Steven Davis may have lost Rangers dressing room already after Aris Limassol defeat, brutal John Bennett decision on cards
Rangers suffered another damaging defeat at the hands of Aris Limassol in the Europa League on Thursday and the performance suggests Steven Davis may have already lost the Ibrox dressing room.
Alex Moucketou-Moussounda headed home inside nine minutes before Shavy Babicka’s first-time strike doubled the Cypriot side’s lead in the second half.
Abdallah Sima pulled one back for Rangers, but Aris – who are currently fifth in their domestic league – stood firm to compound Rangers’ miserable start to the season.
Davis unexpectedly took charge at on an interim basis in a desperate attempt to stem the worrying tide at Ibrox after Michael Beale was sacked on Sunday (1 October) following the 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen on Saturday (30 September).
In a game where the Light Blues players were expected to bounce back from the disappointing Aberdeen defeat and Beale’s sacking, they failed miserably as Aris outthought and outplayed them in another disastrous showing in Cyprus.
Daily Record journalist David McCarthy, writing on page 49 of the Daily Record’s print edition on Friday (6 October) shared that Davis would have been sick to his stomach at the performance of the Rangers players against Aris, on a night when they badly needed a response.
Several of Beale’s leaders took to the field in Cyprus with the likes of John Lundstram, Conor Goldson, Ben Davies, Borna Barisic and James Tavernier expected to rally the troops to show the Rangers faithful that they all were in support of Davis’ appointment, but they disappointingly showed the opposite.
It must be absolutely infuriating for the Rangers fans to see what is unfolding at the club on and off the field at this moment in time.
With all due respect to the Cypriot outfit, a club of the Gers’ stature should not be going there and getting beaten like they did by the likes of Aris – it just simply can’t happen.
With another crucial test now to come at the weekend against high-flying St Mirren before the international break, it’s uncertain how this group of players will look to pick themselves up again before Sunday’s game, and it seems as if Davis has lost them already.
Celtic are already seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership and Davis’ lack of experience and pedigree at the top level could well mean Brendan Rodgers’ men run away with it which leaves their next appointment in a terrible predicament with the demands at Ibrox to challenge for the league.
This latest Rangers disaster will certainly leave a sour taste in the mouths of John Bennett and James Bisgrove in the Ibrox hierarchy.
The race for the Ibrox managerial hotseat has certainly been heating up over the past few days with a whole host of names in the frame to replace Beale, such as AZ Alkmaar’s Pascal Jansen, Yokohama F. Marinos boss Kevin Muscat, Preston’s Ryan Lowe and Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes.
As they continue their search for the ideal managerial candidate, it won’t be a surprise to see them make a swift brutal decision to relieve Davis of his managerial responsibilities and get someone in with more experience during the international break.
In other Rangers news, reports suggest that unnamed candidates could yet emerge in the Light Blues hunt for a new manager