The low point came when he was sent off against Celtic as Brendan Rodgers' men dished out a humiliating 4-0 Hampden drubbing.

New boss Steven Gerrard took over in the summer and immediately earmarked McCrorie as a midfield enforcer – claiming his predecessors had risked damaging his fledgling career by playing him in defence.

The Scotland Under-21 skipper has been made to bide his time this term but has re-established himself in Gerrard's line-up recently and won praise as he dominated the likes of Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham during last month's Old Firm victory.

Now former Light Blues hero Hateley claims the guidance McCrorie is receiving from Gerrard and assistant boss Gary McAllister is paying off.

Speaking at the launch of Premier Sports' Scottish Cup coverage, Hateley told Press Association Sport: "Ross has done very well recently – especially in the Old Firm game.

"Ross used to go to ground a lot when he first came in last year.

"He clearly still loves a tackle but the big difference for me is that he's found his feet now, literally, and is staying on them more often.

"He's a strong-running, enthusiastic, powerful young player who is still learning the game but learning very quickly.

"If you had asked Ross to be honest 18 months ago, he would have admitted he didn't know what his real position was – a centre-half or a central midfield player.

"But now he's finding his true direction. He's got a good coaching team around him who have obviously helped a lot with that, pointing him down the right path and I'm delighted for him as he's a smashing lad."

Hateley went through a similar growth process himself when he made the move to AC Milan aged 23 as he soaked up as much as he could from Italian World Cup winner Paolo Rossi.

And he is glad to see McCrorie making the most of the vast knowledge available to him.

"When Steven Gerrard was a young player he had to be told to stop tackling so much as he was actually putting himself in danger," said the former England striker. "I was the same. The first thing they stopped me doing when I went to Milan was tackling in the wider areas of the pitch.

"It was simple. As soon as I did it I became a better player because I was no longer wasting my efforts in places that weren't necessary.

"As a young striker I wanted to burst the back of the net too. But Rossi took me aside and gave me some of his wisdom. He said 'The ball only has to cross the line, it doesn't even have to brush the net'.

"If you look at all of Rossi's goals, there was a dink here, a dink there and that really struck a chord with me.

"It's all about what you learn from experienced players around you and young McCrorie has got so much of that around him with Steven and Gary there now and it's nice to see."

:: Premier Sports will screen the biggest games from the Scottish Cup for the next six years. Visit www.premiersports.com for details.

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