MORTON captain Jim McAlister believes the club have landed a prize catch in Jonatan Johansson.

The former Rangers and Finland striker was appointed as manager last week and takes charge of his first game as Ton boss today against Dundee United at Tannadice.

He’s had spells with the Ibrox outfit and his national team as assistant manager, and was looking to get back into work after leaving Rangers in the summer.

The appointment took just six days after Ray McKinnon left to join Falkirk, much to the surprise of everyone in Scottish football.

McAlister thinks the club got ahead of the pack to get Johansson in quickly.

The midfielder says the Morton squad is one of the best he’s worked with, and he believes it is a good group for Johansson to inherit.

McAlister told the Tele: “There are a few jobs kicking around now and the manager we’ve got would have been on the shortlist for a few of them.

"It’s testament to the board they’ve seen their number one target, went for him and got him within a week and that can only be good for the club going forward.

“The gaffer has had a full week’s training with us before the Dundee United game.

“It’ll be an easy squad for him to manage as well. Quite often you have one or two bad eggs in a dressing room, that’s just a common thing in football but I’ve not seen it at Morton.

“Everyone’s striving for the same outcome, even the boys who aren’t playing — while they’re disappointed to not be playing they come out to support the lads on a Saturday. When they’re called upon they can be trusted to perform and it’s a fairly large squad.”