Jack Butland sparks frenzied Rangers fans guessing game with 'pull your finger out' accusation

Jack Butland sparks frenzied Rangers fans guessing game with 'pull your finger out' accusation

The experienced voice in the Ibrox dressing room pulled no punches in a club TV interview

Jack Butland

Russell Martin didn’t miss his Rangers players in a furious post match interview following the opening day Premiership draw with Motherwell.

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The Ibrox boss warned he will weed out the slackers in the dressing room as he accused some of “jogging around” Fir Park and claimed there’s too many egos in the squad.

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And veteran goalkeeper Jack Butland echoed his manager’s comments after conducting a club TV interview pitchside at Fir Park where he pulled no punches.

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Butland is convinced the style Martin is trying to implement will work if players buy into it but he warned that “people need to pull their finger out”.

He added: “Us as a squad need to set that and push people but if anyone didn’t understand what this club is about then the response at the end (boos from fans) is everything you need to know about what’s expected of you.”

And it was his “people need to pull their finger out” comment that has set fans - already trying to guess who the egos and joggers were from Martin’s interview - off on social media.

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Substitute Cyriel Dessers was absolved of any blame by Martin but responding to Butland’s interview, one fan asked: “People need to pull their finger out. Who’s this really aimed at?”

And that sparked a flood of responses. The first said: “Danilo and (Nedim) Bajrami.” Another added: “(Mohamed) Diomande, (Kieran) Dowell, Danilo, Bajrami and (Connor) Barron?” One simply said: “The new guys.”

Butland was asked if it was the job of the rest of the squad to hammer home the demands of Rangers to the new guys but he said: “Everyone has been made aware of exactly what’s required before this so it’s not a shock to people but we have to be better than we were today.

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“You’ve got to learn quick. There’s no time to waste. In my time here we haven’t got off to a good start. It’s not where you want to be but you have to learn quick, simple as that.

“You’ve got to be strong enough to deal with it and get on with it. It’s a cliche of going again on Tuesday but that's the reality, and we’ve got to win and keep winning games in the league and make sure we’re winning more than anybody else.

“I won’t insult the fans with words we all know and don’t want to hear. I’ll just echo what’s been said inside - what I said - there’s a minimum requirement.

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“The way the manager wants to play works - can work - but it needs everyone’s buy-in. We didn’t do that today. We weren’t at it enough and that’s a minimum requirement of any football team if you want to be successful, which I believe we can be, then it requires more that today.

“It wasn’t good enough, we got what we deserved. Like when anything is difficult you’ve got to stand up and get your chest out and get on with it and we need to start winning games and doing it in a convincing fashion, with real performances and effort.

“It didn’t feel like we were quite where we needed to be today and that is the reality of it. There’s no point sugar coating it. I’m rambling on a bit but we don’t want to be having these conversations.

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“We’ve done them before, we need to be optimistic and look forward but we need to be better than we were today - and if we do that we’ll be fine, but we need to be better.

Stamatelopoulos sees his shot saved by Rangers keeper Jack Butland on a frustrating afternoon (Image: SNS Group)

“To say this is got to be a lesson and all that stuff is irrelevant. It’s too late for that, we need to be at it all the time and if anyone didn’t know, now they do.

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“You need to do what’s being asked of you first and foremost. You can see it, I believe in it, I’ve seen it work and know it works but it needs the buy-in from everyone and everyone to be at it 110 per cent on and off the ball which is where we fell short.

“We weren’t doing what was asked and a team that’s trying lots of new things themselves had more opportunities to perhaps even win the game and that’s not where we want to be.

“I won’t sugarcoat it. The fans don’t want to hear that and we have to put it right and that’s the focus now.”

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