THE WRIGHT ENVIRONMENT
After joining from Aberdeen in January, this winger has found ...
ESTABLISHING himself as a regular starter in the Rangers team this season was always going to be a tall order for Scott Wright.
The winger, who moved to the Ibrox club from their Premiership rivals Aberdeen in a £150,000 transfer at the start of last month, joined a side that had lost just one game in the entire 2020/21 campaign, was bidding to land the
Premiership and harboured hopes of progressing further in the Europa League.
The 23-year-old was well aware it would take time for him to settle into his new surroundings and that his game time would, initially at least, be limited. So it has proved.
Yet Wright, who has shown glimpses of why Steven Gerrard was so keen to sign him in the five substitute appearances he has made, is still convinced he has progressed as a player since moving to Govan.
The former Scotland Under21 internationalist has been taken aback by both the standards in training at Auchenhowie and the preparation carried out by Gerrard and his back-room team before each match and feels he has benefited greatly from being involved.
He may still be waiting to make his first start, but he is enjoying life at the newlycrowned Scottish champions immensely and has had no cause to regret his move. He is confident he will only develop further.
“I am absolutely loving it,” he told Rangers TV. “The standard of training and the standards that are set around the club are absolutely fantastic. The players and the staff have all been great with me and I am loving it so far.
“The detail into the tactics and the approach for each game are completely unique. It is different going into every single game. I feel as if I am constantly learning, whether it is off the pitch from management or other players. When you are on the training pitch as well you are learning a lot from the management.
“It has been a change, mentally and physically, the kind of demands that are put on you. But it is one I am really liking. It is something I feel will help me to grow as a player as well. The management put a demand on us in training every day. But the players kind of referee that as well. They make sure the standards are there every day. You can see that in the way the team is playing.
“It has been absolutely fantastic. I am not long settled into a flat just now. The club have been fantastic helping me to find a place and making sure I am settled and happy. My girlfriend is down now.”
Wright, who will be hoping to make his Old Firm debut at some stage in the Premiership game against Celtic on Parkhead on Sunday, believes the style of game that Gerrard wants his Rangers team to play both at home and abroad will help him to flourish.
“They want to try and play possession-based football and get the ball forward as quickly as they can,” he said. “They want to score goals. I think that suits me down to a tee really.
“I am obviously trying to learn tactics; the ins and outs of the team, with the ball,
without the ball. It is something I am really looking forward to. I have loved playing in the team so far.”
Wright, who played in 14 European qualifiers during the seven seasons he spent in the first team at Aberdeen, enjoyed his first taste of continental football at Rangers when he came on in the second leg of the Europa League last-32 tie against Royal Antwerp at Ibrox last month.
The home team were leading 4-2 on the night and 8-5 on aggregate and their place in the last 16 of the competition was secure when he replaced Ryan Kent with eight minutes remaining.
Still, he won an injury-time penalty which Cedric Itten converted when he was brought down by Nana Ampomah after cutting into the Antwerp area. He was delighted to be able to contribute in a small way and stressed he will continue attempting to do that for the remainder of this season.
“It was brilliant,” he said.
“It would have been a totally different experience I imagine if it had been a packed Ibrox. That is another factor of our games just now. It is an empty stadium. It is just unfortunate that we have got an empty stadium at the minute and our fans aren’t there with us.
“But the team were fantastic I thought. To score so many away goals and then play fantastically at Ibrox really shows how confident the team is at the minute.
“That is all I am kind of trying to do just now, probably from just now until the end of the season. Just get my face in the building, get to know the management, get to know the players, understand the players’ games. I am just trying to make an impact when I come on, whether that is winning penalties or even keeping the ball in the corner. Anything to help the team, whatever that is.
“It is always a good time to join Rangers, but it is a good time. The team is full of confidence and I think the way the team plays really suits me. It is a good time to be a Rangers player.
“We aren’t going to stand still and be happy with where we are, we are always going to want to keep pushing, be the best version of ourselves and constantly improve.”
I’m trying to learn tactics; the ins and outs of the team, with the ball, without the ball
IF Roy Keane does indeed get his wish and is appointed manager of Celtic, there is perhaps only one outcome of which we could all be certain; it would not be dull. Whether it would lead to any tangible success for Celtic though, is an entirely different matter.
That Keane was a winner as a player goes without saying. He won 17 major trophies in a magnificent career at Manchester United (plus two in his short spell at Celtic), and captained the Old Trafford side with great distinction under Sir Alex Ferguson.
There were of course bustups along the way, with his notoriously volatile temper surfacing from time to time, most infamously when he deliberately injured Leeds United player Alf-Inge Haaland.
“I’d waited long enough,” Keane said in his autobiography. “I f ***** g hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c***. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.”
Charming. The admission brought him a £150,000 fine for bringing the game into disrepute, and may even cost United dearly all these years later in their pursuit of Haaland’s son, the deadly Borussia Dortmund marksman Erling.
So, it would be fair to say that for all Keane has plenty of fire in the belly, he is a little lacking in diplomacy. That old school attitude may have served him well as a captain in the heart of the midfield for one of Europe’s most successful clubs, but it failed to translate into an effective management style when he stepped into the dugout. Which perhaps explains why Keane has not set foot inside one in a decade.
It all started so well for Keane in management though, with his arrival at Sunderland taking them from the relegation places in the Championship to the title, and automatic promotion to the Premier League. This was achieved with no softening of his disciplinarian tendencies, leaving three players behind when they were late for the bus to a match at Barnsley.
The next season he kept Sunderland up but it was in his third campaign that his hardline attitude started to rub his players up the wrong way, and the fortunes of the Black Cats started to decline.
In November of that season, and with his side 18th in the English Premier League, his players were reported to have held a celebration as he handed in his resignation.
Perhaps most worryingly from a Celtic perspective as they look to modernise their football operations, is that Keane himself cited tensions with Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn as a contributory
Keane has fire in the belly but is lacking in diplomacy
factor in his decision to step down. How Keane may work with a director of football should Celtic choose to appoint one, must be a concern. The clash between the appointment of Keane and modernisation is a point worth revisiting.
His next step in management came when he was appointed manager of Ipswich, where he presided over a 14-match winless run at the start of his first full season in charge, knocked around the bottom half of the Championship for the most part, before being dismissed with a few months of his two-year contract still to run. This was in January 2011, and he has not been a manager since.
Were it not for his stellar career as a world-class midfielder, and for his connections to Celtic as a lifelong fan, player, and close friend
of former manager Martin O’Neill, then such a managerial CV would be nowhere near good enough to merit more than a passing mention in the conversation around the next Celtic manager.
And despite those connections to Celtic and his love for the club, as well as the “box-office” profile he still enjoys thanks to his incendiary style of punditry on Sky, it would be a safe bet to assume the response from the Celtic support if he was appointed would be lukewarm at best.
Keane almost became Celtic manager in 2014 before the appointment of Ronny Deila, but later said he turned the position down as principal shareholder Dermot Desmond had not made him feel that the club wanted him enough.
It was, according to Keane, the “right job at the wrong time”. Coming on the back of Neil Lennon’s departure though, and with a great many supporters yearning for a coach in the more progressive Brendan Rodgers mould, there is little to suggest the timing is better now.
Which brings us back to the point about modernisation. During Lennon’s second spell in charge of Celtic, he admitted he found it difficult to straddle the two stools, trying to maintain the fire and fury that brought him so much success as a player, and trying to discover how to press the buttons of the modern player.
“Maybe I’ve gone too far in terms of [changing my style], I don’t know,” Lennon said after the 4-1 home defeat to Sparta Prague this season.
“I’ve got to cut the malaise. It’s my job to nip it in the bud. And maybe become that little bit tougher on them now. To get some response from them. A proper response.
“Maybe getting a little bit harder on them might be the way forward. A little bit. But then you can get criticised for that.”
There may be many Celtic supporters out there who feel that the current crop of players could do with a kick up the backside and a refresher course in their responsibilities to the jersey, but what the long-term benefit would be of bringing in someone to get the teacups flying again is highly debatable.
Should Keane remain an option for the position may ultimately say a lot about whether the long-term growth of the club or a short-term response to blowing 10 in-arow is uppermost in the minds of the Celtic board.
ARSENAL’S JINX OVER TOTTENHAM LIVES ON
THE theory went that Arsenal – who faced Olympiakos in Athens on Thursday night before a four-hour flight on Friday – would start the leggier in the North London derby, but it was Mikel
Arteta’s side who went on the front foot from the off.
They made a mockery of their poor form in post-Europa League matches by snapping into tackles, pressing effectively and passing crisply. Kieran Tierney kept Gareth Bale in his back pocket and, better still, was a constant threat going forward, with him and Emile Smith-Rowe repeatedly exposing Matt Doherty’s lack of pace on the right.
Jose Mourinho’s side looked paralysed in a lifeless opening not helped by Heung-min Son’s early departure from the game. However, the South Korean’s enforced substitution due to a hamstring injury afforded Erik Lamela with the opportunity to score one of the great Premier League goals, a perfectly executed rabona that flew into the bottom left-hand corner.
Arsenal hit the bar and a post so it was no surprise when a Tierney cross, after another gallop down the flank, fell at the feet of Martin Odegaard, whose trundling strike was deflected in.
Spurs’ problems appeared as much psychological as tactical not least when Davinson Sanchez wiped out Alex Lacazette in the penalty area and the Frenchman composed himself to score the winner from the spot, then Lamela was sent off for an arm across Tierney’s chest, which the Scotland man made the most of.
HECKINGBOTTOM’S SLOW START
PAUL HECKINGBOTTOM is fondly recalled in Edinburgh for his work with Hibernian – by Hearts supporters. The 43-year-old Englishman presided over a forgettable period at Easter Road amid allegations by the coach that his players downed tools at the end of the 2018/19 season.
He might have had a point – Hibs won just one Premiership game at the start of the 2019/20 season and he left with his tail between his legs, whereupon he was snapped up by Chris Wilder to be Sheffield United’s Under-23 manager.
Yesterday, he took over from Wilder following his old boss’ departure from the Yorkshire club. Granted, he was always going to be up against it but the bad news for United fans is that it was much the same as Heckingbottom’s Hibernian form on show in their shambolic 5-0 defeat at Leicester City.
ADAMS FOR SCOTLAND?
CHE ADAMS is timing his run for a place in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad to perfection. The Southampton striker scored his third goal in succession against Brighton to add to counters against Manchester City in midweek and Sheffield United last weekend.
Yesterday’s equaliser in a
2-1 defeat against Graham Potter’s side was a lashed volley from the 24-year-old taking his total for the season to seven. He is the kind of front man who would provide Clarke with a dangerous outlet as a pacy runner of channels who can hold the ball up, dribble, produce goals out of nothing and lead the press.
Just one problem: he has to declare for Scotland first.
CLOSED DOORS PROVIDE OPENINGS FOR OTHERS
When the announcement was made last May that the 2019/20 Premier League would return behind closed doors
there was much discussion about the impact the absence of supporters would have on match outcomes. The theory went that referees would be more impartial, home player performance would fall and smaller teams would struggle without a vocal backing inside their own stadiums.
When the season resumed, however, there was no discernible difference in outcomes with around 30 per cent of matches ending in wins for away teams – the same percentage of victories as had been the case.
That trend has been bucked this time around, however, with the longer sample period allowing for a more accurate reflection of how the absence of supporters has had a bearing
on results. At time of writing, there have been 110 victories for teams on their travels this season, which is 39 per cent.
PARKER 1, GUARDIOLA 0
Fulham might have found themselves on the receiving end of an unfamiliar-feeling hiding against Manchester
City – they had lost just once in seven games prior to Saturday night’s 3-0 defeat – but there was a minor consolation as their manager won in the sartorial stakes.
The 40-year-old has turned the red ash sidelines at Craven Cottage into a mini-Milanese catwalk, with his eye-catching fitted jackets and slim leg trousers, a stylish look that prompted a distinguished men’s magazine to write a feature lauding his choice of threads.
Pep raised his game, somewhat, opting for a beanie, parka-puffa and slacks instead of the usual combat fatigues but, really, Pep love, those chunky loafers?
Adams can hold the ball up, dribble, produce goals out of nothing and lead the press. He’d be a good outlet