08 Aug 2026 12:20:05
{Ed's Note - EHL2020 has posted a new article entitled, Why Rangers Must Handle Matchday Pressure Better
08 Aug 2026 12:56:43
EHL, fantastic article and explains perfectly the psychological effects and difficulties in playing for us.
Just one question from me: can this be developed over a period of time; and the longer they are exposed to it the more they will get used to it and improve. Some may never get it, I assume, as well. Sorry multi question really.
08 Aug 2026 13:01:20
Ehl, great read. 🇬🇧
08 Aug 2026 13:03:07
Brilliant insight, EHL. A lot of pressure for relatively young players to contend with. Thanks.
08 Aug 2026 13:06:53
The reason some good footballers don't cut it at Rangers.
08 Aug 2026 13:20:01
Surely the same can be said for any big club.
08 Aug 2026 13:21:16
Excellent stuff, EHL, and that insight obviously comes from a really good knowledge of the club and our squad. Our team are addressing the infield leadership group, but can I ask, do we have the required off-field team of expert sports psychologists to help as well?
08 Aug 2026 13:34:30
Waysgb, honestly, we're miles behind on this front and have been for years.
It was honestly eye opening being at Hearts last season and seeing the access they had to the resources through the Oriam and the Scottish Performance Centre.
08 Aug 2026 14:04:49
Great post and appreciated the effort. But what I don't understand is why can Celtic constantly buy players that can handle the pressure, and, might I add, title winning pressure and cup finals pressure, and we can't.
08 Aug 2026 14:13:04
Simple really, Ryan, because Celtic have a core of players, plus the fact it's far easier doing it with a team constantly winning games for players coming in, we need a core of leadership and that's exactly what Mciness is doing.
Some fans will always judge players and managers far too quickly, but that happening after a few games is bonkers, patience is needed and that's a thing a big percentage of Rangers fans don't get.
08 Aug 2026 14:14:22
Football is an easy game made difficult by people who should know better. Bill Shankly quote.
My God, EHL, you would think these players were 15-year-olds going into battle the way you put it across,
by the way, do these players need to be shown how to cross the road too or is there no computer programme/data for that yet?
They are professional footballers who have been playing under pressure since they were kids, by the sounds of it you are making up excuses for the poor players we have signed.
Diomande is just one example, but he has been here for years and been very poor. In your eyes, does that come down to playing for Rangers and not being able to handle the pressure week in, week out, or is he just not good enough?
08 Aug 2026 14:27:38
Ehl, I respect your knowledge and opinion on why the situation is as it is. However, this reads like either an attempt to rationalise failure to win, as many previous Rangers teams have done, or the sort of sales pitch you get from a consultant that promises they can save you. The crucial point I do agree with is fight or flight. There is no one in the current Rangers team that will get into a fight with the opposition. Devlin might prove me wrong.
None of this matters if the recruitment is right. The spine of the team is crucial. Souness got Woods, Butcher, himself, and marvellous Mark Hately. McInnes does love to listen to himself. He was spouting nonsense when managing Kilmarnock to the bottom of the Premier League. No one at Ibrox knows how to win in Scotland. We need an elite manager and team spine. It is achievable if you listen to out an out winners like Souness, Gerrard, etc.
08 Aug 2026 14:28:53
Great read Ehl, really interesting. Thank you.
08 Aug 2026 14:34:28
Ryan, Celtic have had a consistent core of leaders both on and off the pitch who know what it takes to win.
Brown effectively handed the baton over to McGregor - challenge for them is what happens next?
We need to replicate this.
08 Aug 2026 14:39:21
Jeggy, what a ridiculous post haha. Being the reason why 50 thousand punters go home happy or raging isn't the same as crossing the road. There's enormous pressure playing football and 90% of players will never have experienced anything like it. What other club outwith a select few will boo the team off after a friendly? What other team will boo the team off when they are 1-0 up cause we haven't scored enough goals.
We have the expectations of Real Madrid while having the budget of an English Championship side.
It's so hard to find players that have the mentality to play for us.
08 Aug 2026 14:40:13
That cheered me up, DavieCooper.
Start by saying I'm rationalising failure to win and then end by coming to the exact same conclusion I did.
08 Aug 2026 14:51:02
Wishy, Rangers are 154 years old, we have had thousands of players who could handle the pressure, our recruitment has been terrible, especially for the last 2 seasons, no excuses for overpaid underperforming players please.
08 Aug 2026 14:53:31
As a former self employed business owner, I think it replicates in this world. The amount of pressure I was under from overheads and people I was subcontracting for, while trying to run a squad of guys and keep up an excellent standard of work, was mentally crippling - this is basically what's happening with these players in some degree. I wasn't cut out for it in the end, up 5 years, and I chucked it for my own betterment, back to working for other guys and on a lot less money, but with a hell of a lot less pressure.
The difference is Jeggy, and this is a question: have you ever been under dooming pressure in your life? Because it doesn't matter how good you are or how much money you make, we are all human and pressure gets to us all. And, see, if you have and can handle that, perfect, that's excellent, but sadly we are not all the same.
08 Aug 2026 14:57:39
The rationalising a consultant pitch part should not be glossed over, EHL.
08 Aug 2026 15:03:00
Jeggy, I don't see his article as making excuses. Very true what he said. Many good footballers don't cut it at Rangers. Some are not good enough after 90 minutes. This brings nothing but toxic energy inside Ibrox. I couldn't give my opinion on the fans, it wouldn't be posted.
We need to give any manager far more time than we've given the last half a dozen. Fans wanted Clement and GvB sacked. We'd be in a far better place today if they both got a little longer.
08 Aug 2026 15:05:25
Sam, I'm a bus driver, I literally have people's lives at stake for 10 hours a day, lives not money, big difference.
Poor bus drivers are found out by their accidents and injuries/deaths caused.
Poor players will be found out by their results and we are seeing it now.
Our recruitment has been poor. That's all I'm saying.
We have too many players who don't have the fight needed for Scottish football, and it's not all down to not handling the pressure. Big Manny looks like he is sleeping on the park with 100 thosand eyes on him. What pressure? Lol.
08 Aug 2026 15:18:01
Read my post, Jeggy. I know the recruitment has been terrible, as we keep signing players who don't have the bottle to handle playing under the pressure of Rangers.
08 Aug 2026 15:30:42
Wishy, I don't think it's down to pressure. Most of our team look like they couldn't care if we lose and they face the wrath of 50 thousand, it's about their own drive and what they want to achieve in their careers.
We are signing too many losers and not enough winners. Maybe we should start buying players who have medals and know what it takes to win, instead of players who can't even get a game for the team we got them from.
08 Aug 2026 15:37:16
Thanks EHL. An article that makes you think and that is always worth the reading time.
Players are human, and all great clubs take time to achieve consistent success after a long time without it, as the climb back is all the higher and it's a multi-factor challenge.
In terms of some of the feedback above, Souness, Butcher, et al. were also well acquainted with periods of failure in their storied careers.
Worth remembering.
08 Aug 2026 15:47:31
Comparing the pressure of a normal job to playing elite football misses a massive psychological reality.
Think about your own job, or even just driving a car. You do it mostly on instinct. How many times do you drive from point A to point B and completely wonder how you got there? Your brain just takes over because you are trained and experienced.
Elite footballers are the exact same; in training, their skills and decisions are completely instinctive. Now, imagine trying to execute that instinctive behavior under football-stadium pressure. Take a bus driver as the perfect example. There is absolutely a degree of daily pressure in that job. But now imagine driving that bus while every single passenger on board is screaming, shouting, and telling you to turn right or left.
Imagine if they booed you every time they got off, or jeered whenever you made a turn they didn't personally agree with. Suddenly, it isn't just about getting them to the destination safely, it is about doing it exactly how they demanded.
When you apply that level of intense scrutiny, your brain switches from natural instinct to overthinking. That is what stops players from executing the skills they pull off effortlessly in training.
There is a world of difference between professional work pressure and having 50,000 people screaming that they can do your job better than you, all while holding a pie and a Bovril.
08 Aug 2026 15:51:39
EHL, great post. I see we have the flat earthers basically telling us psychologists know nothing and having no understanding of how hard it must be to do your job with 50,000 people shouting at you every time you made a mistake.
08 Aug 2026 16:09:04
There's a key factor in any sport to get players performing well under pressure.
Training should be a lot harder than the real game.
08 Aug 2026 16:12:47
Angus, I wasn't comparing footballers to bus drivers, Sam asked me a question and I answered it.
We all know footballers are under pressure, but do our team look like Ibrox is freaking them out?
Good players thrive under the pressure, it drives them on, poor players disappear.
Our team atm can't perform when we play in front of 15k at Tannadice for God's sake, they are just not good enough players imo.
08 Aug 2026 16:16:56
Is this something similar to what Gareth Southgate tried to do with the English national team? Change their mindset with the English support, especially with penalty shoot outs.
08 Aug 2026 16:24:53
Being a winner and a loser comes down to mentality, you're agreeing with my post tbh. We are just wording it differently.
08 Aug 2026 16:37:30
Interesting article, and I can see both sides to the for and against comments. I sit in the middle, and agree with the basis of the doc, but part of me thinks, is this over analysis, and basically football is football, we can add layers and layers of analysis and break everything down to a very detailed level, but ultimately it's about a team winning on the pitch, playing a game they've all played for years, and at some point they'll all have experienced pressure.
Pressure isn't unique to us.
I'd also add, we've been poor when the pressure has been off or not a full house level, and for me I don't see enough progression of a way of playing football. We seem to have no style about us and play the same players who make the same mistakes consistently and expect a different outcome.
Sorry, that has come across very -ve, but ultimately I think the players we have are just not good enough and that's the main reason we struggle.
08 Aug 2026 16:54:07
Excellent article, EHL. Good read as ever from a knowledgeable man. However, I believe Peggy has a point. This modern day namby pamby, arm round the shoulder mumbo jumbo. It's football. Less of the psychobabble and give it maximum for the club who pays you extremely well.
Stand up, like Butcher, Stevens, Roberts, Brown. Grow a pair.
Also, gutted to learn EHL found facilities for Hearts superior to the famous. I play walking football at Oriam and will bear it in mind 😂 now get into them!
08 Aug 2026 16:58:57
Thanks EHL. The Oriam and SPC is excellent. My son trained there for a good few years. It's crazy that a club like ours doesn't have access to that quality of resources. I had no idea. Mind blown. 🤯
08 Aug 2026 17:12:53
Aww Colonel, you just misgendered me (talk about namby pamby). I might just Peggy Sue you haha. 👍🏻
08 Aug 2026 17:48:45
The Colonel, great that works for you but there's players from that time who suffered like our Gazza, the great Maradona, and many many more from the pressure, the difference is they won but it was still there and scarred them in later life. Being and football and most jobs are the same, in theory everything should run smoothly, but it regularly does. This "namby pamby" bs gets right on my nerves. The amount of pressure people, including footballers, are under and make all this " money " is not the be all and end all. Then they go and take their own lives. I've lost 4 people really close to me, family and friends, through taking their own lives and it emulates to football as well - Fashunua, Enke and Garry Speed off the top of my head. We all want to win but this notion that you can't be affected by pressure, a severe amount of toxic pressure from within our fanbase ( I can be guilty of this too ), and be okay because you make silly money is stupid. I'm a lot more happy on a day rate than I was on price work and the monetary difference is substantial, but it didn't make me happy.
Jeggy, you then must see it if you are under server pressure? Or do you think money =happiness? Not a sly dig just a question.
08 Aug 2026 17:29:06
Waysgb, it's not just the facilities, it's the access to resources connected to the facilities that's most impressive - especially through Scottish Rugby.
I still stand by that we are fourth in the country in terms of facilities, behind Celtic, the Oriam and now also Celtic's Youth & Ladies training centre.