TALKING A GOOD GAME
Harsh words good for us, says Holt
THERE was a time when it was considered better that professional footballers — as well as children — were seen but not heard.
in the days when dictatorial dug-out dwellers were found at every club in the land, the prospect of a reasoned debate between a manager and his players after an indifferent day at the office was, to say the least, remote.
you can only wonder then, what the great Rangers bosses of yore would have made of the scene in the ibrox dressing room at 4.45pm last Saturday.
Despite coasting to a 3-0 win over Livingston, a somewhat sluggish display by Mark Warburton’s boys prompted some harsh words — not only from the Rangers manager but also pouring from the lips of those who had failed to maintain the high standards set so far this season.
While much heed was paid to the weekend clear-the-air, such full and frank discussions are simply part of the daily routine at Rangers.
For midfielder Jason Holt, t he vocal environment Warburton has created is one of the main reasons that the lines of communication on the field of play appear to be so open.
‘There is a lot of meetings,’ said the former Hearts man. ‘nearly every day, actually, we’ll go over stuff and, as players, we’ve got the chance to give our views, as well.
‘Here we just go through t hings t ogether — t he management and players. We’ll go through the analysis and the players definitely get a good say in that.
‘The more you do of that kind of thing, the better. Each team you play, you need to respect them. you need to l ook at them and their strengths and discuss them. it’s important you do that.’
Thus far, there has been little scope for recrimination f rom the Championship l eaders. Having won 10 games in all competitions since Warburton took over, there is an air of positivity around Murray Park that has been conspicuous by i ts absence in recent times.
The fact there was something akin to a postmortem after Saturday’s l atest perfunctory win bespoke to the level the bar is now being set.
‘We won 3-0 last weekend but we let our standards drop. as players we weren’t happy with t hat,’ Holt added.
‘ We always set out to maintain our l evels of performance and we felt it went down slightly.
‘it was down to us. We were a bit disappointed and we want to put it right now.
‘ This weekend ( against Dumbarton) we will be looking to put that right and put the standards back to where we set them.
‘ in previous weeks, the performance levels were high and we want to get back to that.’
Perhaps more than any other, Holt appreciates what he has in the palm of his hand right now.
Ultimately deemed surplus to requirements at Hearts, he not only impressed on trial to the extent that Warburton i mmediately snapped him up, but has featured in nine of the 10 excursions so far for his new club.
‘i don’t know about being surprised about that,’ he said. ‘you want to play every week, so to get the nod in the majority of the games has been great for me.
‘i’ve really enjoyed playing in the team. The way the manager has come in and stamped his style on it — i think i speak on behalf of all the players — we’re really enjoying it.
‘it all starts on the training field with the manager. He implemented his style and we have all bought into it. We are getting the rewards just now.
‘The passing style is great for every player in the team because you are always getting lots of touches of the ball.
‘it goes t hrough t he midfield a lot and it’s great to be involved so much. all the new boys have gelled really well.’
JA S ON HOLT was promoting 25-per- cent off Rangers season t i ckets. Prices start at £197 for adults, £157 for concessions and £39 for kids (subject to area and booking fee).
“Standards
will be back
this week”