TALKING RANGERS
ARANGERS man with a sound managerial career to his name and a firm grasp of Glasgow’s madness, who won a European Cup Winners’ Cup during a storied playing career and would command respect from any dressing room.
No wonder Steven Thompson is so quick to recommend his former boss Alex McLeish be given his old job back, at least on an interim basis.
With five years in the Ibrox hotseat already under his belt, Thompson argues there is no safer pair of hands in the short term that would allow Dave King and his board to work on the ‘best long-term solution for the club,’ as the club admitted yesterday was their Plan A.
Of course given recent results, Thompson, the ex-Light Blues striker who was signed by McLeish in 2002, acknowledges that whoever the new man is, he will have to galvanise a dressing room which clearly has not been operating as it should have been and make sure second place in the Premiership is secured, which will be no simple task.
“What Alex would bring is authority,” said Thompson.
“He has a genuine presence when he walks into a room and you do need that. He commands and gets respect.
“Alex knows Rangers and Glasgow. I don’t think Warburton ever got to grips with the expectation.
“If the club is going to get someone in on an interim basis then would they not be looking for someone who knows what they are walking into?
“Alex’s man-management was superb. He has a great sense of humour, he’s a really easy guy to get along with and I always felt he treated us well.
“If you were going to get dropped, he’s pull you to one side and explain why.
“He was always a great supporter of the players.
“You knew where you stood with him which I wouldn’t be able to say about all the managers I worked under.
“Big Eck would be a safe pair of hands. He knows the club, there will be plenty of staff from his time there and maybe if he can get them playing and finish second and qualify for Europe, he might be the one for the long-term.” McLeish is 58 now, not that old for a manager, but you suspect just a bit too vintage for what the club are thinking; although secondguessing Rangers right now is no simple task. Scotland’s most capped defender has had mixed fortunes