Alex McLeish insists new Rangers keeper Jack Butland needs to take a leaf out of Joe Hart’s book if he’s to jump-start a career revival.
The former Light Blues boss worked with the one-time England international while he was making his first-team breakthrough over a decade ago at Birmingham City. The last of Butland’s nine caps was won five years ago and McLeish has compared the 30-year-old with his Hoops counterpart – and is taking the credit for convincing the Celtic No.1 to catch, rather than punch, high balls.
He said: “Jack was at Birmingham with me as a kid. A big unit of a guy. It’s a Joe Hart-like signing. Funny enough, I had Joe on loan for a year from Manchester City and I told him how to catch the ball instead of punching it. I was like: ‘You are 6ft 3 or 4in, what are you trying to punch it for? Your arms are above everybody else and you are the only one allowed to touch the ball with your hands in the box.’”
Butland has been with eight English clubs already in his career and his longest spell was with Stoke City from 2013 to 2021, during which time he made 169 appearances. But he struggled to win a battle with Asmir Begovic and Thomas Sorensen for the gloves and that lack of top-team action is a concern for McLeish, with his last senior outing tracking back to a match for Crystal Palace last May.
And the former Light Blues and Scotland gaffer insists the player who has signed a four-year-deal still has to prove he can cut it at the highest level. He said: “Jack still has to prove he is at that kind of level. His history shows that he should have that kind of confidence, like Joe has brought to Celtic. But he is maybe smarting a wee bit that he has not been a 100 per cent regular in the English divisions.”
While there are no question marks over the high quality Butland possesses as a keeper, a failure to build on the superb start to his career at Birmingham City has critics suggesting his succession of loan spells in the English game is a sign of a failure to fulfil that potential.
McLeish said: “Why has Jack not lived up to that expectation he had earlier in his career? I am not sure. We never quite saw him scale the heights in England but playing at the level where he got England caps tells you he has it in his locker.” McLeish also believes following in the footsteps of Ibrox hero Allan McGregor will be a high bar to reach but insisted: “I think Jack will want to prove a point.”
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