In a week where beacons of light have shone in the gloom at Ibrox, there is still an enormous black cloud hanging over the club. And this defeat made things darker. For Rangers supporters the ultimate indignity would be to lose their club, marginally, just marginally, followed by the prospect of Celtic winning the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title at their home. That nightmare is now a very real prospect.
Rangers may have been given hope for the first time in their battle against administration, with several buyers reportedly lined up to take control of the club. However, almost as a sideshow, it has been forgotten that their recent form — perhaps understandably — has not been good enough for a team trying to stay in the top flight, let alone one attempting to hold on to second place. In the four games since they entered administration, they have had just one win.
Now it could certainly be argued — as Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager, did — that in three of those games they did not deserve to lose. At Tannadice on Saturday, they matched or bettered Dundee United for large parts of the game and there was really only a 15-minute spell at the start of the second half where United looked the better team. Rangers probably also did not deserve to lose to Heart of Midlothian or Kilmarnock either, but lose they did.
They battled hard, couldn’t be accused of throwing in the towel at any stage despite fielding a couple of untested kids in Andrew Mitchell and Rhys McCabe, and were missing six defenders through suspension and injury, yet still crashed to another defeat, their sixth in the Premier League alone this season.
Let’s not forget though, for all Rangers’ off-field troubles, they still managed to line up with ten full internationals in their squad. United had two. The administration process has so far cost them two fringe players who might not even have featured on Saturday.
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There are good reasons for Rangers to have underperformed this season. But there are surely plenty of even better ones why they should have done better with the players still at their disposal. Wage cut or no wage cut, most of their players will still easily out-earn United’s.
They have already exited all four cup competitions tamely this season too. Now they face the agonising prospect of their ancient rivals winning their first championship flag at Ibrox since 1967 when a 2-2 draw clinched the old first division, just days before Celtic became the Lisbon Lions by winning the European Cup. The previous and only other time was in 1908. In Glasgow, such an outcome would mean everything.
Technically, Motherwell could still equal Celtic’s points tally if they win the previous day at Kilmarnock, win every game and Celtic lose all of theirs, but the 37-goal difference might be a tad tricky to rein in. It’s not a scenario entertained by McCoist with any glee and he certainly said the right things in terms of what the Rangers fans want to hear.
“I’ve never been afraid of any Old Firm game in my life and won’t start now,” he said. “I’ve not given it any thought to be honest with you. I will be focused on it but I will also have to take time to meet people interested in buying the club. We can’t forget the future of this football club is the most important thing at this stage.
“We decided to have five working across the midfield and I don’t think you can argue it certainly looked all right in the first half. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record but I am very disappointed in the result. I certainly think we deserved to take something from the game.”
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The ironic thing about United is that they were miles from their best. They were sluggish and were hanging on for dear life at times near the end. But how many times have the Old Firm been outplayed and still got the win? Perhaps the tables are turning. It took a spectacular Keith Watson strike out of the blue in the first half to spark them into life.
Energised by the improving Gary Mackay-Steven, United bossed Rangers at the start of the second half and were rewarded by a fine Jon Daly strike. Yet, they retreated into their shell when Sone Aluko’s effort deflected into the net.
Peter Houston, the United manager, said: “Our boys came in shaking their heads because they were disappointed at the end with their performance. They have set themselves high standards but I had to tell them they had nothing to be sorry about. The most important thing at this stage of the season is winning.”
For Rangers, they have a real hope of taking further strides towards survival this week, but the thought of Neil Lennon dancing over the Ibrox pitch next week in celebration is probably just as bad as it gets for most of their fans.
Dundee United (4-4-2): D Pernis 7 — K Watson 6, S Dillon 5, G Gunning 7, P Dixon 7 — W Flood 6, J Rankin 5, S Robertson 6, G Mackay-Steven 8 (sub: S Armstrong, 87min) — J Russell 7 (sub: R Ryan, 87), J Daly 7. Substitutes not used: S Banks, G Kenneth, D Swanson, B Douglas, R Dow. Booked: Watson, Gunning.
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Rangers (4-5-1): A McGregor 7 — R McCabe 5, L McCulloch 6, R Perry 6, L Wallace 5 — A Mitchell 5 (sub: S Aluko, 52 7), S Davis 7, M Edu 5, A Bedoya 6 (sub: K Hemmings, 82), S Kerkar 5 — A Little 6. Substitutes not used: N Alexander, D Healy, C Hegarty. Booked: Mitchell, McCulloch, Perry, McCabe.