FOOTBALL is a different animal from the one many of us grew up watching, or even played in.
In the year of 2016 the beautiful game is now played on plastic, hidden cameras are squirrelled away in goal posts, referees use shaving foam to decide where a line of men have to stand and only this week Kilmarnock manager Lee Clark has taken to shutting his players in a big fancy freezer. As if Rugby Park on a Tuesday night wasn’t cold enough.
On the pitch, things have moved on as well. Most notably, the life of a centre-half has become even more precarious, particularly in Scottish football.
Here, we like our defenders to be men’s men. Big, strapping brutes with psychopathic tendencies and a penchant for cementing any tricky striker who dares to get within a five-yard radius. Even the poor football would not escape the clutches of such beasts as a fair scud of a boot on a muddy park would often see a battered and bruised lump of leather wheech over the terraces and skyward.
It is therefore easy to explain the trepidation in season ticket holders the length of the country as that generation has been replaced by ball-playing centre-halves sporting fluorescent footwear with their shirts not tucked in. Scottish football may still be a robust and unforgiving place at times, but it doesn’t mean the technical aspect of the game hasn’t moved on. A point that Rob Kiernan argues.
At just 25, the former Wigan defender grew up idolising the likes of Rio Ferdinand marshalling a formidable Manchester United team featuring the likes of Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes. It is an aggressive style far removed from the one the Rangers man currently operates in, but he believes the new breed of silky soccer players at the back must be embraced.
“We know that the role for a centre-back in this team is to actually start from the back,” he said. “We could sit on the halfway line and let Wes [Foderingham] kick it and have nothing to do really. But that’s not the way we play and I didn’t come to the club to do that.
“We’re not coached in that way now and those days are gone. John Terry is the last of a dying breed (hard-tackling centre-halves). He epitomises that but he’s also a very good footballer.
“Times are changing and you don’t get away with those heavy challenges anymore. I’ve seen things from back in the day when boys go through the back of people and don’t even get a yellow card.
“You’d get sent off for that now, you’d miss three games and the team would be weaker. I don’t want to go on about it but those days are gone.
“I don’t get any enjoyment about going through the back of someone. I would rather play my game nicely and hopefully do well on the ball and keep a clean sheet but you also need old school defending at times.”
It is a philosophy that may not sit well with some of the old school observers who have looked on at an at-times uneasy Rangers defence. The 2-0 defeat last month at Tynecastle easily springs to mind as Mark Warburton’s back four were left badly exposed for both Hearts goals.
Having said that, Kiernan confesses he takes the criticism with a pinch of salt, arguing that defenders are harshly judged compared to other players on the park.
“Yes, of course they are,” he said. “If a striker has a great game but doesn’t score no-one goes away thinking oh, he missed that chance. Flip it, and the keeper or centre-half has great saves and great stops but makes one mistake, and everyone goes away thinking he has cost us the game. That is why I can’t let those opinions affect me.
“There is pressure, yes, because it is a part of football that gets highlighted more. Especially at clubs like this one.”
His manager agrees with the sentiment. It is no secret that Warburton’s philosophy has been to allow his defenders to be part of the creative force within his side, particularly on the flanks with James Tavernier and Lee Wallace. Yet the Rangers manager also insists the contribution of those across his entire defence when in possession should not be missed in the search for no-nonsense clearances, heroic headers and last-ditch tackles.
Warburton said: “I think people talk about bravery for a centre-half and they associate that with a crunching tackle and a smashing header, but the bravery is taking the ball in a really tight area. It’s about asking your centre-half to go almost to the bye-line and take the ball under pressure. That is being brave. The saying is: 'Be brave, not reckless'.
“That is what we ask players to do. At the very highest level, players such as John Stones are being asked by their manager to take the ball in really tight areas and deal with it.
“Rob is a very technically talented player with two great feet, great physique and aerial strength. He was very, very good against Aberdeen last weekend and has all the attributes you need.
“He is being asked to look after the football and is being very brave in that respect.”
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