WHILE most of the country started making assumptions about the destiny
of the premier division championship, even allowing for the fact that
the new year has not yet been reached, Rangers yesterday remained
steadfastly true to form in diverting suggestions that normal service
had been resumed following their impressive 3-0 win over Dundee United
at Tannadice.
It would take an unwise manager to steer a different course, with less
than half the distance covered, but the Ibrox chief, Walter Smith, has
always tended to think that the real shape of the race only becomes
clear when the teams enter the last third of the fixture programme.
So his view that Rangers' position at the top of the table is not all
that significant has to be accepted as justified in his broader vision,
if the rest of us reckon it is immensely important. He would prefer to
put stress on the way his team performed at Tannadice and take
encouragement from that. ''I don't think league positions have a lot to
do with anything at this stage,'' he said, ''but I was pleased with the
positive attitude we showed and also how much more solid we were
defensively. The real race will not take shape until we go into the last
third of the fixture list but the next few games will certainly be
important. We meet Kilmarnock and then our closest challengers,
Motherwell, and Hibs and then Celtic.''
They will be without Basile Boli against Killie, as he is suspended,
but Craig Moore returns from his suspension in time to make up the
numbers at the back. The Australian, who will be 19 next week, is one of
two young players who have established themselves as regulars in the
Ibrox first team this season. Charlie Miller is the other and Smith was
happy to talk about his progress.
''He played consistently at a good standard in the reserves as a young
boy and it was always a matter of time before he got his chance. He and
Moore were the ones you would have picked out as being good prospects to
make it. It is very difficult for a young player to play at high level
consistently in midfield, but when the team is playing well it makes it
easier.''
He also pointed out that Miller, who is 18, had been inclined to be a
bit hot-headed in his early days at Ibrox but had worked hard to
eradicate that from his game.
Meanwhile, Richard Gough, who played on auto-pilot for most of the
second half against Dundee United after suffering concussion in a head
collision, was fine yesterday, but will be monitored for a few days to
check that he is completely recovered. ''It was scary,'' he said,
''because I can't remember anything after that head knock.''
He does not recall arguing with referee Jim McCluskey who showed sound
sense in insisting that he go off the field for attention, nor does he
have any memory of the goals that were scored in the second half.
He doesn't know, either, that he put up a fine display in his first
match since he suffered a foot injury against Hibs on October 8.
Dundee United will have to try to recover quickly from the
disappointment. Manager Ivan Golac continues his search for players when
he tries out two more Swedes this week. Striker Peter Hillgren and
midfielder Niklas Nylen, who would cost a total of #500,000 from Malmo,
will state their case in two reserve matches, againt Rangers at Alloa
tonight and Partick Thistle at Tannadice on Thursday.
But Golac has not forgotten the Swedish internationalist, Magnus
Powall, who had to return home for international duty after scoring two
goals against Falkirk in a reserve game. He would cost #300,000 from
Orebro, and Golac might still think that is the best deal.
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