Rangers talent thriving with ex Celtic star mentorship as one thing leaves him thrilled over former Hoops ace
The Rangers loanee is thriving in the Scottish Championship under the influence of a former Celtic man.
A Rangers talent has opened up on the trust from a former Celtic star that is helping him thrive.
Jack Butland currently has the Ibrox number one spot under lock and key with Liam Kelly firmly the deputy. It makes senior minutes unlikely at the moment with two aspiring stoppers now in the Championship, Kieran Wright with Airdrie and Lewis Budinauckas now with Partick Thistle.
The Jags are currently under the interim manager of striker Brian Graham, who is backed up by former Celtic defender Mark Wilson. Son of ex-Jags ‘keeper Kevin Budinauckas, he joined in February after some exposure at Scotland U21s level. He played for the Rangers B team in the 2022/23 season and joined Stranraer last campaign, playing 33 times and keeping 9 clean sheets.
This term, he has spent a short spell with Greenock Morton after signing on an emergency basis in October and played four times. He kept a clean sheet on Friday as Thistle maintained their promotion play-off hunt with a goalless draw at home to Raith Rovers.
How Rangers loanee is being helped by former Celtic star
Budinauckas spoke after the game of the gratitude he has to Graham and the former Celtic man in the dugout alongside him for the faith they have put in him since arriving last month. He said to the Scottish Sun: "You know you aren't going to get the best pitches ever, and this one is particularly hard to play on. It's wee things like when you take a touch, you don't know if the ball will run away from you.
"It's probably not going to change, so we're just going to need to deal with it for the next few weeks. I'm delighted at the trust Brian and Mark have in me, though. It's what you want as a goalkeeper."
Player-manager Graham added to club media: “I think you have got to give the boys credit. Especially second half, first half they played the high press and we couldn’t get the information on quickly enough to explain the way we wanted to play. Raith came here with a game plan and did well in the first half. We get in at 0-0, change the shape and are much better in the second half. Our goalkeeper for large parts of the game didn’t have a lot to do.”