IT has become the tritest of slogans, adorning tea-towels and aprons in kitchens up and down the land, but perhaps its popularity is rooted in the wisdom behind the well-worn words. And Ryan Jack firmly believes that for Rangers, the best course of action in the midst of the latest flux to disturb Ibrox is to keep calm and carry on.
Walter Smith famously said that at Rangers, you are never more than two games away from a crisis. Steven Gerrard’s fledgling reign isn’t quite at such a crossroads yet, but the last two matches have certainly highlighted some shortcomings in his side.
A lack of quality and creativity in the final third in particular has been laid bare as they were firstly turfed out of the Betfred Cup at the hands of Aberdeen on Sunday, before frustrations were once again boiling up among the light blue legions as they watched their team huff and puff their way to a home draw against Kilmarnock on Wednesday night.
Anything less than a convincing win over a horrendously out of sorts St Mirren side tomorrow may set alarm bells ringing, but as the recriminations of a disappointing week to say the least fly, is the most important thing for the Rangers players to do simply to keep their heads?
“Of course it is,” said Jack. “There has been a lot of changeover, a whole new staff, a lot of new players. At this club, there is a big demand and it has a great support. Traditionally it has won trophies and been successful. As players you need to carry that weight when you are playing.
“Every game, there is an expectation. When you don’t live up to that, you have to be brave and face what comes your way. “We’ve got another chance on Saturday. We need to go out and show a reaction and I’m sure we’ll do that.
“In the last couple of games, we have not produced but it’s important to stay calm. There is no crisis. There is no negativity.
“As soon as you pull that jersey on, it’s for three points or it’s to get to a cup final, or if you get to a cup final, it’s to lift a trophy. We have only been a few months together so it’s not all down and negative. We are still positive.”
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard said after the draw with Kilmarnock that he couldn’t shield his players from blame forever, and if the result doesn’t go their way at the Simple Digital Arena, there truly will be nowhere for them to hide.
But Jack is certain that the Rangers dressing room is not only united, but also determined to take it upon themselves to steady the ship after a rocky few days.
“The players on the pitch have to take responsibility,” he said. “We can’t be saying ‘oh, it’s this, it’s that’, and making excuses. It’s us who are on the pitch. It’s us who cross the white line to go on and do the business.
“It’s important we just stick together. If we do that, I’m sure we will come good.
“We have a lot of experienced players, a lot of players that have their say, a lot of players who have been at the club before. They have been there, done that and won trophies. There is a lot of experience in the squad so it’s important that we all knuckle down and stick together.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel