Ally backlash is appalling, says McCall
AS a man who served part of his managerial apprenticeship under controversial fo r mer Mor to n owner Hugh Scott, Ian McCall is all too f amiliar with dysfunctional football clubs.
Accordingly, as the world and its auntie lines up to take pot shots at Ally McCoist’s tenure as Rangers manager, his former Ibrox teammate is of a mind to hold fire.
McCoist may have had the kind of financial muscle every manager in the country, with the exception of Ronny Deila, would dream about.
But, in McCall’s view, the roll call of chancers and charlatans to have held positions of power at Ibrox during Ally’s t enure greatly hampered his capacity to do the job to the best of his ability.
‘The treatment of the previous manager has been nothing short of appalling,’ McCall said. ‘Anyone who has done this job for a significant period of time would tell you it was almost impossible to do that job in those circumstances.
‘ I’ve been through it all at Clydebank and Morton and went through a hard situation at Dundee United, so I know a bit about it.
‘But imagine that magnified to the extent of Rangers in recent years? We probably only know the tip of what went on at Ibrox.’
Despite McCall’s words of support for McCoist, there is no disguising the sharp contrast between the Rangers side that have started this campaign and the one that failed to win promotion last season.
Players that lived to tell the grizzly tale are virtually unrecognisable from a year back. Those who have been drafted in by Mark Warburton have been assimilated quickly into his adventurous 4-3-3 formation.
McCall, whose Ayr United side entertain the Ibrox men in the Petrofac Training Cup tonight, feels his former club would already be sniffing for a European place were they in the top flight this season.
‘On the park they look so much stronger and very well organised,’ said McCall. ‘For me, Nicky Law’s transformation sums it up. He looks so much fitter, stronger and quicker and back to what he was at Motherwell.
‘I would say the team they’ve got right now would be up there competing in the top three or four in the Scottish Premiership.
‘I think Celtic are a bit ahead but it would be a good game against Aberdeen. They look to be a wee bit ahead. I haven’t seen Hearts but undoubtedly Rangers would be challenging for Europe, which makes it pretty hard for us at Somerset Park.’
McCall sensed that things were going to be radically different around Rangers this term when his side travelled to Glasgow for a closed-doors pre-season friendly.
‘They’re looking really strong and fit,’ he said. ‘ They beat us 2-0 at Murray Park but it could have been six or seven. It was early on for us as well. The big difference for me is it’s the first pre-season I’ve taken where the majority of players are part-time.
‘If Rangers had been in for two weeks they could still have had 16 or 17 sessions, but we’d only had five or six in that same period.
‘We’re fit but I just thought there was a strength and speed about them. They looked a different animal. Not close to what they were to when I was a reserve player at Rangers, but certainly a lot closer to what they should be.’
That run- out gave McCall the chance to cross paths with Warburton for the first time. The other man in the Rangers technical area needed no introduction.
‘I’m very friendly with “Big Horse” (David Weir) from our time at Falkirk,’ McCall said. ‘I remember the day he arrived. He walked in and asked Jim Jefferies for a trial and a week-and-a-half later he played against Dundee United.
‘Davie obviously shares the same thoughts as Mark on how they want to play the game. He’s the one who knows all about Rangers, having been there during a successful period and he’s just a really good person.
‘That’s one thing Rangers needed, people with a bit of stature. I’m sure he’s got a big say in training. I’ve been on the phone to him a few times, talking about a couple of loan players, but I went to see them and the ones I wanted there was no chance of getting.’