ZONAL NARKING
Knox: I’d rather be a dinosaur than new fangled laptop boss
“As far as I’m concerned he needs to find another zone so he can get there!
“But the amount of training we did with the likes of Alex, Jim McLean and the rest was incredible.
“When we used to go to Il Ciocco with Rangers for preseason, [ex-AC Milan boss] Arrigo Sacchi sent his right-hand man to watch us six years in a row – he couldn’t believe the training we did. But now it’s all scientific.
“I remember at Bolton, when I was helping Sammy, there was a squad of folk behind the scenes.
“We had about 20 staff going to away games.
“We had sports scientists, analysts, masseurs, warm- up guys, even boys to dish out the water. That’s what happens now.”
Knox was part of Aberdeen’s glory era under Ferguson and Smith’s right-hand man when Rangers sealed nine in a row.
He has l i f ted European trophies north and south of the border but accepts the game he knew has changed radically.
Knox, whose old sides meet at Pittodrie today, said: “I know there have been a lot of changes and in terms of fitness and stuff like that of course you have to embrace it.
“But some people can get carried away. You can’t say an Aberdeen v Rangers game for instance is any more intense or competitive now than it used to be. I don’t agree with that at all.
“In our day those lads had no problem with fitness. Again, the dinosaur bit comes in. But what you actually see tells you how boys are performing. You can’t sense a lack of confidence in a young player by his stats.
“A good manager’s eye and a bit of experience will tell you that.”
Another development in the modern game is the astronomical amounts of money being paid for talented young players.
Rangers are on the verge of receiving around £ 400,000 from Chelsea for 15-year-old midfielder Billy Gilmour but Knox said: “My advice to the lad is to stick with what he has at Rangers. You can go el sewhere and just become a number.”
Knox was speaking at a William Hill media event . Wi l l iam Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.