When you’re top you need to keep your foot on the Gaz
Signing of Paul after Old Firm loss was boost for Hateley
Rangers were beaten 3-0 by Celtic at Hampden and Walter Smith didn’t even take a seat in the postmatch press conference.
Instead, the story goes that he put his foot on a desk, bent over to tie his shoelaces and nonchalantly told reporters that he was signing Paul Gascoigne that week.
It was a bit of psychological genius from one of Scottish football’s legendary gaffers.
Just like his good friend Sir Alex Ferguson, Smith was a master of managerial mind games.
After an Old Firm drubbing – albeit in a dead rubber after Gers had sealed their seventh title in a row in 1995 – it was the perfect deflection tactic.
More than that, Smith sent out a message to his Glasgow rivals, who’d go on to win the Scottish Cup, that the Ibrox club weren’t about to stand still.
Sure enough, England star Gazza a r r ived that summer for £ 4.5million from Lazio and was Player of the Year as Rangers wrapped up title No. 8, then nine.
Circumstances are different now with Steven Gerrard’s side still waiting to properly celebrate their first league flag in a decade.
But former striker Mark Hateley insists the same rules apply when it comes to staying on top and ahead of the game.
He played that day in 1995 when Celtic battered Gers with strikes from Pierre van Hooijdonk, Rudi Vata and a Craig Moore own goal.
Incredibly, the Hoops finished fourth in the table that season, with Smith’s men streets ahead.
But their response to losing a so- called meaningless Old Firm f ixture was to go out and strengthen their squad with the arrival of Gascoigne.
Hateley insists Rangers must show that they’re ready to stay at No.1 this summer, irrespective of the result at Ibrox this afternoon.
Ahead of today’s derby at Ibrox, he told MailSport: “When you’re on top, you need to stay there and you do that by signing big players and being ahead of your rivals.
“You need to lead. You need to be a proactive force, not reactive.
“Rangers need a continuation now of the good work that has already been done. The good stuff has to be maintained. Then other bits, like signings, should follow.
“I think there will be clubs who come in for four or five of Rangers’ top players this summer so they could be victims of their own success in that regard.
“But that’s why you need to build on it and be proactive.
“That’s what Walter did back in ‘95. We’d just been beaten 3- 0 by Celtic but, f*** me, we’re about to sign Paul Gascoigne.
“So the headlines were all about Rangers again.
“That’s the challenge for Steven and the club now, to stay on top and make sure there are more Rangers headlines to come.
“Whatever happens in this derby, they need to stay ahead of the game.
“They can’t say, this squad has done really well, let’s go again. You have to be relentless, like we were during 9-in-a-row.
“Sir David Murray put himself out there, put his money where his mouth was. It was bang, bang, summer after summer, the big names would come in.
“It wasn’t too many, just enough to keep the team moving forward.
“It kept everyone on their toes and it kept players looking over their shoulders.”
Hateley believes that through Smith and No.2 Archie Knox, Gers were drilled never to rest on their laurels, despite domestic success.
That’s why, even after that seventh title, the arrival of Gascoigne was welcomed by everyone at Ibrox.
He said: “In ‘ 95, we’d just won seven titles in a row but we still went and signed Gascoigne.
“It kept us al l fresh on the training ground and in the dressing- room. That’s a good work ing env ironment for professional athletes.
“If you’re a runner and the world champion comes to train with you your time gets better and you get faster. That’s what it’s like with top players.
“We felt it from Walter and Archie back in the day. We were lucky that the players and management back then were similar types of animal.
“We had good characters, we knew what it was all about. I don’t need to tell you about Walter.
“Neither him nor Archie took any prisoners and the team I played in didn’t either.
“It’s like when you’re one or two up in a game, you have to go for three and four, as many as you can.
“You need to have that ruthless mentality.
“That’s where Rangers need to be right now. They’re at the stage where Steven’s building a bigger, better group of players.
“I expect that to continue this summer. We have to stay on the course Steven plotted a while back.
“Despite winning the title, we need to go again.”
There’s little at stake in today’s Old Firm clash, other than Rangers’ bid to go through the league campaign undefeated.
Hateley insists there’s always something riding on a game against Celtic and wants Gerrard’s side to make a statement of intent for next term, as they look to keep their closest rivals at bay.
He sa id : “There a re no meaningless Old Firm games. Even if you’ve wrapped up the title you don’t want to lose to Celtic.
“It still hurts, as it did for us in ‘95. It’s all about remaining on top.
“You don’t want to give your r ivals any encouragement whatsoever. You want to keep the impetus and momentum going.
“A victory would keep everyone, especially the fans, positive over the summer.
“It would also ask the question again of your nearest challengers. You say to them: ‘ This is where we are , come and get us.’
“It sounds brutal but when you’re on top, you need to keep your rivals in their place. In boxing, if you’ve got a fighter on the back foot, you try to keep him going backwards.”
● You can listen to Mark Hateley weekly on Rangers Connection Podcasts where he’s joined by
Alex Rae.