Choosing Rangers over Man United and how Advocaat's 'simplicity' created stunning football - Stephen Carson interview

The Northern Irishman’s eight-year association with the club would yield just a handful of first-team appearances but the standards and values engrained in him from a young age still ring true to this day.

Carson is now Academy Director of New York-based side FC Westchester but he looks back fondly on his time in Glasgow.

“I joined when I was 13 or14 and then I came on full time when I was 16 in the 1997/98 season, it was the season we were going for 10-in-a-row,” he recalls.

“Archie [Knox] had seen me at Easter and I must’ve done something right as they said they’d like to sign me.

“Man United came in at the end and I was a Manchester United fan but because how good Rangers were to me I just felt at home.

“I felt comfortable in Glasgow and I thought the people were really great. I loved the Glaswegian people, I loved the people that worked at Rangers. 

“I’m from Ballymoney, a pretty small town and definitely Glasgow was a culture shock for me when I first went. I was taken aback by it but I think as you get older you can look back and really appreciate it a little bit more than the stoicism and the great people that were at the club. Walter Smith really was someone who just had an aura about him and demanded a lot of respect.

“I liked Archie because you knew where you stood. It was a different kind of time, you didn’t mess around with the coaches and you really had to work hard and be the best version of yourself or you knew about it.

“But, being young I was kind of maybe sometimes shocked by it but as I’ve gotten older, I think they really just tried to prepare us for what was to come and try and make us mentally strong and deal with the expectations of playing for Rangers which is really difficult for most players.

“It’s okay to be there but to actually play in front of those fans every week you have to be mentally strong. Players like myself who have done okay in life, maybe didn’t have enough to do that on a consistent basis but I think it was a good education and I think the standards and expectations of the club were first-class.

“The will to win in Scotland was ferocious whereas the will to win in Northern Ireland was important but there’s a difference between being important and being life or death.

“I think, culturally sometimes, it was a bit of a shock to say like, ‘I want to win, I want to be a good player, I want to show you that I have a lot of good ingredients and I belong here,’ but I know for myself it took time. Bomber and John McGregor at times probably pulled their hair out with me.

“I have a massive respect towards John McGregor and John Brown. You didn’t say, ‘Coach, I think you’re great,’ but I think there was always a massive respect there. Sometimes it was heated but I think, for me, it was just getting used to the demands.

“I was a winger.I could be flaky sometimes as a kid and be all moody so I wasn’t the easiest person to coach but when I look back on it I think a lot of the things that they taught us still resonate today.

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“There were a lot of great men at the club. It was the era of Ally McCoist, Richard Gough, Andy Goram, Ian Durrant, Ian Ferguson, Gordon Durie, Charlie Miller, Derek McInnes, Stuart McCall, I could go on and on. These guys were just so admirable. Brilliant football players and brilliant strong characters. Rangers were very lucky to have a dressing room with those people there and they were always kind. A lot of the players were very good to the young players, they’d always make you feel a part of it.

“There’s a reason why they were winners. It was tough at times, you’ve got to swim with the sharks or you’re not going to survive but I think the standards, the expectations and just what the whole club represented was so admirable.

“When I was there I thought all the people there, all the staff were really brilliant human beings and I mean that.

“I learned so much from them. I remember playing with Gordon Durie in the reserve team against Dundee United and Aberdeen and I felt like his movement was so good, he made me make good decisions and I learned.

“When people say, ‘Who helped you as a player?’ I say, ‘Playing with Gordon Durie with his movement and his link-up play when I was a kid taught me to be able to play one touch, round the corner.’

“It was John McGregor who said he thought I was better on the left-hand side than the right even though I was born naturally right-footed. So John McGregor was the one who put me on the left, Gordon Durie was the person who made me play round the corner and Bomber told me the importance of deliveries. I remember him saying to me to go up the back and work on my technique and ball striking and I think these little nuances stuck with me from then till now.

“I think they all played an important part. At the time I didn’t really look into it that much, you just want to do well and make sure the managers are happy with you.

“It was a culture shock at the start but in the end, I quite enjoyed the way they were. They were demanding and they expected good standards. As you get older you realise they actually wanted us to be ready for what was ahead of us.”

The arrival of Dick Advocaat would see Carson break into the Rangers first team although his debut was one to forget as the Light Blues were dumped out of the League Cup by Aberdeen in December 1999.

Now a coach himself, Carson says the Dutchman’s training methods have had an enormous influence on his own coaching career.

“When he came in I was 17 just turning 18,” he recalled.

“It was the simplicity of his training sessions, the way he was able to get players to do simple things and create a style of play, he narrowed the pitch at Ibrox and there was a lot of good play and good passing down the left-hand side with Arthur Numan, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Jorg Albertz.

“Barry [Ferguson] got the ball and played quick and centre-backs missed each other out and played it quickly to full-backs to give space for the full-backs to try and play forward passes.

“The simplicity but the speed of play in training was pretty impressive. Man-management wise he didn’t say a lot to me other than a couple of chats. He obviously gave me my debut and I played a few times under him and was in and around it for a little bit but I enjoyed his training. When you go to a lot of courses and talk to a lot of people, everything in my training comes back to a lot of his principles in terms of switches of play, keeping it simple, moving the ball quickly and efficiently and everything is about intensity and speed of play in your training with that intelligence and the purposeful possession to go forward.

“I think he definitely exposed me to how a team should be structured. There was a clear idea of how he wanted to play and it was so simple but effective. He signed a lot of good players and he was backed by the club so he did have the resources but the standard of football when you’re watching Rangers against Parma and Bayern Munich at Ibrox at that time, they were able to go toe to toe with some of the best teams in Europe.

“In terms of my debut, it’s hard to turn up at Aberdeen where the fans definitely don’t like us and it didn’t go well.

“I came on to try and do something and it was brilliant to play for the first team. When I came on against Dundee United in the Scottish Cup I thought that was my best performance, I thought I played really well that night and nearly created a chance. I set up a goal that was disallowed for Kenny Miller and I felt that night that I could do this at this level whereas when I came on at Aberdeen I was like a fish out of water, it maybe was a wee bit too much for me that night.

“It was a great experience. My dream once I committed to Rangers was to play for the first team.

“Obviously, you want to try and get a 10-year career and play 300 games, that is the real dream but to get in the team and at least try and establish yourself in some capacity was so important.

“When you talk about standards and expectations, it wasn’t enough to play four times for Rangers. I think the expectations were you get into that team, you stay there and try and build a career for several years and when you’re finished your career you can say, ‘I was able to play for Glasgow Rangers 200 times and was able to win trophies and contribute in a real good way to the club being successful.’

“I didn’t achieve that but I think it’s good that you have those expectations because you just don’t have these little happy moments when you go, ‘I made my debut for Rangers,’ and you talk about it forever. It’s bigger than that. You want to play for the team and you want to contribute and play for the fans, you want to represent that club in the best possible way and win.

“I’m sure the standards are the same today but when we were there that was kind of how we were told that was expected. It wasn’t enough just to get there, you really had to stand up, fight and be counted.

“Everybody has an excuse or a sad story, I think, for me, I was a little bit naive and I think I still needed to learn the game. I wasn’t ready to play for Rangers when I was there. There were players ahead of me who were smarter, better, more streetwise and cleverer off the ball.

“I had good talent on the ball, I had moments in flashes of quality but off the ball, I had a lot left to be desired. I wish I had the ability to go out on loan and play maybe in the First Division and get battle-hardened and then we could’ve seen but I have no regrets.

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“Dundee United bought me. I didn’t really want to go if I’m being honest. I turned the move down in the December. I think they tried to sign me for £200k and I think the club were happy for me to leave and go there but I never really wanted to leave.

“I felt I needed to keep learning, keep improving and maybe, just maybe I can be in and around the squad but I think the players there at the time were ahead of me. I think I was a little bit behind tactically and was very naïve as a young player.

“But I’ve really fond memories of the boys at Rangers. It wasn’t always fun, there were ups and downs along the way but a great bunch of boys and just good people. I’m very thankful. People like Kirk Willoughby, Peter MacDonald, Bob Malcolm, Billy and Jimmy Gibson and I’m sure there are a lot of other people that I’ve probably missed out but a lot of those boys when I came as a youngster, they always looked after you and made you feel at home.

“They took the piss a bit as well. I remember the day I had done a story about Brian Laudrup and they had taped LAUDRUP and the number 11 on the back of my coat so I was walking about Glasgow with this on the back of my coat and I hadn’t a clue! They were all killing themselves laughing.

“We had lots of good moments and things I can never tell you but we had good fun. They’re good lads and I just hope they’re all doing great and are healthy and their families are doing well.”

Carson’s career post Rangers would see him feature for Dundee United, Hartlepool and Barnsley before returning to Northern Ireland where he would enjoy successful spells at Coleraine and Glentoran.

An international cap would also present itself when Carson would line up against former Ibrox teammate Rino Gattuso in a friendly against Italy in 2009.

Nowadays, Carson is enjoying life as a coach across the pond but tells the Rangers Review, he still keeps a close eye on events at Ibrox.

“I came here nine years ago,” he said. “I went back to school and got a degree and did my coaching badges. I got my A license and wasn’t really sure what to do. I was thinking do I got back to England and work in an academy or if I could’ve been a school teacher but I just felt like I needed a change. I felt like I wanted to leave Northern Ireland and go and experience something different. I thought if I went to America I could learn to be a coach where I’d get time to learn. So I came here to try and learn my craft and I became the Academy Director at FC Westchester six years ago. We play in the MLS Youth League. It’s a good standard.

“We’ve been able to bring some of the things that I’ve learned at Rangers and other places and other coaches and try and create an environment that allows kids to enjoy their football and hopefully thrive and if they’re good enough, go on to bigger and better things.

“I run the club now, I’m the director and I’ve been able to implement what I think is right. I try to stay as true to my roots as possible and I try to bring good habits, good morals and good manners. On the football side, we want to try and play a good brand of football. But ultimately it’s a player-centric game and you need the talent. How you cultivate that talent is what’s important. I think my reputation has been pretty good where I’ve done okay and I continue to enjoy life over here.”