IT has been a very promising start to the campaign for Rangers for a number of reasons.

The display on Friday night in the 3-1 win over St Mirren really set the tone and I thought the team played very well and it was good for such a big crowd to witness a performance like it against a good team.

One of the biggest positives on the night for me was the performance of Lee Wallace. Not only did he grab a brace, he also demonstrated his excellent leadership qualities that have made him a natural choice to be the new Rangers captain.

I think Lee has earned the right to be skipper the side. To stay at Rangers when everyone left and be as magnificent as he has been I believe makes him worthy to wear the arm band.

I think last year Lee dipped a wee bit but already this season you have seen how brilliant he has been.

He got his two goals against St Mirren and I’m not surprised given how often he surges forward and gets himself. He has perhaps been a bit unlucky in the past, but on Friday everything went right for him and it was great to see.

Lee looks a different player this season and I think the reason to that is that he is playing with better players around him. The team on a whole has helped him. Already you can see when the goalkeeper has the ball it’s not a matter of sprinting up the park when the ball lands in the other half, the back four now need to look for it.

It’s a different way of playing but it’s a game that suits Lee. Rangers have seven or eight good passers of the ball in the team and that helps him as well.

It has to be said as well that over the past few years there has been a fair bit of expectation placed on Lee’s shoulders, rightly or wrongly. He came to Rangers from Hearts with a big reputation and a lot of people perhaps questioned him staying throughout everything.

Lee was clearly one of the most talented in the team coming through the divisions and that brings pressure. Now he has better players around him he can deliver more.

He is of a certain age where more will be getting asked of him and that’s why it’s encouraging to see him coming on to a great game and it being recognised.

When Danny Wilson came in during the summer after captaining Hearts to the Championship title, many believed he was the top pick to be the new Rangers skipper, but I think you have to earn the right to be the captain of this club. You shouldn’t just be brought in.

Someone who has been there, seen it and done it through everything, knows the staff and does it on the park is the right man, and at the moment that’s Lee. He has handled himself really well.

Lee even has a team in Edinburgh that he coaches a couple of nights a week as well, he’s taken that on himself and why shouldn’t he do it? He is the natural choice and Mark Warburton has clearly seen something in him.

The team are performing well around him and that should be taken into consideration. Rangers endured a bumpy season last year and things hopefully have started to smooth out. Perhaps Lee emerging to lead the team has been a part of that.

Gordon Strachan has had him in his Scotland squad and he can’t be far away from another call up, especially if he continues to produce displays like he did against St Mirren.

I know we already have a couple of full-backs to pick from for the national team but you need to reward players. I think he deserves to be in the squad and I also believe it will do him the world of good. He could go on to become an even better player.

Just the thought of Lee being in the Scotland squad now he is in the Championship would be good for his own morale and also the players around him. If there is one person in that squad that merits recognition, it’s him.

If Rangers were still in the big time or he was still at Hearts then there is no doubt in my mind he’d be in that Scotland squad. But he’d be there on merit, just as he has been before.

There are too many people outside the game who say he’s been called up before because he is a Rangers player and they need to have one, what a load of absolute tosh.

If you are the Scotland manager and you need results, you pick players who are playing well. That’s why if he keeps his form up over the next few games then why shouldn’t he be called up to the squad?

Stuart McCall spoke very highly of Lee last week and he is part of Gordon’s backroom team. If someone like that is talking about him in those terms, I’m sure the manager is listening.