The Nico Raskin accusation is one that we have touched on on Ibrox Noise. We already know about his spat with Danny Rohl after both of them came to metaphorical and emotional blows. This was regarding, shall we say, differences of opinion in the press.
Raskin And Rohl Clash Publicly
Of course, there’s Rohl calling out the midfield claiming that they are lazy and do not work hard enough. Raskin didn’t appreciate that.
Then there was Raskin’s disagreement with Rohl regarding mentality.
That is, that Rohl claimed performance failures were not an issue of mentality. Meanwhile Raskin, his own supposed captain by his own effective words, had contradicted and undermined him in public. He said they were.
The two of them had a bit of a disagreement, and Raskin has not been seen since.
Raskin has also received a call up to the Belgian national side for the World Cup, for which we do genuinely congratulate him.
This is a big deal for any player, no matter their attitude or their performance for Rangers, so he has achieved something big.
Questions Around The Injury Timing
At the same time, however, it is the shop window that he wanted, and that is the bottom line.
Some are accusing Raskin of faking an injury.
He claimed to have an injury just in time for the Belgian squad to call him up so that he would not risk any injury regarding going forward for the World Cup.
Nico Raskin did not want to miss out on that call, and injury at the tail end of a dead rubber season, or indeed during the split, was not the time for him to lose his dream.
In all weird fairness, as much as we are indeed Rangers fans, for a young man at the prime moment of getting a potential call up to go to the World Cup for his country, it is hard to criticise that one.
We also did understand certain aspects of his conduct under Russell Martin. Although at the same time we did not relate to everything, and we did not take anyone’s side.
Russell Martin there was portrayed as the villain, which was Raskin’s intent.
However, at the same time, he is accused, as we said, of falsifying a knock.
Concerns Over Raskin’s Attitude
Now, we do not have absolute proof of this, of course. It is not something anyone could ever prove.
We cannot claim this to be utter fact, but this injury came from absolutely nowhere. Just in time indeed for him to avoid dead rubber matches and get the call to the world cup.
We do absolutely have utter misgivings about his attitude.
In fact, they are not even misgivings, they are well known. Everybody knows that Raskin has attitude problems.
Almost every manager he has had, he has had a confrontation or issue with.
Barry Ferguson was one of the very few who went public about it, putting it in a much more amiable fashion by describing how Raskin had a bit of bite to him, but he liked it.
He liked the fact that Raskin was a bit argumentative and had a little bit of attitude, a little bit of dig.
Alas, it did not quite translate to his performances on the pitch this season, but that is another story.
Rangers May Cash In This Summer
The point is that Raskin, if a big bid does come in for him, will be off quicker than you can say £25M.
He does have a big price tag on his head and getting him to the World Cup will have boosted that price tag big time, especially if he plays and does well. He seeks a top five league and especially the English Premier League.
It is a big deal for Rangers.
There is no question that Raskin is one who Rangers really have to move on at this point.
We have all kind of had enough of him, although at the same time we are sure there are plenty of fans who will come in slaughtering us, telling us how great he is and how he must stay.
But for Ibrox Noise, and we know for many, Raskin’s time at Rangers is up and his attitude has stunk for a lot of it.
But at the end of the day, we will see what comes this summer. Despite Nico Raskin accusation.
It is silly season after all.