CRAIG BROWN believes Rangers will get the next best thing to their legendary manager Walter Smith by bringing in Stuart McCall to take charge of the club until the end of the season.

 

Brown worked with McCall, the player, during his days in charge of Scotland and handed the reins at Motherwell on to him at the end of 2010 after leaving to take up an opportunity at Aberdeen.

What McCall went on to do at Fir Park earned him a reputation for ekeing the very best out of the talent at his disposal and handling the challenges of working with limited resources with spirit, ingenuity and resolve. In many ways, that is precisely what he is going to have to do at Ibrox.

The 50-year-old, of course, boasts a proud history at the Govan club. During seven years there between 1991 and 1998, he won six league titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups. That, in itself, will ensure he enjoys the respect of what is, unquestionably, an underperforming and demotivated collection of players.

His managerial record stands up to scrutiny as well. He led Motherwell to two consecutive top-two finishes in the Premier League and a Scottish Cup final before leaving last November in the wake of a poor run of results.

Brown made it clear earlier in the season that he felt Rangers should go down on bended knee to Smith in an attempt to make him return for a third spell as manager, but he believes they have chosen an excellent option if that is simply not to be.

"I said some time ago that I felt Rangers should beg for Walter to return," he said. "If the board cannot get Walter, and I wouldn't imagine he would have wanted to go back, they have got the next best thing.

"I am a known fan of Billy Davies, having worked with him in the past, but I can see that he has been away from the game here for a while.

"Stuart has a history with Rangers, he has done well here as a manager and he has the personality required to get the place lifted. It could turn out to be an inspired appointment and I hope that is the way it works out.

"He is available, he knows the Scottish game and he is well-respected at the club thanks to his past achievements as a player.

"There is such great credibility there with Stuart. You are talking about a guy with authority, presence and knowledge walking through that dressing room door should he choose to accept the job.

"Look at what he has done in his career. Senior players such as Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd will respect him because of his managerial prowess and the fact he was such a successful player.

"He also has the ear of guys such as Walter. He will have no bother whatsoever walking into that dressing-room. He is a smashing guy, an outstanding person. He is conscientious, unassuming and will not exactly go in there shouting the odds. He has a long background in coaching as well, given his background at Bradford City and Sheffield United. The work he has done in recent times with the national team will have benefited him a lot as well because he has been given the opportunity to work at the very highest level.

"You are in the position of power as the manager and you can really only lose that by being incompetent, dishonest with the players or lazy. Stuart is certainly none of those things."

Brown attended Rangers' 1-1 draw with Queen of the South on Tuesday evening, serving as tour guide for a number of coaches who are currently visiting Scotland from America. He is too polite to go into detail, but he can see the shortcomings of the squad and does not attempt to disguise the task McCall will face in trying to win promotion through the end-of-season play-offs.

"He has a massive challenge to get to the play-offs and then get through them," said Brown. "I hope it is not being disrespectful to state that this is probably not the best squad Rangers have ever had, but he showed at Motherwell that he has the ability to get the best out of what he has got.

"When he took over from me at Motherwell, we had been in Europe and in the semi-final of the cup. We were sitting comfortably in the league. Stuart took Motherwell to a cup final, though, and they secured second place in the Premier League last season on the final day. He did a great job there. Finishing second was exceptional for a team like Motherwell. When you look at the Rangers squad, there are a number of players with really good experience. If he can get Miller and Boyd playing well along with the likes of Lee Wallace, Nicky Law and Lee McCulloch, they have a seasoned team there.

"When I took over at Aberdeen and Motherwell, the teams were not doing well, but I placed a lot of faith in the experienced players and we turned the fortunes of those clubs round. It can be done."

McCall has an understanding of the swings and roundabouts of the game. He knows managers must take hard decisions that players simply have to learn to accept.

Brown realises that better than anyone.

"I left him out of the World Cup squad along with Ally McCoist for France in 1998 and, in hindsight, that might have been the wrong decision," he said. "I always got on well with him and I remember calling to tell him the news. Obviously, he was disappointed, but he accepted it and never held it against me. That shows you the measure of the man."