Lee McCulloch wants Sevco to show the fighting spirit of Walter Smith’s EBT heroes.
The former Wigan star was one of the few players to TUPE over when Rangers Football Club went into liquidation in 2012.
Within a couple of years of fielding ineligible players such as Steven Naismith, Kyle Lafferty and Nacho Novo McCulloch found himself sharing a dressing room with Ian Black and Kevin Kyle.
That ought to have acted as a culture shock to anyone but the misplaced superiority mindset burns brightly to this day despite six years of living without tax scams to entice better players.
Dundee head to Ibrox on Saturday looking to give the home fans their eighth defeat of the season with that sort of stat angering the ultility man known fondly as Jig.
“Everyone everywhere is being negative at the moment,” McCulloch told The Express. “Any time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the radio it’s Rangers this or Rangers that.
“However, they still have a chance to win the Scottish Cup and cement second place, and if the players don’t believe that they’re as well not being there.
“There has to be a winning mentality similar to the one shown by the team I played in.
“If I was in that position in the dressing room now then I’d be thinking that we had a cup to win.
“And I’d even be thinking we could still win the league because it’s not yet mathematically impossible. And if we don’t do that then we need to finish second.”
He added: “Everyone is being negative and saying that this is the worst home season in the club’s history, but they shouldn’t be thinking like that.
“Up until two games ago you could argue they were in contention for the league with a home game against Celtic. The expectation levels were back. The feel-good factor was back in the stands.
“The average age of the squad is coming down as well and it just needs a little bit of patience from everybody now.
“The semi-final is basically their final. There is a helluva lot at stake. It would be good for Rangers to get a win over Celtic psychologically but it would also be good for the club to get back to a final.”
As captain of Sevco McCulloch led the club to Ramsden Cup defeats against Queen of the South, Raith Rovers and Alloa before bowing out after a 6-1 play-off defeat from Motherwell.
