Don't Question The Hutton Impact

Sep 23 2007 Gordon Waddell

Al Answers His Critics

DO you know who I am? Six fatal wee words uttered outside a nightclub.

And all it took to sum up the Billy Big-Time attitude of young players for a nation who didn't need much persuading.

Yet sadly for Alan Hutton it wasn't so much the question that got the headlines. It was the answer.

"Aye, you're that p*** player from Rangers - and yer still no' gettin' in!" Hard to believe that was only 11 months ago, eh?

In less than a year Hutton has transformed himself from a guy disappearing up his own backside to a guy with the world at his feet.

You have to hand it to him - and you have to hand it to Rangers boss Walter Smith.

Because the right-back's performances this season - in particular on the biggest stages in the past 10 days - have been unbelievable.

I mentioned last week how well he had done against the French and Florent Malouda. About how he'd even managed to get them on the back foot a couple of times.

Then last Saturday against Hearts what does Hutton do? Back to the bad old days, rash tackles, no discipline. He had a mare.

The thing is, though, he didn't let it get to him. Instead he turned in one of the best fullback displays you could dream of against German champions Stuttgart in midweek.

Defended superbly, set up both goals. The first was with a run that would have made Josimar or Cafu proud. The second was another burst that, while it lacked the same shape, forced the defender to commit to a tackle he should never have made. Superb.

Watching the highlights later on TV it was interesting to hear Jamie Redknapp pick Hutton out, like he'd just landed from Mars.

"Where has this guy come from?" And he's probably right to ask. Because this time last year Hutton was going nowhere. Not even into The Shed in Shawlands apparently. A whipping boy for the punters at times, too.

Now people are prefacing his name with stuff like "£5million-rated". What has happened? Maybe a few things.

One is that he has two quality centre-backs inside him. He's no longer having to spend half his time thinking about covering for the inadequacies of a Karl Svensson and losing his own shape in the process.

The arrival of Steven Whittaker as a threat to his jersey is probably another.

And the main element, clearly, is Smith.

The manager shuns the credit but there's no doubt he has played his part.

When asked what Smith had done for him, Hutton replied: "He explained what it meant to be a Rangers player."

You can almost hear that conversation, eh? But saying it and doing it are two different things. The knowledge you have to change is one thing, the desire to do it another. And the strength to do that has to come from within.

For that Hutton deserves all the credit in the world. For choosing to make something of himself and his talent instead of p***ing it up a wall.

It's only two-and-a-half years since he broke a leg, flinging himself into an idiotic challenge on Garry Hay against Kilmarnock.

A lot of players are never the same after an injury like that. Hutton? He has found three yards more than he ever had.

He's reputed to be the fittest player at Murray Park. He's an athlete, no doubt. The kind of player Premiership managers love.

But a couple of good games isn't enough. It's about becoming Gary Stevens, David Robertson, Arthur Numan - a player you can rely on over seasons, not weeks.

Hutton has worked hard, mentally and physically, to get to where he is now. But he's 22 and has to realise it's only the start.

And there's a lesson close to home in former Gers full-back Maurice Ross who won 13 Scotland caps by the time he was 22.

But he ended up hitting his head off every rung of the ladder on the way back down. Ross is still only 26 and playing at a decent level in Norway but it's not where he thought he would be.

Do you know who I am? If Hutton thought about asking the question now he would probably get a different answer. Hopefully he has learned enough never to ask again.