DECLAN John, the Cardiff City left back who scored two goals for Rangers in their 4-1 win over Hamilton on Friday night, has insisted there are no divisions in the Ibrox squad he joined back in August.
The aftermath of the Old Firm defeat to Celtic last week was dominated by reports of a dressing room fallout as well as rifts between the Scottish players and their overseas counterparts.
Kenny Miller, the alleged source of the leak, was dropped from the squad for the meeting with Martin Canning’s men and it is unclear if the vastly-experienced forward has a future at his boyhood heroes under Pedro Caixinha.
However, John, who netted twice in an emphatic Ladbrokes Premiership victory at the SuperSeal Stadium that moved Caixinha’s side up into third place in the table, stressed there is no disharmony.
The 22-year-old left, who played for Cardiff in the Premier League in England at the start of his career, has moved to Glasgow on a season-long loan and has found the mood at the club to be positive.
Asked about the atmosphere at Rangers, the defender said: “It’s been fine. We knew we needed to come into the game at Hamilton and show that we are together and that we are up for it. I think we did show that. We definitely owed the manager a performance and that’s what we did.
“I didn’t really expect to score two goals. To do it from left-back is even better. For the first one, I don’t really score many goals with my right foot, so that was nice. It was great to score twice, but it was even better to get the win.
“We are all together in there. Before training, we are all together, whether that’s in the canteen or in the changing room, having a joke or whatever. After training, we might all go for a coffee together or stuff like that. All of the boys are together.
“It wasn’t difficult to focus on Friday evening. You focus on every game you play in and that’s what we did.”
Daniel Candeias, the Portuguese winger who was signed from Benfica during the summer, ran straight to Caixinha in the dugout to celebrate after slotting home the third goal in a public display of support for his countryman.
John, a twice-capped Welsh internationalist who has spent spells at Barnsley and Chesterfield on loan during the past two years, felt that showed how unified the Rangers squad is despite their difficult start to the 2017/18 campaign and their loss to their city rivals Celtic.
“That was telling,” he said. “We don’t go into any game looking for anything else other than a win. Obviously, the boys played well, I managed to get two goals, we got another two after that and it was a really good win. The celebration after Daniel’s goal wasn’t planned, it was something that just happened.”
The planned trip to Canada to play Benfica in the Eusebio Cup has been cancelled after the Portuguese club unexpectedly pulled out at the weekend.
John felt the trip would have helped the Rangers squad to gel further. He said: “It would have been good for us in terms of bonding and getting more minutes on the pitch.”
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