Gordon Strachan suspects Rangers may have torpedoed their own title hopes by becoming embroiled in a war of words off the park.
The former Celtic and Scotland boss spoke exclusively to Record Sport after the champions opened up a 12 point lead at the top of the table.
And, although Strachan insists the top flight campaign may still go all the way down to the wire, he says Steven Gerrard’s players may have been side-tracked from the championship battle by a storm of controversies which have been played out in the public eye.
The Ibrox club has been at the centre of numerous headline spats with star striker Alfredo Morelos involved in most of them including an SFA probe into a throat slitting gesture, a police probe into claims his car was tampered with and an interview with Sky Sports which sparked the translate-gate scandal.
The Colombian’s form has nose-dived since Rangers returned from the winter break and Strachan believes Morelos may not be the only key player in Gerrard’s dressing room to have been distracted at a key moment in the campaign.
Strachan said: “You didn’t see it coming in December. At that point in time Rangers looked like a really focused team. Now I don’t know if this is right or not - I’m just trying to come up with a reason for what’s happened - but could it be that all the nonsense in the media has affected the Rangers players more than Celtic’s?
“Over the last couple of months I’ve not been able to pick up my Daily Record without seeing some latest row blow up. We’ve had everything from gestures to statements, interviews and mysterious translations. Who was behind that? What’s this guy doing? What does that gesture mean? It’s been madness.
“Now I don’t know if it’s been a factor or not but something seems to have affected the Rangers players and it could be all these other things going on away from the football.
“I just don’t believe that guys of the calibre of Stevie Gerrard, Gary McAllister, Steve Davis and Ryan Jack could allow complacency to slip in if they were all just concentrating on winning games of football.
“Maybe they went on the winter break and thought to themselves, “We’re looking like favourites to win this thing now. I don’t want to be the manager or the player who is blamed for throwing it away!’.
“Sometimes players can put themselves under too much pressure to keep on delivering. It’s strange the way demons can get into people’s heads at times.
“Mistakes will go against you, breaks will go for you but you have to stay focused on what you are trying to achieve. So far Lenny and his gang have handled it all extremely well.”
