Simon Jordan and Trevor Sinclair clash over Aaron Ramsey blame for Rangers penalty defeat
Simon Jordan and Trevor Sinclair clashed live on talkSPORT Wednesday (25 May) over who was to blame for Rangers losing in Seville.
Aaron Ramsey missed the only penalty of the shoot-out in the Europa League final, as Eintracht Frankfurt lifted the trophy.
And former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan was strong in his criticism of the Welsh star, while staunch Celtic fan Sinclair stood up for the player and instead directed the blame at Giovanni van Bronckhorst for putting the midfielder in that position.
In a clip shared to talkSPORT’s Twitter page Jordan says: “The one person who has scant excuse for missing a penalty is Aaron Ramsey. Scant excuse.”
Sinclair fires back: “Don’t we look at the manager? He’s [Ramsey] been brought on for three minutes at the end of the game.
“I don’t understand why these managers… I mean Gareth [Southgate] did it in the summer, why do they keep on doing it?”
Jordan suggested the player was at fault for accepting the opportunity to take a penalty, saying: “If you don’t feel you are going to add value you should have the courage of your convictions to say it.
“The one player that shouldn’t [miss]… He’s got more experience than all 22 players on that pitch put together… The one player that’s paid all the money in the world to be in Scottish football is the one player who you do not expect to miss.”
Sinclair called that position “a lot of hot air” and asserted that “any player is not going to turn that opportunity down”.
For his part he said it was van Bronckhorst’s error, as he should he thought: “He’s not kicked a ball. He’s definitely going to say, ‘I’ll play, I’ll come on and take a penalty’. I’ve got to take that out of his hands, use my brain.”
Sliding doors
The trend of bringing on penalty specialists has proliferated in recent seasons, but while there seems to be some evidence that it can work for keepers saving kicks, the increasing examples of takers missing suggest it doesn’t work the other way round.
It certainly heaps huge pressure on a player for their entire involvement in a crucial game to come down to a single kick.
That said, Kemar Roofe also came on at the end of extra-time and scored the penalty after Ramsey’s so it wasn’t a guarantee of failure.
It was a surprise on the night for neither of the pair, who had battled back from injury to be involved in the final, to come on until the closing stages.
The pressure was likely even greater on Ramsey’s shoulders, as the star loan signing from Juventus will have known his move to Rangers hadn’t gone to plan and that moment was a chance to change the narrative.
Instead, things went completely the other way and the miss will forever be emblematic of his disappointing spell at Ibrox.
On balance Sinclair is probably accurate, as there was no way Ramsey could have turned down a kick given his lofty status, and van Bronckhorst will no doubt second guess his own decision for years to come.
In other Rangers news, fans have shared nightmare stories of the conditions inside the stadium for the final.