There were a few interesting names on the teammates when Glasgow Rangers announced their U19 side to take on St Mirren on Monday night, as several first-team players were involved.
Dujon Sterling made his long-awaited return from an Achilles injury to start at centre-back alongside fellow first-team defender Clinton Nsiala, although the young Gers then found themselves 3-0 down at half-time, and went on to lose 4-2.
Along with those two central defenders, attacking midfielder Kieran Dowell played his first match since August, having been out through injury, after Russell Martin opted to keep hold of him in the summer.
Why Rangers should have sold Kieran Dowell
Since moving to Ibrox from Norwich on a free transfer in 2023, the English playmaker has failed to prove his worth to the Scottish giants on the pitch, which is why he should have been moved on before this season.
In almost two-and-a-half years at Rangers, Dowell has produced more goals and assists out on loan (ten for Birmingham) than he has for the Gers (five), per Transfermarkt.
The left-footed dud has scored two goals and provided three assists in 38 games for the club, including no goals and one assist in six matches under Martin this season.
His contract is due to expire at the end of the season, per Transfermarkt, and it remains to be seen if he is a part of Danny Rohl’s plans, with the likes of Djeidi Gassama, Mikey Moore, Oliver Antman, Nedim Bajrami, Findlay Curtis, and Thelo Aasgaard ahead of him in the pecking order.
Should his deal expire next year without him working his way back into the team to make a big impact at Ibrox, Dowell may well be looked back on as a pointless signing due to his lack of contributions on the pitch.
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Meanwhile, one of Kevin Thelwell’s summer recruits currently looks like he is on course to be the biggest waste of time for the Light Blues since Dowell, Joe Rothwell.
Why Joe Rothwell has been a poor signing for Rangers
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course, because the idea of the signing of Rothwell on paper seemed solid. A technically sound central midfielder who could control the game in midfield, with experience in the Premier League and the Championship.
However, the midfield technician, signed on a permanent deal from Bournemouth, has not been able to deliver quality performances for the Light Blues on a consistent basis, as he has seemingly struggled with the intensity and speed of the football in Scotland.
It is always difficult to predict how a player will adapt to the intensity of the league, which is why so many players, like Dowell, flop after good spells elsewhere, and Rothwell has followed in Dowell’s footsteps as another player who has fallen short of the physical requirements.
Successful dribbles
4
Bottom 42%
Touches in the opposition’s box
4
Bottom 26%
Tackles
7
Bottom 26%
Duels won
16
Bottom 25%
Duel success rate
47.1%
Bottom 39%
Ball recoveries
22
Bottom 36%
Possession won in the final third
1
Bottom 19%
As you can see in the table above, the English central midfielder ranks poorly among his positional peers in a host of metrics based around physicality and mobility.
These statistics show that Rothwell, who has no goals and two assists in 19 appearances for Rangers, does not have the speed or mobility to consistently compete against other midfielders in the Scottish Premiership.
The 30-year-old dud, whom Heart & Hand content creator David Edgar described as “rotten”, has been an unused substitute in all three of the league matches that he has been available for during Rohl’s tenure.
This suggests that the German head coach has not been too impressed by the English dud, which means that his future could be thrown into doubt in January should his game time not improve.
Thelwell signing is a bigger waste of time than Chermiti & Miovski at Rangers
This Glasgow Rangers flop is a bigger waste of time this season than both Bojan Miovski and Youssef Chermiti.
ByDan Emery
Therefore, this Thelwell signing looks like the biggest waste of time at Rangers since Dowell because he is an experienced player who has not made an immediate impact on the pitch, and now looks to be surplus to requirements already.