JAMES Fowler had a head start on the rest of Scottish football when it came to getting the inside track on Rangers’ new signings. James Tavernier and Martyn Waghorn were both part of a Wigan Athletic side which faced his Queen of the South outfit during pre-season in La Manga, and so impressed was Fowler with rampaging right back Tavernier in particular that he specifically sought out Wigan manager Gary Caldwell to ask about him. Both men signed for Rangers shortly afterwards, leaving Fowler and his team to renew acquaintances at Palmerston Park this Sunday.

“When I saw Tavernier playing, I actually asked Gary Caldwell who he was because I thought he looked decent,” said Fowler. “He was getting forward well and really stood out. He has five goals already I think so he will be looking at double figures for the season. Waghorn came on as a sub and did well too so we knew before they came that they were going to be good players but they have fitted in well.”

Fowler had enough reshuffling of his own squad to do this summer without worrying unduly about anyone else. As much turnover as there has been in the Rangers squad since these two sides met in the Premiership play-off quarter final, a Lee Wallace goal in the second leg at Ibrox giving them a narrow 3-2 win, there has been even more flux in the home ranks, with five key men in last year’s squad going on to bigger and better things.

Full back Kevin Holt moved to Dundee, centre half Mark Durnan now plays across the city at United, midfielder Ian McShane is a Ross County player, while striker Gavin Reilly plays for Hearts and playmaker Danny Carmichael has found a niche at Hibs. Experienced duo Mark Kerr and John Baird started the exodus early, moving to Falkirk back in January, while another time-served midfielder Stephen McKenna gave up full time football this summer. Given such turmoil, it seems somewhat remarkable to point out that, three games into the season, the Dumfries club are back at the top of the table, having won all three of their Championship matches to date, just like Rangers.

“It is quite unusual,” admits Fowler. “The boys who left were probably at a good age and stage for their careers to go. The clubs that they have gone to obviously saw that in them as well, while the fact that for four of the five there was a transfer fee or compensation involved shows how highly rated they were.

“For me this summer wasn’t so great but I probably knew it was coming,” he added. “I spoke to the boys quite regularly last year, and while we wanted to keep them and offered them contracts they were honest enough to tell me that the chances were they were going to move on, so that allowed me to have one eye elsewhere. But we have retained characters like Derek Lyle, Iain Russell, Chris Higgins and Andy Dowie. Quite a lot of the core from last year is still here, it is just about trying to fill in the blanks round about them. It is important the spirit of the group that was here last year is retained as well because I think that was a big part of our success as well.”

Aside from cup disappointments to Livingston and Morton, this has been a promising start to the season at Palmerston Park, but Fowler is in no mood to get carried away. The Ibrox side lost 2-0 and 3-0 at Dumfries on regular league duty on the artificial surface at Palmerston last year, but Fowler feels the Ibrox side are a different animal this year and require a more conservative approach. He welcomes back the on-loan Alex Harris, while Kyle Jacobs – signed this summer from Livingston – should also be fit to return.

“Rangers are different this year,” said Fowler. “They are under new management and have a new squad, playing a different type of football as well. They are very attacking and scoring a lot of goals, which was something they probably struggled with last year. I was there on Wednesday night at Airdrie, where they had a great 15 minutes and I was thinking ‘deary me’. It is important that we keep ourselves in it and keep ourselves competitive. We have had a decent start but it is only three games, it is not like we are a long way into the season. But we still hope we can get at them.”