Robin Propper: Profile in lack of courage.

Today, I’ve talked about Luke McCowan as an example of the “good soldier.” Across the city at Ibrox, you’ll find no shortage of players who are the exact opposite. Team spirit seems to be in short supply over there, as does any real sense of collective effort. Watching some of their players, you get the impression they’d rather be anywhere else.

One of those players made headlines last week when he ran to the media to complain about how tough Scottish football is—although he also claimed he was handling it well. That player, Robin Propper, ended up as the subject of one of my “Stupid Stupid Peepul” articles because of his comments.

But what he did at the weekend against St. Johnstone only reinforced the point: not just that he might lack some common sense for mouthing off to the press but also that he’s done little to impress on the pitch. His attitude and performances leave much to be desired.

Even sections of the media, including those with a soft spot for Ibrox, have voiced concerns about him. Neil McCann commented on it on Sunday, and Derek Ferguson was scathing about his behaviour during the St. Johnstone game on BBC Radio Scotland. Propper picked up a minor knock—nothing that required a substitution—but immediately signalled to the bench that he wanted to come off. Many watching couldn’t believe it.

Ferguson, who is the epitome of the “Real Ranjurs Man”, was aghast.

This is the same player who recently admitted to finding Scottish football more physically demanding than he’d expected. Such remarks, coupled with his actions on the pitch, paint a picture of someone who’s not exactly cut out for the fight. He doesn’t inspire confidence as someone who can lead a defence or dig in when things get tough. And that’s exactly what’s needed at a club in crisis.

I said something similar about Lawrence Shankland the other day.

He’s shown himself to be unreliable and unsuited to the kind of battling which is required in tough circumstances. When you’re in a fight, you want warriors, players who’ll give everything for the team—the good soldiers. You need those with mental and physical resilience, the ones who won’t crumble under pressure.

It’s baffling that Ibrox signed Propper in the first place.

Alarm bells should have been ringing from the start. Despite being the captain of his previous club, he was allowed to have a minimal release clause inserted in his contract—a clear sign that his leadership and commitment weren’t all they seemed.

When the clause was met, his club didn’t fight to keep him, which is telling. For your captain to demand such a clause speaks volumes about his mentality and it’s clear that people inside his club were well aware that he was no longer a reliable leader.

There were red flags everywhere, yet the media barely mentioned them. Clubs don’t usually let their captains leave so easily or allow them to dictate terms like that. That should have raised questions, but it didn’t. Now, those issues have come back to haunt the club.

Propper doesn’t strike me as someone built for the challenges of Scottish football. Like many before him, I suspect he thought playing here would be a walk in the park—a holiday camp where he could stroll through games at one of the “biggest” clubs in the country. The reality has likely been a shock. This league is tough, and the scrutiny at a club like Ibrox is relentless. Right now, Propper looks like a guy who is pitifully overmatched by the scale of it all.

If he were at Celtic Park, he wouldn’t last two minutes under Brendan Rodgers.

Players with weak mentalities are rooted out quickly, and those who lack the necessary quality simply don’t make it. The likes of Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke, for instance, might not have set the heather on fire, but there are no obvious issues with their attitude. Even Luis Palma, despite frustrations over playing time, has shown a willingness to work.

Rodgers has no tolerance for players who aren’t willing to do that.

Celtic vets every player carefully before signing them, and mentality is a key part of that process. Every incoming player knows exactly what they’re signing up for: a high-profile club in a league that’s more challenging than outsiders often realise. The demands are immense. Every team we face treats the game as their cup final. There are no free rides. The scrutiny is unrelenting, and only players with the right mindset can thrive.

It’s clear Ibrox didn’t do their due diligence when signing Propper. They should have known what they were getting before handing him a contract. Now it’s too late. They’ve discovered the truth about him after the fact, and it’s another sign of a club in a real mess, and it asks questions too about their “recruitment team” and the man who runs it, Nils Koppen.

Not surprisingly for them, they recently gave him a promotion. It was certainly not done on the back of this weak signing, this guy who looks out of his depth and very much like someone who would prefer to be watching his team’s games at home on the sofa under the duvet. With players like that in the side, no wonder they are floundering.