Yesterday, Rangers released a curious post on the Ibrox social media X account. The post was greeted with absolute derision from fans who maybe a month or so ago might have offered a very different take depending on results. If we go back to something Ibrox Noise alluded to earlier, it is that three-match aberration by Youssef Chermiti whereby he turned into Messi for three gigantic fixtures. Before and since, he has been absolutely diabolical, but for those three he was a colossi who did everything a striker needs to do, and then some.
Fan reaction and Chermiti’s performance
However, Rangers decided to release a post, sponsored of course, but retaining stats about Chermiti’s performance in that particular match. His performance in that match had seen a missing of around three sitters. He had not been at his best and had not exactly shone. His wastefulness in front of goal had become, once again, his Achilles heel. It is safe to say that fans did not react with any splendour at all. It was derision, criticism, and general, shall we say, ‘banter’ at expense of the Portuguese under-21 international.
Social media strategy under scrutiny
The fact is that Rangers, tone-deaf, picked the wrong player to promote in that particular match. He had had a bad one yet again. It is safe to say that Rangers fans did not take especially kindly to it. Now the curious thing about this particular post was not just this one. It was also the fact it was the second time in recent weeks that Rangers have done a post like this.
📈 Another dominant display from Youssef Chermiti vs Dundee United. pic.twitter.com/RycJJJNGKI
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) April 6, 2026
Previously, they had been promoting players’ heat maps, all sponsored by club sponsors Boxt (boilers, heat, get it?). Heat maps, of course, are the general array that a player will take in representing their overall movement and work rate in a match. Past alumni of that particular benefit of that special type of social media post included Nico Raskin. Other players have featured as well.
Questionable stats and messaging
But more recently the club has taken to stats, and the one that jumped out at Ibrox Noise was Ryan Naderi. Rangers bigging Naderi up regarding his performance in a particular match, we forget which. However, the curious part was that the club lied in the statistics. The club claimed that Naderi had won eight duels. This was not true. None of the stats sites backed this up at all and it was a made-up number.
📈 A standout all-round performance from Ryan Naderi against Aberdeen. pic.twitter.com/EyDKMqUM38
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) March 23, 2026
The purpose of it was propaganda in favour of getting support and positivity around Naderi. We do not necessarily exactly blame the club for doing that, but at the same time the information was false. We double-checked. The simple fact is that Rangers are not exactly alien, like most social media sites and accounts, to the odd bit of fake information deliberately put out to promote an especially way of thinking or a general message. As an aside, he had 10 aerial duels and won 4 of them. He had 5 ground and won one.
Positivication
And we do not exactly object to the club trying to positivise Ryan Naderi’s time, which at the time was a bit of a struggle. It still is not an awful lot better despite his goal. Time will tell on that one. But the reaction to Chermiti was extremely predictable, given that the Portuguese in question had had a pretty poor match in Govan. This was a tone-deaf one. Rangers really should not have put him out, and perhaps should have gone for the man of the match, which was, perceivably, Naderi. One or two others had bright matches in that one as well. Sterling, of course, stood out like a trooper and may well have deserved the accolade instead. The Chermiti one must have been a sponsor request, because he was not popularly received at all. But them’s the social media games these days on Ibrox social media X account.