TOWARDS the tail end of my time at Rangers it got to the point where I was no longer starting every game. There were a lot of good forwards around the club at that time – Michael Mols, Ronald de Boer, Shota Arveladze, Peter Lovenkrands and others – and so I would find I maybe played in the league game on the Saturday and then didn’t start in the Champions League in midweek. I didn’t find that easy at all, getting rotated in and out. You struggle to get into a rhythm and you don’t have the same momentum as you do when you are in the team and playing in every game.

So I have a certain degree of sympathy for Nadir Ciftci. I know it’s different circumstances, and that he’s not playing in league matches for reasons of his own making, but I can empathise with him as he still looks for his first goal for Celtic. When you make the move he has, to a club of that size and stature, then people expect instant success. But I think there has to be a greater degree of patience shown. Only once he has served his suspension, is available for league games and playing most weeks, can any real judgment be made on how he is getting on.

The games he is playing in just now are not easy. He’s been asked to play up front, on his own, away from home in the Champions League qualifiers, and has come through difficult matches against Stjarnan in Iceland and Qarabag in Azerbaijan. I’m sure it will be a similar story in the play-off round against Malmo. That’s not an easy role but he’s done his best and Celtic have made it through.

I think manager Ronny Deila just wanted a focal point and that’s why he has gone with Ciftci rather than Leigh Griffiths in Europe. He wanted a more physical presence and Leigh likes to come to the ball and drift wide. What Celtic needed was someone who could help get them up the park. Ciftci’s not an out-and-out target man but he’s strong, he holds it up well and links play. That’s what was needed in the two qualifiers.

So people shouldn’t get too caught up just now in the fact he isn’t scoring goals. Of course if that situation continues then it will need to be addressed but until he’s in the team, playing every week, it is too early to judge him. He’s the type of player Celtic needed, someone who leads the line well and who has good technical ability too.

I didn’t think he was brilliant against Qarabag last week but he worked hard enough. You would maybe look at him and wonder, “will he put a shift in?” but in Azerbaijan he worked his tail off. That’s what’s needed at Celtic and Deila will demand that of all his players.

What Ciftci needs to add to those attributes is Gary Hooper’s goals. He’s a lot like Hooper in many ways and goals are all that is missing. I don’t think he’ll get as many as the Englishman as he was more of a natural goalscorer but he should get his share. Ciftci, though, has to learn it’s not just about holding the ball up. I was never quick but you learned to hold it up, link play then get in the area to wait for a cross. That’s what I pass on to young strikers now when I’m coaching them.

Ciftci didn’t score loads of goals at United and he’s maybe a bit short on that side of things. He’ll get chances at Celtic but he has to get himself into the box to get on the end of them.

I think he will do well although it does worry me a bit that he’s not a natural goalscorer. But it’s way too early to properly assess how he’s going to fare as a Celtic striker. Wait until his ban is served and then we can get a proper look at him.

I HAD to laugh when I read Celtic’s Craig Gordon saying that freezing the television pictures just as contact was made between him and Ross County’s Jackson Irvine in last weekend’s game gave a false impression as Jackson still had three steps to take before he could shoot on goal.

Well, we wouldn’t have had to freeze it all if there had been no contact. And then it would have been a much easier chance. Funny that part slipped big Craig’s mind.