MARK WARBURTON and David Weir have done the right thing by insisting upon higher standards of behaviour from the Rangers players ... and drawing up a code of conduct is a step in the right direction.

On my first day at Rangers, I turned up wearing short sleeves, jeans and trainers.

Manager Jock Wallace had, let’s say, a frank discussion with me and sent me back to Glasgow to get a suit, shirt and tie on.

That’s the standards which were set, and I think a lot of those standards have gone in the last few years.

I’m glad that Mark has come in and realised what this club is all about, and it’s great that he’s starting to bring back the level of decency that the club had built up over many, many decades.

I liked that in one of the first meetings he had with the players he said that if you were turning up just on time, then you were late.

As a player, you’ve got to be in early to prepare for your work, and if you’re turning up right on 10 o’clock, then you should be considered late.

You should be in at quarter-past or half-past nine and be ready and waiting to go to training; it is little things like that and banning mobile phones that set the tone.

When the players are at Murray Park, the concentration should only be on football and doing what they’re at this club for – to train and to play and to make themselves better.

I’m sure David has spoken to Mark a lot about it. They say talk is cheap, but I think that what has been coming from Mark since his first press conference has been very impressive.

You can hear that the players are happy that they’re going to be playing it through midfield now and everybody will be looking to get on the ball, so it will be an interesting game against Burnley next Tuesday.

The five or six players who we’ve been hearing from in the papers who have spoken about the manager since he’s come in are saying that they’re getting a lot of drills on keeping the ball. That’s what Rangers have lacked for the last few years.

The fans don’t want to watch the goalkeeper kicking the ball up the park for a 50/50 between the striker and the defender, especially since Rangers don’t have a big striker.

Burnley are decent side who like to play the ball around, and Rangers will be trying to do the same thing, so when we see them playing then we’ll see if it’s working.

The players are all taking to the new style and are working as hard as they’ve ever worked. It’s all down to the players, and you either go with what the manager says or you’re out the door.

With everything I’ve read from the team though, everybody is buying into what this man’s doing. I know Paul Le Guen faced resistance when he tried to introduce these kinds of rules, but there are not the same sort of established figures in the Rangers dressing room now that there was then.

There are a lot of youngsters in the squad, and if Mark can get the message across to players about what representing Rangers means at that age, then the easier it is for them to get into their heads what is expected of them.

No matter who you are, though, there will always be players who are in a certain routine, and when things change they’re not happy about it.

Well, I’m afraid if you’re not happy with what this manager says, then you’re on your bike – it’s as simple as that.

Thankfully, I’ve not heard from anybody in the squad having a bite back at the manager so far, but time will tell.

I don’t think anybody had a bite back at big Jock Wallace. He was 18 stones and, with the commanding voice he had, there weren’t too many dissenters.

Yes, there were players who would moan when the manager or coaches weren’t in the room saying that they were training us too hard or working us too hard, but at the end of the day we won two Trebles and a European trophy under Jock, so you can’t complain too much about that.

If you weren’t prepared to do what he wanted you to do then away you would go.

Jock only wanted players at Ibrox who were disciplined, that wanted to work his way and play the way he wanted them to play, and he was getting results.

You worked hard and you trained hard, you had to get results and win things. That’s why to this day, he is still a legend for what he won for the club.

If Mark can go even a little way to replicating Jock’s success then he’ll be a hero, and that’s why taking a leaf from Jock’s book and introducing a players’ code of conduct is a good way to start.

Hibs tie will lay down marker for title fight

THE first competitive game is important for any manager, especially when they’re trying to change the way a club has been playing and trying to merge new faces into the side.

When you’re playing against your main title rivals, it also becomes a huge chance to lay down a marker for the season.

It doesn’t matter that next Saturday’s match away to Hibs is in the Petrofac Cup, Rangers have to go into any competition looking to win it because that’s what the fans demand.

And it’s not only important for the fact that they still haven’t won the competition, even though they’ve had three goes at it.

The major thing for Rangers is getting into the Premiership, and Hibs will clearly be Rangers’ biggest danger, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.

They’ve brought in a few players and they look a strong side, so it will be a huge test.

A win away from home against the team that will be alongside them as challengers for the title will send out a message to everybody that Rangers have the mentality for the battle ahead.

That’s no disrespect to St Mirren, Queen of the South or Falkirk, who will all be hard teams to beat, but Alan Stubbs’ Hibees are the team with the best squad of players in the division. Rangers have to be up for it as well, so mentally they have to be ready.

Maybe that’s been a problem in the last few years, these players haven’t been hungry enough and have not realised what Rangers is all about.

There will probably be close to a full house at Easter Road, the Hibs fans will be well up for it as will the Rangers fans, so for both teams it’s a massive tie.

It will be especially hard for Rangers being away from home. Hibs are very good on their own patch and Rangers will have to play well to get a result.

At the end of the game, though, Mark Warburton will know what Rangers is really about, the fans will know what his team are all about and Hibs will know what they’re up against in the battle for promotion.

Signs are right for Halliday

I THINK that Andy Halliday will prove to be another shrewd signing for the club.

He’s obviously played at a good level, and when he played for Livingston there were a few clubs after him.

If Gordon Strachan rated him enough to take him to Middlesbrough then he must have something.

He’s still a young lad, only 23, and according to his previous managers he’s a good, talented player. That’s what Warburton is looking for – young, hungry players with plenty to prove.

The players brought in so far might not all be household names, but over the last three years Rangers have signed players who everybody knows, and they haven’t been good enough.

They haven’t been able to handle everything that goes with being at a big club like Rangers and being under scrutiny all the time.

So it might be better in the Championship to have a small, tight-knit squad of talented young boys who are desperate to play.

The fans should put their faith in the players that the manager is bringing in, and the spine of the team is starting to look good.

I do think however, and Mark alluded to this himself after the game against Ayr United, that a problem for the team is how clinical they are in front of goal.

To do that, I think you need clinical strikers, and I’d imagine bringing in a goalscorer is on the radar. A striker to finish off the chances that the likes of Halliday will be creating is imperative.

Your question for Derek Johnstone

CRAIG BRYAN, of Hamilton, asked DJ: “What do you make of the new purple third kit released this week, and what would the players of your era think if they were asked to wear it?”

“Let’s just say I think there would be a few choice words exchanged in our dressing room if the kitman laid that one out on a match-day. I suppose at the end of the day if it sells it’s a winner. But I don’t like the colour to be honest.

“I know Rangers had the purple strip before in the 90’s, and I didn’t like it then, but that one was nowhere near as bad as this new one. Leave the purple strips to Fiorentina. It doesn’t send the signal out to me that this is Rangers Football Club playing when they step out with a strip like that on.”

If you have a question for Derek, just email him at dj@eveningtimes.co.uk and we’ll print the answer alongside the question.