No need for a mentor at Ibrox, insists No 3 Durrant

RANGERS first-team coach Ian Durrant says the club’s current management team have no desire to seek the help of a more experienced mentor as they strive for success in their first season in charge of the champions.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon’s surprise admission this week that he backed a failed bid to recruit former boss Gordon Strachan in an advisory role earlier this season underlined the pressure faced by a fledgling coaching set-up in the Old Firm environment.

But, while Durrant empathises with Lennon’s observation that it is valuable to be able to lean on someone who understands the demands of managing one of the big Glasgow clubs, he believes it is vital to place your own individual imprint on the job.

Durrant said: “He said that we don’t have the answers all the time and he’s right. It’s about getting advice and maybe Neil, or someone at Celtic, thinks that Gordon Strachan is the perfect man for advice. But I also think that, when you take the job on, you have to be your own man.”

Along with manager Ally McCoist and assistant Kenny McDowall, Durrant is charged with maintaining the success which Walter Smith achieved.

Durrant revealed that 63-year-old Smith, still a regular attender at Rangers’ home games this season, remains a valuable sounding board for McCoist, but only on an informal and social basis.

“I know the manager speaks to Walter regularly, although not in a mentor way,” added Durrant. “It’s just that we have worked for the man for so long. We are in the fortunate situation where we can speak to Walter.

“He still comes to the games, he comes in afterwards and we discuss the football. But it’s not about ‘should we be doing this or that?’. It’s more football banter. He has a season ticket for life at Ibrox so, after home games, he comes down to see us and has his usual glass of wine.

“If Celtic want to go down that road of a mentor, then that’s great because I think Neil and Gordon have a great relationship. But from our side, Walter is only a phone call away when you need advice. It has been more banter than advice, though.”

Rangers saw their lead over Celtic at the top of the table cut to seven points on Wednesday when Lennon’s men defeated Dunfermline 2-1 at Parkhead in their game in hand. If Celtic win again at home to St Mirren tomorrow, Rangers would be just four points clear going into their match at Kilmarnock on Sunday.

“We’ve had a couple of blips, at home to St Mirren and St Johnstone but, if someone had said at the start of the season we would be seven points clear in November, we would have bitten their hand off,” said Durrant.

“At the Old Firm, you are always under pressure. They look at us and think ‘will Rangers crack?’. It’s vice-versa too. We just have to respond.”