SOME Rangers fans might have fancied a crack at Celtic in the coming weeks but John Brown wasn’t one of them. Optimism abounds around Ibrox these days on the back of Mark Warburton’s near-faultless start as manager, with Airdrieonians the latest club to be swept aside almost contemptuously in Tuesday night’s League Cup tie. That placed Rangers in the opposite half of Thursday’s seeded third round draw at Hampden and an air of expectation filled the room when they were pulled out of the hat with Celtic still to appear. Instead it is St Johnstone who will travel to Ibrox on September 22 or 23 – Celtic, in fact, came out next and were paired with Raith Rovers at home – and, if that outcome disappointed some Rangers fans desperate for another encounter with their age-old foes, then Brown was of the opinion that avoiding Celtic at this point may be no bad thing.
Under Warburton, Rangers have won seven successive matches in three different competitions but Brown, a defensive lynchpin from the nine-in-a-row era, believes they have not been truly tested up to this point. St Johnstone, he believes, will give them that challenge.
“I was just glad they didn’t draw Celtic because it allows the players to get to know each other,” he said. “If Rangers can get through against St Johnstone then whether it was a semi-final or a final [against Celtic] they would have a lot more games under their belt and be better for that challenge because Celtic are the benchmark.
“St Johnstone will be their first big test. It’s a Premiership team who have been in the European qualifiers this season. And they are a side with an excellent manager in Tommy Wright.
“Middle to front they create a lot of chances. They’ve been leaking goals too, though. But I think the Rangers defence will be tested in a way that they haven’t been up until now, although Hibs did cause them some problems last Sunday.
“For instance, Steven Maclean, who was a young kid at Rangers, has developed into a great player for St Johnstone. His movement will cause the Rangers defence a lot of problems on the night. But the main thing for Rangers is that they’ve been drawn at home.
“Mark’s brought in younger players for a little bit of money and the hope is to sell them on later down the line. But against St Johnstone we will find out if they can handle the step up – and hopefully they get through to face a tougher test in the next round.”
After the disappointment of last season – when Rangers failed to win promotion amid ongoing boardroom unrest – Brown can understand why so many supporters are buoyant now. Winning a cup, though, he warns will not be easy.
“I think the fans are happy now because they feel as though they’ve got their club back,” he added. “All the focus is away from off-field stuff and on the management and his players. In pre-season I think people were asking who these players were.
“But you can see Mark knows the market down south. He’s got contacts and good influence to get players in and on loan. We weren’t able to do that previously because under the old board there was no scouting system.
“The fans are desperate to get back to a cup final. But Celtic have struggled to win trebles the last couple of season even with Rangers not in the league, so that’s how competitive the cups are when you see the teams who have managed to get to finals and win it and it’s not been the top team in the country.”
Hearts ended up running away with the Championship after a strong start last season and Brown believes Rangers have it in them to do similar.
“I’ve been looking at some of the other teams in the Championship and I think it’s in Rangers’ hands,” he added. “It’s down to the players. If they want to win the league whenever they want to do it, then they’ll do it. They won’t if they take their foot off the gas but I’m sure the manager will not allow that as it’s about being professional and getting the job done.
“Even with a poor game against Hibs they were still well-organised, got a clean clean sheet and won the game 1-0. We were involved in a lot of games over the years where we weren’t the better side but we won the game. Buut now Rangers are creating a lot of chances and, like Hearts last season, there will be a number of games that Rangers will win but three or four clear goals.”
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