Dundee United vs Rangers Match preview: We're back

Morning all, it's been a while hasn't it? I apologise for the lack of international break content, there wasn't much going on and the thought of having to relive those Scotland performances long enough to write about them was truly demoralising.

Ofcourse the one thing I could have written an article about happened yesterday when I was out all day so didn't have any means to talk about it.

I'm referring to John Bennett stepping down as Rangers chairman. This came out of the blue yesterday, I saw some articles suggesting it could happen around lunchtime and then the next time I looked at my phone it had been announced.

He's stepping down for health reasons so I wish him well on that front. However, I don't think it's in poor taste to talk about his record as Rangers chairman and the mess he is leaving behind for his successor.

The first time I can really remember hearing from Bennett was this interview which came after Gio's first summer window in 2022. When Gio asked for Danilo Doekhi, Angelo Fulgini and Tijjani Reijnders... and he got Ben Davies, Tom Lawrence and Rabbi Matondo. Bennett insisted the manager was happy with the squad and it was "strongest squad" in his time at the club.

Looking back at that article and some of the other things he says, it's really hard to believe he was in the job for another 2 years after that. Talking about the positives of our Napoli away performance in the UCL because Davis, Arfield and McGregor played and the club were criticised for giving them deals.

It almost felt like he thought he was still living in the time when people couldn't easily go back and watch these games, or wouldn't know about the targets the club missed out on.

Regardless of what Bennett has done in the past, the issue now is where we are in his unexpected absence. We are still lacking in a number of key positions in the club of which Bennett was responsible for filling. There doesn't seem to be any direction or clear leadership. The only hope is someone steps into the void and we get back to being a club with a board that's all pulling in the same direction.

In the chaos of all that news, it's easy to forget there's a game of football happening today.

We travel to Tannadice to attempt to bounce back after a disappointing Old Firm defeat on our last outing. Given my step-dad is a Dundee United fan, this game has a particularly derby feel to me and my brother. Hopefully the players take that into account.

Our record against them is generally very strong, one defeat and one draw in 10 games since they returned to the top flight in 2020. They've had a mixed start to the season but will fancy their chances of compiling the misery suffered by the Rangers support in recent weeks.

I think we all know that we need to see changes to the line-up. Bajrami should be starting given he played both games for Albania over the break. Cortes and Raskin are back and should be in from the start as well. The biggest clamour has been to see Igamane start after a few exciting moments off the bench vs Celtic, I think Clement will stay his hand there, given how protective he's been of him.

Clement was keen to talk about how he understands the frustrations of the fans and wanted to stress that this project would take time to get off the ground. Unfortunately I don't think he really has time, so hopefully the getting off the ground happens sooner rather than later. I can't think of anything worse than ending up with half of the roles filled at the top of the club, and no manager at the helm either.

Bajrami was positive too around his arrival at the club and his eagerness to get stuck into Scottish football. I have always liked Albanian players (Eros Grezda aside) and they tend to have a really good attitude towards the game and a real fire in them (again, Grezda aside). I'm hoping to see some of that from Bajrami and he's also taken the hallowed 14 shirt worn by such greats as Ryan Kent and em, Sam Lammers. No pressure then Nadim.

That's all for today, hopefully Rangers don't traumatise anyone today and we get the 3 points over the line.