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News
‘What it means to be a Rangers player’: Pundit pinpoints crucial change that helped Ibrox side
Alan Hutton says Rangers’ hard-earned draw against Slavia Prague underlined the change in mentality that has occurred at his former club.
The former Scotland international, who made 122 appearances for the Ibrox side before joining Tottenham, believes the current crop have proved that they understand what being a Rangers player is all about.
Having conceded a goal after just seven minutes and been second best for much of the first period, Steven Gerrard’s men were much improved in the second half and left Prague with a creditable 1-1 draw.
Hutton and Rangers legend Ally McCoist paid tribute to the manner in which the visitors clawed their way back into it.
host Darrell Currie said: “The way they got back into that game, Alan, it says a lot about Rangers, and how far they’ve come under Steven Gerrard, especially in European terms.”
Hutton responded: “Well this for me is the difference between Rangers of now and old. Maybe a couple of seasons ago when Gerrard first came in and he was building his squad, they would have lost that game, they wouldn’t have got the draw.
“But now, we’re seeing that fighting spirit, what it means to be a Rangers player, and coming out and getting a result when really they shouldn’t have on that first-half performance, so it’s the difference in the team now.”
McCoist added: “It’s interesting, because they carried a bit of luck today in the first-half performance, which you always need.
“But Alan’s 100% right. There’s a steeliness about them, there’s a determination about them. They’re never out the game.”
Rangers could have nicked a victory with Connor Goldson and Filip Helander narrowly failing to get on the end of an excellent Borna Barisic delivery, while Allan McGregor pulled off a stunning stop at the other end.
Gerrard’s side have a weekend off, and welcome Slavia to Ibrox next Thursday for the second leg.