McCall: I’ll not rejoice if we win

STUART McCALL claims he will be unable to celebrate if Rangers condemn former club Motherwell to relegation on Sunday. The interim Ibrox boss is potentially 180 minutes away from ending his club’s three-year exile from the Scottish Premiership. However, having served as Motherwell manager for four years prior to his resignation in November, McCall says he would take no pleasure in ending his former club’s unbroken 30-year stay in the top tier. Asked if he would feel uncomfortable revelling in the demise of a club he managed, McCall admitted: ‘Yes, that’s it. I’m not even

DEAN SHIELS l ast night laid the credit for a Rangers revival squarely at the door of Stuart McCall. The interim manager has received no indication of what his future might hold, even if he leads the club to promotion at Motherwell on Sunday afternoon.

Grateful to the former Fir Park boss for transforming his own fortunes, however, Shiels believes the former Scotland international has already done enough to merit a permanent appointment.

The Northern Irishman said: ‘I don’t think there are many managers who could have lifted us from where we were, how low we were, in the style we’ve done it. We’ve done it playing good football.

‘Especially at home, we’ve been really good to watch and have scored lots of goals. The manager has to take a lot of credit for that.’

Asked how l ow t hings became i n the Rangers dressing room, Shiels (right) said: ‘ You have seen it y ourselves. You c ould physically see how bad things were at that stage.

‘You could rhyme off a few games that really should not have happened, like losing 4-0 to Hibs, and we did need picked up at that stage. I think a lot of credit has to go to the manager and the staff for doing that.’

McCall assumed control of a team desperately devoid of confidence. Under the caretaker reign of Kenny McDowall, the former assistant to Ally McCoist, there were even fears the team might slide out of the play-off positions.

‘There were dark times during the season when the team was really struggling,’ said Shiels. ‘Maybe some people wrote us off and thought we might not get to the Play-Off Final.

‘But I think since the new manager came in our whole focus has been on getting to this stage and we’ve managed to do that.’

Rangers have hardly been sparkling under McCall. That their levels of fitness, organisation and spirit have increased is reflected, however, in results.

‘I feel as if we’ve all got confidence and self-belief and I think maybe coming through the stages and progressing does give you that momentum,’ said Shiels. ‘ I t does come down to t he mentality and maybe Motherwell are feeling a bit low at the moment whereas we’re on the up. ‘I know what it’s like when you’re getting beat and you’re dropping down the league. It’s not nice and I think we’ll try to use that to our advantage. ‘But they’re a good side and have players that can hurt us. We’ve still got a job to do. ‘It’s massive. There’s a lot on the line but I think we’ve got a lot of big players who will try to embrace that.’