Cyriel Dessers has pleaded with angry Rangers fans to stay behind the team and head coach Russell Martin in the wake of their shambolic start to the Premiership season.
The Ibrox outfit have recorded two 1-1 draws in their opening two fixtures with Motherwell and Dundee and were booed off the field after scraping a late point at home against the Dens Park outfit on Saturday.
Martin and players Kieran Dowell and Max Aarons were singled out for criticism during the match, with Dessers insisting the only way the new manager’s reign can get on track is if supporters show the kind of unity they did during last week’s 3-0 Champions League qualifying win over Czechs Viktoria Plzen.
‘We’re all in this together,’ said Dessers. ‘The team, the club, the fans — and we need each other.
‘It maybe sounds weird but we need the fans to give us, maybe not the patience or the time, but to help us when we give a difficult pass or we try to dribble or we try a shot. To encourage that and appreciate that, because we do it with a goal (in mind).
‘But. yeah, it’s also nice for us on a night like we had (against Plzen) during the week to give something back to these fans, give a good performance, give a good win.
Dessers was left frustrated as Rangers fell to a second consecutive draw to open the season
Manager Russell Martin was tearing his hair out on the touchline as fans turned their ire on him
Dessers thought he had scored a dramatic late winner, only to see it disallowed for offside
‘This is the only way that this can grow again. Ibrox was rocking (against Plzen). It’s unbelievable — and we need to go to that place as well in the ‘eague games. To have Ibrox rocking as well.’
Asked specifically if Martin is capable of making it as a Rangers boss, Dessers replied: ‘I’m very convinced, because I see him in the building every time, how he is on the pitch, how he is in the video meetings.
‘He tries to transfer that to us as a group as well. Obviously, that cannot happen in one week, but I think we’ve already seen some flashes of that — for example, against Plzen. But, you want to see that twice a week.’
Dessers did concede that the players need to show greater courage on the field.
Down to 10 men after Nasser Djiga was sent off on Saturday, Rangers only got going in the latter stages of the game with Dundee — substitute James Tavernier cancelling out Ryan Astley’s opener via a penalty in time added-on.
‘I think we need to be more aggressive,’ said Dessers. ‘If you can do it in the last 30 minutes, with one man down, then you should be able to do it as well when it is 11 v 11 in the first half.
‘If you’re talking about percentages, I think it’s only about five or six or seven per cent, just a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more at it, sometimes just having the courage to play the difficult ball instead of the same ball again.
‘At the end, we did it with 10 men, so it is in the team., but we have to be more consistent and also do it from the beginning of the game.
‘There’s no time at this club. Not a lot of patience, which everybody knows when they play here, and that’s okay, that’s fine. We’re fine with that.
‘But, somewhere inside yourself, you need to find that confidence and the courage to make the pass, make the dribble, try the shot, and just create something for the team.’
Meanwhile, Rangers said the club were ‘devastated’ after a 70-year-old man died after falling ill at Ibrox during Saturday’s game. The supporter was treated in the stand but later lost his fight for life.
A club statement read: ‘Everyone at Rangers is devastated to have learned of the passing of one of our supporters at yesterday’s match with Dundee. The thoughts of the entire club are with their family and friends. We will be reaching out to the family to offer our support at this deeply sad and difficult time.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: ‘Officers were made aware of a 70-year-old man taking unwell. He was taken to hospital where he later died. Next of kin is aware. There are no suspicious circumstances.’
