Much has been said about the reintroduction of David Templeton and Barrie McKay to the Ibrox flanks, and with three games gone it is easy see why Warburton has faith in the speed merchants.
Signed in 2012 by former Rangers Manager Ally McCoist, David Templeton was destined to be the next big thing in Scottish football. The young winger signed just 24 hours after scoring for Hearts against Liverpool at Anfield in a Europa League qualifier and Templeton’s signature was a coup for the then third division squad. Unfortunately, Templeton has been plagued by critics and arguably has failed to live up to his full potential and follow in the footsteps of his namesake, Davie Cooper.
The 26 year-old’s early Ibrox career blossomed, bagging a brace on his debut for the Ibrox club. In the following year he played a crucial part in Rangers cruising to the third division title, playing 26 times and scoring 15 times. Despite this breathtaking breakthrough season, the 5ft 6 winger failed to rediscover the same kind of form in the following 2 seasons. Having only started 8 games last season, Templeton slated Ally McCoist’s managerial methods,“I don’t think we were being coached the right way. We weren’t going into games working on the stuff we should have been working on.” Relations between the pair soured and Templeton very quickly became the forgotten man.
Contrastingly, Warburton has been impressed with the tricky attacker and has started him in his first two competitive games for the Glasgow outfit. Templeton netted in the league cup against Peterhead and is developing a partnership with club captain Lee Wallace. With Mark Warburton seemingly employing a 4-3-3 formation it is likely the Ibrox faithful will be seeing the number 11 shirt roaring down the left flank for the foreseeable future.
Without a doubt the reintroduction of young Scottish winger Barrie McKay has been a breath of fresh air around Ibrox. With Warburton’s desire to give young players their opportunity it is clear we will be seeing a lot more of the 20 year-old this season. McKay began his career at Kilmarnock and was released due to a hip-problem which would cause “long term” difficulties. In the summer of 2011 Rangers signed the Scotland U18 player. At the age of 16 he was the top scorer for the Rangers U19 team and on the 11th of August 2012 he bagged Rangers first goal in the clubs first match in the third tier. He had a tremendous second season for the ‘Gers with an incredible 41 games under his belt, no mean feat for a player of his age. However McKay was loaned out to Greenock Morton for the 2013/14 season and subsequently Raith Rovers last term – invaluable experience for the talented youngster who will be wishing to showcase his ability in front of the Ibrox crowd this season. McKay has already bagged a couple of assists in Rangers opening games this season, hope enough that he will go from strength to strength on the Ibrox flank.
