LONG LIVE THE KING
New deal for Kenny is a no brainer, says Clarky
NICKY Clark has backed Mark Warburton’s decision to offer Kenny Miller a new deal at Rangers at the age of 37 – and said the veteran striker is an inspiration to all his Ibrox team-mates.
Gers boss Warburton has said he would like both Miller and Clint Hill, the English centre-half who is 38, to agree to contract extensions in the coming weeks.
Clark played up front alongside the former Scotland internationalist for two seasons at the Glasgow club and reckons that keeping him at the club beyond the 2016/17 campaign is a smart move by his former boss.
He recalled how the evergreen star, currently enjoying his record third spell at his boyhood heroes, lifted those around him both in training during the week and in games at the weekend.
In fact, Clark, who has netted eight goals for Dunfermline in the Ladbrokes Championship this term, rated him as the best trainer at Auchenhowie despite his advancing years.
Clark has predicted Miller can continue to perform a key role for the Glasgow club on and off the park as they bid to make themselves the dominant force in the Scottish game once again.
“Kenny is unbelievable,” he said. “He is brilliant to both play with and learn from. Playing up front with him at Rangers was an incredible experience for me.
“The clubs he has played for and the number of goals he has scored are just amazing. On top of that, he has got a great international career behind him with Scotland as well.
“He was a player I certainly looked up to when I was younger and it was phenomenal when I then got the chance to play with him.
“I am sure there will still be a lot of young strikers in the game who will look up to him with the way he is still performing for Rangers right now.
“But he was, without a doubt, an inspiration to the other players at the club. The way he keeps himself in shape is just incredible. Seeing him in training every day for the last two years was amazing.
“The way he trains is the exact same way he plays. He puts everything into it. He is probably the best trainer I have seen in the game.
“It is incredible how hard he works in training. He is somebody a lot of people look up to and it will help the club having him there in the seasons to come.”
Joe Dodoo, Joe Garner and Martyn Waghorn have all struggled to find form and score goals at times this season as Rangers have adapted to life in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Miller, who scored his 10th goal in an Old Firm game in the 2-1 defeat to Celtic at Ibrox on Hogmanay, is his side’s top scorer in the league with five goals.
CLARK still keeps close tabs on the club he spent three seasons at and helped win promotion to the top flight last season and firmly believes Waghorn will come through his difficult patch.
The former Sunderland, Leicester City and Wigan Athletic man spent a spell out with injury but the Englishman was Rangers’ top scorer in the 2015/16 campaign with 28 goals in all competitions and Clark is confident he can get back to producing that sort of form up front.
“Obviously I know Waggy from my last year at Rangers,” he said. “He was incredible for us. He scored a lot of goals for us and a lot of important goals.
“He will be disappointed at not playing as regularly as he was last year. But the competition at a club like Rangers is fierce and the talent that is around the place is deep.
“If you aren’t performing, and I’m not saying he hasn’t been, then it can be hard. Everybody wants to play and everybody is training hard to get that place in the team.
He is brilliant to both play with and learn from. The way he trains is the exact same way he plays. He puts everything into it. He is probably the best trainer I have seen