THERE must be times when Paul Gascoigne does not know which way to
turn. Whatever he does or says becomes public knowledge either
immediately or gradually through the rumour factory which drip feeds the
gossips among us.
However, if he wishes to ease his load then all he has to do is
perform in Rangers' midfield. Perform like the footballer Rangers
thought they were buying, that is.
Gascoigne has played only spasmodically and has much more to give. He
must have, otherwise Terry Venables would not have listed him yesterday
in the England squad for next week's match against Switzerland.
No-one can hope to understand what goes on inside Gascoigne's head,
but when he is fully focused on his work, he becomes the player Walter
Smith wants to see, and if the Englishman is in the mood this evening,
Kilmarnock will have problems trying to subdue him and Rangers at Rugby
Park.
Yet, lately it has looked as though he is becoming more sluggish in
his work rather than sharper, although on Saturday a thigh injury
prevented him from playing against Falkirk, who play at Pittodrie
tonight.
He has recovered quickly and although Venables has the right to call
him to the English gathering on Saturday, he will play against Aberdeen
at Ibrox before travelling south, where the spotlight will fall on him
once again.
There will be no escape, so the sooner Gascoigne shuts everything out
and just plays the better.
While he has recovered, another midfield player, Stuart McCall, has
been injured again. He took a blow against Falkirk and aggravated the
rib-muscle problem which kept him out prior to that match, but Smith is
confident the player will be fit in time to play against Aberdeen.
''It is important for us to win both these matches to keep the
momentum in the league championship going,'' said Smith. ''Kilmarnock
had a good result on Saturday and they always compete well against us.
We will have to meet the challenge and make sure we stay at the top of
the division.''
Smith had hoped to sign Morton's Derek McInnes by now, but because of
the intricacies in the midfield player's contract, the deal continues to
be delayed. The signing could be completed today or later in the week,
but no-one can say for definite until Morton honour the terms of sale
which they agreed to with McInnes.
Smith is willing to let the matter run its course, and as more of his
players begin to emerge from periods of inactivity caused by injuries,
he can afford to wait. ''Players are returning and that might give me a
chance to spell some people who found that they were recovering from
injuries and having to play sometimes three times in little more than a
week,'' Smith said.
Andy Goram and Craig Moore are expected to be fit to play against
Aberdeen and Brian Laudrup and David Robertson could be ready in time to
play against Celtic next weekend.
Alex Totten will have to decide between the experience of veteran
keeper Bobby Geddes or the youthful Colin Meldrum because of the
automatic, one-match suspension imposed on Dragoje Lekovic, sent off on
Saturday against Raith Rovers. Meldrum, a 19-year-old former Scotland
youth cap, played four times in the first team last season.
''Obviously Bobby, who has played for us already this season, has all
the experience, but Colin is a great prospect,'' said Kilmarnock manager
Alex Totten.
The Rugby Park side have been lifted by recent performances after a
dreadful few months, and Totten added: ''It's a very happy dressing room
and everyone is looking forward to playing against Rangers.
''There will be a big crowd and the players can only respond well to
the kind of atmosphere which will be generated. Also, after having moved
up the division into sixth place, we have to go into this game with
confidence.''
The manager hopes to be able to include Colin McKee (ankle), Billy
Findlay (knee), and Mark Roberts (back) in his plans as all three appear
to have recovered, but Steve Maskrey, who has damaged a knee, has been
unable to train and will be left out.
The Dons, beaten 2-1 by Hibernian on Saturday, will have to do much
more if they want to satisfy their manager, Roy Aitken, who is a hard
taskmaster. ''I am looking for that bit extra from the players to turn
things around,'' he said before tonight's match against Falkirk.
''Falkirk are in good hands with people like John Lambie and Gerry
Collins in charge. Their team may be sitting at the bottom of the
division, but they know what it takes to pick up points.''
Scott Booth and Stewart McKimmie will be given fitness tests sometime
today, but Aitken is confident at least one of them will play. If Booth
is out, Duncan Shearer will start in only his second match of the
current campaign.
Teenager Michael Craig has been promoted to the first-team squad
because of his form since being signed from Celtic.
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