Danny Rolle got the benefit of a much-needed double as Rangers moved to second place behind Hearts in the William Hill Premiership with a 4-1 win over Aberdeen at Ibrox.
Rangers upset Celtic in title race
On Friday, the manager insisted his team would be “difficult to stop” if they combined performances and results, and was delighted to see midfielder Tochi Chukwani open the scoring in the 35th minute, before 18-year-old Mikey Moore, on loan from Tottenham, added a second three minutes later.
Dennis Geiger’s performance narrowed the gap, but goals from midfielder Nico Ruskin and captain James Tavanier brought Rangers back within three points of Hearts, with the Hoops’ defeat at Dundee United on Sunday moving them past Celtic into second place.
“It was a great performance for 90, 95 minutes,” Rohr said.
“We talked about this result and the performance today, and I think you saw both. To see my team perform like this today, I’m really happy about that.”
“We want to see goals, which I think is always great. I’m the manager so I want to see clean sheets.”
“This is the only small thing that brought this team back temporarily after the 2-0 game today.
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“But in general we played with a lot of intensity, were very aggressive on the ball and had good positioning in possession.
“In general, especially on goal difference, we have won the last two cup finals and we have seven games left.”
And while Rohr only has his eyes on the title, Stefan Bolson told Football Insider that Gers need to finish in the top two to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League or face a financially risky situation.
Rangers are £32m behind Celtic, with big financial concerns looming
Indeed, Scotland’s drop in the UEFA coefficient rankings means the league will lose one of its two Champions League spots from the end of next season, and its overall allocation in Europe’s elite competition will be reduced from five to four.
This makes this year’s qualification even more important, with Bolson explaining that Gers’ new CEO Jim Gillespie is staring into a dark hole following the terrible player trades under Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell.
Ibrox lost £600,000 on player sales last season, a whopping £32m behind Celtic, who posted a healthy profit in the same division.
“He’s going to have many of the same priorities as the previous CEO,” Bolson said.
“I think there are two main areas that Rangers need to focus on. One is getting more bang for their buck in player trades and two is they are currently working on mitigating the changes in the competitive landscape in Europe. I think this is a very serious change for the financial survival of Scotland’s biggest club.”
“They need to find a way around this problem in terms of maybe generating more money from youth and player trades. But look, it’s not easy. Everybody’s trying to do it.”
Simply put, with Rolle keen to sign Mikey Moore permanently with Rangers, the club needs to secure the financial benefits of top-flight European football over the next few years to remain competitive with their rivals in the market.
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Ger means business.
