Rangers

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

It is not often you can say that two high-profile games without a victory have eased pressure on a football manager, but that is where Philippe Clement is at with Rangers.

There was speculation a few weeks ago that winning Sunday's League Cup final was a must for the Belgian given it would coincide with the official arrival of new chief executive Patrick Stewart.

Instead, Clement's side have earned plaudits as last week's Europa League draw with Tottenham was followed by a similarly heartening display in losing to Celtic on penalties at Hampden.

Any defeat by their bitter city rivals would normally be greeted with intense internal scrutiny, especially since Clement has yet to get the better of Celtic in six attempts and his side remain third behind the reigning champions and Aberdeen in the league table.

However, this time the focus has been more on a penalty wrongly denied by the officials and another saved in the shoot-out.

Statistically, Dundee's arrival ought to present Rangers with an opportunity to get back on the improvement track after their nine-game unbeaten run was ended on Sunday.

While Tony Docherty's side are reasonably placed in seventh, they have only won one of their last 11 away league outings, losing six.

It's not the kind of form on the road you want when visiting a side yet to lose at home domestically this season - and in seven outings overall since Lyon's Europa League visit.

Indeed, Dundee have not beaten Rangers in 14 meetings since a 2-1 success at Dens Park in November 2017 - and have lost on their past 18 visits to Ibrox.

Dundee games have produced the most goals in the Premiership this season and, although Rangers matches have witnessed the least, you imagine Clement's side will be confident of boosting that statistic given they have found the net 31 times in the latest eight meetings between the sides.

Read all the weekend Premiership picks

English clubs West Ham United, Newcastle United, Bournemouth, Brentford and Fulham as well as European sides Lille, Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen are interested in Rangers striker Hamza Igamane, in addition to frontrunners Everton. (Daily Record)

Rangers should not "go down the road of questioning the integrity of officials" after the SFA admitted the Ibrox club should have had a penalty in the League Cup final, says club legend Ally McCoist. (Daily Record)

Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon has suggested SFA referees chief Willie Collum should be in the VAR booth for crucial matches such as cup finals. (Scottish Sun)

McCoist believes Cyriel Dessers should have taken a penalty for Rangers in the League Cup final shootout, but says "it's a bigger man that walks away if he doesn't feel right for it". (Daily Record)

President Mike Mulraney has stressed he is determined for the SFA to maintain a strong working relationship with major "economic driver" Rangers after launching a £50m campaign to upgrade 90 football pitches and 75 dressing rooms across Scotland. (The Herald)

Ibrox legend Barry Ferguson says Rangers' "grit, determination and resilience" really encouraged him when they went behind in the League Cup final. (Daily Record)

Read the rest of Friday's gossip.

Image source, SNS

• Rangers are unbeaten in 14 meetings with Dundee across all competitions (W12 D2) since a 2-1 defeat in November 2017 under Graeme Murty.

• Dundee have lost their last 18 away games against Rangers in all competitions since a 2-0 victory in March 2001 under Ivano Bonetti.

• Rangers have won their last three league games by an aggregate score of 10-0. The Ibrox side last won more successive Scottish Premiership matches without conceding in December 2021 (6).

• Dundee have only won one of their last 11 away league outings (D4 L6), beating Motherwell 1-0 in October.

• Dundee's Scottish Premiership games this season have seen more goals than any other side (56 – 27F 29A), while Rangers' have seen the fewest (36 – 27F 9A).

Image source, SNS

Rangers say the officiating failure in the League Cup final is "hugely disappointing" and "damaging for the credibility of Scottish football more widely".

The Ibrox club have released a statement in response to Scottish FA head of referee operations Willie Collum admitting VAR officials made a ''really, really poor'' and "unacceptable" decision not to award Rangers a penalty against Celtic in Sunday's final.

There was no VAR intervention when Rangers, who lost on penalties after a 3-3 draw, were awarded a free-kick in extra time when Liam Scales was penalised by referee John Beaton for a pull on Vaclav Cerny on the edge of the Celtic box.

Replays showed the infringement continued inside the area.

An Ibrox spokesperson said: "Rangers notes the Scottish FA's admission of an officiating failure following the non-award of a penalty to Rangers in Sunday's Premier Sports Cup final and welcomes the transparency from the Scottish FA.

"However, for such a failure to occur during one of Scotland's showcase matches is not only hugely disappointing for the club and its supporters, but also damaging for the credibility of Scottish football more widely.

"We acknowledge the Scottish FA's determination to use this and other decision-making failures as opportunities to drive improvements in officiating standards.

"As a club, we will continue to engage with the Scottish FA in an attempt to improve officiating standards for the benefit of all clubs in Scotland."

Alasdair Lamont
BBC Sport Scotland Commentator

But for what looks like a bad VAR call, Rangers could conceivably have lifted a 29th League Cup on Sunday.

Regardless, they have emerged from two massive games against Spurs and Celtic with their pride intact and should garner a good deal of belief from having gone toe to toe against teams who only a matter of weeks previously would surely have wiped the floor with them.

Philippe Clement and his players deserve much credit for the recent vast improvement in performances, with the Belgian having answered a lot of the criticism that had begun to come his way from pundits and supporters alike.

The key now is to build upon that improvement because as Clement will know all too well, it will only take one more slip-up in the league to provide the doubters with further ammunition.

Most observers, myself included, do not believe there is a way back into the title race for Rangers, but continuing to take maximum points from the three games before the new year meeting with Celtic at Ibrox is still imperative, as is a good showing and, ideally for Clement and Rangers, a win in that one.

With the on-field situation having improved, the appointment of a new chief executive and chairman should begin to restore some off-field stability and ought to allow the club to put in place structures that can allow Rangers to flourish.

They are still a million miles behind Celtic – the obvious benchmark – in that regard, but as Clement and the players showed on Sunday, with the correct approach, they can compete with their better-off rivals.

Ultimately, however, they ended up as losers on the day. The next step, having rid themselves of any inferiority complex, is to become winners again.

Borna Barisic reportedly recommends former club Rangers sign NK Osijek midfielder Marko Soldo, 28. (Mail+), external

Rangers would demand big money before allowing Hamza Igamane to leave in January amid Everton interest so soon after the 21-year-old Moroccan striker has broken into the first team at Ibrox. (TeamTalk), external

Scottish FA head of referees Willie Collum is expected to formally address claims Rangers were wrongly denied a penalty in Sunday's Scottish League Cup final defeat by Celtic when the governing body's monthly VAR Review airs on its YouTube channel on Thursday. (Herald - subscription), external

Glasgow City Council has no concerns about the temporary alcohol licence that has been granted to Rangers before Celtic's 2 January Scottish Premiership visit despite the trouble that occurred in the city over the weekend surrounding the League Cup final between the two clubs at Hampden. (Herald - subscription), external

Read Thursday's Scottish gossip

Image source, SNS

Zak Lovelace netted a late winner as Rangers B team edged their Celtic counterparts 3-2 to lift the Glasgow Cup at the City Stadium.

The Ibrox side - featuring first-team players Oscar Cortes and Rabbi Matondo - twice led through Paul Nsio and Cole McKinnon.

Daniel Cummings and Samuel Isiguzo levelled for Celtic before substitute Lovelace struck the 87th-minute winner as penalties loomed.

Everton are monitoring 22-year-old Rangers and Morocco striker Hamza Igamane, with the futures of both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Beto at the club unclear. (TBR Football), external

Ligue 1 club Saint-Etienne have "strong' interest" in Cyriel Dessers, with the Nigeria striker falling down the Rangers pecking order in recent weeks. (Le Republican Sportif, external - in French)

The Scottish FA have accepted Rangers were denied an extra-time penalty kick in Sunday's Premier Sports Cup final defeat against Celtic. (Scotsman), external

Cup final VAR officials Alan Muir and Frank Connor have not been assigned to Scottish Premiership fixtures this weekend after the penalty fallout at Hampden. (The Herald), external

Read the rest of Wednesday's Scottish gossip.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

Rangers are still awaiting a response from the Scottish FA over the decision not to award the Ibrox side in the League Cup final, says new CEO Patrick Stewart.

Rangers were aggrieved to not be given a spot-kick when Celtic defender Liam Scales tugged the shirt of Vaclav Cerny near the edge of the box as the match was poised at 3-3 in extra time.

A free-kick was instead awarded, with Scales booked for the challenge, before Celtic went on to win on penalties.

"The manner which we lost was hard to take, and as I think people will know, I have spoken with the SFA to ask for an explanation about the non-awarding of a penalty in extra time, so I will wait to hear what the SFA have to say about that," Stewart told Rangers TV.

Stewart officially began work on Monday, with Rangers having announced the appointed of Fraser Thornton as appointment as chairman at the weekend.

"In terms of how the roles differ, Fraser is a non-executive chairman and I am an executive CEO. What that means, is day to day I will be in the club, running the club, looking after operational matters, whereas Fraser is non-exec, where he is one step removed," Stewart added.

"Clearly, whatever I am doing day to day, I have to operate in a framework which is agreed with the board and with Fraser, and I am accountable to the board and to Fraser.

"But day to day it will be me who is coming into Ibrox, going to Auchenhowie and helping drive the club forward."

Image source, SNS

It's only day two of the new job, but Patrick Stewart will surely already feel the weight of the role.

On his first day as CEO of Rangers, he demanded answers from the Scottish FA over the decision not to award Rangers a penalty for a foul on Vaclav Cerny in Sunday's League Cup final.

Stewart replaces James Bisgrove, who departed for Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia during the summer, and after the club recently announced a £17m loss for the year to June.

The new man has "a big job to walk into" but one which should bring about much-needed "detachment", says Rangers Review editor Joshua Barrie.

"In the last few years, it's been, I would argue, a number of bad decisions," Barrie said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"A lack of structure at that executive level has ultimately fed down to what you've seen on the pitch, which is changing ideas and over-trust in too many managers and a belief that a manager can get you out of a situation which is far deeper ingrained than that.

"So Patrick Stewart, in theory, is coming in as a CEO who should have CEO power.

"He should be able to make the big decisions and have the final say over the chairman.

"The chairman will still be an important role, but is not a [John] Bennett, [Douglas] Park or [Dave] King, who has that financial stake in the club and is making decisions with that in mind, so there should now be a bit of detachment."

Listen and subscribe to the Scottish Football Podcast

Jamie Currie
Fan writer

The League Cup final. Mistakes galore from the players on either side and a VAR team who seemed to be watching the game with their eyes closed.

Firstly, you have to credit the Rangers team. Performance wise that was more like it. There was intent, tenacity, heart and desire.

Unfortunately, the four-on-one in the second half will haunt us. If the ball is squared it's 2-0, and at that point we would have been in a strong position.

But what chance do you have when the VAR officials cannot do their job properly? It's a clear penalty on Vaclav Cerny. If they can't communicate to the ref to look at the screen, I don't know what to say.

Rangers' shape in the game was very good and they are showing signs of improving now players are coming back to fitness. All they can do is go out on Saturday against Dundee and maintain the performance levels of the last two matches.

One thing that irked me while leaving Hampden on Sunday was that of our five penalties, we had a keeper and second-choice left-back hitting two of them when we had two strikers on the pitch. Danilo scored his. Where was Cyriel Dessers? Why wasn't he bursting to take one?

It's a sore defeat to take, no question. The club should be questioning the VAR team while the manager and the team need to keep fighting on.

There's nothing much else we can do and as fans, we have to make sure we get behind Ridvan Yilmaz on Saturday.

Thank goodness there is a week to the next game. I don't know about the players but it was an exhausting experience and I'll need a few days to recover.

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Mohamed Diomande: A tireless display in midfield in a much improved Rangers performance against Celtic. Took his goal well.

Image source, SNS

Former Rangers goalkeeper Cammy Bell says the side must "move on and move forward" following their Premier Sports Cup final defeat to Celtic.

Philippe Clement's were ahead at the interval and had to twice come from behind to level the game, and Bell says they must use the loss on penalties as a catalyst to go on a "run of good performances" over the busy festive period.

Bell, who played for Rangers for three years and lifted the League Cup in his time at Kilmarnock, doesn't think Celtic were at their blistering best at Hampden and knows Clement can find positives to take from the match.

"They've got to kick on, this is the time to move on and move forward," the 38-year-old told the Scottish Football podcast. "It was a positive performance, it wasn't the outcome they wanted.

"They wanted to retain the trophy and lift that trophy again, but it wasn't to be.

"The manager will be rallying around the players saying: 'We do have good players in this team, we can play well as a team, and we can force good sides into mistakes,' which they did today with Celtic.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't think Celtic were at their maximum, but again, that's partly down to the way that Rangers kind of played.

"So they've got to take heart from what they played today and what they showed on the pitch, they created a number of opportunities against a very good Celtic team.

"Kasper Schmeichel had a number of good saves as well. Listen, this is the time they've got to move forward, they've got to put a run of good performances and results together in the next few weeks."

We asked for your views on Rangers' defeat against Celtic in the Scottish league cup.

Here's what some of you said:

Sally: Rangers played extremely well and were tactically sound. Nicolas Raskin kept Callum McGregor in check and Celtic's play suffered for it. The players gave everything for the entire match and their commitment could not be faulted. Penalties are a lottery and any player could have missed one, sadly it was a Rangers player. They need to continue to play as a team.

Stephen: Gutted! We didn't deserve it, but yet again Celtic get the breaks, who knows if Philippe Clement will ever beat Celtic!

Ronnie: We gave 100% and should have won the game. The four-vs-one was pivotal, not to score at that point ultimately cost us the final. The team has improved greatly in the past four weeks & we showed we can go toe to toe with Celtic. We must gather ourselves keep winning then beat them in the New Year derby. It's a sore loss in a fantastic final.

Anon: Great performance at last. Maybe now those supporters will stop harping on about getting rid of Clement, appreciate the work that the manager is doing with the extremely limited budget and stop this nonsense about the likes of Derek McInnes coming in to replace Clement.

Brian: Firstly I must say what a cup final, two teams all out to win the cup. A great advert for Scottish football, but I have to say what a way to win or lose a cup final. I would like to see the golden goal rule coming in, I think that would be a better way to have a winner.

Fraser: A ray of hope for the New Year's game, it was a sore way to lose with a poor penalty but Philippe Clement has now got something to build on, we can only hope he gets the backing from the board. Definitely our best Old Firm performance in over a year.

Tom: A draw was a fair result, both teams had good spells, so based on this game and the cup final last season you would expect Rangers to beat Celtic at Ibrox and for Celtic to win their home games, the gap between the teams isn't that big but a poor start to the season means the league is over but long term we are on the right track.

Peter: Very proud of the performances put in by many players in the Rangers team. However, even though he's saved us before, I think the reason we lost that cup final was down to Jack Butland. Just throwing yourself to the ground isn't an ideal tactic to save penalties. I can see now how he's only had nine caps for England.

James Tavernier admitted the Premier Sports Cup final defeat to Celtic was "sore" and said the penalty shoot-out defeat brought back memories from the Europa League final a few years ago.

"It's obviously a sore one," he said. "It brings flashbacks to the Seville final, losing on penalty kicks when the game is so close.

"These games are decided on small margins and I'm proud of all the boys who step up to take a penalty. It's one of those things where you either win a shoot-out or you don't.

"It wasn't our day but you can take positives out of this game.

"It's still sore and raw because our aim was to win it."

Rangers should "100%" have been awarded a penalty for Liam Scales' shirt pull on Vaclav Cerny in Sunday's Scottish League Cup final defeat by Celtic, according to former referee Bobby Madden. (Scottish Sun), external

Another former Scottish referee, Des Roache, says VAR Alan Muir broke protocol by not advising referee John Beaton to review the incident. (Daily Record), external

Former Celtic player and manager Neil Lennon has criticised Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers for not taking a penalty in the shoot-out. (Daily Record), external

Rangers are planning a January bid for NK Osijek's Marko Soldo, with the midfielder likely to command a "huge" fee. (Football Insider), external

After six successful spot kicks in the shootout, Rangers' Ridvan Yilmaz's low effort was saved by Kasper Schmeichel and, although goalkeeper Jack Butland netted the holders' next kick, Daizen Maeda converted to seal the trophy for Celtic.

The triumph – after an epic 3-3 draw after extra time - extends Brendan Rodgers' record of never having lost at Hampden and leaves Ibrox counterpart Philippe Clement still searching for his first derby victory.

It also moves Celtic ahead of the silverware haul of their old rivals for the first time since the 1930's.

Rangers fans, were you at Hampden or following the action from home? Either way, we want your thoughts on your side's performance, external.