THEY are still raking over the debris from last weekend’s Glasgow derby. In fact, they are probably still sweeping up the debris in the Celtic Park toilets.
The fallout from the crash, bang, wallop of an Old Firm encounter is often enough to provoke one of those Protect and Survive public information films that were supposed to get you through a nuclear winter.
It has been a week now since Rangers were thumped 5-1 by their city rivals and the teeth gnashing, agonising and analysing has been ferocious. Mark Warburton, the Rangers manager, has urged those salivating pundits in the media to calm down and move on, Joey Barton has been a bad boy and sent to his room with no supper while the nation is apparently preparing to gird its collective loins after the announcement that the next league meeting between the two sides will be played on Hogmanay.
There is plenty of water to pass under the Squinty Bridge before then of course, but Joe Garner, one of Warburton’s many new recruits during the summer, is confident there will be no repeat of that five-goal fiasco.
“Once the lads know each other’s strengths and weaknesses we will be better as a team,” the 28-year-old said. “With 10 new faces in the dressing-room it’s personalities too. It will take a while but out there training it gets better week by week. It takes time to get to know how each other plays and the runs players like to make. The manager knows that too. For me personally I think it’s only a matter of time before it all clicks.”
Familiarity it seems will breed contentment in the Rangers ranks. For Garner, the meeting with Celtic was something of a bittersweet occasion. The former Preston poacher opened his account for his new club as he brought Rangers back into the game at 2-1 before the floodgates opened in the second half.
“It’s a massive game to be part of,” he said. “I haven’t experienced an atmosphere like that before but it didn’t work out to plan. It’s gone now, though.”
Plunging into the goldfish bowl of football in Glasgow can often be a bit of a shock to the system but Garner seems to be settling in. A bit better than Barton, anyway. From Deepdale to the depths of Govan, it’s been a big change. “You could say that but when I moved to Nottingham Forest at a young age that was similar,” reflected Garner, who moved to the City Ground from Carlisle United for more than £1 million in 2008. “Forest had been European champions so I’ve experienced that although they are probably not as big a club as Rangers. This is a massive club.”
It’s a case of heads done and plough on for Garner and company. The games are coming thick and fast. Queen of the South arrive at Ibrox on League Cup business on Tuesday while Rangers make the trip north to Aberdeen for what should be a lively encounter at Pittodrie.
Barton may be persona non grata at the moment but the likes of Matt Crooks and Jason Holt have been welcomed back with open arms. “We missed Jason,” said Warburton. “He adds an energy, he scores goals, he covers 13, 14k in a game. He’s a top runner. It’s not about individual players but Jason is a player that any team would miss. Matt been out for six months and the media being the media, they’ll judge him on his first touch. We just have to build him up.”
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