As has been extensiveley documented, Connor Barron grew up as an Aberdeen supporter, making his move to Ibrox a less than popular one in the Granite City. Having been a Dons fan himself though, you might think it unlikely he would have looked up to any Rangers players when he was a youngster.
You might think it even unlikelier that the player in question would be Paul Gascoigne, given the treatment he dished out to Aberdeen during his Rangers career. Most memorably, his sensational Ibrox hat-trick in the 3-1 win that clinched an eighth league title in succession back in 1996.
Barron couldn’t help but harbour a grudging admiration for the talent Gascogne possessed, though. The 21-year-old would never compare himself to the mercurial Geordie, with his own strengths a little less eye-catching, if sure to be useful to this Rangers side nonetheless. But when asked if there was a Rangers player he had grown up admiring, there was no hesitation.
“Gazza,” Barron said.
“I looked up to him a lot. My dad was a big Gazza fan, and he kind of introduced me to him when I was a young boy.
“I’ve watched his clips, and I loved the way he played, and I know how successful he was at this club.
“He was one that I looked up to a lot at this club.”
Barron has many direct links to Rangers too, and had plenty of potential contacts to lean on for advice ahead of his move to Ibrox. The most obvious one would have been a man who has walked the same path from Pittodrie to Glasgow, in Ryan Jack, but there have been no shortage of brains for Barron to pick.
“I never managed to speak to Ryan as he was away with Scotland at the Euros,” he said.
“But I spoke to Scotty Wright and Kevin Thomson, Leon (King), Alex (Lowry), all the young boys that are here. I spoke to the manager and the staff, and it was an easy decision.”
Perhaps the opinion he placed most stock in was that of former Rangers midfielder Thomson, who was not only close in profile as a player to Barron, but who coached him in the early days of his career.
“I got introduced to [Kevin] earlier, and earlier in my career I was on loan at Kelty Hearts and had a successful spell under him,” he said.
“The things he taught me were brilliant and the way he wanted to play suited me to a tee and helped my development a lot. It really felt like I came on as a player under him.
“Having that chat, he told me things about the past and what it was like when he was here as a player and now as a coach. He only had good things to say.
“He’s always there and said to me he’s just a text message away if I need anything which is nice to hear from someone like him and the stature he has at the club.”
Having gleaned knowledge from the past, then, and leaned on the experiences of his own career and those who have gone before him, Barron feels ready to fix his gaze on the future.
There is gratitude for what has gone before, but Barron’s immediate focus has now switched to establishing himself in Philippe Clement’s team, before helping Rangers towards their collective goals.
“I picked up a lot of experiences at Aberdeen and they’ve all helped me in my career,” he said.
“I look back and pay thanks to the club. I’m respectful of everything they have done for me, and it will always be remembered, because they have made me who I am here today.
“So, I say thank you to them, but my next chapter is Rangers and that is where we go from there. The expectations are clear, individually and as a team.
“We know what we need to do, and we will keep working on things on the training pitch to make sure we are one hundred percent equipped going into the start of the season.”
