Rangers have been hit with a new three-man injury blow instantly seemingly disproving the ‘injury faking’ theory some fans had suggested after former manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s departure.

Michael Beale confirmed Antonio Colak had to miss yesterday’s win over Hibernian with a calf strain, while also revealing his gameplan had to further alter on the morning of the match with the news Leon King was ill.

Then to compound the situation, Ridvan Yilmaz’ absence, slated to end around January, give or take, will now continue and last into March or beyond, it being a full on ACLI if not a severe on ala Ianis Hagi’s ailment.

So just when Rangers’ injury situation looked like it had magically cleared up, it’s gone a couple of steps back the way, meaning our missing list looks a bit like this:

Connor Goldson, Ben Davies, Filip Helander, Leon King, Ridvan Yilmaz, Borna Barisic, Nnamdi Ofoborh, Tom Lawrence, Ianis Hagi and Antonio Colak.

From the situation drastically improving, suddenly it’s gone a bit south again.

Now, there are caveats in this list:

Goldson is close to being ready, but missed out on Thursday, while Davies is even closer and did get some minutes v Hibs. King is ‘only’ ill and may be ready for Aberdeen, while Barisic isn’t injured but is away with Croatia and will be involved on Saturday’s third-place playoff. Ofoborh, there are some wild rumours he’s actually, shockingly, nearing a stunning comeback, which would be a flying pig if true, while Hagi is still on track for an early 2023 return and has signed a new deal.

So, it’s hard to actually state how long everyone is out for exactly, but we are clear that any idea of a fake injury crisis is not true, and the epidemic at Ibrox continues. Why does this stuff keep happening to us? Well if it’s not player attitude then it leaves the medical staff? But we’re just clutching at straws there and no one has a definitive answer to this one.

It’s just damn luck this season it seems, little more and the sooner it leaves us alone the better for Rangers.