Club rejects offer
“Absolutely ridiculous”: professional refuses to substitute
24.08.2025 – 7:26 pmReading time: 2 min.
It is not going well for the Rangers. In the league, the team is still waiting for the first win – and must also deal with a player.
The Scottish record champion Glasgow Rangers has put the worst start to the season in 36 years – and an apparently an apparently enthusiastic player. The team of the new team manager Russell Martin only came to a 1-1 (0: 1) at FC St. Mirren on Sunday and is still waiting for the first win after the third draw from three games. Offensive player Hamza Igamane surprisingly avoided an operation.
What happened? Igamane completed the warming up completely, but initially only sat on the bench. Coach Martin wanted to change him in the 60th minute-but the 22-year-old declined. “Hamza told me that he was hurt,” the Englishman revealed after the game at the Sky microphone. “I have to trust him, but we will see.” Igamane complained about a strain in the thigh, although everything was said to have been good during the week during training.
Only he himself knows why Igamane did not play. However, the scene gets additional explosiveness from transfer rumors: According to Martin, only a few days before the duel at FC, an offer for the Moroccan was received, which the rangers rejected. “The transfer window is still open. There are players who are outside with one eye and with the other and we need players who are completely in there,” continued the coach. He emphasized that he wanted to focus on actors who fully identify with the club.
Igamane had been repeatedly associated with a change in the past few weeks. Billy Dodds, former coach and player of the Rangers, showed little understanding: “With the Rangers you would never refuse to go on the pitch. I don’t care who if you refuse, you should be out of the club,” he is quoted by the British BBC.
Ex-striker Steven Thompson and the former Celtic professional Chris Sutton were similar. “Absolutely ridiculous. Embarrassed by Igamane,” said Thompson. Sutton agreed: “The most obvious would be to throw him out. Russell Martin had a catastrophic start, but I feel here. He has to try to change the changing room and change the mentality.”
Regardless of the Igamane personnel, the sporting situation with the Rangers remains tense. Of his first nine competitive games, the coach won only three – a team manager has never been worse at the Rangers.
The Rangers await the archrival Celtic Glasgow for the derby next Sunday. The defending champion is at the top of the table with nine points after three games. With 55 titles each, the Rangers and Celtic are record champion in Scotland.