YOU certainly can't argue with Stuart McCall's record.
What he did at Motherwell, finishing second twice and third on a shoestring budget, was exceptional. As a short-term appointment, to get an impact, his appointment at Rangers this week absolutely is a good move.
That is what they need, a bubbly character who can lift the dressing room. He will try everything he can to get these players motivated. But what I am less sure about is whether anyone can lift these players. Ally McCoist was a bubbly personality, and it didn't happen for him, while they certainly didn't do it for Kenny McDowall. He has a big job on his hands.
Having done so well at Motherwell, it is up to Stuart now to prove that he can do it at a bigger club. But what a privilege it must be for him to manage a club like that. He must be in dreamland.
So far he has only been given the caretaker role until the summer, but it is his job to lose. The board might have somebody else in mind at the end of the season and could see Stuart just as a short-term fix. But if you start winning games the board could quickly forget about the other names they might have up their sleeve. There will be nothing concrete yet, each of the directors will have their own names in mind. But he can make that all go away if he shows a real sense of leadership, and is able to get them together, get them winning games, get them into the playoffs, and maybe even sneak up, which would be incredible. He could make that board think again.
But I stand by my words: I am not sure what is going to motivate this Rangers team. So far, over the last three seasons, you have to say that some of them have been not totally committed and not professional.
People always say to me you were a 100 per center who gave everything you had, but I could play a bit as well. There was a bit of that about Stuart as a player as well. People kind of remember him as a grafter, a warrior who loved to fire into tackles but you couldn't question the technical ability he had. Okay he ran his heart out but he could pass the ball as well and scored some good goals.
He will be standing down from his Scotland duties for the match against Gibraltar but whether he remains with Scotland long term remains to be seen. Rangers is such a big club that you need to throw everything at it, or else it is one thing that punters will throw at you - what are you going away with Scotland for?
The one thing you can say for sure is that Stuart will improve the team spirit at Ibrox. The results he got at Motherwell you simply don't get at a small team if there isn't a good spirit about the place. The same goes for his assistant Kenny Black, who was sacked from Airdrie and now finds himself as Rangers assistant manager. What an opportunity it is for these two and I think they will hit it head on to try to convince the board that they are the team long term. But whether this group of players are willing or able to turn it around for him remains to be seen.
HERE I go again, but I have to back another referee. I feel like Craig Thomson has been hung out to dry both by his linesman Graeme Chambers and the SFA's disciplinary processes.
I know the politics of it all, and the SFA no doubt feel they have to be seen to be even-handed ahead of today's League Cup final, but I am not interested. At the end of the day Thomson made some right and some wrong decisions and the SFA don't appear to have backed him up on any of it.
It wasn't so much Virgil Van Dijk's tackle, it was the lunge at the boy after it. Calum Butcher is lucky not to be off, so is Scott Brown, and Nadir Ciftci should have been off too. But after a week of coming and going, the SFA have effectively decided that in that entire stramash, nobody did anything wrong. Everybody gets off Scot-free.
It is hugely embarrassing for Thomson. The linesman - who ran on the pitch instantly, grabbed Butcher, held him for 15 seconds, and then identified Paul Paton 15 seconds later as the culprit - has put the noose round his neck, and the SFA have kicked the table away.
Anyway, now that pretty much everyone - apart from the already banned Ciftci is available - here is my prediction for today's League Cup final. United will have their moments but I think Celtic will be too strong for them and will win it by the odd goal.
Scott Brown is a top player and a decent guy, but he is daft as a brush. It will be interesting to see how Ronny Deila reacts to his misdemeanours. I can see him copping a fine from his manager, but you don't drop him for the final. That would be shooting yourself in the foot.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article