ian1964 10,620 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 ...if we are back playing Celtic and Aberdeen next season. RANGERS head to Dumfries for their first leg of their play-off quarter final against Queen of the South today and McCall insists he has no worries about the Doonhamers' plastic pitch. STUART McCALL has rallied Rangers players to seize the day - then forget how they ever sealed their return to the top flight of Scottish football. The Ibrox boss has thrown down the challenge and urged his squad to take the first of six steps towards redemption at Queen of the South this evening. Rangers have three play-off rounds to negotiate if they are to return to the Premiership by the end of the month and McCall has looked his men in the eye and backed them to deliver. Rangers have lost twice already on the plastic pitch at Palmerston this season, but McCall is convinced they are ready to come good in the first round, first leg crunch, with a place against Hibs up for grabs after the return at Ibrox next Sunday. He said: “When we first came into the club we said the season could still be a success - and hopefully we can still say the same after next Sunday. “Yes, everyone wanted to go up as champions, but no-one will care a jot next season how Rangers got to the Premiership if we’re on that fixture list against Celtic and Aberdeen. “These are probably the most important games of my managerial career. This is a chance for the players. Don’t fear failure. Be the best you can be. Grasp it, grasp the opportunity and take it from there. “We have been building for this moment since Kenny Black and I arrived at the club. “We knew we weren’t going to catch Hearts, but after the first couple of games a few people were questioning whether we would even make the play-offs and now we’re looking forward to it. “This day couldn’t have come quickly enough for us after we arrived at the club. We’re in the play-offs and we’re focused on what we need to do. I am confident we can do it. “We have an aim - and we have a good enough squad to get the job done. We have enough players in the squad with that desire.” McCall went back on his plans earlier this week not to prepare his team for the plastic at Palmerston by taking them for an hour-long session on the astro at Murray Park yesterday morning. Rangers lost 2-0 in Dumfries in December, the last game of Ally McCoist’s managerial reign, and were also thumped 3-0 at Palmertson last month. McCall added: “Honestly, I’d much rather being going down to Palmerston and playing on that surface, which is a good one, than on a tight, dry, rutted, bumpy end of season pitch. “We have players in our squad who are technically good - and you need to be on that surface. It is not a problem, one million per cent. The two games we lost there previously had nothing to do with the surface - Queens played well and we weren’t very good.” McCall could hand Northern Ireland winger Shane Ferguson his debut now he is fit again after a knee injury, although it is likely to be from the bench. McCall urged his players when he first arrived at the club in March to visualise the moment at the end of the season when they could secure their top flight status for the first time since 2012, when the club started again in the Third Division. He added: “I mentioned that again this morning. We talked about exactly where we are and what we would like to be doing. And that’s it. “It has come down to a season we hope will last six games and in recent weeks we can point to a lot of good, strong performances. There is no negativity from us. I’m looking forward to the games. No-one can predict how they will go, but I have enough confidence in the group that we can do it.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-boss-stuart-mccall-nobody-5664515 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laudbertz 0 Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Not really liking what he's saying in interviews at the moment, we havent even got past QotS and he alread has an air about him as if a) he's definitely going to be in charge b) we're definitely getting promoted. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisabeer 409 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I care. The manner in which you win dictates how good a team you are. When Rangers play i want to see some guile imagination and a touch of class to boot. The end doesnt justify the means mr McCall and if you want the Rangers job on a permanent basis i suggest you chanfe your way of thinking. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig 5,199 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I care. The manner in which you win dictates how good a team you are. When Rangers play i want to see some guile imagination and a touch of class to boot. The end doesnt justify the means mr McCall and if you want the Rangers job on a permanent basis i suggest you chanfe your way of thinking. Disagree. The end DOES justify the means in this instance. You care about the style of play - the reality is that if we gain promotion we will more than likely be having a massive clear-out and bringing in better standard of players which, all things being equal, should mean better performances. If we don't gain promotion we get the same clear-out... but the quality of player will be poorer too. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trublusince1982 243 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 not looking forward to playing them. one benefit of being demoted was getting rid of that lot. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Disagree. The end DOES justify the means in this instance. You care about the style of play - the reality is that if we gain promotion we will more than likely be having a massive clear-out and bringing in better standard of players which, all things being equal, should mean better performances. If we don't gain promotion we get the same clear-out... but the quality of player will be poorer too. The quality of manager we have next season is the most important factor. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 not looking forward to playing them. one benefit of being demoted was getting rid of that lot. Do you enjoy playing Queen of the South and Livingston? Give me an old firm derby any day of the week. It's the only interesting thing about Scottish football. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisabeer 409 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I will never accept the current standard of football that were playing. Not ever. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gribz 745 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Got to agree with Gisabeer, if we was attempting to play attractive stuff then people might be more positive about the future. But its a bit of a lottery at the moment. If we do go up we need quite a lot of surgery to make us near the top. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,562 Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 The point is that should we gain promotion, no-one bar a few media detractors and never-contents will speak about that in a year's time, not to mention 5 years. Well, of course the locals in all those places where we played thus far in the lower leagues will remember the "mighty Rangers" visiting town/village, even more so if their clubs actually got a result. That though is usually all they will be able to talk about in years to come. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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