Jordan Jones: I was under no pressure to leave Rangers… Steven Gerrard was really good to me

Northern Ireland star Jordan Jones has opened up on experiencing a difficult time mentally following his departure from Rangers two years ago and expressed his desire to return to his best form at club and international level.

Hugh Keevins: Rangers incident witnesses ‘death of the conspiracy theory’ at Ibrox

Reporter Hugh Keevins has joked that he “witnessed the death of the conspiracy theory” last weekend as Rangers were denied two goals against Celtic.

Rangers fell to a 1-0 loss at Ibrox on 3 September through a Kyogo Furuhashi strike shortly before half-time, leaving the Gers four points adrift of their Old Firm rivals with four games played.

Rabbi Matondo had a goal chalked off early on for offside – a decision nobody really disputed – while Kemar Roofe’s celebrations were later cut short as he had a goal of his own controversially disallowed.

Writing for the Sunday Mail‘s print edition [10 September, page 59], Keevins said: “I honestly believed I had witnessed the death of the conspiracy theory at Ibrox. Rangers being denied two “goals” in an Old Firm match surely brings historic claims of institutionalised bias to an end, once and for all.

“Then Rangers wrote to the SFA asking for “clarification” over the one denied by Kemar Roofe because of an earlier infringement. Are the club implying an ulterior motive?

“Disallowed goals are not a matter of personal interpretation in this country. They are a matter of personal indoctrination. If you’re a Rangers fan, what happened was an injustice. If you support Celtic, there’s nothing to see here.”

A week on from ‘that’ incident and still debate rages on.

As Keevins says, it really does depend which side of the Old Firm divide you sit with regards to whether you believe Roofe’s goal should have stood.

As a reminder – like one is needed – Cyriel Dessers was accused of fouling Celtic defender Gustaf Lagerbielke prior to playing in Roofe to fire past Joe Hart.

What has become apparent in the seven days since that match, plenty of neutrals are siding with Rangers when questioning exactly why referee Don Robertson was asked by VAR to check the pitchside monitor in the first place.

The loss could not have come at a worse time for Rangers as we have been left to reflect on it over this two-week break.

Hopefully the players return fired up for the trip to St Johnstone when Scottish Premiership action resumes next Saturday [16 September].