Garner: ‘Billy is a top, top manager’

JOE GARNER has given his seal of approval to Billy Davies as potential successor to Mark Warburton.

The former Preston, Derby County and Nottingham Forest boss is out of work at the moment and his affection for the Ibrox club is well known.

That hasn’t been missed by the bookmakers who quoted him at odds of anything from 4-1 to 10-1 for the post.

“I know Billy and have only good words to say about him,” said the Rangers striker.

“I worked with him for three years at Forest so know from personal experience he is a top, top manager.

“I think his record speaks for itself, it is very impressive.

“I saw him last week doing the Motherwell game for television, I spoke to him. He’s a Glasgow man.

“We have to concentrate on where we are now and the game against Dundee.”

Which, of course, will see Rangers under the direction of interim manager Graeme Murty.

“We will see how it goes. We know the style he wants to play. We look forward to it,” he said.

“Different managers have different ideas. Graeme has come in and put his own little stamp on things, what he wants changing.

“I played against him when he was at Charlton and I was at Forest.

“He was a tough right-back. He has his own ideas and let’s hope he does well. He’s had a great career. The lads have bought into what he wants to try and do.

“I think he can put himself in the shop window in one of the best jobs in the country. I’m sure he’ll do all he can to do that.”

Garner, at £1.5 million, was comfortably the most expensive of Warburton’s signings, and he admits to having found last week’s news hard to take.

“It’s a tough thing, it is not nice to see people losing their jobs,” he said.

“I am gutted for the gaffer and Davie Weir, but I’m sure they will bounce back from it.

“We are professionals and we’ve got to get on with it.

“It’s a big end to the season, we want to try and finish second and we’ll do what we can as a team to achieve that.”