Rangers in Fort Lauderdale: Arthur Numan, Rangers'
31-year-old Dutch internationalist, and one of the most experienced and articulate players at Ibrox, insisted yesterday that there is no ''disciplinary problem'' at the club.
Rangers players may have picked up more red and yellow cards than they did last season, but Numan is relaxed about the situation. He knows the team will be affected - and already has been - by suspensions but muses: ''Some of the things that have happened have occurred only in the heat of the game.
''I don't think there is any kind of problem with discipline at Rangers. And I don't believe that these things have happened because we have not played as well as we did last season or the one before. I can't explain the reasons - it's just something which has taken place.''
There is the strong impression that Numan might like to say more but he has learned that freedom of speech is not a right which is always recognised in Scottish football. He grins: ''There are things you sometimes want to say but then you cannot do so because you will be punished again by the association.
It is not like that in Holland. You can always say what you are thinking and that is allowed. Of course, you don't just have this in Scotland, you have the same in a lot of other countries and it is something you have to learn to accept.''
Numan still has 18 months of his contract remaining and refuses to look much beyond that, but as he enjoys the sunshine and the 80C temperatures in Florida and thinks about Scotland shivering, he does admit that he might like to end his career in the United States.
''I am told it has been minus five in Scotland,'' he says, ''and yet here we are training in the sunshine twice a day. It is good to be able to do this. We have been doing a lot of running in the morning and more ball work in the afternoons. Back in Scotland we might not have been able to do that because of the weather conditions so this has been a valuable time for us. And we have the two games as well - which is something we did not have organised last winter.''
The players are looking towards the critical programme they face next month and Numan reckons that the opening half- dozen matches when the season resumes could well decide the title.
''The programme then is going to be very important, not only to us but to Celtic as well,'' he points out. ''We have to play them twice, of course, in the cup semi-final and then at Parkhead in the league. If we win these games it would give us a lot of confidence. And if we also win the game in hand then the lead would be cut back to just six points and things would be very interesting. We have to concentrate totally on next month and the games then. To be honest, I am not even thinking about Holland and the World Cup qualifying games. Right now the league is the most important thing of all. I can think about Holland after we play the first half-dozen or so games in Scotland following this break.
''Of course, I think it would be better if there was a bigger space between the two Old Firm games. I would prefer that, but with the cup and the league you simply have to get on with things. The two games were both high scoring earlier in the season and I think that is because the two teams want to play open attractive football. When you have a game where both sides do that, then you find there are more scoring opportunities. That is how it has been so far this season - we have to wait to see if this continues.''
There are still doubts whether Craig Moore will begin his first- team rehabilitation in the United States. He is training with the rest of the first-team squad but the grounds are hard and bumpy and Rangers will take no chances with the Australian's fitness.
Nor will they gamble on Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who is training but still working out on his own, with two more weeks before he rejoins the rest of the players.
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