ROSS Wilson has tipped Scott Arfield to shine at Rangers – because he embodies the same kind of work ethic and big club mentality as his manager.

Southampton’s director of football operations, who rebuffed the chance to join the Ibrox club as director of football a season ago prior to the appointment of Mark Allen, is “delighted” to see the positive moves which the club have taken in the early stages of Steven Gerrard’s reign.

One of those is the recruitment of Arfield, whom Wilson worked with at Falkirk and Huddersfield before recommending to Sean Dyche at Burnley. In addition to the midfielder’s qualities on the field, Wilson feels both he and Gerrard have the gravitas to handle everything that working at a club the size of Rangers can throw at him.

“I’ve known Scotty a long time,” said Wilson. “The two of us went to Falkirk on the same day and have been great mates ever since. We popped up again together at Huddersfield during our time there, we lived just next to each other and we are still in touch.

“He is a magnificent lad who worked incredibly hard at the Falkirk academy to get into Falkirk team and play as many games as he had,” Wilson added. “He was a huge success for us, playing in cup finals and the like, he was brilliant for us in that respect. But having worked ever so hard to get there he kept doing the same things in England.

“It didn’t always work out for him at Huddersfield - with different managers, before and during my time. But both Brian Rice and myself both recommended Scott to Sean Dyche at Watford, I remember speaking about how good a character he was.”

Having graced the top division - grabbing notable goals against the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool, and helping Burnley to hugely creditable finishes in the table - Arfield returns to Scottish football aged 29 but Wilson knows that he has no intention of resting his laurels. While he never did get the chance to represent Scotland at full level, he even tasted international action with Canada.

“Some people might say he will stroll Scottish football but Scott just isn’t that type,” said Wilson. “No matter where he is, he will work ever so hard and however well he does will be determined by that. That is just the type of boy he is.

“There is a danger that we talk down our game at times,” he added. “It is a tough league up in Scotland. I watched the Aberdeen Burnley match and it was a tough, tough game. You have got to earn everything you get up there.

“Scotty is the kind of character that can handle the size of club Rangers are, it won’t faze him at all. Clearly the qualities he has got from his time at Falkirk to Huddersfield and a wonderful spell at Burnley, all of that can only be good for Rangers. You can be as good a player as you like if you can’t handle a club the size of Rangers and everything that comes with it. But there is no doubt that Scotty can handle that. With his character, his temperament, his professionalism, and the family he has around him, there is nothing a guy like Scotty won’t be able to handle.”

Wilson hasn’t looked back since declining the chance to join the Ibrox club this summer, even if he agonised over the decision. If the 2017-18 season was a turbulent one for the Dave King project at Rangers with Pedro Caixinha and Graeme Murty both enduring difficult periods in charge, the early days of the Gerrard era promise better.

“Steven Gerrard has obviously had a big impact since his appointment, he has proven what an exciting young manager he is as well.

“One of the biggest things at Rangers I think is the fact you have got to be able to handle the size and stature of the club. There are not many clubs of that stature out there but in Scotland we have obviously got two of them – Celtic and Rangers, which are massive institutions supported all over the world.

“With Steven’s exceptional playing career, before he even became a manager, you’d imagine the size, and stature of the club is something that wouldn’t faze him at all. Before you even look at anything else, that is one of the key credentials to be a manager of a club like that, whether it is Rangers or another of these other huge clubs.”