STEVIE NAISMITH enjoyed watching Alan Stubbs poke a stick in the ribs of the youth team players during his days at Everton and is not at all surprised to see him turn his attention to the rather bigger beast of the Rangers manager, Mark Warburton.

Stubbs, without question, has ever so gradually stepped up his programme of psychological warfare on his Ibrox counterpart whilst his Hibernian’s side exceptional run of 11 wins from 12 league games has intensified the joust for the Ladbrokes Championship.

Naismith is clearly tickled by the whole thing. It has given a bona-fide title battle a whole, new dimension. Given Stubbs’ past record as the coach of the Under-21 side at Goodison, though, he reckons it was only to be expected.

“I think he’s that type of character and it’s good for the entertainment value,” said the former Rangers forward.

“At Everton, he was always up for a laugh. You would see him winding up the younger boys. He would keep them on their toes.

“He does it to get the best out of people. He came through in an era when it was tough love for the young boys and I definitely believe younger players need that to toughen them up for first-team football.”

Naismith, himself, has never been scared of a bit of banter, as footballers are prone to call it, and insists, as a professional who still watches football on television as a fan, that the game desperately needs the kind of added theatre Stubbs and Warburton are providing right now.

“I really like it,” he smiled. “If somebody’s getting stick throughout a game, they should be able to have a bit of a wind-up with the fans without getting booked.

“It’s part and parcel of the game. In England, it’s getting to a level where it’s so far away from where it was, in terms of banter, due to safety issues and all the rest of it.

“It can’t get too far away from that. Everyone remembers the characters in football.

“I remember watching Gazza (Paul Gascoigne) when the referee (Dougie Smith) dropped his card at Ibrox and Gazza picked it up and gave him a booking.

“Stupid things like that are funny. Everybody remembers things like that so they’ve got to stay in. In their different ways, Davie Weir and Stubbs are two characters like that. It’s good to see.”

Naismith is close to Weir from their time together at Rangers and Everton. While Warburton’s appetite for wind-ups seems open to question, his Rangers assistant will see the fun in Stubbs’ recent public pronouncements.

“Davie has definitely got that quality,” he said. “The players working under him now will see it more than others because that’s part of his role as an assistant, keeping everybody on board and making sure they are all on their toes.”

Naismith has, most certainly, been kept on his toes at Everton of late. In what he describes as the toughest challenge of his career, he has started only four Barclays Premier League games all season and has not made the first 11 at all since a 3-0 home loss to Manchester United in mid-October.

Denied the possibility of an £8million move to Norwich City in the summer by his manager, Roberto Martinez, he concedes he may have to consider a future elsewhere should opportunities fail to present themselves.

"We've got a squad that is full of unbelievable young talent and, when you're not playing, it's amazing to sit and watch these guys play with no fear," said Naismith, who has tasted just four minutes of action in the last six weeks.

"On the other side of it, I'm frustrated that I can't get into the team. Other times, I've been out of action because of injuries, but, this time, I'm fit every week and it's hard to deal with.

“I’m sure the manager will speak to me in January. If he turns round and says I’m not part of his plans, I’ve got a decision to make. If he says I am, I’ll need to weigh it up.

“I just need a bit of honesty in January. At my age, I’m at my prime and I just want to play every week.”

Naismith was back in Glasgow yesterday to serve meals to the homeless at a Christmas lunch which he sponsored for the Loaves and Fishes charity. Such gestures put the disappointment of failing to make this summer’s Euro 2016 finals with Scotland into perspective, but the 29-year-old still hurts over what happened.

“We had such a great start to the campaign and it just fell away,” he said. “It was terrible, one of the worst feelings I’ve had, to be honest.

“It would leave a hole in my career if I didn’t make it to a major finals. “There is definitely an improvement in the way we play and the quality in the squad, but it can’t always be the same old story. It has to change.”