Rangers injury curse continues almost two decades after £1m midfielder’s Ibrox nightmare

Scotch and Wry, Abbott and Costello, Jack and Victor, Rangers and injury problems.

Dynamic duos where one is scarcely mentioned without the other.

Rangers’ problems in their medical department have been subject to a deep-rooted summer overhaul and yet they persist with the Gers currently without several first-team stars.

Really since the turn of 2022, Rangers have had all manner of injury problems, the blame for which lies across a number of departments, from the medical team to the club’s much-maligned recent recruitment

But for those young Rangers fans who believe that injury issues at Ibrox are a modern problem, step forward Dragan Mladenovic.

Dragan Mladenovic’s Rangers injury woe

Serbian midfielder Dragan Mladenovic is not a name many Rangers fans will remember for his contribution on the pitch.

But the Serbian star – who cost the Gers £1m in 2004 – is synonymous with injury problems that meant he could never bring his stand-out Red Star qualities to Alex McLeish’s team.

Four matches into his Rangers career, Mladenovic was stretched off and never recovered to have any impact on the club’s historic Helicopter Sunday celebrations.

Eventually loaned out to Real Sociedad, Mladenovic has been speaking to the Rangers Review about his time in Glasgow, which despite his struggles the Serb remembers fondly.

“The Rangers is one of the biggest clubs in the whole of Europe, in the whole world, especially with the fans and everything,” said Mladenovic.

“You know, it’s a privilege to play there, but I don’t have luck. I often get injured, and maybe there was not so much patience in that time, Rangers need the results.

“And, you know, when you put that together, it was a hard time for me, but also the great experience for me, and to be a part of that team, of that club, it’s appreciated.

It was the last training session in Austria in the pre-season, and I had a problem with the hamstring.