'I can't believe how quickly he's been so successful': Raith Rovers boss Ian Murray hails work counterpart Phillipe Clement is doing at Rangers FC

Murray, 42, who himself has worked wonders by steering Raith just one point adrift of Scottish Championship leaders Dundee United with 13 games left, hailed the Belgian gaffer who has overseen nine straight domestic victories since losing 2-1 at Celtic Park on league duty on December 30.

"I don't think anybody thought Rangers would be top of the league this season, never mind inside that time frame,” the former Hibernian defender told the Fife Free Press.

"I think we always kind of thought this guy was coming in and he was going to implement a new style and be successful eventually.

"But the way he's managed to implement it so quickly - that's one of the hardest things you can do as a manager or coach is getting a team to play how you want to do.

"And so fluently as well, so he deserves a tremendous amount of credit.

"Obviously Celtic are stuttering a little bit but Brendan Rodgers has been here before. He's been over the course a few times and it's looking like it's going to be a fantastic title race in the Premier League and hopefully a fantastic one in our league as well.”

Ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Ayr United for Raith, Murray also acknowledged how tough it will be to overhaul Jim Goodwin’s Tangerines, who host Queen’s Park at the same time, in the race for the title in Scotland’s second tier.

"It's going to be really difficult," Murray said. "United are still favourites in my opinion.

"I would rather be a point ahead than a point behind, that's for sure.

"And they've got to play us up at Tannadice. So it is all in United's favour still, but we'll always keep battling away and believe in ourselves.

"And if we manage to do it, whatever way that is, it would be amazing.

"We'd be there on merit. We would obviously have a really, really tough season if we went up to the Premier League, that's for sure.

"Every single week it would be slightly different from what we're doing this season.

"Every point would be so, so precious and we probably couldn't be as attacking as we were, we'd need to be a bit more smart in defensive areas.

"But as a team and as a town and a community, it really would be amazing.

"For Rangers and Celtic to be bowling up at Stark's Park at least two times a season, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, all these teams.

"It's been a long time since it happened so if we can try and break that this year then great. If we don't, then I firmly believe that in years to come then Raith Rovers will definitely have built a platform and built the fundamentals to be a team that's challenging pretty regularly."