The Sunday Post (Dundee)

Middleton owes a massive debt to mentor Murty

- By Brian Fowlie sport@sundaypost.com

Glenn Middleton has hailed former Ibrox boss Graeme Murty as the man who saved his career.

The Rangers winger has gone from Norwich City reject to Europa League star in less than a year.

The 18- year- old started against Villarreal on Thursday night, and has manager Steven Gerrard tipping him as a future Scotland internatio­nalist.

It was all very different when he was shown the door by the Canaries back in January.

Murty, back as head developmen­t coach after a tumultuous spell in charge of the Ibrox first team, remembered Middleton from his time at Carrow Road, and urged the club to sign him.

Rangers chairman Dave King hailed Murty his “Man of the Year” at the club’s AGM, and he could be Middleton’s main man if all goes well.

He said: “I can never thank Graeme enough for bringing me to the club. He sort of saved me as I was going through a tough time.

“The coaches in the academy are always giving me advice, and I take it on board because I haven’t done a lot yet.

“From day one, I’ve always been grateful for the opportunit­ies at Rangers.

“I always believed I’d prove Norwich wrong. One club tells you you are not good enough, and then six to eight months later you are playing at this level.

“It’s been a bit mad and unexpected to be in the Rangers first- team and performing in Europe. I set myself targets, but this has surpassed anything I could have dreamed of.

“At the start, when we played the Europa qualifiers, I felt grateful just to be part of the squad.

“But, going forward, I would like to see myself as a player the manager can trust to play in these games.”

Gerrard believes Middle ton’ s willingnes­s to do the dirty work has helped him develop.

He said: “He’s learning the other side of the game very quickly.

“When we first got Glenn, he was a typical young winger – really focused on what you do when you’re in possession.

“We’ve been working very hard on improving him tactically.

“It’s about where he needs to be, what he needs to do, and how hard he needs to work for his team.

“If he gets that side of the game, and keeps growing and evolving, he’s going to be a big player for this club.”

 ??  ?? Glenn Middleton sees his goal disallowed against Villarreal
Glenn Middleton sees his goal disallowed against Villarreal

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom