LEE Wallace admits he thought he would win a stack of major honours when he moved to Rangers – but if he gets his hands on the William Hill Scottish Cup today it will be a case of better late than never.
So far, the former Hearts defender has only three lower-league titles and a Petrofac Training Cup winner’s medal to show for his five years at Ibrox, and he is determined not to let Hibernian deny him one of the Scottish game’s two biggest prizes in this afternoon’s final at Hampden.
“When I came here I thought I was coming to a place where I could win a lot of medals,” the Rangers captain said. “I remember saying at my first press conference that I was joining a dressing room full of winners, top internationals and top pros.
“I felt really fortunate at that point – who could have seen what was coming our way a few months later?
“But now finally I have the opportunity with a unique group of players at a unique club to bring our first Rangers-type piece of silverware back to the club. We’ve come up through the leagues as we’ve been expected to do but this is a good chance for a lot of us to take some top-level recognition.”
Wallace acknowledges failing to land the Scottish Cup would take some of the shine from the club’s Ladbrokes Championship title triumph. He said: “I don’t think many people would have expected us to go on and win the Scottish Cup. We were expected to win the Petrofac Cup and the Championship and do it in an eye-catching way and we’ve been dominant on that front.
“If we can go on and win our version of a treble, it would make a good season into a great one. But we also know it could go from good to not so good if we don’t do the business on Saturday. We’ll be up against a team hungry to rectify the fact they won’t be getting promoted to the top flight. I think it will be easy for them to get themselves up for the game as they are playing us.
“We’re the champions and it’s a cup final, so there will be 11 highly motivated Hibs players out there. They will definitely be hurting. We’re also aware of how long it’s been since they won this competition. That run and last week’s result will be their motivation.
“However, we’re not focusing on the hoodoo or any of their statistics. We’re aware of their issues but we just need to focus on what we do and never deviate from the mentality and mindset we’ve had from day one.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here