront home supporters at time-up.
‘ You don’t want to see any trouble,’ added McCall. ‘I wasn’t aware of any until I heard the roar. Emotions were running high.
‘It has been a disappointing day but that obviously adds even more disappointment to it.’
The failure to secure promotion to the top flight through the play- offs also throws McCall’s own future at the club into doubt.
Asked if he has done enough to warrant a permanent appointment as manager after deflected goals f rom Marvin Johnson and Lionel Ainsworth, and an injury-time John Sutton penalty, sealed an emphatic Motherwell win, McCall added: ‘That won’t be for me.
‘It’s for the club to decide on and I think the majority know I don’t like talking about myself or what I’ve done, or what I can do.
‘But I think my three biggest strengths as a manager and coach are recruiting people, as I did here at Motherwell, getting the best out of people and improving people.
‘That’s certainly three things Rangers will need next season.
‘Recruitment of players is going to be huge. Alan Stubbs brought a fantastic team in at Hibs. Look at last season and he brought five new players in during January. ‘And I look at Ian today. He brought seven or eight in here in January. ( Stephen) Pearson, ( Scott) McDonald, Marvin Johnson — they paid money for them and how they finished 11th with the players they have, I will never know. But of course I want to carry on as manager. It has been an honour and privilege and I feel I can do the job.
‘Now I’ve been in there, I feel there are still good players at the club. There are some good, young players at the club.
‘It’s going to be a big rebuilding job, but it’s not out of the realms of possibility that whoever is Rangers manager next season will be looking at promotion. I don’t think there is any doubt about that.
‘I will possibly know within the next few days if I’ve got the job. We will have a meeting and then take it from there.’
McCall has drawn up two lists of transfer targets already and admitted that Rangers’ transfer ambitions will be damaged badly by the failure to go up to the top tier at the first attempt.
‘Players would like to come to Rangers, but if they came up from England then maybe they would like us to be in the Premiership,’ he said. ‘So we had two lists. One if we got promoted and one if we did not.
‘There are players who wouldn’t want to drop a division and also it wouldn’t be as rewarding financially as if we were in the top division. But whoever gets the job, it is an exciting prospect and a challenge to relish because you don’t often get such an opportunity to come into this football club.
‘ Not only are there a lot of players out of contract, some are big earners, so there is a chance to bring good, quality players to the club.’