Rangers legend Neil McCann has stepped into the press conference chair in place of Barry Ferguson ahead of the Scottish Premiership visit of Hibs.
The former Scotland international winger, 50, is part of a Rangers coaching staff propped up by club legends Ferguson, McCann, Billy Dodds and Allan McGregor, with Issame Charai offering a fresh perspective as an assistant.
McCann hailed the Rangers backroom team heading into the clash with Dundee, the Gers leaving Dens Park with McCann’s record of being the last Dees boss to beat Rangers still in tact.
With Rangers now set to return to Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership against Hibs, here’s five takeaways as Neil McCann addresses the press and Rangers look to record a first Ibrox win under Barry Ferguson.
Rangers will take ‘no risks’ with Vaclav Cerny injury v Hibs
Neil McCann has confirmed that Vaclav Cerny is a Rangers injury doubt for the Scottish Premiership visit of Hibs.
But with La Liga outfit Athletic Bilbao on the horizon in the Europa League, the Rangers assistant insists the Czech winger won’t be unnecessarily risked at Ibrox.
“(Cerny is) still working with the medical department and he’ll join us tomorrow hopefully, but we’re still unsure whether he’ll make it or not,” McCann said.
“He’s making really good progress so we’re hopeful that he’ll be involved on Saturday. We’ve got such big games coming up, Saturday is one of them, but as you know the European games are huge so we just have to be guided by him.
“We’ll push him as much as we can because he’s been really important for us, but we’ll take no risks if he’s not feeling 100%.”
Rangers trying to eradicate Philippe Clement ‘bad habits’
Neil McCann and the Rangers coaching staff have tried to be mega flexible with the Rangers team since taking the reins at Ibrox.
This is a criticism that was levelled at former Rangers manager Philippe Clement, who was accused of being married to one system despite the variety of challenges in Scotland.
McCann claims that the Rangers backroom team are collectively trying to rub out some of those ‘bad habits’ which have plagued the Ibrox side’s season.
“Obviously we can’t divulge what we said, but our thoughts on Barry’s comments about bad habits creeping back,” McCann said.
“I think the difficult thing for us is that in the short space of time we’ve been in the doors, we’ve thrown an unbelievable amount of information at them.
“I think you’ll all recognise that we’ve wanted to change shape a number of times, not only from the start of matches against different opposition but during matches when we felt it maybe wasn’t going right.
”It’s obvious that old coaching habits, maybe things that they’ve been encouraged to do previous to us coming in will still remain as a hard wire.
“It’s up to us, if we don’t like those we’ll try and change them. They have to take a wee bit of time out.
”We’re all aware that it will take a wee bit of time to get that information in to them so it’s second nature, it’s about repetition.”
Cyriel Dessers earns Neil McCann backing
Cyriel Dessers grabbed the headlines v Dundee with a late Dens Park winner which completed a quite remarkable 4-3 Rangers comeback.
But Dessers has been criticised by fans in the aftermath of the game for spurning a host of opportunities against Dundee, the Rangers striker taking 12 shots in total in the match.
McCann has leapt to the defence of Dessers ahead of the visit of Hibs, claiming that he was ‘proud’ of the big striker’s resilience in the face of adversity.
“He will always divide opinion, Cyriel, because he will miss chances in games,” McCann told reporters.
“I think that’s the life of a striker. I said to him I was so proud of him after the game because he literally did not stop making runs.
”We’re always asking him to make runs and continue to believe he’s going to score. I told him at half-time I believed he was going to score. We just have to keep making chances for him.”
Focus on Hibs and not Barry Ferguson’s future
Neil McCann was also asked about Barry Ferguson’s managerial credentials ahead of the visit of Hibs.
Andy Halliday reckons Ferguson is a long-shot to land the Rangers manager’s gig full-time and McCann refused to be drawn on any speculation.
The focus is fully on Hibs and not what happens next, even if Barry’s former Rangers teammate paid tribute to the midfielder.
“Honestly, it’s not my place to tell – if it is a new ownership coming – if he should get the job,” McCann said.
”What I would say is that I’ve been very impressed by how he wants to work. He’s shown a willingness to allow Doddsy and I a lot of say on the training field and in matches.
“A lot of people maybe thought from his coaching CV that he maybe wouldn’t even be ready to even take this position. I think he’s proved that wrong. So it’s not my place to say but I don’t think anybody in this building will tell you anything different.”
‘Coal face’ Neil McCann not scared of return to punditry
Neil McCann himself has been out of the coaching game for a while after stints working at Dundee and then Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
The former Rangers winger was making a living as a leading Scottish football pundit and has admitted that if he has to go back to the commentary box, he’ll embrace it with open arms.
Not that the former Rangers star isn’t loving his time at Ibrox. McCann is a student of the game and is delighted to be able to test himself within the walls of Auchenhowie.
“I love the whole strategy and management,” McCann said. I’ve loved my time already and being part of Rangers is something I’m very proud of.
“I was a player and now I’ve been given the chance to come back and put the badge back on again as part of the coaching team. But if I need to go back to punditry I’ll give it 100% as well.”
