Feast of Steven
An MBE, a World Cup play-off and his 100th cap but Davis still has Rangers on his mind
STEVEN DAVIS believes the new Rangers manager needs to be a clever tactician with the man-management skills to pull everyone together – and if he has a connection with the club that’s a bonus. The former Ibrox midfielder will win his 100th cap for Northern Ireland in the first leg of the World Cup play-off against Switzerland on Thursday night when he will receive a rapturous reception at a packed Windsor Park. Davis was just as popular with the Rangers supporters when he played for the club in a trophy-laden period between 2008 and 2012. In that time Rangers won three league titles, two Scottish Cups, three League Cups and reached the UEFA Cup Final, with Davis one of the star turns for the Glasgow outfit. The Southampton skipper admits he would probably still be at his boyhood club but for the financial nightmare at Ibrox that saw the club go into administration and then liquidation. Happy to be with the Saints in the English Premier League it’s clear Davis, whose hero growing up was former Rangers and England great Paul Gascoigne, still keeps an eye on events in Scotland and will be interested to see who the Ibrox club appoint as manager following Pedro Caixinha’s sacking last month. The 32-year-old has watched invincible Celtic dominate for the last 18 months under countryman Brendan Rodgers, who once tried to sign Davis from Rangers when he was in charge of Swansea. He says there are no clubs in the world where the scrutiny is more intense and the pressure greater than at Rangers and Celtic and says whoever jumps into the Ibrox hotseat must be able to cope with that. Davis, who worked under Walter Smith and Ally McCoist in his four-and-a-half years with Rangers, said: “The demands of the club are that they have to be back challenging. “There is obviously that gap between themselves and Celtic at the moment and it may take a couple of years of investment. But ultimately the demands of Rangers with their stature means they must challenge for trophies and they have to do it season in, season out. “With my experience there it is definitely an added bonus if a manager has that background where they know the club because Rangers and Celtic are two clubs that are like no others. “You think of the demands of both clubs, the pressure and that every single move anyone makes is either criticised or praised. “If you have that experience it definitely gives you a foothold there and you know how to deal with certain situations. But for me it is not the most important thing.
“The most important thing is to get a manager in there who is going to set the team up well, get the players all playing in the right method and have them well prepared and having everyone buying into making the team successful again.”
Davis admits leaving Rangers was a tough decision but feels it was the right one for him at the time.
He said: “Obviously with the situation at Rangers if it hadn’t happened I probably would never have left the club but as much as it was a difficult choice at the time it was maybe a challenge that I needed.
“The switch to Southampton has worked out very well for me and my family. It’s a club with values which suits my values. They play football and that is suited to my style and it is a good relationship.”
On Thursday Davis is primed for one of the biggest occasions of his life. Regarded as one of Northern Ireland’s greatest-ever players, the modest midfielder insists the key factor at Windsor Park will be helping to put his country in a strong position for Sunday’s second leg in Basel rather than his 100th cap.
Davis, who last week collected his MBE from Prince William at Buckingham Palace, said: “The biggest thing for me is I don’t want the 100th cap to distract any of my attention away from what is our goal.
“The 100th cap will be at the back of my mind. My focus will be on preparing for the game and getting ready to go out there and secure a place in the finals.
“Hopefully after the two matches it is something I can reflect on and say it was a special and memorable night for all the right reasons.
“These two games are two of the biggest we’ll have played in our lives with the magnitude of what’s at stake. It will be difficult but there is genuine belief we can do it.” Davis adds that the attention to
detail of manager Michael O’Neill has been massive in Northern Ireland reaching last year’s Euro finals and being 180 minutes away from the nation’s first World Cup since Mexico 86. And Davis appreciates he has come a long way since his own international debut 12 years ago, following in the footsteps of people he admired like Neil Lennon and David Healy. He said: “Since Michael came in he has looked at everything to give us the best platform to be successful. “That includes travel, food, recovery strategies, training strategies, set-up of the team and how he wants us to play. “This is a great period for Northern Ireland and we know no stone will be left unturned for the play-off. “Looking up to Northern Ireland players as a kid the first one was George Best. He wasn’t in my era but I watched the videos. “Then I would watch players like Neil Lennon and Jim Magilton on TV. They were midfielders playing at a high level and you wanted to replicate what they had achieved. “Then coming into the squad and being around David Healy, who was a legend for the goals he scored for Northern Ireland, was great. “From watching these players on TV to playing myself and becoming a key player was something I had always hoped to do and thankfully it has all gone well.”