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.’”
