The teenagers played prominent roles on Saturday and are regarded as the main beneficiaries of the club’s financial downsizing. The Murray Park graduates are not so established that they are able to relinquish their chores around the academy.
“We are still young boys and we still have our duties to do for the first team,” said Fleck. “We still clean the boots and me and Danny are responsible for the manager’s. It keeps us on the ground and going in the right direction.”
Fleck stopped short of describing how to maintain Walter Smith’s standard-issue brown brogues but he did compliment Kris Boyd for the talent inside his renowned shooting boots. Boyd celebrated his return to starting duties with both Rangers’ goals but it was his all-round performance that impressed.
“I think he deserves more credit than he gets,” said Fleck. “People say he doesn’t work hard enough but he scores goals better than anyone – that’s what he does best. I feel the main part of my game is playing through balls to the front men and Kris loves those kind of passes. He always moans when he does not get the ball but I set him up for the first one at least.
“I think playing just behind the striker is my best position but at this stage I will play anywhere. ”
The emergence of Wilson has been a welcome distraction for Fleck, who has often carried the burden as the great new hope in a climate of uncertainty. “I know when I first came into the team there was a lot of talk and media interest in me but now it is Danny’s turn,” he said. “He has shown that he is a good player but has David Weir beside him and that is a huge help. The main thing for both of us is to work hard to stay in the first team and try to find consistency.”
Smith was relieved to end another miserable Champions League week with a win. The 1-1 draw against Unirea Urziceni not only leaves Rangers with an improbable task in their final two group games but was compounded by another UEFA investigation into crowd disturbances and illnesses that prevented Kevin Thomson, Kyle Lafferty and Steven Smith from taking part.
“When you go away for the European games and you have the Wednesday-Saturday games, you always have a problem, especially when we lost two or three players to a bug they picked up in Romania,” he said.
“So we were pleased to come back and win the game – that was an important factor for us today, although it was a little bit closer at the end than we would have wanted. I always think St Mirren are a difficult team to play against and there were periods of the game where they imposed themselves and we had to work hard against them but we were delighted to win the game in the end.”
Danny Wilson and John Fleck may be taking their first, assured footsteps towards regular first-team football at Rangers but they are not allowed to get too big for their boots.
The teenagers played prominent roles on Saturday and are regarded as the main beneficiaries of the club’s financial downsizing. The Murray Park graduates are not so established that they are able to relinquish their chores around the academy.
“We are still young boys and we still have our duties to do for the first team,” said Fleck. “We still clean the boots and me and Danny are responsible for the manager’s. It keeps us on the ground and going in the right direction.”
Fleck stopped short of describing how to maintain Walter Smith’s standard-issue brown brogues but he did compliment Kris Boyd for the talent inside his renowned shooting boots. Boyd celebrated his return to starting duties with both Rangers’ goals but it was his all-round performance that impressed.
“I think he deserves more credit than he gets,” said Fleck. “People say he doesn’t work hard enough but he scores goals better than anyone – that’s what he does best. I feel the main part of my game is playing through balls to the front men and Kris loves those kind of passes. He always moans when he does not get the ball but I set him up for the first one at least.
“I think playing just behind the striker is my best position but at this stage I will play anywhere. ”
The emergence of Wilson has been a welcome distraction for Fleck, who has often carried the burden as the great new hope in a climate of uncertainty. “I know when I first came into the team there was a lot of talk and media interest in me but now it is Danny’s turn,” he said. “He has shown that he is a good player but has David Weir beside him and that is a huge help. The main thing for both of us is to work hard to stay in the first team and try to find consistency.”
Smith was relieved to end another miserable Champions League week with a win. The 1-1 draw against Unirea Urziceni not only leaves Rangers with an improbable task in their final two group games but was compounded by another UEFA investigation into crowd disturbances and illnesses that prevented Kevin Thomson, Kyle Lafferty and Steven Smith from taking part.
“When you go away for the European games and you have the Wednesday-Saturday games, you always have a problem, especially when we lost two or three players to a bug they picked up in Romania,” he said.
“So we were pleased to come back and win the game – that was an important factor for us today, although it was a little bit closer at the end than we would have wanted. I always think St Mirren are a difficult team to play against and there were periods of the game where they imposed themselves and we had to work hard against them but we were delighted to win the game in the end.”
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