JON Toral hopes to show his best football at Rangers, even if it will come rather too late for the manager who brought him to the club. Signed on-loan from Arsenal in January by Mark Warburton, the 22-year-old Spaniard was still acclimatising to the Scottish game when his former mentor from Brentford departed the scene. While he admits it has been a difficult period for him personally and confessed that he is prone to be self critical after matches, Toral has been deployed by interim manager Graeme Murty in a deeper midfield position and still hopes to show the club's fans what he is capable of, starting today against Hamilton Accies in the William Hill Scottish Cup.

“It’s been difficult, obviously, for me," said Toral. "I said when I first came here that he [Warburton] was a big reason for me because I worked for him before. But I am here to help the team. The team has stuck by me and they have really helped me.

“When he left, Mark wished me the best for the season and that’s it," the Spaniard added. "But before I came here he said he wanted me to be part of this and help the team and that hasn’t changed because the manager isn’t here.”

You could say that losing a manager is one of the occupational hazards of being a loan player. In fact, Toral in fact has lost two this season already. The only reason he was at Rangers is because his previous loan arrangement at Granada turned sour after the dismissal of Paco Jemez in September. It could easily be an unfortunate hat-trick for the player if Arsene Wenger wasn't in with the bricks at his parent club.

“Yeah it happened in Granada this season as well," he said. "These things happen at every club, the managers are never safe. But you have to adapt and get used to whatever new manager comes in. I think the team has reacted alright. The results weren’t there but I think we have stuck by the interim manager [Graeme Murty] and we’re going to do that for as long as he is in charge.”

If the plot relating to Warburton's departure thickened a little last night when Frank McParland was appointed director of football at Nottingham Forest, Toral is honest to a fault when it comes to an appraisal of his own time at Rangers thus far. “Physically in the first few games I wasn’t fit enough, I wasn’t match fit," he said. "The manager knew I needed a few games and he gave me those games.

“I think physically I’ve improved and I’ve felt better," he added. "Now in the last few games I’ve played in a different position as well. I’m just trying to learn from that and if the manager sees me there just try to help the team in that position. But I always hope when I go on the football pitch there is more to come from me. When I have a bad game it’s not easy to sleep, I am really critical of myself and I analyse the games and I know when I play well and play badly. So I just try to put the bad games behind me and focus on the next one and do better next time."

Wednesday night's 3-2 victory against St Johnstone, the club's first in the league under Murty, was at least a start, and two big matches in a week could yet alter the mood music of the club's season. First, thirty years on from Adrian Sprott and a famous Accies win at Ibrox, is today's Scottish Cup quarter final against Hamilton. Rob Kiernan is available as the club appeal his dismissal against St Johnstone, while Accies are without the banned Darian McKinnon.

Then, a further eight days down the line, is what could be Toral's maiden bow in an Old Firm match against Celtic. While the waiting game continued last night, it is plausible that the club could have both a new director of football and a head coach in position by then. Ross Wilson, currently employed at Southampton, and Pedro Caixinha, the Portuguese coach of Al-Gharafa in Qatar, are the two men in pole position for the two jobs in question, but Toral can see why another of his former managers, Gary Rowett, has been interviewed for the head coach's position. With Toral on-loan, even if he favoured a far more direct form of football, Rowett performed quiet miracles at St Andrews and he remains in contention for now at least.

"I’ve always said that Gary is a very, very good manager," said Toral. "I really enjoyed the season at Birmingham with him and I wish him the best. It was really important in my career and it was a step forward from the season before at Brentford and Gary really helped me and had a big impact. But the board is working on it and whatever has to be will be."