Insider names Rangers man to blame for injury crisis after confirmed news
The medical staff cannot take the blame for Rangers’ injury problems this season.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.
Rangers have struggled with injuries all term and currently have six senior players unavailable.
As quoted by the Athletic last week (14 December), Michael Beale revealed he has told the medical staff to now focus on getting players ready to be available for a sustained period rather than just a couple of games before breaking down again.
“In an ideal world, everybody would have the appropriate recovery time and players would go through comprehensive rehab protocols and come out shiny and brand new and we’d have no further issues,” Dinnery told Football Insider‘s Connor Whitley.
“Medical departments, inherently, get a lot of bad press and a lot of it is probably misguided.
“Ultimately, there is one person who makes the decision at the club and that’s the manager.
“Decisions with regards to return to play are going to be player-led. It’s about understanding the risks associated with that return to play.
“The medical department will give insight and maybe data in regards to the probability and likelihoods of a reoccurrence.
“Managers will take that and have discussions with their coaches to understand where they are with the rest of the squad. You might have the luxury of not needing your best player back for a week or two because you have others that can fill in that role.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a change in mindset from the manager, it’s maybe a change in pressure. These are unique scenarios.
“It highlights the fact there are so many influencing factors that go into these return-to-play decisions. It’s not just a case of a player being 100 per cent injury free or not.
“Michael Beale is able to take a step back and get away from that short-termism. He’s a guy who understands the situation and the bigger picture, it’s not just the next game, you need to be looking beyond that.”
In other news, Rangers have set their sights on signing a World Cup star.