Too often, issues off the pitch can impact what happens on the pitch in football. Glasgow Rangers are no strangers to that being the case at Ibrox, with players, supporters, managers, and higher-ups.
For example, Russell Martin noted after the 2-0 defeat to Hearts that the players are struggling to deal with the current situation and the expectations at Ibrox.
The Gers boss told BBC Scotland: “There is a lot of anxiety, a lot of difficulty managing expectation. We have so many players trying to feel their way into their Rangers career in a really difficult situation.”
It is a Catch-22 situation, though, because it is down to the team to deliver good enough performances on the pitch to earn the full backing of the fanbase and the media.
However, there can also be problems caused by contractual issues or relationships behind the scenes that can also affect what happens on the pitch for the Gers, as was the case with Ianis Hagi last season.
Why Rangers made a mistake with Ianis Hagi
After spending the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Alaves, the Romania international returned to Ibrox in the summer of 2023 only to be banished from the first-team and sent to play for the B team.
He had to train and play with the young Gers players, instead of with his peers, and that meant that he did not take part in the European qualifiers or the opening Premiership games.
Philippe Clement revealed that it was down to a contractual issue that was not resolved behind the scenes until October, which meant that the attacking midfielder missed pre-season and the first two months of the campaign.
Appearances
33
Starts
23
Goals
7
Assists
11
Big chances created
6
Key passes per game
1.0
Key passes
33
As you can see in the table above, the Gers playmaker was a key player in the 2020/21 title-winning season under Steven Gerrard, making him a proven player in the top-flight.
Hagi then, unsurprisingly, scored four goals, created six ‘big chances’, and assisted five goals in 16 starts in the Scottish Premiership, per Sofascore, after returning to the first-team fold, which shows that they missed a top-class player for months because of a non-footballing issue.
The Romania international was a proven Premiership performer who could deliver goals and assists at an impressive rate and they had him sitting on the sidelines because of a contractual issue behind the scenes.
Whilst it is not an identical situation, Rangers are now repeating the big mistake they made with Hagi by leaving Nicolas Raskin out of the squad.
Why Rangers need to play Nicolas Raskin
The Belgium international was not involved in the squad to face Hearts or Celtic in the last two league matches, because Martin claims that he has to earn the “trust” of his teammates.
Raskin was back in training with the first-team after the international break but had to look on from the sidelines as the Light Blues lost 2-0 to Hearts, which has left the club with their worst start to a league season in 47 years.
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Speaking about the situation, former Rangers striker and manager Ally McCoist said: “Now, there’s obviously a problem with Raskin, there’s no doubt about that, something’s happened. But from where I’m sitting, you cannot bite your nose off to spite your face.
“If you’ve got a problem with Raskin, and he clearly has, I think he’s got to let the public know what that problem is, because we’re all sitting there watching that game at the weekend, and Raskin walks into that team.”
McCoist is essentially saying that Rangers are hurting themselves by not selecting Raskin in recent games. It is hard to disagree with that assessment when you consider how well the central midfielder performed in the 2024/25 campaign.
The former Standard Liege star won the Player of the Season and the Players’ Player of the Season awards, which speaks to how highly he is rated by both supporters and his teammates.
Appearances
33
12
Tackles per game
2.8
3.7
Interceptions per game
0.6
1.3
Ball recoveries per game
5.6
7.4
Ground duel success rate
57%
50%
Aerial duel success rate
56%
55%
As you can see in the table above, Raskin was an incredibly combative figure in the middle of the park for the Light Blues in both the Premiership and the Europa League, making plenty of tackles, interceptions, and recoveries per match.
On top of that, the Belgian star has the quality on the ball to be a difference-maker for the Scottish giants, who have failed to score in the two games that he has been excluded from.
Raskin, once hailed as “unbelievable” by ex-Rangers forward Kris Boyd, delivered five goals and 11 assists in all competitions last term, per Sofascore, and one of those goals came against Celtic, who the Gers failed to score past without him before the international break.
This shows that the Light Blues are repeating their big mistake with Hagi in the present day, because they are allowing a non-footballing problem to affect their results on the pitch.
Raskin, as evidenced by his performance data and the awards he collected, is an influential and integral member of the club’s best starting XI. If fit and available for selection, he should be lining up in the middle of the park.
As McCoist said, it feels like Rangers are biting their nose off to spite their face by pulling him out of squads, which was also the case when Hagi was jettisoned from the team at the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
Therefore, Martin should bring Raskin back into the team as soon as possible in the hope that the Belgian star’s qualities can turn the club’s dismal form around, lifting the mood and taking some of the pressure off the new signings and young players.