SCOTT Allan has the mental toughness needed to cope with the ongoing speculation about his future – and be successful at Rangers if he clinches his longed-for move to Ibrox.

That was the prediction from Billy Stark, the former Celtic midfielder who handed Allan his debut for the Scotland Under-21 side, as he assessed the Hibs player’s current situation yesterday.

The 23-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the 2015/16 campaign, is keen to move to the club he grew up in Glasgow supporting.

But his Easter Road club has rejected bids of £175,000 and £225,000 and Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster and manager Alan Stubbs have both stressed he is not for sale in the last week.

Stark was struck by the confidence the talented young Dundee United player he managed during his six year spell in charge of the under-21 set-up had in himself.

And he feels that personal quality will prove invaluable as his impasse with Hibs rumbles on and if he gets the chance to join their Ladbrokes Championship rivals.

“I had Scott for a year or two with the Scotland Under-21 side,” he said. “He is a very, very talented boy. He is very, very strong-willed. He wants to run the show when he’s on the pitch. But you need to be like that to succeed in this game. Plus, he had the ability to back it up.

“Scott has got self-belief and confidence. There are World Cup winners who have gone to Celtic and Rangers in the past and have not quite handled it. Stephane Guivarc’h struggled at Rangers.

“Celtic and Rangers are unique clubs. Playing at them is a unique experience. You have to come to terms with it quickly or you will struggle.

“A manager can never be very sure whether the player he is signing has got it between the ears. They need the intelligence and great self-belief in themselves to do well at the Old Firm clubs. You know they can play and they have the ability. But a lot of players don’t fulfil their potential because they don’t have the mental strength to carry it through.

“But Scott Allan is a very, very strong character. I am sure he will be able to cope with what he is going through at the moment and life at Rangers if he ends up going there.”

Despite his huge admiration for Allan, who made 10 appearances for the under-21 side while he was starting out on his career at Dundee United, Stark always felt he had areas he had to improve in his game.

The man who helped Celtic win the Premier League and Scottish Cup double in their centenary year back in 1988, believes Alan Stubbs deserves huge credit for the work he has done with the player in the last 12 months.

However, the 58-year-old, who scored more than 100 top flight goals for St. Mirren, Aberdeen, Celtic and Kilmarnock, still believes the Championship Player of the Year is far from the finished article and needs to net more often.

Allan only scored twice last term, against Dumbarton and Alloa, as Hibs finished second in the second tier table and qualified for the Premiership play-off semi-finals ahead of Rangers.

“Scott has come back to Hibs and he has got a bit of discipline in his game,” said Stark. “Alan Stubbs has to take a lot of credit for that. He has found him a role in the team which suits him and he is able to do the defensive work which needs done as well.

“He is a dynamic midfielder who comes alive when he is on the ball. He’s got great balance and good range of passing. Because of the type of lad he is he always wants to show everybody how good he is.

“But he can sometimes make the wrong selection of pass. That is quite common with young lads. But he’s not doing that so much any more. That comes with experience. Sometimes the simple pass is the best pass.

“I can remember speaking to him when he was with the under-21 squad. I felt that, because of the type of player he was, he had to add goals to his game. He didn’t score enough for me.

“He’s got the capabilities, it’s about having that desire to score that is important. He’s not an out and out goalscorer. In his position he is really a goal creator, but he can improve his goal tally.”