‘Tiring’ – Exclusive: Alex McLeish responds as Danny Murphy makes ‘remarkable’ Rangers claim
We’re delighted to welcome former Rangers manager Alex McLeish as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Ibrox…
Alex McLeish has said that Rangers can compete on both fronts this season, with a big enough squad to lift the Premiership and make a big run in the Europa League.
McLeish was reacting to comments made by talkSPORT pundit Danny Murphy who said that while it was “remarkable” what Rangers had achieved so far, Gerrard should prioritise the Premiership. [talkSPORT, Nov 9, 10am].
“If I was Stevie I’d be prioritising the league,” Murphy said. “There are some very good teams in the Europa League and I can’t see them winning that.”
Talking to Ibrox News McLeish said, “I completely understand where Danny Murphy is coming from. We’ve often seen that in England when Burnley had a run in Europe and then the results suffered in the Premier League.
“But it’s why Steven’s amassed a big squad to try and cope with the two major competitions.
“When I was in Belgium they really craved European glory over there. They were all desperate to be in the Champions League.
“And also, the Europa League was a big thing for the Belgians because they felt that possibly they could get a wee bit more success there, and the further they went in the competition, the more delighted the press was.
“Steven can do both. It is going to be a very tiring group, though, a demanding group.
“The one factor which you try to overcome is to make sure that the players are not burning themselves out in certain runs of consecutive games.
“But, Steven and Gary McAllister are experienced guys, they’ve got a good medical team and they’ll be in constant dialogue about the fitness levels of all the key players.”
With no winter break this season, the fixtures are going to start piling up.
Rangers get their domestic campaign back underway a week on Sunday when Aberdeen travel to Ibrox. They’ve got a nine-point lead over Celtic who have two games in hand.
Then it’s Benfica at Ibrox as Rangers look to take a huge step towards qualifying for the knockout stage of the Europa League.
In other Rangers news, ‘Immense’, ‘Outstanding’ – These fans blown away by int’l display from one Rangers player