Aberdeen haven’t won a league match against Rangers at Ibrox for five years. In fact, they’ve only won two league games against Rangers at Ibrox in the last 31 years.
If you apply the law of averages, the Dons are, at that rate, not scheduled to win another league game at Ibrox for a decade. But if you’re a disillusioned Rangers fan more concerned about Sod’s Law you might be inclined to worry it could happen today. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong for Michael Beale at the moment. The season’s a goner in terms of trophies available to be won.
There’s deep concern among the support at the manager’s inability to win against Celtic. And people in positions of responsibility at Ibrox are leaving left, right and centre. Craig Mulholland, the club’s academy director, and finance director Andrew Dickson being are the latest evacuees. We’ve already seen former chairman Douglas Park, sporting director Ross Wilson and soon-to-be former managing director Stewart Robertson leave.
Beale is not so much in the manager’s office as an isolation unit. He is the centre of attention and the remainder of his season, in the wake of last weekend’s Scottish Cup exit to Celtic, is an endurance test.
And Beale could be doing without further mishap today against an Aberdeen side who scored a PR goal last week by appointing Barry Robson as manager on a permanent basis after seven successive wins while in interim charge at Pittodrie.
It gives them a look of stability while Rangers are suffering from the insecurity caused by bad results and an uncertain future. Last time Aberdeen were at Ibrox it was exactly the same scenario for the home side.
That was in November, when Beale arrived in a stage-managed fashion to highlight his availability and suitability to be manager. Rangers actually had a manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, in office at the time – but that’s another story.
Beale took himself off to the pub around the corner from the stadium and schmoozed the pre-match clientele. He probably wouldn’t undertake the same exercise today when his approval rating has dipped among the fans.
But he could do with history repeating itself in other ways. On the day of his visit, van Bronckhorst’s team summoned up a quality performance from somewhere, scored four times and offered the manager respite at a torrid time.
Beale could do with that happening today. Celtic could be officially confirmed as league champions while Rangers’ game is in progress. That would be bad enough for the Ibrox support.
But if Celtic lost to Hearts at Tynecastle, and Rangers went down at home to give Ange Postecoglou’s side the title by default, the mind would boggle at what the reaction would be like. The manager would be looking around to see if there were any “guests” in the directors box who posed a threat to him.
First Beale must sift through the temperamentally-challenged in the home dressing-room and see who offers him the best hope of avoiding further criticism on the back of defeats from Aberdeen and Celtic. Which, presumably, excludes Alfredo Morelos and Ryan Kent.
They have the look of people who’d rather be somewhere else. And soon will be. When the manager speaks of potential transfer targets he expresses a preference for meeting the players face-to-face to satisfy himself they have the strength of character he’s looking for.
How then has he managed to look into the eyes of Morelos and Kent and detect something other than disinterest these last six months? When did pouting, posturing and scowling become recommendations for getting a game?
Michael has to remember Walter Smith’s words of wisdom. Any Rangers manager is only ever three games away from a crisis. Beale has to be careful with the fans’ feelings because team selection will be like a temperature check of public opinion.
Reputational damage has to be avoided by choosing the right team and getting the required result. Whatever happens at Tynecastle is out of Beale’s hands.
What happens at Ibrox will be seen as his responsibility to own. Good or bad.
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