Rangers takeover can't come soon enough as deserted Ibrox turns toxic after latest historic reversal

Whether or not a takeover can be agreed with the commercial arm of the San Francisco 49ers remains to be seen. On this evidence, however, negotiations, however delicately poised, need to be stepped up a level – on the assumption of course that 49ers Enterprises remain interested. On the plus side, Rangers are doing their best to drive down the price.

A team in black and white frustrating Rangers at home. Sound familiar? Well, yes, there were similarities to the Ibrox side’s humiliating Scottish Cup defeat to Queen’s Park two weekends ago. But it was far from the narrative of a plucky underdog riding their luck and securing a once-in-a-lifetime result, although this win did continue the theme of historic reversals befalling Rangers.

While one does not have to go as far back as 1882, the last time Queen’s Park had beaten Rangers in the Scottish Cup, a delve into the archives was still required to pinpoint St Mirren’s previous Ibrox win. It was November 1991, when Kevin McGowne's shot from 35 yards outfoxed Andy Goram.

As for the last time they celebrated back-to-back victories over Rangers? 1979-80, when they won three times in a row. Goals from Mikael Mandron and substitute Olutoyosi Olusanya put Rangers deeper into the mire on an afternoon when they had been given a golden opportunity to make up some ground on Celtic. Some hope.

Manager Philippe Clement is fighting for his Ibrox career. He will likely survive due to the club being in such a state of flux at the top. However, this was Ibrox at its most toxic. Again.

Clement headed straight down the tunnel at the final whistle, followed soon afterwards by skipper James Tavernier. A small group of players, led by goalkeeper Jack Butland, sought to hang around and offer some sort of apology to those few home fans remaining but they were waved away, amid a torrent of abuse.

It said everything that a Tannoy announcement relaying the news that nine minutes of added time was to be played was met by loud booing from the sparsely filled home stands. Those remaining had already seen enough and knew the idea of Rangers scoring twice before the end was sheer fantasy. Vaclav Cerny did hit the bar with a curling effort but this barely raised a yelp.

Either Rangers were late out for the second half, or St Mirren were early. But the sight of the well-drilled Paisley team waiting for the hosts to appear seemed to underline their hunger.

Stephen Robinson’s side had arrived on a mission and looked confident about completing it from the very start. They could and probably should have been ahead as early as the eighth minute, when Butland skewed a goal-kick straight to Jonah Ayunga. The goalkeeper atoned with a good block and then was relieved to see Mandron clear the bar from the rebound. There was another let off for Rangers at the end of the half when Hamza Igamane was handed a reprieve following a robust challenge on Mark O’Hara in the middle of the park.

Referee Kevin Clancy was quick to pull the red card from his pocket but was invited to have another look. He duly downgraded the card to yellow. What might have happened to Rangers with only ten men doesn’t bear thinking about. They were bullied badly enough with eleven, with Alex Gogic superb at the back for the visitors.

Mandron and Jonah Ayunga were a handful for the home defence, with the latter flicking on for the former to run in and drill past Butland six minutes after half-time. It took a while to confirm the goal would stand after Clancy initially awarded a foul against Mandron after Clinton Nsiala was left on the turf, but replays showed the Rangers defender tripped over his own feet. Olusanya replaced Ayunga after 65 minutes and made the points safe five minutes later after brushing aside Nsiala and curling into the corner.

“I don’t like to look back,” admitted Clement in his eagerly awaited first programme column since the Queen’s Park defeat. But he knew there was no way he could fail to acknowledge what had occurred on Rangers’ last appearance at the stadium. He described the defeat as a “big blow…it does take time to recover”.

He added: “What we must do now is use this as fuel so that for the rest of the season we are ruthless in our approach to every game that is in front of us.” Make no mistake, this was the absolute opposite of the response required.