Nigeria fans stoning team bus helps Balogun keep Rangers demands in perspective

Since the old Apollo closed its doors, Ibrox has rather taken on the mantle as being home to Glasgow’s most difficult audience. In fairness to the Rangers punters though, they’ve hardly been getting their money’s worth of late.

Sunday’s slog against Hearts was the latest in a long line of dreary performances that Philippe Clement’s men have put on in front of their own crowd, though at least they had three points to cheer at the end of it all, if little else.

Leon Balogun has been at the club long enough to know what is expected of the Rangers players, and when the team is falling short of those expectations, what will follow from the stands. But the experienced defender says that such exacting demands are hardly unique to Govan.

In fact, when asked if Rangers presents a uniquely difficult environment for players to adjust to, he relayed a story from his international days that poked some gaping holes in such a theory.

"No disrespect to our supporters, but no,” Balogun said.

"And I said this not too long ago. I don't know who to, but playing for the Nigerian national team actually prepared me, because, believe me or not, they probably have just as much expectation as our supporters.

"Let me put one out there. I was at Rangers at the time. We played against Sierra Leone. We were winning 4-1, good for me, as I came off after 60 [minutes], and we ended the game 4-4.

"On the way back to the hotel, some of the security staff said don't sit next to the windows. Some players closed the curtains already. And then five minutes into the drive, you turn the corner, and they threw stones at the at the bus, our own fans. So, I guess that kind of prepared me.

"The expectation of Nigeria was always really, really high. So, I've met something like it before, and I think that helped me personally."

Balogun has been around the block enough times then to handle the flak that comes the way of the players when things aren’t going so well, though he does concede that some of the newer recruits can be taken aback by the level of criticism, particularly when they feel it may not have been justified.

Both Cyriel Dessers and Vaclav Cerny have bitten back at the supporters in fact during games this season, but Balogun says the onus is on the squad to get the fans back onside. And when they do get behind their team, he says their support is unrivalled.

"I mean, it's my fourth season at the club, I know what it can be like, and you just have to get on with it,” he said.

“To be very fair and to be very honest, there are moments probably where you think, okay, that's a bit unreasonable, but it's just the club.

Read more:

• Raskin issues 'we're not done yet' Rangers title race verdict

• Dessers taking important Rangers steps to become more clinical striker

"You have to put that weight on your shoulders as soon as you put on the shirt and deal with it. And obviously it can have an impact every now and then, or sometimes for some players, more than others, especially if they're a bit younger, if they're not used to it.

"You have to get on with it and make sure you dig in and turn the momentum around, which is always something, if you do then score goal, if you do take control, you get the opposite of the fans, of the support, and that's probably something that we need to ignite even more.

"It's not always easy, but I think overall, there's a great effort by the manager, and you can only repeat it, and there's a time where a player just has to step up and deal with it.

"I can't lie, even if it's a game where we are really far off it, then sometimes you, even myself, I'm like, oh, wow, that's not great. It's sticky right now.

"But like I said in the end, I can only repeat myself. You have to get on with it and change the momentum.

“You can see [the players] all buy into it because they have to. And you have to rise up to the challenge. You have to do it.

“If it takes one player a bit more time than another, that's fine. That's why you have someone like me in the in the in the squad, Tav, Jack, even Nico, is someone who really tries to take responsibility, and the boys are really all buying into it.

"That's the that's the most important things. And then are mistakes going to happen? Yes, but I think everybody's going to forgive them, as long as you show that you understand what it means to play for this badge, that you really dig in and give it your all."

For all that Balogun was disappointed in the drop off in Rangers’ level in the second half of the win over Hearts, he also cautioned against falling into the trap of thinking there were no positives to be salvaged from their display, particularly in the opening 45 minutes.

"We made it a lot harder than it should have been,” he said.

“I think we had enough moments overall in the game to really take control. And, yeah, have a dominant display.

"But I think overall, we have been quite wasteful with those moments that we then could capitalise on. We denied ourselves basically, of creating really good chances.

"I thought the first half actually we were quite good. Felt good on the pitch as well. Second half, obviously, I don't think we should defend as much as we did in the end, but to pick out some positives there, I mean, not everything was bad, obviously, but you don't want to play a second half like this, if you start the game like that.

"But in the end, we still got the win. We've got a clean sheet, which for defensive player is always a good thing.

“Are there things to criticise and to improve based on the second half? One hundred percent.”