Rangers

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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Rangers' away form has been a bright spot amid some gloomy moments this season, but they were unable to make it seven Scottish Premiership wins on the road against a St Mirren side who deserved a point at the very least.

Visiting interim head coach Barry Ferguson looked increasingly frustrated on the sidelines as their inability to dominate lesser equipped opponents was again on full display.

Perhaps conscious of the tight St Mirren pitch, Ferguson had dropped in-form Vaclav Cerny and Ianis Hagi to the bench, but the result was a disjoined and error-strewn display.

A team that went toe-to-toe with Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League played like strangers and were in severe danger of losing back-to-back league visits to Paisley for the first time since April 1986.

Celtic's emphatic 5-1 win away to Dundee United earlier in the day not only secured another league title.

It was yet another example of the gap between the Glasgow rivals - now 17 points in the table - and the draw in Paisley does little for Ferguson's hopes of staying team boss beyond the end of the season.

It was further proof that whoever does get the job has a major task on their hands next season.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire would not expect the prospective American owners of Rangers to spend big straight away. (Record), external

Maguire describes 49ers Enterprises, who are in talks to take over Rangers, as "hard-nosed businessmen". (Sun), external

On-loan Feyenoord defender Neraysho Kasanwijro, 23, has returned to training at Rangers after a lengthy injury absence. (Herald - subscription required), external

Read Saturday's Scottish gossip

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St Mirren sold Toyosi Olusanya to Houston Dynamo this week and remain without Evan Mooney (ankle).

Ridvan Yilmaz is out for the rest of the season with an injury picked up in the Europa League defeat by Athletic Bilbao.

Leon Balogun has had an operation on his fractured cheekbone, Tom Lawrence is still out along with Dujon Sterling (Achilles) and Neraysho Kasanwirjo (knee), while one or two others are doubts.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Cyriel Dessers wants to stay at Rangers next season when new owners could be in place.

The Nigeria striker, who is under contract till the summer of 2027, has only won one trophy - the League Cup last season - since arriving at Ibrox two years ago.

"I'm very keen. I came here two summers ago with the ambition to fight for trophies and to win them. We've had two amazing runs in Europe but we have won one trophy and I don't think that's enough," said Dessers.

"Not everything in the last two seasons was bad. We were fighting for the league title last season until a couple of games before the end and we've got to three cup finals in a row. But winning one isn't enough at Rangers, we know that.

"I'm really hungry to win more trophies. Obviously there's going to be a lot happening at the club but I am looking forward to that as well.''

The 30-year-old, currently on 23 goals, has set himself a target for the rest of the season.

Speaking before Saturday's game at St Mirren, Dessers said: "You want to score in every game but it would be nice to get to 25, but most importantly we want to win these games.

"We are gutted that it's only five games until the end of the season. You want to have six, including a cup final.

"But we need to take some pride in these five games and give 100% to win them and have good performances. That's important. You can't let it just fizzle it out."

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Rangers interim head coach Barry Ferguson says his players must use the "pain" of Celtic's Premiership success to fuel their next campaign.

Celtic need just one point from their final five league matches to secure a fourth successive title having led the way for the vast majority of the season.

Ferguson - a legend at Ibrox as a player - says second simply isn't good enough and certain members of his squad are now playing for their futures at the club.

"Well, it'll be painful for me," he said when asked about Celtic's impending success. "It'll be painful for my staff, it'll be painful for the supporters. And I want it to be painful for my players.

"Because you're at Rangers, and we need to start challenging, properly challenging, for trophies.

"It's sore when you see your fiercest rivals win trophies, you don't like to see that. After that there were horrible summers.

"I was ready to come back in and work my backside off to make sure that didn't happen again. I would make me even more determined, and hopefully that's going to be the case next season.

"I come in for a lot of criticism, it's not nice, but you know what? It made me even more determined to go and prove a lot of people wrong.

"And that's what the group of players need to do in this short period of five games. We need to go and show, or they need to go and show, that they want to be part of this club going forward."

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Barry Ferguson has been speaking to the media before Rangers visit St Mirren in the Premiership this weekend.

Here are the key points from the interim Ibrox boss:

• Ferguson admits he "might not be everyone's cup of tea" or the most experienced manager linked with the job but he knows what changes are required and is convinced he would make Rangers "a better club" if he is appointed.

• Ferguson says he won't look for another job in management if he is not kept on by Rangers and will return to his role as club ambassador.

• He adds: "It's my club and I wasn't interested in going back into coaching, but I got an opportunity I never thought I would get and I've come in and enjoyed every single second of it."

• He will meet new sporting director Kevin Thelwell but there is no date scheduled.

• Ferguson will be "honest and clear" with Thelwell, adding: "It's good, he's an experienced guy, he's been about a lot of clubs, a lot of big clubs as well, so I think it was an appointment that was needed and, looking at his background, it looks a very good appointment."

• As a supporter he's happy at the "positive news" of how the takeover talks seem to be progressing and says club needs outside investment.

• He has set the squad a target of 15 points from the remaining five games.

• Ferguson says Celtic winning the Premiership will be "painful" for him and supporters and wants it to be painful for players too: "It's sore when you see your fiercest rivals win trophies, you don't like to see that. It should make you even more determined and hopefully that's going to be the case next season."

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Rangers questions.

Thom asked: Can you envisage any problems with the potential takeover? Or is it a win-win for Rangers?

Tom answered: Everything that I hear suggests it's moving healthily towards completion. A source close to the deal told me in late February he expected it to be done by June.

Everybody has since signed non-disclosure agreements, so there's not a lot of new information coming out, but it all seems to be progressing nicely. I suspect this is going to be very good news for Rangers. Not a magic wand, but good news.

Dave asked: Do we keep Cyriel Dessers and persevere or do we get rid and bring in a goalscorer? I personally don't think he is good enough.

Tom answered: Dessers is a goalscorer. He might miss too many, but he's scored 20-plus in back-to-back seasons and I think the grief he gets is way over the top.

The goalscoring burden has fallen mostly on him over the past two seasons because Danilo has been injured for vast chunks of time and Hamza Igamane is still raw. You can't improve as a team unless you're getting goals from multiple places.

Celtic get goals from Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah, but also from Nicolas Kuhn, Arne Engels, Jota, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and even Yang Hyun-Jun gets a handful.

Rangers don't get nearly enough goals from midfield. Connor Barron has zero, Niko Raskin has two. James Tavernier's goals have dried up, so everybody looks to Dessers when they should be looking at the midfielders at the club who should be doing more.

Only the excellent Vaclav Cerny is really doing it in a major way on that front. He's the only Rangers midfielder in double figures. The next highest has six. Across the city, Luke McCowan has six and is not first choice. Dessers is not the big problem here.

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Rangers questions.

Chris asked: Should Rangers re-employ Steven Gerrard (who left them in the lurch and has achieved little since) or Jose Mourinho, who is almost at has-been status, or take a punt on Barry and the Three Bears?

Tom answered: Well, now that they have appointed the experienced Kevin Thelwell as sporting director they can crack on with the process of getting a new manager in place.

Steven Gerrard - he stopped Celtic's 10 in a row, but his overall track record doesn't stack up, in my view. I know that plenty of Rangers fans will disagree. Never go back.

Jose Mourinho - would be great for us in the media, so yes please. Realistically, I don't think so.

A punt on Barry Ferguson - zero chance of that happening, I'd imagine. Rangers need to go down a new road under new ownership. They need to get themselves a version of Ange Postecoglou, a guy who had intimate knowledge of relatively untapped football markets and who can bring in fine players for affordable money.

They need value and they need lots of it. Kevin Muscat is an interesting contender.

Sue asked: If Rangers get the right manager and structure at the club under the new owners can you see them challenging Celtic next season or will it take longer to mount a significant challenge?

Tom answered: Sorry to mention Postecoglou again, but he showed it can be done in quick order, but only if you repeatedly hit the jackpot in the transfer market.

He built a new team for a relatively small outlay. That's exactly what Rangers are going to have to do. Their rebuild is as big as the Postecoglou rebuild was in 2021.

My guess is it's going to take longer than a season or two. Celtic are miles ahead on every front. They're going to have to move backwards and Rangers will have to get the vast majority of their big decisions right for there to be any shift in power in the short term.

The takeover offers a lot of hope. These are serious people who know what they are doing. They've already done it with Leeds, so if I was a Rangers supporter I'd be very excited about them coming in while at the same time accepting that this is probably going to take time.

Financially, Rangers have wasted so much money in recent years. The review they've conducted under Patrick Stewart would be worth reading. I'd imagine he's pored over it with a constant grimace on his face.

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"You get change very, very quickly, but do you always get the change you want?"

It's shaping up to be a new era at Rangers this summer, with the club officially confirming for the first time they are in negotiations with American investors, including the San Francisco 49ers, about a possible takeover of the club at the same time they announced Kevin Thelwell as sporting director.

He joins from the Premier League, which over the last few years has seen an influx in investors from the States, though reviews have been mixed, according to former Chelsea and Everton winger Pat Nevin.

"Yes, you get change very, very quickly, but do you always get the change you want, is the other question," the ex-Scotland international told BBC Radio Scotland.

"There are plenty of clubs down in England who have had American investors come in, with lots and lots of money, which everyone thinks it's a great thing, but plenty of negatives come with that as well.

"Sometimes you get pure businessmen coming in who don't have an understanding of the concept of the club, its history, how it works and that can really upset folk.

"There's good and bad aspects. But, the hope is they buy into the club, not just financially but emotionally as well."

The same will be hoped of Thelwell, who Nevin believes comes with "thumbs up" from people in and around Merseyside after his three-year Everton stint.

"It appears to be complete control of the footballing department, so a lot on his plate, but he did it at Everton during one of the most incredibly difficult times during the club's history," he said.

"He probably came out with thumbs up from most people, so he did a good job at Everton given the circumstances but he's got a big job when he arrives at Rangers too."

• St Mirren have won their past two league meetings with Rangers, as many as their previous 47 beforehand (W2 D4 L41). Only in 1979-80 have the Buddies ever defeated the Gers three times in a single league campaign.

• After their 2-1 defeat on Boxing Day 2024, Rangers could lose back-to-back league visits to St Mirren for the first time since April 1986.

• St Mirren have won their past two home league games, scoring eight goals in the process – one more than they had netted in their previous nine beforehand (seven).

• Rangers have lost 13 matches in all competitions this season, last losing more in a single campaign in 1985-86 (17).

• After only scoring once in his first 59 Scottish Premiership appearances for St Mirren, Caolan Boyd-Munce has netted four in his past four league games, including three in his last two at the SMISA Stadium.

The prospect of Steven Gerrard returning to manage Rangers is an exciting one, says former Ibrox defender Alan Hutton, who believes the Englishman knows what is required. (Football Insider), external

Dundee manager Tony Docherty is unsurprised Josh Mulligan, 22, is attracting interest amid reports Rangers are interested in the versatile Dens Park player. (Courier - subscription required), external

Read Friday's Scottish gossip

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How does Kevin Thelwell like to work? What can he bring to Rangers? Will he be able to handle the pressure? Is he a canny transfer operator?

BBC Merseyside sports reporter Giulia Bould, who worked on the podcast series 'Everton: Nothing Will Be The Same' and interviewed Thelwell, provides an inisight into the new Rangers sporting director:

"He is somebody who likes to try to keep things stable. It was far from stable at Everton – there was a couple of PSR breaches, back-to-back relegation battles – so he certainly didn't have an easy time of it.

"It's important to say as well for a lot of the time he had an interim board there and a very absent owner.

"Thelwell is a man who likes to work collaboratively, he likes to work with managers, he likes to work with the board. He didn't always have that unfortunately behind him.

"He also had quite a close bond with players. We saw that when he announced he was leaving Everton – the likes of Idrissa Guyeye, who he brought back from PSG, saying online he wanted to put his record of thanks to him and saying he worked exceptionally hard in really difficult circumstances.

"Thelwell is someone as well who likes to look across everything. It's not just the first team, it's the academy, the women's side. He's certainly a man that puts in very long hours.

"Everton were definitely in a mess long before Thelwell arrived. And those PSR breaches, because the cycle is over three years, were already in effect before his time. And the big list of Everton players he has brought in – the likes of Iliman Ndiaye, who is outstanding at the moment, James Tarkowski and Dwight McNeil, who were both brought in on frees.

"You've got the likes of Amadou Onana that was brought in then sold to Aston Villa for big money to Aston Villa. So he likes to buy players that he knows if he has to sell them, they are going to bring in a big transfer fee.

"The loan market is something Thelwell works in really well too. Conor Coady was brought in from Wolves, where Thelwell was previously, and Carlos Alcaraz arrived on an interesting loan deal from Flamengo where Everton have the option to buy on a cut-price deal if he hits a certain number of appearances. So he knows how to wheel and deal.

"Thelwell worked tirelessly to ensure that not only would Everton be a Premier League club but still in existence. He has done absolutely magnificently.

"He'll be under pressure at Rangers – he's certainly had pressure non-stop at Everton for three years. So I think he'll understand how big the Rangers job is."

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It's safe to say Kevin Thelwell's time at Everton didn't come without its challenges.

From struggles with PSR (Profit and Sustainably Rules), points deductions, a relegation battle and something of a revolving door of managers, it's been a "tumultuous time" according to Peter McFarlane of The Blue Room podcast.

During that spell, though, Thelwell was "the shining light". The 51-year-old is now seeing out his final weeks in the job before joining Rangers in summer as sporting director.

"He did a fantastic job at Everton, given some really difficult circumstances," McFarlane told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme.

"Everything has got to be taken into context, when you look at what's happened at Everton, during one of the club's most tumultuous times, in my opinion, he's been a bit of a shining light throughout that."

During his three years at the Premier League club, Thelwell oversaw an £81m profit in transfers, despite working with a limited budget, and often "fronted up" to issues.

"When you look at his transfer record, there's probably question marks over some of his transfers but I think that happens with everyone - even Alex Ferguson made some bad decisions - and overall he can hold his head up high," McFarlane added.

"I don't believe he was the problem. Given everything that was going on off the pitch, I think he was one who stood up and fronted it.

"He was one of the people who communicated with supporters and was very open and honest.

"We had an absent board for example, yet he wasn't one to shy away, he was always there to reassure the fans during a really tough time."

When asked if Thelwell is the man to turn Rangers' fortunes around, McFarlane said: "I believe so, yes."

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Former Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield has his say about the current squad, indicating this summer may be time for defender Robin Propper and midfielder Nedim Bajrami to move on while suggesting the club should listen to offers for Cyriel Dessers, Mohamed Diomande, Jefte and Rivan Yilmaz. (Record), external

Rangers will wear kits made by Umbro next season. (Herald - subscription required), external

Former Rangers and Scotland defender Russell Martin is an early favourite for the Norwich City job. (Scotsman - subscription required), external

Read Thursday's Scottish gossip

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Kevin Thelwell is confident of bringing "real progress" to Rangers after being confirmed as the club's new sporting director.

The Englishman, 51, will take up his role at Ibrox in the summer after a three-year spell with Everton.

"This is a huge honour for me to be joining a club with the size, stature and expectations of Rangers," Thelwell said.

"I know how much Rangers means to so many people, and that brings both responsibility and motivation.

"Rangers needs to win. That's the bottom line. There's a strong foundation already in place, and I look forward to working closely with the teams across the men's, women's and academy programmes to build something that delivers consistently.

"Of course there's important work ahead, especially in men's first-team structure, but we'll approach it with energy and purpose. While change takes time, I'm confident that we can make real progress. I can't wait to get started."

Thelwell is an "outstanding candidate with terrific experience in the Premier League and the MLS," says CEO Patrick Stewart.

Thelwell, who was formerly head of sport at New York Red Bulls and sporting director at Wolves, will have responsibility for all areas of Rangers' football operation, including men's, women's and academy.

"I am delighted to be welcoming Kevin to the club following a rigorous recruitment process," said Stewart.

"Our football review quickly identified the need to appoint a sporting director, and in Kevin, we have found an outstanding candidate with terrific experience in the Premier League and the MLS.

"It will be the role of Kevin, with the full support of myself and the board to lead our football department and deliver the results our supporters expect and deserve."

What would you like to ask Tom English about Rangers?

Our chief sportswriter is in the hotseat ready to answer your questions and offer his insight and opinion on your club.

Answers will be provided on this page later in the week.

Put your questions to Tom here.

Alasdair Lamont
BBC Sport Scotland Commentator

Rangers supporters must be willing the season to end now that their European dream has been extinguished and only five all-but-meaningless league fixtures remain as their city rivals Celtic prepare to clinch a 55th title and very possibly a ninth treble.

They must also be desperate to see the takeover by 49ers Enterprises and Andrew Kavanagh go through to allow the club to begin to put in place the managerial infrastructure required to restore Rangers' fortunes.

Gretar Steinsson, technical director at 49ers Enterprises having left a similar role at Leeds United last year, has been a regular spectator at Rangers games recently and would appear likely to play an important role in appointing key figures at Ibrox if and when the takeover goes through.

A sporting director would be the obvious position to be filled first - Everton's Kevin Thelwell, external is being strongly linked - with chief executive Patrick Stewart having stated that was the model the club intended to pursue, ahead of a new manager or head coach being appointed.

Time is clearly of the essence and you would imagine those behind the takeover will already have a number of their ducks in a row in terms of bringing in the people they want swiftly to then allow the major work required in the playing department to commence.

For now, it will be interesting to see how Barry Ferguson approaches the games to come. He has already shown a willingness to give young players an opportunity and that could continue or increase to allow them some experience over the next month.

It has been a pitiful season for Rangers, but the impending takeover at least allows for some level of optimism for the beleaguered fanbase.

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Kevin Thelwell, who has worked with Everton, Wolves and New York Red Bulls, is in line for a key role at Rangers (Mail), external.

The appointment of a new sporting director at Rangers is close. (Record), external

St Mirren vice-chairman Jim Gillespie has turned down offers from England since also rejecting the chance to become Rangers chief executive. (Sun), external

Former Rangers and Scotland defender Russell Martin is on Leicester's shortlist should they sack manager Ruud van Nistelrooy. (Sky Sports), external

Read the rest of Wednesday's Scottish gossip column.

Jamie Currie
Fan writer

Unfortunately for us, the season is now over. But given how shambolic it has been from the Hampden/Ibrox debacle until now, this Rangers team getting to a European quarter-final is quite the achievement.

The second leg at San Mames was always going to be tough, but when Ridvan Yilmaz got an early injury and Mohamed Diomande was moved to left wing-back when he was the only player who was getting us up the pitch, you knew it was going to be a long night.

And then when you factor in the Dani Vivian shirt pull on Cyriel Dessers and handball by Yeray Alvarez inside the box rejected by the ref and VAR, the semi-final place was never happening.

But all we can do now is try to win the remaining five league matches and I would like to see guys like Clinton Nsiala, Findlay Curtis, Hamza Igamane and Bailey Rice start the majority of games.

I've seen enough of Dessers in attack to last a lifetime, Robin Propper wouldn't play for me either and that's just two of them.

On a positive note, the takeover seems to be edging closer and I hope they have their ducks in a row with the key appointments within the club.

At least we may see something different going into next season, because it quite frankly cannot be possible for them to produce worse than we have seen this campaign.

Five more 90 minutes to go and I can't wait for that final whistle at Easter Road on the last day.

Leeds United's confirmed promotion has removed a potential barrier to Andrew Cavenagh and 49ers Enterprises' takeover of Rangers as Premier League rules over joint ownership are less restrictive than for clubs in the English Football League. (Scottish Sun), external

Celtic, who qualified for the knockout play-off round of the Champions League, banked £16m more from European performance payments this season than Rangers, who made it to the quarter-finals of the Europa League. (The National), external

Athletic Bilbao, who knocked Rangers out of the Europa League last week, could help the Ibrox club qualify for a later stage of next season's Champions League if the Spanish side go on to lift the trophy this season. (The Herald), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish Gossip in full.