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McCulloch’s relief as he escapes his Ibrox hell

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Rangers v Heart of Midlothian - Scottish ChampionshipLee McCulloch has spoken out about the ‘car crash’ season he had to endure last term at Ibrox.

All seemed well at Ibrox when Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller were snapped up for the final step of the journey to the top tier of Scottish football with the inspirational McCulloch proudly wearing the captain’s armband with pride.

Despite completing League One unbeaten the wheels quickly fell off with Alloa ending the Ibrox clubs’ interest in the Petrofac Cup before being sent on gardening leave before Christmas.

Kenny McDowall saved embarrassment with a 2-0 League Cup semi-final defeat to a Celtic side in second gear before the shambles ended amid own goals, punches and a 6-1 mauling from Motherwell in the Premiership play-off.

Before that final day of shame the Ibrox boo boys turned on their skipper by booing him during a 2-2 draw at home to Falkirk after the Scottish Cup finalists had raced into a 2-0 lead. Jig as he is affectionately known was dropped for the next match at Tynecastle.

To cap it all the Gallant Pioneer left the club without a single word of thanks before Dave King slaughtered the eleven out of contract aces for failing to deliver promotion.

Last season at Rangers was tough, our season just ended up turning into a car crash,” the former Wigan favourite admitted as he was introduced as the new Kilmarnock assistant manager. “We had a team playing for most of the season with no confidence whatsoever.

Criticism of the players is something that’s going to happen when you’re at a club that size. You’ve got to look on it as a disappointment when you’re Glasgow Rangers and you can only finish third in the Championship — that’s an understatement.

The fans were protesting against the board and, three or four times, I wanted to come out, but I was told not to.

When we weren’t playing well, I wanted to say that the team was massively underachieving and so is the club, but I was told to say “We’ll bounce back at the weekend”.

I was just the fall guy, being the captain, and I take full responsibility. Some people have had a go back but everyone’s entitled to their opinion. but how could I have a dig back at Rangers after what the fans and the club and everyone inside it have given me during my time there?”

Two weeks ago Gary Locke suggested that there may be a coaching role at Ibrox for McCulloch but with cash too tight for players another coaching salary was never likely even after the sackings of Gordon Durie and fitness guru Jim Henry.

Ally McCoist’s £16,000 a week gardening fees is a massive drain on resources but McCulloch has no worries that the new management team will deliver Mr King’s Champions League dream.

I had a chat with Mark and Davie and what they’re going to do at the club is very exciting,” the Killie assistant added. “In my opinion, though, they’re going to need a wee bit of time because they’re going to totally revamp the club from top to bottom.

Hopefully, the fans will be patient with them because I’m 99 per cent certain that they are going to get it right and have the club challenging again, where it belongs.

Stuart McCall came in at the latter part of last season and did really well. He’s a fantastic manager but I think that Mark and David will put their own stamp on the club.

They have new ideas and Rangers will now be playing modern-day football. That itself is something that takes time and the educated fans will appreciate that and respect that.”

It remains to be seen if the educated fans will buy up the 45,000 season tickets targetted by Mr King who has still to invest a penny in the club without an auditor, nominated adviser or index to trade shares in.

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