Rangers captain James Tavernier delivered a blistering assessment of his teammates after the 3–0 defeat to Brann, branding the display “disgraceful” and openly questioning whether some players possess the basic fight required to play for the club.
Danny Röhl, in his first game as head coach, echoed the captain’s concerns, warning the squad that Rangers cannot succeed while operating as disconnected individuals.
Tavernier, who has experienced multiple European campaigns and was skipper when the team reached the 2022 UEFA Europa League final in Seville, insisted he had never witnessed such a consistent decline in standards as the one currently seen.
“It’s just a disgraceful performance, it is as simple as that,” he said.
“All the years I’ve been here, for the consistency of poor performance that we’re putting in, I’ve not experienced it before.”
The captain accused the team of lacking effort, aggression and basic competitive edge.
“We were just second best: first ball, second balls, not enough fight,” he continued.
“I shouldn’t be saying that for a player of Rangers. That should be a given.”
Tavernier said players were showing aggression and frustration after losing, rather than displaying it during the game when it mattered. He also suggested Rangers were becoming too easy to play against.
He said: “Even if it’s a scrappy game, you’ve got to make it scrappy.
“But it’s just far too easy at this minute, playing against us. That’s the hurtful thing.”
When asked whether players should fear for their places under Röhl ahead of the January window, his response was blunt: “Everybody should be. You should be playing for the shirt.
“It’s an honour to play for this club. And that’s nowhere near the requirements shown tonight.”
Perhaps most damning was Tavernier’s view that the desire to fight cannot be taught, highlighting a worrying belief that some players simply do not have it.
He said: “A manager can give us the best opportunity, but it comes from within, as a player, to fight.
“You’ve either got it or you haven’t. We’re clearly not showing that right now.”
Röhl, speaking separately, reinforced the same theme, insisting that Rangers are failing because they are functioning as individuals rather than as a unit capable of suffering and recovering together.
“At the moment we blame more as individuals instead of acting as a group,” he said.
“We have to suffer together and help each other. If we just try to play our game as individuals, it’s hard.”
He praised Brann’s collective work ethic, stating: “Maybe they are not the best individual players, but they work so hard as a group, that’s why they deserved it.”
For Tavernier, the anger has reached a point of exhaustion. “We’ve had so many chats after games.
“You want it to sink in, but it just isn’t at the minute. And that’s what’s making me rage.”
Now, under a new manager demanding unity and intensity, it is no longer a question of whether Rangers need change, but how many players will survive it.