Monday 16 March 2015 12:13, UK
Kenny Dalglish has told Rangers players to have pride in their own performances and not look for excuses elsewhere.
Rangers are 24 points behind runaway leaders Hearts in the Scottish Championship and have fallen seven adrift of Hibernian after their third successive draw last Saturday, 1-1 at home to rock bottom Livingston.
Off-field matters continue to dominate proceedings at Ibrox with Stuart McCall installed as their third manager of the season last Friday following Dave King's successful overthrowing of the previous board seven days earlier.
But former Celtic and Scotland captain Dalglish insists players should concentrate fully on what happens on the pitch, leaving the boardroom turmoil to King and his new consortium.
"I’d like to think if you’re a professional footballer then the least you do is go out and try to do your best in the preparation and in the match. That has to be a minimum requirement," he said.
“Maybe it’s being too simplistic to take it as a given. It doesn’t matter who the manager is if you are a player. If you want a contract then you’ve got to play and you’ve got to play well.
“When you consider what the Rangers players have got, materialistically and every other way, then they have to look at themselves.
“They have the second biggest budget in Scotland outside of Celtic but they haven’t beaten Hearts or Hibs yet have they? They should be able to compete in the Championship better than they have been.
“With all due respect to the other teams in the Championship, they should be saying: ‘We should be beating them’.
“It’s a shame because some of the young kids looked half decent for a while. But they’ve been dragged down while they’ve been looking for the more experienced ones to help them out.
“They can blame off-the-pitch shenanigans if they want but that’s where they are. They are where they are because of what they have done, aren’t they?”
And the Liverpool legend urged the players to get behind the new manager: “Stuart will now know what he’s let himself in for but it shouldn’t matter who the manager is. Whether you like or dislike the guy in charge surely you have some respect for yourself.”
“It’s equally as important for Hibs and Hearts to get into the Premiership as it is for Rangers. We can’t just isolate Rangers and talk about the importance it is to Scottish football for them to be in the top flight.
“When you see all the Championship games on TV now you see really big crowds for Hibs and Hearts. I don’t know whether the league would have a rethink and create a bigger Premiership but as it stands at the moment Rangers need to earn the right through the play-offs.
“Hibs are in the same boat as Rangers but Alan Stubbs has done a fantastic job because they could have sat there with the petted lip and done nothing.
“Rangers go to Easter Road on Sunday and have still to play Hearts twice yet they haven’t beaten any of the Edinburgh sides in the league this season so it’s going to be a big test.”
Dalglish was speaking at the Grassroots Hero for the SFA and McDonald’s Grassroots Awards, held at AFC Claremont.
