- Derek Cornelius says he felt “very disrespected” during his Rangers exile under Danny Rohl.
- Canada defender confirms he was permanently removed from Rangers first-team plans after injury return.
- Jesse Marsch admitted communication breakdown left Cornelius training with Rangers academy squad.
The Rangers career of Derek Cornelius is well and truly over with his loan spell at Ibrox now expired. Now, the Canadian international’s own version of events around his exile has vindicated earlier reports surrounding his treatment from the club.
Back in March, ReadRangers exclusively reported that the on-loan Marseille defender had been told to train away from Danny Rohl’s first-team squad after returning from a long-term hamstring injury.
Sources at the time suggested Cornelius had been instructed to report to training with Malky Thomson’s second string at Auchenhowie, with his gear even removed from the senior dressing room area.
Rangers never officially confirmed the situation.
Derek Cornelius on feeling ‘disrespected’ by Danny Rohl
But despite attempts in some quarters to downplay the severity of the exile, Cornelius has now openly admitted he felt “very disrespected” by how events unfolded during the final months of his time in Glasgow.
Speaking to TSN, the 28-year-old explained that after suffering a hamstring injury while playing for Canada in November, his sole focus throughout rehab was returning to help Rangers challenge for the title.
Instead, he found himself completely frozen out.
“I felt very disrespected,” Cornelius said.
“I said ‘I can help this team.’ In some way, whether that’s starting, whether it’s five minutes to hold on to a lead, whether that’s having a conversation with a younger player saying, ‘Don’t worry about the pressure, just focus on your job.’
“I wasn’t given a solid reason as to why I was not able to be considered [to play].”
Derek Cornelius Ibrox career
Cornelius joined Rangers under Russell Martin from Marseille last summer with the club holding an option to buy.
He made 12 appearances across all competitions, scoring once and contributing an assist before injury halted his season.
His final appearance came against Dundee in November before he suffered a hamstring issue during Canada’s win over Venezuela that month.
Initially, Cornelius believed the injury would not derail his campaign for such an extended period.
But doctors quickly delivered grim news.
“I started laughing” he explained. “[The doctor responded], ‘There is no joke here.’
“That was a tough one to hear. It was the biggest injury I’ve had in my career, and possibly the most important year in my career.
“To hear you’re going be sidelined for so long, it was hard.”
Throughout the rehabilitation process, Cornelius said he remained focused solely on getting himself back into contention for Rangers.
Jesse Marsch foots the blame for Ibrox fallout
Then came the revelations from Canada boss Jesse Marsch in March.
The former Leeds United manager publicly confirmed the defender was training away from the Gers first team while Rohl later admitted Cornelius was working away from the senior squad.
At the time, some attempted to dismiss the reports.
4Lads Had A Dream host Stevie Clifford suggested Cornelius was simply “training with them to gain fitness and build his way back to first team.”
Marsch, however, painted a very different picture.
The Canada manager not only confirmed the situation but admitted he attempted to mediate between player and club after communication broke down.
“Some of the conversation that I translated from one to the other got lost in translation,” Marsch explained.
“This led to a situation that wasn’t advantageous for Derek or for the team.
“I tried to then revisit a conversation with Derek and Danny to get things moving in the right direction as smoothly as possible.
“Whether Derek stays and trains with the academy, whether he eventually establishes himself.
“Or whether he gets matches with the U19s, we’re going to find a way to continue to push Derek.”
International hopes intact
Marsch had already announced Cornelius would still travel with Canada despite his exile at Rangers.
“The March roster will include many of the injured players who can’t play in the games,” he said.
“There’s a lot of guys who’ve had some long-term injuries.
“The likes of Alistair Johnston, Derek Cornelius and Promise David.
“We’re going to bring in a little bit of a bigger group, to include some of these injured players and in their return-to-play protocol.
“They might not feature in games, but we want them around the team.
“We still have enough time where guys have the ability to recover and get themselves back to 100%, or at least close to 100%, by June.”
Canada comeback but Ibrox door kept closed
The defender did feature during that break. Playing a quarter of an hour against Iceland and half an hour against Tunisia. However, he never featured for Rohl’s side again afterwards.
Cornelius has now detailed precisely when his Rangers situation deteriorated beyond repair.
After finally returning to first-team training in February, the defender believed he would be allowed to compete for his place during the title run-in.
Instead, after only two sessions with the senior squad, the German coach informed him he would not feature again.
“I was out for an extended period of time, excited to come back, looking forward to it,” Cornelius explained.
“No conversations were had during that time, which was fine.
“I think I came back into team training maybe twice or so, and then after the second training, I was called to the manager’s office, and he basically just told me, ‘From now until the end of the season, you’re not going to be part of the squad.’
“And I just felt that was really unfair. I felt like I deserved the opportunity to work my way back into the team.”
The defender also suggested he felt unfairly labelled as someone prioritising Canada and the World Cup over Rangers.
“It was tough. It was really tough,” he admitted. “I was hoping the situation would change.
“Maybe if he sees the way I’ve been training for the last two, three weeks.
“He could have changed his mind, but it wasn’t the case, and it’s honestly disappointing.
“I honestly feel like we had enough talent and enough ability to go on and win a title.”
Readrangers.com analysis – Jack Cranmer
In the end Rangers would finish third behind Hearts and champions Celtic.
Cornelius will now return to Marseille with two years remaining on his contract.
His focus for now however, is firmly on Canada’s World Cup preparations and proving to Marsch that he remains a solid defensive option.
“It’s a different kind of pressure that we have to deal with,” Cornelius said ahead of the tournament.
“If we don’t get any points it’s a big disappointment.
“And I personally like those expectations that are now being put on the team, because we’re finally getting recognized as a good team, as a solid team, and we need to perform now.”
For Rangers, meanwhile, the entire episode now looks like another damaging chapter from Russell Martin’s disastrous recruitment period.
At one stage Cornelius had been viewed as experienced cover capable of helping Rangers through the Premiership run-in, particularly with only Nasser Djiga and Emmanuel Fernandez remaining as reliable central defensive options while John Souttar struggled badly for form and with injury.
Instead, the Canadian was completely isolated from the first-team picture.
And despite attempts to dismiss the situation at the time, the player himself has now confirmed exactly what was happening behind the scenes at Auchenhowie all along.
