HE is the captain, the leader, following in the footsteps of legends.

Lee Wallace is also a coach and a student of the game, his thirst for knowledge and determination to improve not just himself but those around him marking him out as a key member of teams at opposite ends of the M8.

At Rangers, he is a rejuvenated figure at left-back, the 28-year-old thriving under the Mark Warburton regime and rewarded for his qualities on and off the park with the Ibrox armband.

At Tynecastle FC, is a coach and source of inspiration for the players he has taken under his wing alongside Steven Vinter and Scott Crabbe.

Wallace has been confirmed as Lee McCulloch’s successor as club captain, the honour seeing him join a host of greats who have lead the Light Blues.

In his time at Ibrox, he has served under David Weir, Steven Davis, Carlos Bocanegra and McCulloch, and now he has assumed the armband himself.

And the left-back is determined to live up to the expectations and standards of the role as he looks to play a key part for Warburton’s side this season.

“It feels great, it really does,” Wallace said.

“I was privileged to step in as vice-captain in the last couple of seasons and deputise for Jig, who was a first class captain.

“He was excellent in the dressing room, he lead by example and was a great man. I learned a lot from him.

“Now that I have been named as club captain, I am so appreciative to the manager. I am ready to meet all the challenges and responsibilities head on and do what I can to help the team and any individual at any time.

“I think the days of that are long gone where you have a captain that is ranting and raving on the pitch or in the dressing room.

“Moving forward in our modern style, with the way the manager wants the game to be played and the principles behind how we play, it is more of a learning and a coaching process.

“We are learning every day and I am certainly keen on that with my coaching and my responsibility away from here as well.

“I am ready for the responsibility, I am ready to help and I am ready to learn, which I am doing every day on both the football side and in terms of the role and responsibility of being the captain. I think I will lead by example.”

The opening weeks of the Warburton era have been met with widespread approval from Rangers fans as they have been impressed with a series of eye-catching performances and deserved wins.

The newly introduced style of play is a marked change from what the Ibrox crowd have been used to seeing in recent years.

Wallace has been one of the key players for Rangers so far this term and he is putting the blue print to good use in the Capital.

He said: “There is a good crop of young players that want to learn and the fact that we play 4-3-3 as well means it is an easy transition from the stuff we are learning here and then taking into a smaller scale and trying to show the lads at Tynecastle the way we feel the game should be played.

“It is a great transition. We are learning from a first class coach and manager here and I am able to go and try my best for those lads. It is good.

“We train twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday nights. The manager is fine with that as long as I am preparing right. Obviously when we have midweek games I will prepare accordingly.

“I must stress Rangers are my number one priority, which we all expect anyway.

“But I think it is a good thing I am doing it and I am loving it. I have been involved in it for five going on six years now.

“Tuesday and Thursday are training nights and games are on Saturday. Obviously whenever I can make it I will be along at games as well.”

It may have been an encouraging few weeks for Warburton, Wallace and Rangers but there can be no let-up in the search for improvement at all levels.

A Petrofac Training Cup tie against Ayr United this evening is next on the agenda for the Gers as they bid for their fifth straight win this term.

And Wallace hopes it will lead to a belated success in the competition after a series of shock exits in the last three campaigns.

He said: “It has been a huge disappointment that in three attempts we have not won the trophy.

“Being beaten by Raith is the closest we have come and it is not a great stat.

“Certainly we are going to try and approach every single game one at a time, and chalk the teams off as they come.

“This competition, any cup, any league game, will not be any different in the way we approach the game.

“No matter the surface, no matter where it is, no matter the opposition, we will approach the game with our game plan, and try and be the best Rangers team we can be.”