For Rangers captain Lee McCulloch, the SPFL Championship table has become a torment. A headache the arrival of a new board of directors simply can’t cure. Lying 22 points behind relentless leaders Hearts, there is now no hiding place for the Ibrox players. The off-field problems have eased, Stuart McCall is in place as manager and, simply put, there are no excuses left. ‘It is time for everybody to stand up and be men,’ said McCulloch. ‘Take the ball, demand the ball in front of a crowd, don’t hide and go and show that you’ re good enough to be here.’ Rangers captain Lee McCulloch has urged his team-mates to stand up and be counted . Under Kenny McDowall, Rangers played as if a grey, leaden cloud hung over Ibrox. In comparison, a home game with doomed Livingston offers McCall the chance to be a breath of fresh air around the place. Rangers need something to rescue a flailing season and advance from the play-offs to the Premiership by hook or by crook. ‘It’s been a frustrating season for everyone, fans, players, off-the-field,’ added McCulloch. ‘I think it would be a wasted season if we don’t go up. It would be a season that would go down as a massive failure. ‘For everyone, it has been frustrating, but it’s still in our own hands as players. Everything else seems to have been sorted out, so it’s basically up to us now to try and get a play-off place and see what happens.’ Currently third in the league, the gap on second place Hibernian is a manageable five points. Rangers have two games in hand and winning them would ease concerns they might slip out of the play-offs altogether — a state of affairs which would be completely unacceptable to their captain. ‘It’s not as if I’ve been going home and made a cup of tea and thinking everything’s all right,’ McCulloch insisted. ‘It’s killing me inside, to be honest with you. To see Hearts so far clear in the league and we’re nowhere near them. It’s not nice and it’s not what we want or are used to.’ The weeks ahead will reveal much about this Rangers team. Off-field turmoil drew attention from their failings. The managerial situation, where McDowall was a reluctant frontman, provided a further shield. McCulloch says Rangers must finish in the play-off positions this season . McCulloch and McCall referred to a crisis of confidence repeatedly yesterday. For many of these players, the suspicion is that Rangers may simply be too big for them. ‘The players have probably felt it even more since Ally (McCoist) left,’ added the captain. ‘It is amazing what he took on his shoulders. He shielded the players away from it. Since he left, the players as a squad have been getting it from all angles. ‘I think confidence has probably dipped because of that. ‘Everybody knows we haven’t been playing as well as we can or as well as we should have been. I think there are loads of small things that you can make excuses for. But even though there has been a lot of off-field stuff going on, you can’t really make an excuse for how we have been playing. ‘This season, whoever has been on the board, we’ve not lived up to the standard that we should have for many different reasons. But it is nothing to do with who was in charge or on the board. ‘Since the new owners have come in, everyone around the place, the players and the staff, has had a wee bit of a spring in their step. It is probably a good thing.’ For a dozen of the players, out of contract in the summer, these are crucial days. McCulloch is one of them and, while some of the players won’t be sorry to leave, the 36-year-old wants to complete the journey back to the top division as a Rangers player. ‘The new manager has come in and said: “Well, it’s up to yourselves to go out there and earn it. If you want to be here next season then go and earn your contract and show that you are worthy of one”. I think that is the best thing for it. ‘It is a big motivation for me. I’m not getting any younger. Stuart McCall begins his reign at Rangers with home game against Livingston . ‘It would be amazing, it would be brilliant to go back to the top and it would be nice. But at times football isn’t nice. ‘So I would love to be here, but I need to go and earn that myself. I know that as does every other player here.’ Some have a head start. Nicky Law was a stand-out under McCall at Motherwell and for the new manager bringing the best out of him and others is the key to earning the job on a permanent basis. ‘I want everyone to go out and express themselves,’ said McCall after his second training session. ‘Not just Nicky but I know there’s more in his locker. I know he can do more and like a lot of the players when you lack a bit of that confidence you can go into your shell. ‘We want the players to go and express themselves, there are some good footballers in there. ‘A lot of players have shown good stuff in training.’ In a supreme irony, the most impressive of all has been one of Mike Ashley’s January imports on loan from Newcastle. ‘Haris Vuckic has been absolutely outstanding in training, bright and bubbly and a fantastic lad,’ reported McCall. ‘He hadn’t had much football but is certainly a talented individual and has been really bright in training. ‘He has been terrific but I was coming in thinking there might be three or four of these lads up and running.’ In reality, Remie Streete is ill and injured, Kevin Mbabu played an under-20 game on Thursday but is well short, Shane Ferguson has yet to cross the border and Gael Bigirimana has a medical condition. ‘One out of five isn’t bad,’ grinned McCall after waking at 5am in anticipation of his return to Ibrox as a Rangers employee. ‘It’s been a whirlwind. I haven’t even had the chance to think about it. ‘Hopefully tomorrow at 5pm – or when I get home tomorrow – I will look back on it. ‘But right now I’ve not had the chance to go, “This will be great”. I’ve not given it a thought.’
Lee McCulloch says Rangers must finish in the play-off positions . Stuart McCall begins reign with home game against Livingston .