Danny Rohl makes 'strong' Rangers transfer address as Motherwell boss fumes over 'unacceptable' decision
Ibrox boss says ‘we will see what happens in the next weeks’
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl has called on the club’s board to be “strong” in the January transfer window after a 1-0 win over Motherwell helped them leapfrog their opponents into third in the Premiership table.
Rohl watched on as his side missed several gilt-edged chances at Ibrox, with Thelo Aasgaard’s close-range strike in the 67th minute all that separated the two teams. Now the German boss wants the club to be unified in their decision-making during the winter transfer window as he looks to turn Rangers into genuine title contenders. They clawed back some of the gap on Hearts - who lost 3-2 to Hibs earlier in the day - and are now nine points behind with a game in hand.
“I'm happy for the result,” said Rohl. “At the end, we had so many chances that we missed. We were not in it in the first 15 minutes, then we changed our pressing. I'm happy for the three points against a team that tries really hard to play football. For a neutral supporter, I think it was an enjoyable game. Both teams tried something; in the end, we won the game, and this is the most important.
“I had a good meeting with Andrew [Cavenagh] in the morning. I think there is one guideline for me off the pitch - brave and bold decisions. I think this is key to how we have to act. If you are convinced in the board and in the club, then we should go all in and try it, and if not, then we should say no. I think this is very clear to me.
“It should not be something between maybe, or maybe not. It's a no or a yes - not between - if I think this is what I want to see from myself, but also from us as a club that we are brave enough to make strong decisions. I'm very calm, the league is very competitive, and it has a lot of challenges. It's not easy to get points. It's fantastic to have more teams around that are trying and taking points.
“Some players feel that they maybe they are not so involved in the games. For example Lyall [Cameron] trained this week really good. I give him this feedback. That was the reason why he deserved to get some minutes. For me, it's about if you train well then you have to continue. It's not just one good training session and you can play, it's about consistency that I want to see.
“We will see what happens in the next weeks. Some players they feel maybe it's hard to get minutes, and it makes also no sense to continue. We have to be strong in this decision making, and if we do this then it's helpful for both sides.”
Meanwhile, Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou was left exasperated by referee David Dickinson’s decision not to awarded an injury-time penalty to his side for an alleged trip on Lukas Fadinger by Emmanuel Fernandez. The Austrian midfielder appeared to be caught by the Rangers centre-back late into the game. However, the referee did not point to the penalty spot - and VAR didn’t intervene.
“Both goalkeepers needed to pull out one hell of a performance to make it a game of just one goal,” said the Motherwell boss. “Then there’s something that I will take with me into my grave, without understanding how we don't get a penalty at the end. He clearly tripped Lukas going free on an open goal.
“That is unacceptable and probably another of these where we get an excuse in a couple of weeks. But we can't dwell on it, because in three days we have another big game and we have to get ready to deliver another one of these similar performances.”
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