It was a miserable night for the German in his first game in charge with the Light Blues now pointless after three Europa League games
19:51, 23 Oct 2025Updated 07:07, 24 Oct 2025
Danny Rohl doesn’t seem to care that he was third choice on Rangers’ managerial wishlist.
But his players should certainly be worried by the first impression they’ve made on their new gaffer.
Yet again this third-rate squad found themselves second to every ball against opposition they’d have swatted aside with ease on their Thursday night thrill rides of old.
Those Europa League glory days seem miles off these days after Gers slumped to a third straight defeat.
It’s Rohl’s job now to fix the shambolic mess left by Russell Martin.
But after seeing Emil Kornvig, Jacob Sorensen and Noah Holm shoot down his new charges with three of the softest goals imaginable, you could forgive the German for wishing that Steven Gerrard or Kevin Muscat had landed the gig after all.
The German took time out before the game to go meet the traveling fanbase and was treated to a chorus of the punter’s new chant in his honour, sung to the tune of 70’s disco hit Daddy CooL.
But frankly, it’s going to take the mother of all turnarounds – and likely another expensive rebuild – if he’s to get this team fighting for silverware anytime soon.
Rangers’ Nicolas Raskin, Djeidi Gassama and Thelo Aasgaard look dejected
Rohl was kitted out in the traditional club blazer and tie that his axed predecessor refused to wear.
But after a decent start, it was Rangers who had their pants pulled down five minutes before half-time as skipper James Tavernier wandered out of position. Ulrik Mathisen spotted the gap and sent Bard Finne scampering through on goal.
John Souttar’s attempted block took the sting out of the shot but it fell for Kornvig to tap home.
A heavy touch from Oliver Antman put gers in trouble as Brann won a wide free-kick. And from Finne’s free-kick, Sorensen nodded past Jack Butland.
Holm fired home the third to rubber stamp a seventh defeat in all comps already this season for this rag-tag Rangers side. Here’s five talking points from Bergen:
Rohled over
The new gaffer has had the luxury of just two training sessions with his new side so no-one was expecting to see major alterations to how Gers approached the game.
He’s spent his short time drumming home the need for intensity in their play and an aggressiveness in their press.
Off the ball, they did look more organised early on.
Rangers’ Oliver Antman (L) and head coach Danny Rohl
But all three of Brann’s goals came from the kind of lapses in concentration that proved to be the undoing of Rohl’s predecessor.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany No2 will back himself to sort those issues out.
What will be harder to solve is the chronic lack of quality in this Ibrox squad.
Martin paid the price for the club’s disastrous £40million summer splurge but the fans think Kevin Thelwell should follow him out the door given how badly he’s spent that eye-watering sum.
Chairman Andrew Cavenagh has promised Rohl will get money to spend in January but there could be more pain, a lot more, to come before the window opens.
Mountain to climb
They call Bergen the City of the Seven Mountains.
And Rangers have certainly got a uphill battle to qualify from the league phase.
Back-to-back defeats to Genk and Sturm Graz were among the dismal set of results that saw Martin’s tenure crumble inside 122 calamitous days.
And they’d also left Rangers’ chances of making the knockout phase for a sixth time in the last seven years looking precarious as they touched down in Norway.
The stat boffins at Opta reckon four wins will be good enough to secure progress.
But a team that made the quarters last season are nowhere near the required standard now.
Martin’s mess
Rohl has got plenty of issues to sort but chief among them will be the Light Blues’ dismal defence.
He’s inherited a team that have now gone 25 games on the road without a clean sheet – a wretched record that stretches back 10 and a half months.
For 40 minutes they looked fairly solid off the ball.
But it’s going to take time for the new boss to iron out the bad habits developed under Martin.
They were guilty of over playing at the back when it wasn’t safe just before conceding the opener, with Rothwell forced to wipe out an opponent to keep the Norwegians from braking clear.
But it was just a plain lack of focus that cost them the opener as Tavernier wandered mindlessly out of position.
Djiga didn’t cover himself in glory either as he stood and watched Kornvig tap home a loose ball – and and he was sleeping again as Sorensen ghosted off him to flick home the second.
Out of Gass
Rohl admits he’d have never given his former Sheffield Wednesday wideman Djedi Gassama a chance had he listened to the views of others when he first moved to Hillsborough.
Gassama has every reason to be grateful that his boss trusted his own judgement having played a major role in the upturn in form that eventually won him £2.3million move to Ibrox in the summer.
But there was little sign of that Wednesday magic on a grim opening night for the new boss.
The Frenchman picked up a harsh booking after a tangle with Finne, who went down like he’d been shot.
But he produced even less threat on the ball as Brann eased to victory.
Kev’s counting the cost
Kevin Thelwell this week defended Yourself Chermiti’s costly £8million signing as the under-fire sporting director backed the striker to prove his worth.
It’s still early days for the Portuguese frontman but already their are fears sweeping the Light Blue legions that 21-year-old will turn out to be a colossal waste of Money.
Rangers’ Youssef Chermiti
The Bergan groundsman made sure the pitch was heavily watered before kick-off but Chermiti spent most of the game flailing about like Bambi on ice.
He’s a big lad at 6ft 1ins but somehow his stature seems to shrink anytime the ball is fired his way.
In fairness, he didn’t have much by way of service as Rangers repeatedly went long.
But when his side really needed him to act as an out ball and keep hold of possession, he allowed the Brann backline to recover and build time and time again.
He looked no more convincing when he was presented with his big chance from Nico Raskin’s ball just after the half-hour mark, with his weak header was no bother for Mathias Dyngeland in the home goal.