CRYING OUT FOR A HERO.. SO OVER TO YOU

Ball says Chermiti can get Ibrox rocking - just like in 2005

- BY ANDY NEWPORT

PICTURE the scene: a taxi pulls up at the front door of Ibrox and out steps an Everton starlet carrying the baggage of a massive transfer fee.

Michael Ball has been in this movie before. His own story had a happy ending on a blockbuster day at Easter Road.

And the former Goodison hero is backing Youssef Chermiti to enjoy his own starring role as Russell Martin attempts to rewrite his Rangers script.

Ball was among the cast of leading men who took the Light Blues to the unlikeliest of league title triumphs on Helicopter Sunday 20 years ago this summer.

You'd be hard pushed to get that remarkable tale past a Hollywood producer but it’s taught Ball one thing - to never give up.

There certainly didn't seem much hope for Alex McLeish’s team as the final four games of the 2004/5 season approached, with Celtic five points ahead.

And yet on a wild afternoon played out on twin stages in Leith and Fir Park, Rangers’ last-gasp action heroes prevailed with a little help from Motherwell's Scott McDonald.

That's why Ball certainly isn’t getting himself in a panic about the state his old side find themselves in now - six points behind Celtic but with a full eight months of the season still remaining.

That's plenty of time for a Gers plot twist - and for £8million new boy Chermiti to shake off the concerns over his huge transfer fee by stealing the Ibrox limelight.