What’s in store for Danny Rohl’s Rangers as title hopes fade?

The former Sheffield Wednesday boss could shoulder a lot of responsibility for Rangers’ campaign. When he arrived in October to replace Russell Martin, Rangers were 13 points clear of Hearts and eight behind Celtic after a major summer squad overhaul.

The improved form lasted until mid-April with Rangers within points of Hearts and in front of Celtic before those latest losses saw them drop back to third. Overall, Rohl averages 2.22 points per league game, higher than Derek McInnes at Hearts (2.11) but less than Martin O’Neill’s 2.5 for Premiership matches this season.

Only a win at Celtic Park on Sunday, combined with Hearts’ points deal at Motherwell the night before, will give Rangers any hope in the final two games of the season. A loss on Sunday would leave Rangers with their first third-place finish since 2018.

It was the last match of Wilfred Nancy’s short spell in charge of the hosts as Rangers won 3-1 at Celtic Park in December. Rohl will need to beat O’Neill for the first time to record a second win at home to their city rivals this season.

The German took Rangers to Hampden to face interim boss O’Neill’s Celtic, only a few weeks into his career, and despite recovering from 10 men from Asgard’s first-half red card, the Ibrox side lost 3-1 after extra-time.

O’Neill has been back in charge of Celtic since January, with their Scottish Cup quarter-final tie against Celtic in March. Rangers were pressed to no end and Celtic won on penalties after 120 goalless minutes at Ibrox.

“It’s over and it’s not over because we still have three games left,” Rohl said.

“The last two games have put us in a very difficult situation. We have worked hard to get to this point and then you lose twice, 2-1 and 3-2, 2-1 and that is not enough at the moment.

“Now what I want from my team is to show personality and courage for the next three games and that’s our job.”

Captain James Tavernier has already announced he will leave this summer, with six players coming to the end of their loan spells and the likes of goalkeeper Jack Butland set to enter the final year of their contracts.

“We will analyze the season – what went right, what went wrong, what we need to improve and then I am absolutely sure from the summer, we will go again,” explained the 37-year-old Rohl.

“How we make real-time decisions, that’s the part we really need to improve.”