ARCHIE Knox had a reputation of being the archetypal old school coach whose preferred method of getting his message across was by shouting.
As if a man who was assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson and Walter Smith, among his many others jobs, would be so one-dimensional.
John Brown, a bona fide Rangers legend, knows Knows as well as any and was keen to praise a man who had a huge influence on his career.
"Archie signed me from Hamilton to Dundee which took me into the Premier League," said Brown.
"A lot of people go on about his bark but Archie knows the game inside and out. He helped get to where I got to with Rangers by giving me that opportunity at Dundee.
“So when Archie came to Rangers from Manchester United to be Walter’s assistant, it led to one of the greatest periods in the history of the club.
"Graeme Souness had left and we went on to have that great run in 1992/03, won a treble,and it was one of the all-time great seasons for Rangers.
“Archie was a canny signing for the club.
"He is loud and hollers, but this is a man who knows the game. From the technical side he was spot on in terms of the opposition and what we were up against.
“If Sir Alex were here he would say even he found it difficult to put on the sessions and Archie was the one who did.
"Walter did that under Graeme and then he had the responsibility at Rangers to go to board meetings which left Archie to do the coaching side.
“All the boys loved him.
"The foreign lads as well because the content of the training was great. It was a winning formula. It was a good marriage.”
If anyone questions how good a coach Knox is all they have to do is ask Bryan Robson, Paul Ince, Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup.
All four are one record about his influence and Brown was keen to play up what a keen football mind he had.
Brown said: "Listen, he told me about midfield play. I had John Lambie and Berti Auld as managers at Hamilton and I think back and wonder whether we were really coached.
"We played so much football which meant you just got on with it.
“It was with Archie at Dundee that I began to learn about positional sense.
“When he came to Rangers, Manchester United were about to win the Cup-Winners’ Cup, that team were improving, so he had come on a lot from his time as manager of Dundee.
“It was all off the cuff at Hamilton. We were part-time. Then I’m at Dundee and up against those great Dundee United and Aberdeen teams. It was a totally different level.
"You needed more information and Archie was able to provide that.”
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