Danny Rohl got the double lift he was hoping for as Rangers’ 4-1 triumph over Aberdeen at Ibrox pushed them into second place in the William Hill Premiership, just behind Hearts.
Rangers leapfrog Celtic in title race:
The manager had claimed on Friday that his squad would be “tough to stop” if they combined performances with results, and he was thrilled to see midfielder Tochi Chukwuani open the scoring in the 35th minute, before 18-year-old Tottenham loanee Mikey Moore doubled the lead three minutes after the restart.
Dennis Geiger pulled one back for Aberdeen, but goals from midfielder Nico Raskin and captain James Tavernier restored Rangers’ cushion and moved them within three points of Hearts, leapfrogging Celtic into second place as the Hoops suffered a defeat at Dundee United on Sunday.
Rohl said: “A great performance, over 90, 95 minutes.
“We spoke about this result and performance today, I think we saw both and that’s what makes me really happy today, to see my team perform like this.
“We want to see goals, I think this is always great. I’m a manager, I also want to see clean sheets.
“This is the only small thing today after the 2-0 that we bring this team back for a short moment.
“But in general, how we played with a lot of intensity, we were very aggressive against the ball, good positioning in possession.
“In general, a small statement, especially with the goal difference as well, we won the last two cup finals and now we have seven to go.”
And while Rohl’s focus is firmly on the title, the Gers simply must finish in the top two to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League or face a precarious financial situation, Stefan Borson told Football Insider.
Rangers £32m behind Celtic with major financial concerns looming:
Indeed, with Scotland slipping down the UEFA coefficient rankings, the league will lose one of its two Champions League spots from the end of next season, reducing the country’s overall allocation in Europe’s elite competitions from five to four.
This makes qualifying this year absolutely vital, with Borson explaining that new Rangers CEO Jim Gillespie faces a black hole in the books after poor player trading under Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell.
The Ibrox side made a loss of £600,000 on player sales last season, a staggering £32m behind Celtic, who reported a strong profit in that area.
“He will have a lot of the same priorities that the previous CEO had,” said Borson.
“I think there are two main areas that Rangers need to focus on. One is generating more money from player trading and two is now dealing with mitigating this change in the European competition situation, which I consider to be a very serious shift for the financial stability of the biggest Scottish clubs.
“They need to find a way around it in terms of generating more money probably from youth and the trading of players. But look, it’s not easy to do. Everybody’s trying to do it.”
In short, with Rohl eager for Rangers to sign Mikey Moore on a permanent deal, the club must secure the financial rewards of top-tier European football over the coming seasons to remain competitive with their rivals in the transfer market.
