McCrorie will keep his feet on the ground
IF Ross McCrorie had the words of his Rangers manager ringing in his ears when linking up with Scotland’s Under-21s, then he would have swaggered into training with all the arrogance and majesty of Richard Gough and Alan Hansen in their pomp.
After all, did he not possess the talent to match? Pedro Caixinha’s eulogy before McCrorie had made a senior club start — ‘he can become one of the best centre-halves in history, not just for club but country’ — suggested as much.
Concern for McCrorie formed a sizeable chunk of the reaction to such lavish praise ahead of throwing the 19-yearold into an Old Firm debut.
For saddling a young Scottish teenager with such huge expectations is normally reserved for media and fans desperate to crown the next talent as a world beater, while the boss wraps a protective hand around him with one arm and swats away the hype from his ears with the other.
Thankfully in this case, McCrorie remained entirely unperturbed. Only a few weeks on and preparing to fly out to Latvia for European Championship qualifying duty with Scot Gemmill’s squad, the defender concedes the biggest issue with his mighty billing from Caixinha was the relentless ribbing received
from friends and colleagues. ‘I saw the comments and, to be honest, I just took that in my stride and I didn’t read too much into it,’ said McCrorie.
‘It’s great what he said but I am a level-headed boy, so I won’t get carried away, do my best and see where it takes me.
‘It’s great that’s what they think of me so far. But I’m not looking too much into it. It won’t go to my head.
‘I got a wee bit of a slagging off my mates about it. Some of the boys in the changing room gave me some stick as well.
‘I didn’t get too carried away with the Old Firm game.
‘My phone was buzzing, but everything happened so quickly I didn’t really have time to think about it. I had a wee bit of nerves — before every big games there are nerves.
‘But I felt positive. I just wanted to go out and play my normal game. I knew if I stayed relaxed I would do alright. I stayed level-headed, I didn’t get too hyped up or anything and I think that’s helped me.
‘Maybe other boys will get carried away with it and let it go to their heads but I try not to let that happen. I just stay humble and keep working hard.’
McCrorie’s big break was granted by injury at Partick Thistle in the Betfred Cup quarter-final to Bruno Alves, the Portuguese defender 16 years his senior, whose subsequent trip to Madrid while Glasgow derby hostilities raged on created a negative stir.
However, Alves was not around to dole out advice and comfort to the teenager (below, with Caixinha) for good reason. Cristiano Ronaldo’s personal physio was available for treatment designed to hasten his return to the team — an opportunity not to be slept on amid a rocky start to Caixinha’s first full season in
charge. McCrorie was not short on support anyway thanks to, among others, Kenny Miller and Old Firm-day Rangers favourite Nacho Novo. McCrorie said: ‘Bruno has been great to me — not just him but all the players — and he had to go and get his calf sorted out. That helped him recover quicker. Kenny Miller spoke to me before the game. ‘I even had a phone call the night before from Nacho, who has been in and around the club and sometimes comes into training and talks to me. ‘Everyone chipped in and helped me. Nacho told me to stay calm and enjoy it. It’s the biggest rivalry in the world. I was able to get through that and I hope I can keep in the manager’s plans.’ McCrorie impressed in defeat to Celtic next to Fabio Cardoso, exhibiting an organiser’s ability beyond his years as well as the natural defensive talents that encouraged Caixinha to bring him into the first team frame from pre-season.
It was in tasting victory at Hamilton six days later, however, that harsher lessons were learned.
McCrorie was bailed out by Wes Foderingham’s penalty save after his poor challenge on Botti Biabi as Rangers ran out comfortable 4-1 winners.
‘After every game I always remember the mistakes I make — they are the ones that stay in my mind,’ he said. ‘I just want to look back at it and sort it. Even if I play well the mistakes are the things I remember. The Old Firm game was a lot harder than the Accies game.
‘But the penalty at Accies was a silly decision, I just got caught up in the moment and it was daft. I thought I was doing well until then.
‘Thankfully, Wes helped me. It’s a good job we were winning 4-1 and it didn’t affect the outcome and it is definitely an error I will learn from.’
I saw the comments but didn’t read too much into it