ALEX McLEISH insists that mind games matter as Hibs boss Alan Stubbs turns up the heat on his Rangers rival Mark Warburton.

Stubbs’ side have won 14 games out of their last 15 and cut the gap between themselves and the Ibrox outfit to just three points at the head of the Ladbrokes Championship.

He has already irked Warburton by stating that the Rangers manager’s job is “very easy” and that the Ibrox side should be top of the table because they have a budget “at least four times bigger” than his.

However, the former Celtic defender took it to another level earlier this week when stating his belief that his players have got into the minds of the Rangers staff in a title battle that is “brewing and simmering”.

McLeish, who has served as boss of both clubs, learned the game under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen and is a real believer in the importance of psychological warfare at a level of sport in which the smaller things can make a difference.

“It is good when you are the underdog,” said McLeish. “I can see why Stubbsy is going down that road. He maybe feels the pressure isn’t on him so much because people expect Rangers to triumph.

“When you are the favourite, you probably have that tension all the time and I think Stubbsy is trying to play a wee game.

“So far, I think Mark has been quite cool, but talk about bigger budgets and Rangers being an easy job always has the potential to hit some raw nerves.

“No matter the budget, it is still not easy to win league titles.

“Stubbsy has also got to show he can cut the mustard in his first managerial role and this kind of thing is all part of the game, an important part.

“I gave an opinion recently about a domestic treble not being enough in the current climate for Celtic and I think Ronny Deila felt I was piling pressure on him. I was just speaking from the perspective of someone with experience of what is expected of an Old Firm manager and I wouldn’t take it back.

“Indeed, John Collins probably started the ball rolling by saying that it was difficult for Celtic to play in Europe because of the weakness of the Scottish league.”

McLeish accepts, though, that managers will often use the words of others to galvanise their own dressing-room.

“How many times have you heard someone say: ‘He’s just done my team talk for me’?,” he said.

“Of course, you can ask how often all that stuff works. The law of averages probably suggests it is 50-50, but I think you have to believe that it gives your players a bit more motivation.”

It was certainly an important part of life as McLeish and his Aberdeen team-mates developed into a side capable of winning European trophies against all the odds.

“Fergie was a master of it,” he said. “He would go on about the Glasgow press being a mafia and it definitely got us going.

“There were all kinds of subtle little things. When we went to Ibrox or Parkhead, for example, we were under orders to take quick free-kicks and throw-ins.

“We saw shock on the faces of the Rangers and Celtic players and that caused us to start really believing in everything the manager said.”