So it’s the morning after the night before, and the hangover of another wretched performance looms angrily from the background.
Well, we are going to go left field with this one and choose an angle we have seen mentioned just a couple of times, about why Rangers have been staggeringly rotten since the turn of this year.
Now, while results in December were superb, not all of the performances were. Keep in Mind the draw to Aberdeen?
December was glorious on several levels, but the performances were not always outstanding.
And January and February have only been abysmal.
What ties all this in? What has been occurring that could see this fall in energy? And where is our proof of it?
Handing new contracts out like confetti mid-season to any participant who has about 5 decent performances in a row.
Steven Davis, Allan McGregor, Ryan Jack, Jermain Defoe, Ryan Jack, Niko Katic, Borna Barisic, you name it, a heap of our precious assets are given new bargains, and blow us silly and call us Frank if half of these if not all have not been completely off-key/horrendous since then.
It has been a repeating theme when they get an additional year, or a wage increase, or a shiny new long-term expansion, their desire reduces.
Stunning players up until this calendar year, the two of them got new deals and has kicked a ball in anger since that time. And both, curiously, are injured.
Niko Katic is another, signed a 5-year deal in late October and has, a few matches apart, not looked half the player he was before.
Our proof is more telling:
The only three players to Appear hungry and have the right attitude the past few games are Scott Arfield, Connor Goldson and Ianis Hagi:
Arfield is still on exactly the exact same deal he signed on. Goldson isn’t on a new deal, nor has he been offered one.
Notification, is it not?
That the only 3 players at Ibrox who really look hungry are those deep in their bargains and playing for their futures or attempting to have a permanent gig.
And there is the Ryan Kent example also. Hungry last season, ached to impress, got his deal this summer and has hardly kicked a ball this term.
It all adds up to rewarding players with safety and they down tools since they got what they wanted.
It is only one thing wrong, far from it, but it does not help when most of your players lack the desire they had before.
