IT is entirely fitting the word ‘training’ appears in a cup final Rangers will take part in on Sunday because that is exactly what they will be doing in preparation for a certain other game.
This is a dry run. Of sorts. Mark Warburton admitted as much, naturally without wanting to disrespect Peterhead, because he can’t even go for a game of golf these days, as he revealed, without someone bringing up Celtic and the madness which is about to engulf him.
Should Rangers bring even their B-minus game to Hampden this weekend, it will be good enough to beat the part-timers from the Highlands. The national stadium will be full but it won’t match what is coming up seven days on; however, what it will do is give the players at least some idea of what is about to him them. At least that's the hope.
“The timing of winning the league was good, I can say that now;” admitted Warburton. “Hopefully we can get the result we want on Sunday and then prepare well for next week. That’s the ideal scenario.
“The focus is on Sunday’s final but it helps in terms of timing, training, hotel, food, it’s a dry run for the following week. The focus for now is on the Petrofac Cup. Everything will be done the same for next week in terms of preparation, nothing will change.
“This is all new to the players. It would be foolish to say otherwise.”
Warburton is looking ahead not only to next Sunday but also the following season. In many ways, the hard work starts now in that given their resources, it would have been a scandal had the club failed to win promotion for a second successive season.
The Rangers manager is cautiously confident of what his side can bring to the table. He is not promising the earth, just that he knows what has to be done.
“You can sense the expectation for next season,” said Warburton. “The fans want to get back to the good times and we have to bring a sense of reality and try to close the gap as quickly as possible. There is a gap there, it would be foolish to say otherwise. The goal is to get back up there next year, be highly competitive, and close that gap as quickly as possible.
“What is the reality? Getting recruitment right. We must play to our strengths and work to close the gap. We don’t need a new squad, just four or five to add depth of quality to what we currently have.”
Unlike his manager, the club captain Lee Wallace was more interested in reflection and looking back to the start of this journey, as it has been described.
There have been calls for Ally McCoist to be at Ibrox when the Championship trophy is handed over – Warburton said he would have no issue with it – and Wallace was keen to pay tribute not only his old boss, but the many others who have played their part in returning the club to Scottish football’s top tier.
“We can’t overlook the men that go back to day one,” said Wallace. “ I’m obviously going back to Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant who were put into a bizarre situation by stuff above their head.
“They had to get a squad together in that first season and do their best. And they did. They managed to get us through our first couple of seasons.
"We can’t overlook the fact that Lee McCulloch was a pivotal figure in everything that we did. Not just that he was scoring goals, playing up front, centre midfield, centre back but the way he captained the team. He was first class on that front.
"It’s important that, while we have got ourselves back to where we belong, we recognise all those who played their part. It’s not just the team that have done it this season. We need to remember all these people as well.”
Wallace could never have imagined when he signed for the club in 2011 that it would take him five years to appear in a Hampden final, and just about everything else that has happened on the way to the Petrofac Training Cup final.
“I came into a dressing room that was full of winners and I wanted to become one,” he said. “I had team-mates who had played in big European nights, won titles and been to Hampden for cup finals. That was all part of my drive and ambition.
"Nothing has changed in that respect after we moved down the divisions. If anything the hunger to do that probably grew.
“We have the chance to go to Hampden this weekend and I think it would be special to get this first piece of silverware that we can at the moment. Then we move on and see what happens after that.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel