Rangers boss Danny Rohl admits the buck stops with him for the way his team have imploded in the title race.
A 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park officially ended any chance of Rangers winning the league — and piled more pressure on Rohl.
The German has presided over three straight defeats in the post-split fixtures — losing to Motherwell, Hearts and Celtic.
The loss at the home of their bitter rivals followed the recent trend of Rangers capitulating in the second half.
A growing number of Rangers fans are now calling for Rohl to be relieved of his duties but the 37-year-old has vowed to carry on and remains confident he will lead the club into next season.
Asked to assess the campaign as a whole after it was confirmed Rangers will finish in third place, Rohl said: ‘I can only speak about my time from October until now.
Rangers boss Danny Rohl shows his frustration during his team’s 3-1 defeat at Celtic Park
Benjamin Nygren is standing in an offside position as Yang Hyun-Jun equalises for Celtic
‘My group did an outstanding job until the split. We took a lot of points, got closer and worked really hard with energy.
‘But then, at the most important time of the year, we didn’t get the right results.
‘I’m at the front of my group, I have to lead them, so, of course, I will take my responsibility at this moment.
‘From the split, we’ll take a lot of things. We’ll take learnings, consequences, but then we move forward for the new season.
‘I’m honest, it’s a tough one. You come with a lot of confidence to a point. You’re prepared and ambitious for the split.
‘Then you lose the first game, the second and finally you lose all three. It’s not enough for what we want or where we want to go.’
Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh will now be compelled to either back Rohl publicly and make a statement on the manager’s future, or pull the plug.
Rohl insists he has earned the right to go again next season, saying: ‘I never underestimated the job here. This is a huge club, an ambitious club, with a lot of power.
‘Two weeks ago we were confident and looking forward to the split. But we have made mistakes which we have repeated.
‘I deserve confidence to go forward and lead this group and lead the club in the future and bring titles.
‘In general in football, when you want to be the best and win titles, then no defeat helps.
‘I have until now had a lot of great moments with the club and I am convinced I will have more moments in the future.’
Pressed on whether he can understand some fans turning against him, Rohl continued: ‘In general, yes of course, I can understand this.
‘I’ll take the all the disappointment and anger from the fans in the right way. I understand that if you come from a point in the season where you really feel and believe you can win something — then lose the next three games — of course, it’s the right of the fans.
‘I respect this and from this point we have to move forward.
‘We had a great position before the split and this is hard to take and we have to improve and develop quick.
‘We have to learn in these key moments to be clinical and play without mistakes. We will learn from this.
‘I will take a lot from the last three games to be prepared the best way possible. I will lead this group and I am clear about what we have to improve.’
Rangers led 1-0 in the first half through a goal from Mikey Moore, before Yang Hyun-Jun netted a controversial equaliser.
Benjamin Nygren was in an offside position in front of Jack Butland as Yang struck the ball, but was deemed not to be interfering with play.
Celtic defender Alistair Johnston was shown a yellow card for his challenge on Mikey Moore
Alistair Johnston also went in late on Moore and had his studs showing, but escaped without a red card.
Rohl was unhappy at those decisions, but he did not hide from the fact that his team simply were not good enough in the second half as Celtic scored twice through Daizen Maeda to win 3-1.
‘It’s moments when we don’t make the right decisions,’ he continued. ‘When you look back to some of our conceded goals then you see some patterns that we need to improve very quickly.
‘I am not a guy to make excuses for some decisions. What I heard so far, maybe there was an offside situation because they had someone in front of our goalkeeper.
‘The foul [Johnston on Moore] on the pitch felt really aggressive. I have not seen it again but some other people have made the decision and we cannot change it now.
‘Maybe if we watch it back, it should not be a goal and it should be a red card, then hopefully someone will take responsibility for it.’
