Rangers Rohl With It

Martin, who was sacked following a disastrous 5-6-6 tenure, came to Ibrox having won about 38% of the matches in which he managed—with Milton Keynes Dons, Swansea City, and Southampton. His successor, the German Danny Rohl, comes to Ibrox from Sheffield Wednesday where, in just under three years, he had a winning percentage of… 38%.

To be fair, the movie from Sheffield to Govan is sort of a frying pan into the fire sort of transition. Wednesday supporters staged a boycott of their club’s Championship match against Middlesbrough Thursday, primarily to express discontent with owner Dejphon Chansiri. The club have had difficulty meeting its monthly wage bill several times in the past year.

At Rangers, Rohl comes into a situation in which he was, at best, second choice, after negotiations with Australian Kevin Muscat broke down at the 11^th hour last weekend.

Large segments of the Rangers support have been vocal in their own discontent with their club hierarchy, including new owners 49ers Group and sporting director Kevin Thelwell.

Rohl Call

Rohl already has a loss on his ledger, with Thursday’s 3-0 defeat to Norwegian side SK Brann in the Europa League. On the positive side, it’s hard to imagine ’Gers getting worse under Rohl, given that they currently sit 6^th in the Premiership table, 13 points (!) behind leaders Hearts.

He also enters the Glasgow scene just as his new employer’s arch-rivals, Celtic, seem to be going through struggles of their own. Supporter protests and a shocking 2-0 loss at Dundee remain fresh in the memory, even as an emotional, come-from-behind triumph over Sturm Graz in the Europa League helps heal at least some of the wounds, at least for a day or two.

As with all these things, only time will tell whether Rohl is the right man for the job. For the time being, though, at least from the blue side of Glasgow’s perspective: At least he’s not Martin.