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https://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news/ma-category-blog/515-time-to-sink-or-swim Before I look forward to this weekend’s Old Firm top of the table clash at Ibrox, it’s worth taking a quick look back first. Almost six months to the day, we were about to be beaten by Aris Limmasol in Cyprus after sacking Michael Beale a few days previous. The Englishman had gone off the back of a 3-1 home reverse to Aberdeen at Ibrox, his third league defeat of a domestic campaign that was quickly becoming a disaster. Add in the loss to Aris, the season was on the verge of being a write off before October had really begun; especially when we consider almost all of Beale’s summer signings were struggling to impress. Fortunately, an international break allowed the Rangers board a fortnight to appoint a replacement. Various names were linked – some well known by our fans, others less so. However, with only Steven Gerrard able to deliver a single league title across the previous five seasons, the pressure was on to find the right man; someone who could not only bring back success in Scotland but continue our good work in Europe and offer a style of play that could enthuse a fanbase bored of the horseshoe mentality developed by Gio van Bronckhorst and allowed to fester under Beale. Philippe Clement was ultimately given the job and it’s fair to say there was some doubt (or uncertainty at least) about this. The former Belgian international defender had had a decent playing career and had impressed as manager at Genk and Club Brugge before a season at Monaco failed to deliver on some early promise. How would he fare at Rangers? Was he experienced enough? Could he turn us back into winners? Initial signs were good: a run of wins in the league and a League Cup semi-final victory over Hearts at Hampden offered early encouragement for Rangers supporters. However, two draws at the end of November: away to Aberdeen and at home to Aris in the Europa League were blemishes that could easily have caused deeper issues. The good news is Rangers regrouped and went on an excellent run through December, including an away win versus Betis to top our Europa League group and a 1-0 hard-fought win over Aberdeen at Hampden to secure the League Cup for the first time since 2011/12. Unfortunately, just as excitement was building due to Celtic losing two of their December fixtures, a disappointing performance and loss at Parkhead to close out 2023 put us on the back foot again. Could we dig deep again? The reaction from the players and manager was a positive one and although we have lost two games this year, our form has been better than our East end rivals to ensure that only a disgracefully cancelled game away at Dundee last month has arguably cost us the psychological benefit of being top of the table for Celtic’s visit on Sunday. Ahead of that game, all things considered we can say the reign of Clement has been a positive one so far. Not just in terms of results but both in team and individual performances. Yes, there has been the odd blip – the home defeat to Motherwell this time last month was particularly disappointing – but progress has been solid and the manager’s ability to get the best out of a squad often blighted by injury and improve the contribution of players such as Cyriel Dessers, John Lundstram and Dujon Sterling means confidence is rightly high as we enter the business end of 2023/24. But can we beat Celtic? Ultimately that’s the $64,000 question. So far this season, we played them twice and lost twice in two performances that demonstrated a lack of genuine belief; both under Beale and Clement’s leadership. Indeed, despite an impressive win at Ibrox in May 2023, you have to go back two years to April 2022 for our last meaningful victory where we won at Hampden after extra time in a Scottish Cup semi-final. In terms of the SPFL we did win at Ibrox earlier that season but it has now been the best part of three years since we’ve won a league game against them – a record that should embarrass us and goes a long way to delivering Celtic’s own domestic success. With that in mind, whilst Sunday’s contest may not decide the title one way or the other, clearly the outcome will have a major effect on the final period of the season; especially with one further Old Firm game in the league (and a Scottish Cup final tie-up also looks probable). The good news for Philippe Clement is that his preparations for Sunday offer him the best squad platform since he arrived last October. Whilst we still have players injured - Ridvan Yilmaz might make it but Danilo, Cortes and Jack will not – having the likes of Todd Cantwell, Abdallah Sima and Kemar Roofe as options offers us an attacking flexibility we’ve not had since we faced Celtic in December. Yes, ideally, we would liked to have had some more games in the legs of Cantwell and Sima in particular but if we’re entirely honest with ourselves, we go into Sunday’s game with a squad more than capable of winning. Speaking of injuries is now an unhelpful distraction. In fact, Clement has arguably done enough in the eyes of most Rangers fans to demonstrate no matter what happens between now and the end of May he deserves the backing (both of the fans and the money men on the Rangers board) to have another go in 2024/25 but it’s also fair to say his six months in charge now has us in a great position to win the title this year. Speaking of the supporters, one of the cleverest aspects of Clement’s time at the club so far is him directly engaging the fans. By speaking of a synergy between the support and the players we have seen a patience (at Ibrox especially) that had been missing in recent years. It’s no coincidence that we’ve scored as many late goals (at the end of both halves) as I can remember this season with players having the supporters onside for longer periods in games. We should not under-estimate our input. Indeed, with no away fans present that relationship could be even more important come Sunday lunch-time. There’s no doubt our support could be that extra factor that proves crucial; more so when we consider how the referee and VAR has influenced games this season with Celtic benefitting from at least two decisions that could have affected the outcome in each match. As with the injury debate though, it’s all about what we do now and that has to be our focus. In that sense, it’s now very much sink or swim for this season as we won’t have a better chance to apply the kind of pressure that has been missing post-55. Our squad is as strong as it has been this campaign, we have home advantage and we have had a week to prepare for a season-defining game. Of course, nothing is certain and there are always other factors you cannot plan for but I firmly believe we should consider ourselves favourites to win on Sunday and I’d like to see our players and fans fully embrace that. In conclusion, yes, we’ve done well to even be in this position but if we want to be genuine winners then we build on that now and take advantage of a six-month improvement that should be the foundation for success this season and beyond. No more excuses, no more disappointment; we can now take charge of our own destiny. Stand tall Rangers – this is our time!

J'Accuse Humza Yousaf. J'accuse was the title of an open letter penned by Author, Emile Zola in response to the events of the Dreyfus affair. Zola addressed the French President, Felix Faure in January 1898 and accused his government of antisemitism. The letter was published on the front page of the newspaper, L'Aurore and argued the sentencing of French Army Officer, Alfred Dreyfus to lifelong penal servitude for a trumped charge of espionage was deeply flawed, lacked serious evidence and, was vexatious. Zola pointed out the secret court martial that convicted and sentenced Dreyfus did not allow cross examination of evidence and the whole exercise was more an expression of comfortable French hatred for Jews than dealing with German espionage. I watched a Sky TV interview with Scotland's First Minister, Humza Yousaf last evening and he was specifically commenting upon the reaction to the newly created Hate Crime law, "It is not a huge surprise that when legislation is first introduced, there can sometimes be a flurry of vexatious complaints. We have seen that and I say to people don't make vexatious complaints. You should desist because what you are doing is wasting precious Police resource and time". It is only last month in another TV interview that Humza on being asked as to what he would prefer to be doing as opposed to First Minister, he answered, "Chairman of Celtic football club". On Tuesday, KC Thomas Ross took to a newspaper to predict vexatious complaints to Police Scotland in the wake of Sunday's Ibrox old firm match from a multitude of non attending Sellik fans. Will Humza's fellow Yahoos desist because they will not want to waste precious Police resource and time or, will they replicate Humza's behaviour after Steven Gerrard's Rangers won the Premiership title three years past? It was May 2021, Humza was Justice Minister and Rangers had received the league trophy at Ibrox. Lock down remained in force and the players in their strips hoisted the silverware, ran down the track to the cordoned gates to show their reward to the gathered supporters then, retired to the Blue Room to sing celebratory songs. A video emerged showing the players standing on tables in a hospitality lounge singing Sweet Caroline. The accompanying soundtrack was augmented with sectarian chants and the video went viral on social media. BBC Scotland latched on, they had an agenda and the usual suspects decided they needed the video to be real. The Justice Minister took to Twitter demanding Police action and the players involved be sacked by the club. Humza was strident, he had made up his mind that several Rangers players had indulged in anti-catholic chanting. He needed to believe that RCs such as Goldson, Aribo, Kent and, Defoe had been so conditioned by their existence at Ibrox that they would chant, 'fcuk the Pope'. It took Police Scotland two days of investigation to conclude the video soundtrack had been faked. The Justice Minister had been vexatious reference the players and continued even after Police Scotland had dismissed the fake evidence. Humza refused to apologise, claimed BBC Scotland had hounded him for comment then, switched attack to events in George Square. He compounded his prejudgement on the players before a proper Police inquiry by stating, "BBC Scotland were asking me to comment on the clip but that is not the point. The point is the clear anti-catholic, anti-Irish bigotry on display in George Square. As Justice Secretary I don't make an apology for calling it out and calling it what it is". The Justice Minister was comfortable that Rangers players be tried and found guilty by social media as opposed to a court of law. Humza was in good company in his failure to apologise, fellow Sellik supporter and SNP MSP, James Dornan was bold, "I have nothing to apologise for". 125 years ago, Zola's exile in the UK lasted several months before being cleared of libel. It took five years for Dreyfus to receive full justice. The French state awarded both men the Legion of Honour. Will Humza decide to be the bigger man?

What worries me about Sunday is the amount of goals we’re conceding at ibrox this season & the lack of a proven goal scorer up front for this particular fixture

Any chance you can just summarise what he said? Where do you find the time to listen to all this stuff? I hardly have enough time to catch up on Gersnet never mind podcasts from randoms!!

It wont matter for this weekend, we are certainly NOT getting one with this assortment of bottle-merchants and cheats officiating.

For me, it's quite simple - since Gerrard left we have given them far too much time on the ball and too much respect. Give them neither of these things on Sunday and then it comes down to who takes their chances. Kyogo seems to score at will against us, whereas Dessers wants to take five or six touches before getting a shot off. I'm back to being pessimistic against them, which I think is reasonable given our recent derby performances and what I've posted above. Prove me wrong Rangers!

Much prefer City to win. Never trust a team that plays in red. Always been my rule of thumb oh and hoops, oh and throw in Tottenham for good measure!

Great article / post Frankie. The simple truth is that since Gerrard left, we have been unable to beat them on a consistent basis. This has to change, starting on Sunday. I believe PC has plenty credit in the bank for the way he has started, but it's undeniable that if we lose again on Sunday, questions will be asked. Whilst everyone involved will say that Sundays result won't determine the destination of the league title, it's hard to believe that we'll win the league of we fail to win on Sunday. PC has came up with the answers more often than not, but Sunday is vital, it's simply a must win, no other result will do (or some will say, acceptable). My heart says we have a great chance on Sunday, but my head and recent results say we are in for a long 90 minutes on Sunday (hoping and praying that heart wins over head).

It is Friday evening news on BBC Scotland and Pat Nevin is on to preview Sunday's game at Ibrox. He is asked how does he think it will go? Pat raises his monobrow and states : "it's a massive old firm game on Sunday". He stops, blinks then continues : "or a Rangers versus Celtic game as everybody calls it now". Pat, why don't you just stick to the script PQ CSC provide?

The super computer has given its verdict and it’s this 1 Liverpool 2 Arsenal 3 City 4 Villa

I'd be delighted with that XI tbh. An actual OF with as strong an XI as possible - I've never seen the like in 20 years of following the team. I'll hold my breath.

Not without the Entwives...

The section on Beale goes from 1:03 to about 1:08. It starts as soon as you press play. I don't think a summary will do it justice, but: Ferdinand would still recommend him, even after a couple of dodgy spells with us and Sunderland, as he feels he will be a top manager somewhere. He jumped too early. He turned down Wolves because of the personal connection with Ferdinand. (Beale knew that Wolves would be coming in for him, so there must've been a chat.) No one took a chance on Beale because he hadn't been a number 1. He was doing what they wanted, in terms of player development, etc. He always knew that if he was going to move it would be to us, because Beale always spoke highly of his time with us; unfortunately for them - and us - we came in earlier than he expected. Beale is a confident person, and the young lads at QPR bought into it; his first gig and he was really well-prepared; he had the players eating out of the palm of his hands, then they collapsed when he left.

Der bomber holding off a challenge the man was lethal in front of goal

Johnny Hubbard. What a sportsman - Football, tennis, rugby, golf, excellent in all of them.

This was the Stick to Football podcast from a couple of weeks ago, featuring Les Ferdinand. They discuss Michael Beale (the video should start at that point). His discussion about his time as QPR DoF is quite interesting, too, if anyone is interested; the video is timestamped so you should be able to find that section (about the 41:30 minute mark).

Rangers 0 Celtic 0 48,000 arrested under the new hate laws

I note Rio Ferdinand relating Roy Keane stating Michael Stewart, "you'll end up playing for a pub team, you'll play for the Swan". Sub Editors missed out on, 'Ugly Duckling turns out for the Swan' because Michael did not possess the footballing ability to make the Swan's first eleven.

This article ended with far too much optimism. I feel uncomfortable...

We got a draw last night at Newcastle every point counts.

Possibly