WHEN Joe Garner signed for Rangers in the summer, he would have hoped it would be the scoring charts and not the music charts he would be storming this season.

The striker has become a bit of a hero for the Ibrox crowd in the last couple of weeks and there has been a huge interest in the push to get ‘Glad All Over’ to Christmas number one.

Every player wants to be liked by the supporters and the crowd will be desperate for Joe to get a goal against Inverness Caley Thistle tomorrow afternoon so they can celebrate with his song.

He will be loving the fact that the fans are singing his name and that he has made an impression on them. You don’t get that kind of reception if you are not doing a job for them.

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He will be enjoying himself more now than he was a few weeks ago. There was a lot of pressure on him after Mark paid £1.8million to get him from Preston.

There were questions over whether he was worth it and he has had criticism because he hasn’t scored as many goals as people expected.

All of that can pray on your mind. But now he will feel that he is giving something to the team and the fans are giving him something back.

His efforts will be appreciated by his team-mates, and they are certainly being appreciated by the crowd right now.

If you look back three weeks and the performance at Tynecastle, it was really poor from Rangers. Hearts didn’t have to work hard to win the game and it was the manner of the performance that really upset the fans. That has been a wake-up call.

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I like teams to play with a physical centre striker because it gives you the option of going longer if you are in trouble. He can then hold it up or knock it on.

Joe isn’t the biggest striker but I have been impressed with how good he is in the air and over the last couple of weeks the manager has realised that it is an option to be a bit more direct. It is working for Rangers and the results against Aberdeen, Hearts and Hamilton have proven that.

A couple of weeks ago, everyone was coming under fire from the supporters. There were questions about the manager and the players were being criticised.

After three good performances and three good results, the fans are more optimistic and everyone is feeling better about themselves.

The last two games at Ibrox have had 50,000 crowds and there may well be another one for the game with Inverness.

The fans demand that you give everything for the club and win games and when everything is going well it is great. But they will know that it can all change quickly.

When you bring in as many players as Rangers did in the summer, it was always going to take time for them to settle and to get up to speed.

It isn’t until you are here and you experience the expectations from the fans and the scrutiny from the Press that you really understand what it is like to be a Rangers player and Joe is no different.

When you are the main striker for Rangers, you are expected to score 20 goals a season. That goes without saying.

But it hasn’t really happened for Joe in front of goal so far this year. When you aren’t scoring, you still have to contribute, though.

Joe is working hard for the team and he is putting himself about. He is not the biggest player in the world but he is still doing a job up front because he gets in about defenders and he can bring other players into play.

The fans appreciate it when they see someone working their socks off and putting in a shift and they will always take to someone like that.

At this stage, I don’t think anyone in the Rangers side will get 20 goals this season. If Martyn Waghorn keeps playing, there is a chance that he could get there.

But I don’t think anyone else will so you need everyone to play their part and to chip in as often as they can.

The fans don’t mind who gets the goals, as long as Rangers are winning games. That is the most important thing right now.

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But Joe will want to contribute in terms of goals as well and I am sure that they will come for him.

He had a couple of chances against Accies last Friday night and he was unlucky with the effort from the edge of the box that just went over the bar.

As long as he keeps doing what he is doing for the team and getting himself into the right areas then his rewards will come.

Joe may not be putting the ball in the back of the net but he is still playing his part and it is the team that is the most important thing. You go out there as a team, not as individuals.

As long as Rangers are winning, the fans will have plenty to sing about.