FORMER Morton manager Ray McKinnon says he tried to sign Zak Rudden on loan for the Ton before taking him along with him to Falkirk.

The Tele understands a deal was close between Morton and Rangers for the Scotland under-19 international on Friday, before the transfer window was to shut.

But when McKinnon and his number two Darren Taylor confirmed their move to the Bairns late last week to the surprise of everyone, he also took Rudden along with them.

The 18-year-old had impressed early in pre-season for Rangers, with boss Steven Gerrard praising the youngster after he trained with the first team and played well against Bury in their 6-0 friendly win.

When asked if he was a player he was interested in while he was manager of Morton, McKinnon said: “Yes. We’d been watching him and heard he was available. It never happened down there and we struck late at night and brought him in.”

McKinnon, who was only appointed as Cappielow manager three months ago, has signed a two-year deal with the Bairns after Paul Hartley left by ‘mutual consent’ last week.

Jim McIntyre and Ian McCall both turned down the role at Falkirk before Bairns chiefs opted to move for McKinnon, and he said that it was a ‘tough decision’ to leave Greenock.

He added: “It was a very tough decision, but again you have to make decisions in life, everybody does it every day and I made one on Friday and you just need to move forward with it.

“My focus is now on Falkirk. We only had four players when we started at Morton and we built a very good team, and hopefully the Falkirk team will be as good if not better.”