Make Lafferty the centrepiece of attack, says Stein

KYLE Lafferty will have to deliver more goals and become more of a physical threat if Rangers are to have any chance of retaining the SPL league title, according to one of the club’s most legendary strikers.

It was Colin Stein’s strike which opened the scoring in Barcelona on 24 May, 1972 and set Rangers on course for a 3-2 triumph over Dynamo Moscow in the Cup Winners’ Cup final and, speaking as the club unveiled plans for a 40th anniversary dinner, he stressed the current squad need to weigh in with more goals, regardless of whether they hang on to top scorer Nikica Jelavic.

“Lafferty must play through the centre. He’s been tried in wide areas and he doesn’t look the part to me. But he’s a big guy and must put himself about a bit more. He’s well over six feet and there’s nothing to stop him. He’s athletic, so let him get on with it. He should be more of a physical threat and score more goals for someone of his talent.

“When you think back to the last two months of last season, Lafferty and Jelavic had formed a great partnership. I went through to the kitchen at the start of the last game of the season against Kilmarnock and when I came back it was 3-0. They were incredible that day.”

Lafferty is on his way back from injury but manager Ally McCoist cannot guarantee a quick return and, with the added long-term loss of Steven Naismith, Stein, who still attends Rangers matches, says the club cannot afford to lose Jelavic. Tempted down south himself in 1972 by big wages and the promise of greater fame, he can understand the lure for the Croat, who he believes would prosper. “It would be a big void created by the loss of Jelavic. He’s scored 17, 18 goals. I think the next top scorer is on six. If you are going to win a league then you need someone to score 25 goals a season – at least.

“I always felt it was nice to play with two strikers. I liked having someone beside me, because up there and fighting against three guys at the back is not easy. If you’re relying on one man to score most of the goals then it’s very hard. Ally was talking about that problem after the game last weekend. You must have a variety of goalscorers. If one is injured, what do you do then?

“I sympathise greatly with the manager. I am sure he is the man for the job but the circumstances are extremely hard for him. I think we’ll wait and see what happens with this transfer window before we see if Rangers are going to challenge Celtic for the title or not.”

But he also wants to see Rangers preserve the proud traditions and history of which he and his fellow Barcelona Bears are a major part of and balks at talk of the club going under. “It would be nice for it to be all cleared up before we are sitting down at that dinner. But I don’t think you could start up as a new club. The tradition and history of this club is second to none so I don’t think you could do that.”