DOMINIC BALL has revealed that Ugo Ehiogu was a massive influence in making his loan move to Rangers.

But the 19-year-old Tottenham defender can’t believe Ugo didn’t tell him about THAT goal against Celtic eight years ago.

Ehiogu runs the development squad at Tottenham’s state of the art training academy and is still revered by Gers fans for his stunning overhead kick at Parkhead back in 2007.

Ball said: “Ugo was the first one to mention Rangers to me. He’s played here, of course, and he told me that I would love it – and I think I will.

“He was as excited as I was by the move. I only found out yesterday that he’d scored the winner in an Old Firm game.

“I saw him celebrating in one of the photographs at the training ground and I couldn’t believe it. I’ve texted him and I’ll need to find his goal on You Tube.

“He’s been a big influence on me. It’s always good to have someone who’d played in your position on the coaching staff.

“We used to do clinics on a Monday after a match. There would be a good intensity to it and we would focus on the defensive aspects.”

Ball knows Mark Warburton from the academy at Watford when he was a young lad and he is hoping to follow in the footsteps of other Spurs kids who have gone on to become smash hits in the first team.

Warburton helped develop Alex Pritchard at Brentford last season and he is now part of Mauricio Pochettino’s first team squad.

Now Ball and attacker Nathan Oduwa who has also joined on loan are hoping to follow suit and are in the Rangers squad for tomorrow’s game at Alloa.

Ball said: “That’s an inspiration. I think everyone’s seen that – Spurs, Mark, Nathan and myself. It’s reassuring that Pritch had gone and worked wonders under Mark and that’s what we want to do as well.

“A lot of the first team players have gained experience out on loan at different clubs in different leagues.

“When they think you are ready, you come back. You can see last season with Harry Kane, Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason. Before them, you have Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Andros Townsend. All of them have played on loan.

“That is the step you take – getting out on loan and proving yourself on loan. Then you can play when you are ready.

“Mark has spoken to me and told me that there is a big squad here and everyone will get to play their part. I just need to concentrate on working hard and getting my chance to play.

“I was really young – Under-11s to Under-16s - when I met Mark at Watford and I was really just training and enjoying it then but the sessions he took were very fine and I thought even then that he was a good coach.

“You could see what he did with Pritch at Brentford. I spoke to him before I came here and he said; ‘Dom, you’ll love it.’”

Ball was on loan with Cambridge United last season and having broken into the England youth set-up after originally representing Northern Ireland through his mum’s roots he was a wanted man.

He said: “There were a few other clubs flirting with me and just talking about it but, as soon as I heard about Rangers, I thought that was the move I’m going to make.

“There were no worries about playing in Scotland or the fact that it was far away. This is just about the football and I thought: ‘I’m going to go up there and smash it!’

“I mean, there were 49,000 fans at Ibrox for the game against St Mirren. I watched that game and it was quite inspiring.

“Now I’m just looking forward to playing in front of 50,000 crowds because that’s not something you do every day. That was part of my thinking.

“I’m not sure what the plan is for Sunday but I am fully fit so I could play.

“‘I think the expectations are good. Going out expecting to win can help a team massively. It can give everyone confidence. I don’t think we’ll play feeling the pressure.

‘You need confidence and from what I have seen from training – and the game against St Mirren – I think we have a very good team here.”

A lot of Warburton’s success at Brentford was down to utilising young players and he feels both Ball and Oduwa can be very impactful at Rangers.

He said: “Nathan has had a full pre-season with the Spurs first team and played against Real Madrid. He’s had good minutes on the pitch in pre-season.

“He is a talented young player with a good attitude. He’s got good physicality and will fit well into the squad.

“It’s the same with Dominic. I had him at Watford when he was much younger. He is a youth international, with Northern Ireland and now England, and there is a lot of potential there. I’m sure it will be a beneficial loan for all parties.”