As much as Rangers got the three points in Paisley on Sunday, few Ibrox fans would pretend the team played especially well. Ibrox Noise remains extremely unconvinced about Danny Rohl, and while the backing for him among his ardent followers remains, more and more are in a few doubting modes. They question a lot of his decisions and his general management. Ibrox Noise was especially concerned about his reaction to the Hearts result.
Rohl reaction raises eyebrows
A lot of the backers of Rohl talk about him being a young manager and that he will learn. Of course, that should not be the case in the first place with Rangers, but there you go. The problem subsequently is how he was baited against Celtic, yet continues to make faux pas in the press.
When he was asked this time about Hearts dropping three points, he admitted he smiled. He admitted that he was happy to hear the news.
Just like he had been baited into thriving on his claims that Celtic were not great before he then drew and lost to them, he has once again disrespected an opponent. Some think it is a German psyche. A kind of arrogance and ego. But it does not wash as a Rangers man.
Respect and standards expected at Rangers
Our club does not get petty, vindictive and immature. At least not on a professional media level. His comments smack of arrogance, naivety and not knowing the right things to say as Rangers manager.
Perhaps there is not necessarily a guidebook for the right things to say. But there are certainly many for what is the wrong thing to say. Dancing around a loss for Hearts as a Rangers manager is really poor. It is something we have not seen before from a Rangers manager. We’re sure Derek McInnes very much appreciated such a surreal dig.
Not even Russell Martin, as chronically awful in the press and gaslighting as he was, thrived on the misfortunes of others.
Questions about maturity
Rohl is an incredibly immature manager who actually gave that away during his unveiling in the first place. When questioned on the fact that he was third or fourth choice, he immediately got defensive and more than a little bit narky. He slightly mocked the question and got a little hostile and aggressive towards the journalist.
At the time Andrew Cavanagh, the owner, defended him in general. He said that we would see a little bit of needle from Danny Rohl.
We do not mind needle. In the old firm we agreed entirely with Alan Hutton, who said he enjoyed seeing a little coming together between two players.
One of the Celtic players and one of the Rangers players, possibly Nico Raskin, had a bit of a set to. A bit of fisticuffs. It was good to see that kind of passion. We wanted to see a little bit of needle.
But when it comes to downright disrespecting the opponent or bigging oneself up in the press, there are different ways to do it. Rohl does not carry himself with the dignity of a Rangers manager.
Fan reaction and final verdict
Of course we are sure that his usual ardent followers, just like every substandard Rangers manager’s ardent followers, will be slaughtering this article and calling us tims. It is always the case. We are used to it.
We will keep doing it and saying what we think until we finally get a manager who is actually up to the challenge.
For now we absolutely cannot abide a lot of the stuff that Rohl is doing. We will say this. We at least got the three points. But we cannot say we were very convinced by the performance. And we are unconvinced about Danny Rohl.