Rangers

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Rangers B retained the Glasgow Cup by defeating Celtic B on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Firhill.

First-team defender Neraysho Kasanwirjo scored Rangers' opener, striking hard from inside the area.

Celtic levelled in first-half added time with Rhys Dargie turning home from close range.

There was a lengthy stoppage during the second half after Rangers' Cameron Scott sustained a head injury and left the field on a stretcher.

After 16 minutes of added time, the match went to spot-kicks and Rangers triumphed 5-4 in the shootout after Lewis Dobbie missed for Celtic.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers and Rangers interim head coach Barry Ferguson were in attendance at the final.

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First-team defender Neraysho Kasanwjiro scored in Rangers B's Glasgow Cup final against Celtic B as he continues his recovery from injury.

The Dutchman, who is on loan from Feyenoord, last played a senior match in early November.

He returned to training last week and scored the opening goal at Firhill, a firm strike from inside the box. Rangers B won the final 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Firhill.

Kasanwjiro, 23, has made 12 first-team appearances for the Ibrox side and could feature in their remaining four Scottish Premiership games this season.

Rangers host Celtic on Sunday (12:00 BST).

With Rangers' disappointing season trundling towards a conclusion, fans are looking ahead to a summer of huge change at Ibrox.

The club are set to come under new ownership - talks are continuing with a US-based consortium including the San Francisco 49ers - and a new manager also has to be appointed.

What might Ibrox fans expect in year one of the new era?

"I don't see 49ers and Andrew Cavenagh coming in and just throwing money at it and saying we have to go and win the league in season one," says Chris Jack of the Rangers Review.

Speaking on the Scottish football podcast, Jack added: "If you look at the way they have operated elsewhere, it has been a bit more of gradual build-up.

"And of course, in Glasgow, second is last and if you don't win the league, it's a disaster. Rangers fans will never accept not winning the title, not winning domestic trophies and not challenging in later stages of European competition. So the new owners will come in with all that burden and all that expectation.

"But I do expect them to try and build Rangers up. It's almost a bit of both. They will have to make inroads very quickly. They will have to be successful early on. But there will be a longer-term plan for the club to grow and evolve as the investment continues.

"In 12 months' time they need to have a trophy in the cabinet at Ibrox. Ultimately that's how their first season will be judged.

"I think they come in with a of a feelgood factor behind them. That feelgood factor will only remain behind them for as long as Rangers fans see that they are making the right decisions."

Paraag Marathe, the Leeds United chairman and the force behind 49ers Enterprises - the investment wing of the 49ers NFL franchise - is a key player in the prospective Rangers takeover.

Michael Normanton, co-host of Leeds podcast The Square Ball, says: "I can't see the fanbases of either club willing to accept being second place in this particular pecking order.

"There may be some transfer of players between the club, but it doesn't feel like we're entering like a Red Bull/City Football Group system where there's going to be a constant churn of players between."

Jamie Currie
Fan writer

Another domestic game, another shambles. The latest instalment was the draw at St Mirren after taking the lead twice.

I'm bored of the season and unfortunately there are four more slogs to go. I'm bored of this nonsense back-three shape and I'm bored of the same players making the same errors every week.

And then you have Barry Ferguson saying some players aren't listening to instructions - if that's the case, remove them from the team.

I can't say I can see where the next win is coming from. Thankfully there are only three games left on the season ticket and then this shambolic mess of a campaign - that started with John Bennett basically writing it off last summer - can be firmly put into the bin.

On the positive side of things, we have brought in a new sporting director in Kevin Thelwell. He, along with the incoming new owners and his recruitment team, have a massive task on their hands to repair and improve on this mess they will inherit.

Personally I'm counting down to the final whistle at Easter Road and hoping before then this team can maybe pick up a few victories or perhaps go one game without conceding two goals.

Rangers need to sign "at least six or seven first-team starters" this summer if they are to bridge the gap to Celtic, according to the club's former striker Kris Boyd. (Daily Record), external

Aberdeen may struggle to come to a permanent agreement for Kevin Nisbet as the on-loan striker finishes the season on a high, worries former Pittodrie hero Duncan Shearer. (Press & Journal - subscription), external

And former Rangers captain Craig Moore reckons Kevin Nisbet would be a good fit at Ibrox. (Go Radio via Daily Record, external)

Read the rest of Tuesday's Scottish gossip.

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Rangers forward Hamza Igamane has been nominated for this season's PFA Scotland young player of the year award.

The 22-year-old has scored 15 goals in his first season at Ibrox since his arrival from FAR Rabat last summer.

Motherwell's Lennon Miller, Hearts striker James Wilson and Celtic's Arne Engels are the other names on the shortlist.

Watch the Sportscene team analyse another up-and-down display from Rangers striker Cyriel Dessers.

Available in UK only.

Marco Rose, who was sacked last month as RB Leipzig head coach, is the nailed-on favourite for the Rangers job in the eyes of the bookmakers because of the strong relationship between the San Francisco 49ers' investment group and Red Bull, with whom the 48-year-old German worked at the Bundesliga club and Salzburg. (Daily Record), external

Former Southampton boss Russell Martin is relegated Leicester City's first choice as a replacement should they sack Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the 39-year-old former Rangers and Scotland defender has also been shortlisted by the Scottish Premiership club. (Scottish Sun), external

Read Monday's Scottish Gossip in full.

Watch highlights as Rangers' winless run continues at St Mirren.

Available in UK only

We asked for your views on Rangers' 2-2 draw against St Mirren.

Here's what some of you said:

Ronnie: Another dreadful performance. Barry Ferguson wanted five wins to end the season, this team fell at the first hurdle. Too many are simply not good enough and I'm afraid the much-lauded Hamza Igamane has joined them. He was hopeless. Next season can't come quick enough, I'm struggling to think of a player I would keep at the club. Barry just looks stunned at how poor his players are. I hope the 49ers have a magic wand, as well as cash. They will need it.

Gerry: That performance sums up our season. Poor attitude, poor defensively, poor passing, poor on-field communication, poor team selection and poor leadership. It must be the worst Rangers team in our long and illustrious history. We can only look forward to an improved squad and a new season.

Rab: A dreadful performance by Rangers, no structure to the team selection, no cohesion, comedy defending sums up our season and no better than when Phillipe Clement was in charge.

Frazer: Tired and emotional and that is the supporters, many of the players totally disengaged and failing to understand the commitment.

Brian: The performance was dire, I really feel for Barry as he has put his heart and soul into making something of this team of half-hearted losers. He sounded so despondent at the end and I feel his pain. On the day that Celtic claim the title this group of players are so unworthy to pull on the Rangers shirt and represent this great club.

Simon: All I can say is thank goodness second place is mathematically safe, because I am not confident this team can beat these hungrier sides. I am definitely getting a pre-Graeme Souness vibe.

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• Rangers have failed to win in their last three games in the Premiership, their last joint longest winless streak was from 7 April 2024 to 17 April 2024.

• Conor McMenamin has scored his third goal in the Premiership this season, netting for the first time since 9 November 2024 against Hibernian.

• Declan John assisted his first goal in the Premiership this season.

Rangers struggled to a 2-2 draw away to St Mirren shortly after Celtic secured another Scottish Premiership title with a 5-0 win away to Dundee United.

Were you at the game or watch elsewhere?

Give us your thoughts.

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Rangers interim head coach Barry Ferguson admits the display in the draw with St Mirren was "not good enough" and he was not happy to accept a point on the road.

"I know it is a difficult place to come, but when you take the lead twice, you need to maintain that lead," he tells BBC Scotland.

"That's been a problem all season and that's the reason why we have not been challenging.

"You can do as much work on the training ground and say as many things in meetings, but when you cross that white line, you have to deal with it yourself.

"When you speak to them individually and as a group and you ask them to do things and they don't do it, what is the point? That's the thing that frustrates me."

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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Rangers' away form has been a bright spot amid some gloomy moments this season, but they were unable to make it seven Scottish Premiership wins on the road against a St Mirren side who deserved a point at the very least.

Visiting interim head coach Barry Ferguson looked increasingly frustrated on the sidelines as their inability to dominate lesser equipped opponents was again on full display.

Perhaps conscious of the tight St Mirren pitch, Ferguson had dropped in-form Vaclav Cerny and Ianis Hagi to the bench, but the result was a disjoined and error-strewn display.

A team that went toe-to-toe with Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League played like strangers and were in severe danger of losing back-to-back league visits to Paisley for the first time since April 1986.

Celtic's emphatic 5-1 win away to Dundee United earlier in the day not only secured another league title.

It was yet another example of the gap between the Glasgow rivals - now 17 points in the table - and the draw in Paisley does little for Ferguson's hopes of staying team boss beyond the end of the season.

It was further proof that whoever does get the job has a major task on their hands next season.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire would not expect the prospective American owners of Rangers to spend big straight away. (Record), external

Maguire describes 49ers Enterprises, who are in talks to take over Rangers, as "hard-nosed businessmen". (Sun), external

On-loan Feyenoord defender Neraysho Kasanwijro, 23, has returned to training at Rangers after a lengthy injury absence. (Herald - subscription required), external

Read Saturday's Scottish gossip

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St Mirren sold Toyosi Olusanya to Houston Dynamo this week and remain without Evan Mooney (ankle).

Ridvan Yilmaz is out for the rest of the season with an injury picked up in the Europa League defeat by Athletic Bilbao.

Leon Balogun has had an operation on his fractured cheekbone, Tom Lawrence is still out along with Dujon Sterling (Achilles) and Neraysho Kasanwirjo (knee), while one or two others are doubts.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Cyriel Dessers wants to stay at Rangers next season when new owners could be in place.

The Nigeria striker, who is under contract till the summer of 2027, has only won one trophy - the League Cup last season - since arriving at Ibrox two years ago.

"I'm very keen. I came here two summers ago with the ambition to fight for trophies and to win them. We've had two amazing runs in Europe but we have won one trophy and I don't think that's enough," said Dessers.

"Not everything in the last two seasons was bad. We were fighting for the league title last season until a couple of games before the end and we've got to three cup finals in a row. But winning one isn't enough at Rangers, we know that.

"I'm really hungry to win more trophies. Obviously there's going to be a lot happening at the club but I am looking forward to that as well.''

The 30-year-old, currently on 23 goals, has set himself a target for the rest of the season.

Speaking before Saturday's game at St Mirren, Dessers said: "You want to score in every game but it would be nice to get to 25, but most importantly we want to win these games.

"We are gutted that it's only five games until the end of the season. You want to have six, including a cup final.

"But we need to take some pride in these five games and give 100% to win them and have good performances. That's important. You can't let it just fizzle it out."

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Rangers interim head coach Barry Ferguson says his players must use the "pain" of Celtic's Premiership success to fuel their next campaign.

Celtic need just one point from their final five league matches to secure a fourth successive title having led the way for the vast majority of the season.

Ferguson - a legend at Ibrox as a player - says second simply isn't good enough and certain members of his squad are now playing for their futures at the club.

"Well, it'll be painful for me," he said when asked about Celtic's impending success. "It'll be painful for my staff, it'll be painful for the supporters. And I want it to be painful for my players.

"Because you're at Rangers, and we need to start challenging, properly challenging, for trophies.

"It's sore when you see your fiercest rivals win trophies, you don't like to see that. After that there were horrible summers.

"I was ready to come back in and work my backside off to make sure that didn't happen again. I would make me even more determined, and hopefully that's going to be the case next season.

"I come in for a lot of criticism, it's not nice, but you know what? It made me even more determined to go and prove a lot of people wrong.

"And that's what the group of players need to do in this short period of five games. We need to go and show, or they need to go and show, that they want to be part of this club going forward."

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Barry Ferguson has been speaking to the media before Rangers visit St Mirren in the Premiership this weekend.

Here are the key points from the interim Ibrox boss:

• Ferguson admits he "might not be everyone's cup of tea" or the most experienced manager linked with the job but he knows what changes are required and is convinced he would make Rangers "a better club" if he is appointed.

• Ferguson says he won't look for another job in management if he is not kept on by Rangers and will return to his role as club ambassador.

• He adds: "It's my club and I wasn't interested in going back into coaching, but I got an opportunity I never thought I would get and I've come in and enjoyed every single second of it."

• He will meet new sporting director Kevin Thelwell but there is no date scheduled.

• Ferguson will be "honest and clear" with Thelwell, adding: "It's good, he's an experienced guy, he's been about a lot of clubs, a lot of big clubs as well, so I think it was an appointment that was needed and, looking at his background, it looks a very good appointment."

• As a supporter he's happy at the "positive news" of how the takeover talks seem to be progressing and says club needs outside investment.

• He has set the squad a target of 15 points from the remaining five games.

• Ferguson says Celtic winning the Premiership will be "painful" for him and supporters and wants it to be painful for players too: "It's sore when you see your fiercest rivals win trophies, you don't like to see that. It should make you even more determined and hopefully that's going to be the case next season."

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Rangers questions.

Thom asked: Can you envisage any problems with the potential takeover? Or is it a win-win for Rangers?

Tom answered: Everything that I hear suggests it's moving healthily towards completion. A source close to the deal told me in late February he expected it to be done by June.

Everybody has since signed non-disclosure agreements, so there's not a lot of new information coming out, but it all seems to be progressing nicely. I suspect this is going to be very good news for Rangers. Not a magic wand, but good news.

Dave asked: Do we keep Cyriel Dessers and persevere or do we get rid and bring in a goalscorer? I personally don't think he is good enough.

Tom answered: Dessers is a goalscorer. He might miss too many, but he's scored 20-plus in back-to-back seasons and I think the grief he gets is way over the top.

The goalscoring burden has fallen mostly on him over the past two seasons because Danilo has been injured for vast chunks of time and Hamza Igamane is still raw. You can't improve as a team unless you're getting goals from multiple places.

Celtic get goals from Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah, but also from Nicolas Kuhn, Arne Engels, Jota, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and even Yang Hyun-Jun gets a handful.

Rangers don't get nearly enough goals from midfield. Connor Barron has zero, Niko Raskin has two. James Tavernier's goals have dried up, so everybody looks to Dessers when they should be looking at the midfielders at the club who should be doing more.

Only the excellent Vaclav Cerny is really doing it in a major way on that front. He's the only Rangers midfielder in double figures. The next highest has six. Across the city, Luke McCowan has six and is not first choice. Dessers is not the big problem here.

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Rangers questions.

Chris asked: Should Rangers re-employ Steven Gerrard (who left them in the lurch and has achieved little since) or Jose Mourinho, who is almost at has-been status, or take a punt on Barry and the Three Bears?

Tom answered: Well, now that they have appointed the experienced Kevin Thelwell as sporting director they can crack on with the process of getting a new manager in place.

Steven Gerrard - he stopped Celtic's 10 in a row, but his overall track record doesn't stack up, in my view. I know that plenty of Rangers fans will disagree. Never go back.

Jose Mourinho - would be great for us in the media, so yes please. Realistically, I don't think so.

A punt on Barry Ferguson - zero chance of that happening, I'd imagine. Rangers need to go down a new road under new ownership. They need to get themselves a version of Ange Postecoglou, a guy who had intimate knowledge of relatively untapped football markets and who can bring in fine players for affordable money.

They need value and they need lots of it. Kevin Muscat is an interesting contender.

Sue asked: If Rangers get the right manager and structure at the club under the new owners can you see them challenging Celtic next season or will it take longer to mount a significant challenge?

Tom answered: Sorry to mention Postecoglou again, but he showed it can be done in quick order, but only if you repeatedly hit the jackpot in the transfer market.

He built a new team for a relatively small outlay. That's exactly what Rangers are going to have to do. Their rebuild is as big as the Postecoglou rebuild was in 2021.

My guess is it's going to take longer than a season or two. Celtic are miles ahead on every front. They're going to have to move backwards and Rangers will have to get the vast majority of their big decisions right for there to be any shift in power in the short term.

The takeover offers a lot of hope. These are serious people who know what they are doing. They've already done it with Leeds, so if I was a Rangers supporter I'd be very excited about them coming in while at the same time accepting that this is probably going to take time.

Financially, Rangers have wasted so much money in recent years. The review they've conducted under Patrick Stewart would be worth reading. I'd imagine he's pored over it with a constant grimace on his face.

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"You get change very, very quickly, but do you always get the change you want?"

It's shaping up to be a new era at Rangers this summer, with the club officially confirming for the first time they are in negotiations with American investors, including the San Francisco 49ers, about a possible takeover of the club at the same time they announced Kevin Thelwell as sporting director.

He joins from the Premier League, which over the last few years has seen an influx in investors from the States, though reviews have been mixed, according to former Chelsea and Everton winger Pat Nevin.

"Yes, you get change very, very quickly, but do you always get the change you want, is the other question," the ex-Scotland international told BBC Radio Scotland.

"There are plenty of clubs down in England who have had American investors come in, with lots and lots of money, which everyone thinks it's a great thing, but plenty of negatives come with that as well.

"Sometimes you get pure businessmen coming in who don't have an understanding of the concept of the club, its history, how it works and that can really upset folk.

"There's good and bad aspects. But, the hope is they buy into the club, not just financially but emotionally as well."

The same will be hoped of Thelwell, who Nevin believes comes with "thumbs up" from people in and around Merseyside after his three-year Everton stint.

"It appears to be complete control of the footballing department, so a lot on his plate, but he did it at Everton during one of the most incredibly difficult times during the club's history," he said.

"He probably came out with thumbs up from most people, so he did a good job at Everton given the circumstances but he's got a big job when he arrives at Rangers too."