‘No excuses’ – Kevin Thomson sends Rangers stark trophy warning
Kevin Thomson has claimed there will be “no excuses” from the Rangers camp as they continue to fight on all fronts this season.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side welcomes Celtic to Ibrox on Sunday [April 3] for an Old Firm clash that will be decisive in naming the Scottish Premiership champions at end of the season.
Not only have the Gers got to play their Glaswegian rivals in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, but they also have a Europa League quarter-final on the horizon.
Despite the Light Blues’ catalogue of hugely important fixtures, Thomson admitted he would rather be in Rangers’ position.
He told The Scotsman: “There’s no getting away from the fact that Celtic will have a better time to recover and prepare but if I was a Rangers player I would rather be in Europe and be tired, and challenging on all fronts, than being Celtic and out of Europe,” Thomson said.
“It can have its advantages and disadvantages, but one thing I know is if there’s any tiredness or excuses in the squad, have excuses in the summer when you’ve got that league medal in your back hipper. You can be tired when you’re sitting in Dubai on the beach, or wherever.
“Listen, there will be no excuses with how busy the schedule is, I’m pretty sure, from the Rangers camp.”
Make or break
This is going to be an end to a season like no other. The Gers could win it all but at the same time come away with absolutely nothing by the end of May, everything is still all to play for.
Van Bronckhorst and the players need to be at it every single game from now until the end of the term.
That doesn’t mean winning convincingly and playing brilliant football, it means winning games, grinding out results and doing what has to be done to win.
In all honesty, the Europa League might be out of the Light Blues’ reach.
They have done brilliantly to get as far as they have, knocking out some massive teams thanks to some mesmerising performances along the way but the teams are only getting stronger and they have a lot on their plate in the shape of Celtic.
They could continue to pull off major upsets with Braga next up, but the likes of West Ham and Barcelona are different animals.
The two games that remain against Celtic are absolutely vital.
In other Rangers news, Charlie Nicholas tips Aaron Ramsey to start in the Old Firm clash.