Rangers squad ‘encouraged to air views’ - Holt

RANGERS under Mark Warburton don’t just do their talking on the pitch. Midfielder Jason Holt has embraced life at Ibrox because he sees such value in the squad being encouraged by the Ibrox manager to air views, and pore over reviews of matches during the week at Murray Park. .

Manager Mark Warburton and Jason Holt train together at Murray Park yesterday. Picture: Rangers FC/PA

The former Hearts man believes the approach has been central to establishing a professional bond that has been one of the drivers in Warburton’s side motoring to ten straight victories. To this Ibrox manager it is patently a case of the team that thinks together, wins together.

“There is a lot of meetings – nearly every day actually we’ll go over stuff and as players we’ve got the chance to give our views as well,” Holt said. “Here we just go through things together – the management and players. We’ll go through the analysis and the players definitely get a good say in that as well. The more you do of that kind of thing the better. Each team you play, you need to respect them. You need to look at them and their strengths. It’s important you do that kind of thing as well.”

Shades of Hearts last season, indeed. Something the midfielder knows all about – even if Holt was sent out on loan from the Tynecastle club for the second half of the club’s procession to the Championship ahead of being told he was allowed to leave to bolster his opportunities for first-team football. Holt feels he has swapped one rock-solid unit for another with the move to Glasgow.

“One of the main things that’s similar is the atmosphere in and around the place,” he said. “In the dressing room, there’s a really tight group of players and everyone gets on really well.

“I think that shows on the park. We haven’t had to do much away from the park to enhance that. It’s just been through working really hard together on the training ground. If you do that, during the week, it will show on the pitch and it has done so far.

“When you are on a run like this, you look forward to going. There’s a real buzz around the place – there has been since day one just with the new management coming in. It’s been really positive since the first day.”

Holt, who expects to shake off a knock to be available for tomorrow’s trip to Dumbarton, has enjoyed more prosperous times at Ibrox than the few anticipated. He didn’t much care for the suggestion that cementing his place with nine starts from the club’s ten encounters might have surprised him.

“I don’t know about being surprised about it,” he said. “You want to play every week so to get the nod in the majority of the games has been great for me. I’ve really enjoyed playing in the team. The way the manager has come in and stamped his style on it – I think I speak on behalf of all the players – we’re really enjoying it.

“The passing style is great for every player in the team because you are always getting lots of touches of the ball. It goes through the midfield a lot and it’s great to be involved so much. All the new boys have gelled really well and we just need to keep it up. The manager just tells me to go and play and do what I am good at. I try to get myself forward as much as possible, play off the strikers and link with the rest of the team. We are all getting on really well in the team. Long may it continue.”