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DAVIE Weir has heard all the Ibrox horror stories and admits he half-expected to return to a club in ruins.

He could have been forgiven for thinking his old club would resemble the abandoned Statue of Liberty scene from the Planet of the Apes, the place a crumbling shell of its former glories.

But the former Rangers skipper was pleasantly surprised.

It’s been four traumatic years since he left – but some things never change.

Yes, there are things that need touching up. The scouting network is a shambles while some of the technical staff offices lie empty.

But Ibrox and Murray Park are still exactly as he remembered them. There is still a big club feel and the foundations are still in place for Mark Warburton and his rebuilding mission.

Weir said: “It’s almost four years since I left and the impression I was given was that the place had changed fundamentally. I haven’t found that.

“We’d been told this was run down, that was run down, but as Mark said, when you come back you think ‘wow, what a place.’

“I remember playing at Ibrox and not a lot has changed there. I remember Murray Park and it’s still the same stunning facility.

“Okay, a lot of people have left and the numbers are down but it’s still many of the same faces and they’re happy to see you. It’s been really positive in that respect.

“It’s a great place to work. When you come back you’re reminded of how big a club it is and how much it matters to so many people.

“That goes with the territory and you have to enjoy that, relish that and expect that.

“There aren’t many clubs like that and it can be an advantage to you in terms of persuading players to join.

“You can give them a stage where they can enjoy their football and have the backing of 40,000 or 50,000 fans behind them.”

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There’s no doubt that the club has suffered in the years since financial meltdown but there’s enough left to make Weir feel right at home after just a few weeks since coming back as Warburton’s No.2.

He said: “You walk back in and see the same people around - whether it’s Stevie on the front desk, Martha and Paul in the kitchen, Willie in the corridor.

“It’s the same faces around, so there are a lot of similarities and familiarity.

“But there are definitely reduced numbers at the club. Some people have left and the offices are not as full as they were before.

“There are still a lot of good people here, though, and a lot of goodwill.

“You can just sense that people are desperate for the club to do well. They are desperate to help you achieve that.

“But that’s the job for Mark and myself – to get the fans and the staff back talking about

football again.”

It’s the football side of the operation that has been left to wrack and ruin though. There are barely 17 players on the payroll at present with the new season only three weeks away.

There was also question marks over the fitness of those who have remained at the club from last season.

Gers seemed to run out of steam in key clashes and while Weir is not the kind of guy to put the boot into a previous regime, he admitted that getting the troops up to

speed is one of the big issues at Murray Park.

The Ibrox hero said: “Fitness is a big factor for us. I can’t comment on last season because I genuinely didn’t see a lot of Rangers games.

“All I can say is that fitness is fundamental to playing football in the modern age. All of our training sessions are intense. They are measured with set periods of time assigned to getting players to the fitness level we believe is needed.

“We have done that in the past couple of years with similar methods at Brentford and have decent results.

“We are pretty sure that what we do works. We scored a lot of late goals and keeping players on the pitch in good condition is a big part of that.

“A dynamic style of play is ideally what we want. We have youth and energy in the squad and people want to see effort.

“Rangers fans are renowned for wanting desire and energy from their team.

“We need to have players who are capable of producing that week in, week out.”

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Weir admitted Warburton will look to bolster his technical team after the departures of Gordon Durie and sports science chief Jim Henry.

He said: “We have to put our own stamp on it. We have to work within our own parameters. Gordon has been a great servant to Rangers but it was just a case of his role coming under what Mark and myself do.

“We do the majority of the coaching ourselves. So it was simply a matter of trying to streamline it as much as we can, getting people to work in the

right areas.

“Gordon was great, he was in here with us for the first week and worked really well with us. But it’s just not really a role we use.

“We are in discussions over Jim’s role. We are trying to make the right decision on that.

“We have people already here who are working well, so you would like to give them the opportunity as well to show they are worthy.”

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