HAVE FAITH IN LEADING MEN
Old-timers McGregor and Davis can guide Rangers to title glory, says Cuellar
EMBRACE the pressure of leading from the front. Enjoy it and feed from it. During a title contest in which every error has the capacity to carry lasting consequences, mental strength is every bit as important as physical power.
It is an attribute some are simply born with. For others, following the example of those who have been successful over the course before can provide a path towards keeping calm and prospering. Particularly during the bleaker periods that inevitably arise in a 38-game campaign.
That is why Carlos Cuellar feels the presence at Rangers of two of his former team-mates is so vital. In Allan McGregor and Steven Davis, the Spaniard sees dressing-room father figures who can school younger colleagues in precisely what it takes to prevail in a fascinating duel against Celtic.
Both racked up hat-tricks of titles during their first spells at Rangers. Back then, they were twenty-somethings who looked towards the likes of Davie Weir for guidance. Now McGregor and Davis, proven winners, are the ones whose experience will be leaned upon when the going gets tough.
A two-point lead after eight games has given Rangers optimism ahead of their return to action at Tynecastle on Sunday. Watching from afar, Cuellar is enthused by what he sees from Steven Gerrard’s side. He detects the right ingredients to end an eight-year wait for silverware at the club he represented in season 2007-08.
The 38-year-old, who only retired from playing this summer, left a lasting impression despite that brief stay in Glasgow. Alongside Weir, he was the defensive rock in a team that reached the UEFA Cup final and won both the League Cup and Scottish Cup.
Title glory slipped away at the end of that hugely congested campaign, but McGregor and Davis went on to rack up the medals in the next three years.
Cuellar (below) now believes they can add to their collections. And help others deal with the pressure that will intensify in the weeks and months ahead.
‘I think they can cope with it because there is a very good balance within the squad,’ said Cuellar, who joined Rangers from Osasuna before being sold to Aston Villa in a £7.8million deal.
‘There is a perfect mix between younger players and very experienced ones who have done so much in football and who understand this club.
‘I was so happy when I saw that Allan McGregor and Steven Davis had come back because they can be so important.
‘They have the knowledge of what it is like at this club and can pass that on. They also have big experience from the English Premier League.
‘Players like that are vital. They act as teachers for the younger players and can push the rest of the squad.
‘They know what it takes to win and also how to manage the difficult situations, because those will come in any season at any club.
‘To have experience like Allan and Steven inside the dressing room will keep everyone together and going in the right direction even when the result doesn’t come.
‘Davie Weir did that role in my time at Rangers. He was a very important figure.
‘For me, Nacho Novo was obviously a huge help in terms of adapting to the culture, the language and showing me how big a club this is.
‘But Davie was someone who understood everything at Rangers. He would tell me about the pressure at the club and the obligation to win every game — that every single match mattered.
‘It is a good pressure, the best pressure you can feel. If you are at Rangers, then psychologically you have to be ready to feel it. You know that you have to fight to try and win every trophy and to be at the top all the time.
‘From what I can see, it looks like the current squad at Rangers are managing that well.’
It is, of course, Gerrard who sets the standards at Ibrox these days. Cuellar gives credit to the Liverpool icon for the improvement witnessed since he took up management in Glasgow.
‘You can see that Rangers are moving in the right direction now,’ continued Cuellar, who turned out for Rangers Legends against Liverpool in a charity match last weekend.
‘They are doing really well this season. They have come back to Europe again, which is where they ought to be, and they are going to fight for the title.
‘They look like a very strong team under Steven Gerrard and I think they can get even stronger with more experience.
‘I spoke to Steven before the Legends match and he is such a nice lad. As manager, he looks as though he is really growing into the job and improving all the time.
‘It’s a normal situation because he came from coaching the Under-18s squad at Liverpool. To go from that to managing Rangers is a big step, but he took it because he felt inside that he was ready.
‘Of course, there are always going to be some ups and downs and that has been the case. But if you look at things overall, then it is clear he is going in the right direction to take Rangers back to the top again.’ Cuellar now hopes to follow Gerrard into coaching. After moving from Villa to Sunderland and Norwich, then home to Spain, he has spent the past three years in Israeli football. ‘I have started my coaching courses,’ said Cuellar. ‘I would like to stay in football and be a manager some day. ‘It’s quite inspiring to see what Steven Gerrard has done, plus a lot of the players I played with in Spain have become managers or coaches. ‘The problem for me is that I kept playing until I was quite old and now I have to start from the beginning. But I hope in a few years I will get there.’