SOME former professionals prepare for a move into management by earning their badges and reading the coaching manuals. Ian Durrant has been there, done it, got the t-shirt and could write a book.

It is eleven years since Durrant took his first steps into a dugout when he was appointed as Under-19s boss at Rangers. Now, after leaving his position as head of the Under-20s at Auchenhowie, he is on the outside looking in to the game.

When he finally makes his next move and looks to take up another post, he will excel in one area in particular during the interview process. He may not have won silverware as a manager in his own right, but he has a cache of experience that few could match.

Durrant was part of the backroom staff under Walter Smith that won a handful of honours during his second spell at the club and he then stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Ally McCoist.

That period, of course, was somewhat different. There were title wins in the Third Division and League One but it was a period of uncertainty and fear of what was happening and what lay ahead.

But Durrant hopes the memories - the good and the bad - will benefit him in the future when he looks to become a boss.

“What happened at Rangers stands you in good stead,” he said.

“The experience you gain, what to do and what not to do.

“It certainly opens your eyes at a club like Glasgow Rangers and, for three or four years, the pressure on us was unbelievable. Especially outside of football.

“The football you can deal with, but the other stuff was a great learning curve in how you deal with people and how you speak with people and how you deal with situations.

“You see some of the pressure on you, it is frightening.

“Those were dark days looking back, but the club is a good place now and stable and will kick on from there.

“I would not have put that position onto anyone. Every single day, there was a scene that was like a car crash out of Coronation Street.

“Something would come up and you couldn’t concentrate on the football, there was always another distraction around the corner.

“We are all football minded and, if you are not doing that right and being distracted, you can’t work.”

Having operated in the most tumultuous conditions of any managerial team in Rangers’ history, Durrant is now looking to the future.

He is happy to take a break from the game at present but will return in a coaching or management capacity at some stage.

The Ibrox legend helped a string of kids progress through the Auchenhowie ranks during his time in the Gers’ Academy.

And he hopes he will be given a chance to put his knowledge to good use once again as he looks to make his mark on the touchline.

He said: “I did the behind the scenes stuff when I was working with the youths at Kilmarnock. Driving the mini-bus and picking people up, doing things.

“That’s what you do to work yourself up the ladder and, if you do well enough earning your stripes, you can move up the ladder.

“I have great experience now from Jock Wallace, John Greig, Graeme Souness, Walter Smith, Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown. You also go and see to learn from other people.

“I was fortunate enough under Walter that I went down and watched Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. I watched them coach and you store it up.

“Through the LMA when the gaffer was at Everton, he worked great relationship and you could also go abroad.

“When I was scouting for the Champions League matches against Porto, Lyon and Stuttgart, the clubs were inviting us into training. They were in excellent in terms of what they let you see.

“Everything thinks it is all cloak and dagger and, of course you couldn’t see on a day of a game with their shape, but you could go and mark wee things down, note them and build on them.”