On The Road Again IT feels like it was only a few days ago we watched Rangers bring their League One campaign to an end with a 1-1 draw at Dunfermline. Yet here we are, more than eight weeks on, with the team back in training once again and set to embark on the first of its two summer tours as preparations for the Championship intensify. The journey to North America just under a fortnight from now is one I expect Ally McCoist’s squad to benefit from. While games there will be against sides few Light Blues fans know much about, they will still provide good opposition and be the type Gers need to face in a warm-up campaign. If they weren’t, the manager wouldn’t have agreed to matches against them and he will believe positives can be taken from each fixture. Before then, we have a five-night stay in the north of Scotland to look forward to and that’s an exercise which will serve a purpose as well. In almost seven years working at Rangers, I’ve been fortunate enough to follow the team to some fantastic places. Pre-season camps have included stays in Sydney and at the excellent Klosterpforte Hotel in Germany, Portugal’s purpose-built base during the 2006 World Cup finals. I’ve seen competitive action against big-name European sides in Barcelona, Seville, Lisbon, Florence, Athens, Bucharest, Bremen and Manchester too. Yet few trips have been as enjoyable as that to Brora 12 months ago, where a good chunk of a pre-season many players would claim was the toughest they’d had was experienced. The welcome we had and hospitality club staff encountered was terrific but lots of hard work was done too by the playing pool in gruelling double sessions at Dudgeon Park. When Rangers went into administration in 2012, few other clubs wanted anything to do with the Light Blues but Brora had offered the use of facilities. Taking their offer up a year down the line paid off for the manager as it gave his men a grounding from which they went on to enjoy a dominant League One victory. The kindness and compassion shown by the good folk of Sutherland has never been forgotten by people here. As such, it was with genuine pleasure we looked on from afar to see the Cattachs win the Highland League for the first time in their 135-year history in March. Ahead of the drive to the Highlands tomorrow, we know the team will be well looked after there and given everything it needs to build foundations for the challenges ahead. My sole complaint about last year’s stay in Brora was that Rangers’ match against their hosts was on the same day as men’s singles final day at Wimbledon. I’m not sure Alistair himself realised the two clashed, for he was straight into the boardroom after the final whistle to watch the last stages of Andy Murray’s win over Novak Djokovic. My polite request to ensure there was no such collision this year clearly went unheeded because the same scenario will unfold this coming Sunday. One thing we’re not sure of is whether Murray will be playing but another which is certain is everyone at Brora will make sure we see the match if he is. No stone will be left unturned, no matter how big or small, and it’s the perfect place for the next phase of preparations to take place. Tennis might provide a little light relief but only after some graft first and a platform is there from which Rangers should spring forward. Follow Andrew on Twitter @rfc_dickson and read his blogs throughout pre-season on the official club website.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 15:46:49 +0000
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