Murray is hitting the big time with gers

FORMER Hearts star Alan McLaren knows the emotional turmoil Ian Murray will have gone through before deciding to join Rangers - but today insisted it was too good a chance for the Hibs skipper to turn down.

Eleven years ago McLaren couldn't see his future anywhere other than Tynecastle, living the dream of every Hearts fan of playing for the club he supported, just as Murray has been doing on the other side of the Capital.

But a £2 million-plus bid from Rangers to the cash-strapped Gorgie outfit swept him along the M8 to Ibrox - and into a different world.

He said: "No disrespect to Hibs but Ian is going to a bigger club. As a Scottish boy you have a slight inclination of what you are going to, the size of it all - but even then that will be exceeded.

"It's a world of difference in every way. At Hearts, I knew everyone from the cleaner up to the chairman as I'd imagine Ian does at Easter Road but go to Ibrox and multiply that a few times.

"Every club says it is a family club but at Rangers you are welcomed with open arms, the club looks after you and your family in every way, the emphasis was on the family and the perks at a club of that size were simply amazing.

"Everything is done on a grander scale."

While 24-year-old Murray will be well looked after financially, it is on the pitch where the Scotland star will have to prove himself all over again.

And, although he will have familiar faces around him in manager Alex McLeish, below right, his assistant Andy Watson and physio Stuart Collie, McLaren admits he does have one reservation about Murray's big-money move - exactly where is he going to fit into the Rangers side?

"Being versatile is great but, at the age of 24, you should have a position you call your own" ALAN McLAREN

Now the owner of a stretch-limo firm in Edinburgh, McLaren said: "To me, Ian has to find a position he can call his own, he has to nail his colours to the mast and say what he thinks is his best position, the one he feels most comfortable in.

"Being so versatile is a great thing to have and it could be one of the reasons why McLeish has brought him but at the age of 24 you should have a position you can call your own.

"The good thing for Ian is that it was McLeish who gave him his first start, he knows what he is capable of as does Watson, but while having a player who can fill so many positions is great for a manager you don't want to go through your career being known as a 'gap filler', someone who can play right or left-back, central defence or midfield.

"He's been captain at Easter Road and there's no point joining a bigger club just to sit on the bench, he does need a regular game."

And while Murray has been used to being an automatic choice at Easter Road - he made more than 160 appearances in a green-and-white shirt - McLaren warned him he'll have no such guarantee with Rangers.

But he believes Murray will have little difficulty integrating into a new way of life and winning over a new army of supporters.

He said: "The other players will know him, it's not as if he's coming from some small provincial club in the middle of nowhere.

"He's been playing for a side which finished third in the SPL and, I am sure, he'll have hit a few of the Rangers players with a hard challenge or two.

"However, he is starting again with a clean sheet, the only way he will win the respect of his fellow players is on the pitch.

"There's no point being a great lad, the only way you do it is by playing."

And as for the fans? McLaren said: "The fact Ian has joined Rangers on a Bosman could make things easier for him, he doesn't have a big, silly price tag hanging around his neck.

"Tore Andre Flo is the perfect example of what that can do for a player. He was a good player but that stupid £12 million price tag meant he had to score a hat-trick every single week or he'd be regarded as a flop. Rangers fans are the same as supporters at any club, give 100 per cent and the fans will love you and Ian isn't one to shirk a tackle. I've seen players vanish right in front of me. I remember Staale Stensaas pulling out of a challenge on the halfway line right in front of the main stand and 15 minutes later he did the unthinkable by doing the exact same thing.

"You can't do that in front of 50,000 fans, they won't accept it and that was the end of him."

McLaren knows Murray will also find life much different away from football as being a Rangers player will make him instantly recognisable wherever he may be in the world. He said: "In Edinburgh, Ian probably has half of the city hating him, now he's got one half of Glasgow hating him. He'll be recognised a lot more and that can bring grief as well as plaudits.

"On holiday anywhere in the world he might bump into a Hibs fan or two, but now he'll find himself coming across plenty of Rangers fans wherever he goes. A year after I joined Rangers I was in Australia and I couldn't believe the number of Rangers fans I came across, they were round every corner."

And McLaren well knows the hostility a move to the Old Firm from one of Edinburgh's big two can engender in supporters hurt at the sight of yet another favourite player heading west.

He said: "When I went to Rangers the bank were demanding money from Hearts and I was a saleable asset.

"There wasn't a lot I could have done and yet I was back at Tynecastle only a few days later and the fans who had loved me were giving me a fair bit of stick.

"I thought it was a bit unjust but when you look down the colour of the jersey is blue rather than maroon or green, you are a Rangers player rather than one from Hearts or Hibs.

"Big Alex McLeish has been through it himself, being branded a 'Judas' by the Hibs support but he moved because he thought it was the right thing to do and I am sure Ian believes the same.

"Only time will tell if it is the right move but it is a chance to join not just one of the biggest clubs in Britain or Europe but the world.

"There's no doubt Ian will be better off financially and I hope he does have a successful Rangers career. However, he probably won't realise just how big a step up he has made until next season starts and he's playing in front of 50,000 fans every time at Ibrox.

"It will be a totally different environment but he does have people around him who respect him and know his capabilities. Even although he hasn't cost a transfer fee Alex McLeish is still making an investment in him."

THE FACTS

Ian Murray is not the first Hibs player to make a big money move to Rangers, over the past 30-odd years the likes of Colin Stein, Craig Paterson, Andy Goram, Kenny Miller and Russell Latapy among others have made the journey along the M8 to Ibrox.

Stein became Scotland's first £100,000 player when he made the switch in 1969. The striker went on to win 21 Scotland caps and be part of the Rangers side which won the European Cup-Winners Cup in 1972.

Paterson, the son of John Paterson, a member of the Famous Five team, was sold in 1982 with Hibs in financial difficulties unable to resist the £250,000 on offer for the central defender. Paterson also went on to play for Motherwell and Kilmarnock later in his career.

Goram, signed as a virtual unknown from Oldham Athletic although he was already a Scotland cap, made such an impression at Easter Road that Rangers bid £1 million for his services in 1991. After a difficult start at Ibrox he blossomed into one of the club's best ever goalkeeper's, playing his part in the run of nine successive championships.

Miller burst into the first-team at Easter Road as a teenager and after a superb first season in the SPL was the subject of a £2 million bid by Rangers boss Dick Advocaat. His stay at Ibrox lasted just 18 months before he moved on to Wolves, ironically on the day Alex McLeish became Rangers boss.

After being axed by then boss Alex McLeish, Trinidad and Tobago star Latapy caught the eye of Rangers, the little midfielder signing on a free transfer in 2001. However, he was unable to hold down a regular first-team place and moved on to Dundee United and is now eyeing an SPL return with Falkirk.

Taken from the Scotsman