Rangers are a team trapped in the wilderness and I heard all about a defeat away from prying eyes | Ibrox analysis

There are four matches Phillipe Clement must win in quick succession after the international break.

Departing Ally McCoist going into the jungle and Rangers are trapped in the wilderness.

That would appear to be some supporters’ snap summary of events at Ibrox. Coisty is already the bookies’ favourite to win I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. The odds on Rangers winning over the disillusioned are fluctuating on a daily basis. Not helped by the fact the corridors of power are emptying at an alarming rate. I’m told Rangers lost a closed-door friendly with another Premiership side on Wednesday.

A bounce game defeat doesn’t signal crisis but there are four matches Phillipe Clement must win in quick succession after the international break. There’s Kilmarnock away then Steaua Bucharest at home in the Europa League. Aberdeen at Pittodrie is after that then Gers face Motherwell at Hampden in the League Cup semi-final. It has to be four wins out of four. Or else. That’s the law of the jungle.

Elsewhere, the plinth on Jock Stein’s statue outside Celtic Park reads: “Football without the fans is nothing”. When Hoops’ greatest manager said that, he wasn’t referring to armchair fans. Big Jock was talking about matchday attenders who, over the decades, have become Celtic’s business partners because of the ever-increasing revenue they bring into the club.

Season tickets. Replica kits. Champions League packages which pocketed Celtic £11m before a ball was even kicked. Moving the kick-off time from 3pm to noon for Saturday’s game with Aberdeen to accommodate television would have been a betrayal of those people and Stein’s memory.

Look online at Tommy Burns speaking on the pitch after a Scottish Cup final win for Celtic over Rangers. "They’re there and they’re always there,” he says about his club’s fans. That’s why the Celtic board couldn’t sell them out for a pittance.

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