Danny Rohl has admitted that taking on Rangers turned out to be a tougher test than he originally anticipated, and he is taking those hard-earned lessons straight into his next European challenge with Red Bull Salzburg.
The Sheffield Wednesday boss stepped into one of Scottish football’s most pressure-filled environments when his side faced Rangers, a club still finding its feet after the chaotic Russell Martin era left them struggling badly in the league. Rohl knew it would be no walk in the park, but he has since confessed that the reality of Ibrox was something else entirely.
Two things caught him off guard more than expected. First, the sheer intensity of the atmosphere inside the stadium. Rangers fans are known for getting right behind their team and creating a wall of noise that can genuinely rattle visiting sides, and Rohl felt that first hand. Second, the quality still present in the Rangers squad despite their league struggles. Even when a club is going through a rough patch, the individual talent available at Ibrox means they are never a side you can take lightly.
Rohl has been refreshingly honest about the experience, and rather than brushing it under the carpet, he has spoken openly about what his squad took from the tie. For a manager who prides himself on preparation and learning, facing Rangers clearly gave him and his players plenty to think about.
Now he is preparing to bring those lessons to Austria, where Salzburg await. Red Bull Salzburg remain one of the most respected clubs in European football when it comes to developing talent and playing high-intensity pressing football. It is the kind of opponent that will demand even more from Rohl and his squad, and he knows it.
The Sheffield Wednesday manager has spoken about carrying the experience of facing Rangers into that environment, using it as a reference point for how his team handles hostile atmospheres and physically demanding opposition. In that sense, the Glasgow trip might end up being one of the more valuable fixtures of his side’s recent calendar, regardless of the result on the night.
For Rangers themselves, the period Rohl references has been a difficult one. The Martin experiment did not work out, and the fallout left the club playing catch-up in the Scottish Premiership. Getting back to the level expected at a club of Rangers’s size has been an ongoing process, and while they still showed enough quality to give Rohl food for thought, there is clearly more work to be done at Ibrox.
Scottish football has always had a way of testing visiting managers and clubs in ways they do not always see coming. The combination of passionate support, physical play and the unique pressure cooker of an Old Firm-dominated league makes it a genuine education for anyone coming in from outside.
Rohl seems to have taken that education seriously, and if Salzburg find themselves on the receiving end of a well-drilled and switched-on Sheffield Wednesday side, Rangers fans might quietly feel they played a small part in sharpening that blade.
Rohl seems like a decent manager tbh, but Rangers need to be realistic about where they are right now. Salzburg will absolutely batter them if they’re not switched on. Hope the lads prove me wrong though, would be a cracking result for Scottish football.