Danny Rohl has made himself very popular today by rejecting any notion of ‘Scottish’ players.
Speaking before the big one (or is it really?) on Sunday, Rohl suggested that he didn’t really care about players’ nationality, only wanting the ‘right’ players.
He said:
“For me it is not about Scottish or non-Scottish players. It is about having the right players who can deliver consistently under the highest pressure.”
That’ll be why he signed a third division striker from Germany then.
But for fans who want to see more of a Rangers and Scottish identity, this manager has now officially confirmed that kind of identity is irrelevant to him.
This will not be too popular with those fans who want to feel a Scottish and Rangers soul back at the club.
Because this is exactly where the disconnect begins.
Rangers fans are not asking for a token Scot just to make up the numbers. They are not asking for sentiment over quality, or nostalgia over standards. But they are asking for a club that still feels like Rangers.
And right now, too much of Rangers does not feel like Rangers.
It feels like a revolving door of loans, projects, punts and players who arrive with no real feel for the club, the league or the pressure. It feels like another squad built on theory rather than reality.
Of course, Rohl can say nationality does not matter. In a perfect football world, maybe it does not. But Rangers do not exist in a perfect football world. Rangers exist in Scotland, in front of one of the most demanding supports in Europe, with a history and identity that cannot just be brushed aside.
And when the team collapses again, when the title goes again and when the same questions return again, fans are entitled to ask whether the people inside the building truly understand what Rangers are meant to be.
That is the danger with comments like these.
They might sound modern, neutral and professional, but they also sound cold. They sound detached from the emotional reality of this club.
Rangers need winners. Nobody disputes that.
But Rangers also need players who understand the shirt, the city, the rivalry, the expectation and the sheer weight of every point dropped. The notion of ‘Scottish’ players fulfils that.
At the moment, too many do not.