THAT Rangers will leave no piece of turf unturned in their bid to become a significant European force was underlined yesterday by their announcement of the purchase of a permanent training ground at Balgray, on Glasgow's Great Western Road.
Kelvinside Academy's rugby sanctuary will be transformed into a facility which will rival that of their major English and continental rivals - first step towards the football academy of which the Ibrox chairman, David Murray, spoke recently in the club's annual report.
Rangers will lease the ground initially, and the purchase will be completed in three or four years, when the school's new sports' ground in Milngavie is completed.
''We have got to streamline the whole operation,'' said Murray. ''I have no doubt that lack of a consistent surface on which to train has put our players at a big disadvantage. Training on heavy ground has sapped their legs and hampered development.
''Many major clubs have gone out of their way to have the same training surface as the one they play on. We will do the same. A consistent surface, under our own control, will provide a chance to enhance preparations and skills.''
Murray's plan is for Balgray's surface to be identical to that at Ibrox. ''Players will report daily to Balgray and go to Ibrox only for medical treatment, and matches. Until now, players have changed at Ibrox, and then been ferried around the city, to several grounds - far from ideal.
''This practice dates to the conversion of the Albion ground for car parking seven years ago. Since then we've sought a training home of our own, but when money became available, we used it to strengthen the squad. Now, Joe Lewis's investment allows us to look beyond that.
''We are ahead of many continental clubs in having our own stadium, while they own only their training grounds. Now, we have both.''
St Anthony's pitch, in Govan, and the rugby clubs at West of Scotland, Jordanhill, and Glasgow High School, have been used by Rangers, as well as Glasgow University's ground at Westerlands, which Murray recently tried to buy. That proved too dear a green place after building planning permission was granted, and Murray was beaten to it by Aberdeen FC's executive vice-chairman Stewart Milne. His company, Stewart Milne Homes, paid a reported #7.8m for the site - just a few hundred yards from Balgray.
Parents of Kelvinside pupils were contacted by letter, informing them of the plans before yesterday's announcement.
Murray acknowledged that the sale of what for many former pupils is a field of dreams would be emotive, but with the school due to become co-educational from August, 1998, existing facilities at Balgray will become inadequate. Their new premises at Auchenhowie will be considerably larger.
''At least Balgray will remain a sports ground,'' said Murray. ''No planning permission is needed for the sale.''
The area will remain green belt, and only some minor drainage work will be required on part of the five-pitch site.
The latest expenditure, which most clubs can only fantasise over, again underlines the gulf between Rangers and domestic rivals, but it only catches up on developments common in England for many years.
When former Rangers player Alex Totten signed for Liverpool in 1961, they already had their own training base at Melwood.
''Thirty-six years on, there is still nothing to touch it in Scotland,'' said Totten, now manager of first-division Falkirk. ''You try to teach your players good habits, to perform in a particular way, but it is impossible to get quality when you train on a muddy park.
''While I was at Rangers they visited Osasuna, in Spain. It was a club I'd never heard of, but their training camp was unbelievable. It was light years ahead of anything we had ever seen.
''You need money to develop facilities like that, and we haven't got any at Falkirk. I haven't got #3m to spend on a player, never mind a training ground.''
When Kenny Dalglish went to Liverpool, he was also impressed with the set-up, and carried the idea to Blackburn when he took over there as manager. As they reconstructed Ewood Park, Dalglish had the club build a superb training facility.
Manchester United, Everton, Arsenal, and Spurs also all have their own, as do most major continental sides.
Jim Leishman, manager of the second-division leaders, Livingston, says: ''We work closely with the authorities in West Lothian and have an all-weather pitch at Almondvale and the use of an indoor centre, which we can rent. However, at Bordeaux, in France, where I went as manager of Dunfermline in 1988, they had six playing areas, a running track, and even a sand pit where their goalkeepers worked out.''
The closest to that which Tony Higgins can recall was Porto- bello beach in winter, and praying the tide would not come in, during his days with Hibs in the '70s.
Now secretary of the Scottish Players' Union, he welcomed the news that the sands have begun to run out on such primitive arrange- ments: ''It is a very welcome development - sends a signal to everyone else about what is required.
''It is one thing to attract good players but you do need good facilities to help these players develop. Due to the unpredictable weather in Scotland, you need indoor facilities above all, but they are sadly lacking. We had a small gym when I was at Hibs but more often than not we trained on Portobello beach.''
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