DAVIS THRILLED TO BE BACK IN THE FURNACE
IN comparison to previous Rangers attempts to tap into a returning Ibrox veteran’s Old Firm course-and-distance form, Steven Davis concedes the story of his second coming is a slow burner. The trick was deployed by Walter Smith twice in the same year, with almost immediate effect.
Mark Hateley rebounded from Queens Park Rangers at the age of 35 to spook Celtic amid an injury and illness epidemic at Ibrox in March 1997 as Nine In A Row was all but wrapped up.
He used his head firstly to flick on the ball in the build-up to Brian Laudrup’s winner then to butt Celtic goalkeeper Stewart Kerr and earn a red card in a brutal contest. Job done 66 minutes in.
Later that year, Richard Gough jetted in from Kansas City and, in only his third game, bulleted home the only goal of the first Glasgow derby of the season.
He followed up with a celebration that was construed as a premature ‘10-In-A-Row’ gesture but explained later that it was a ‘raise-the-roof’ message from the USA. Whatever the truth, it was a
stunning return. Yet the
impact did not last long enough for Gough to drag Rangers to a 10th title because Wim Jansen’s squad recovered over the stretch to claim the title.
Three months have passed since Davis sat at home on England’s south coast watching Rangers in derby action on television, aching to be a part of the great fixture again.
Like most weekends at Southampton, he knew he wasn’t going to feature for his club.
The routine would have been the same even if he had been in the frame to face Manchester City 24 hours later because he would never have missed the chance to look in on an Old Firm clash.
The different dynamic at play, however, was that Davis had an inclination he would soon be part of the Rangers squad he was cheering on to a mighty victory.
The pursuit and subsequent loan capture of Davis in January was not exclusively designed for the two remaining ties against Celtic, though his previous would help.
Hopes were pinned on the 34-yearold midfielder’s know-how of three title-winning runs helping to guide the group through some of the lateseason pitfalls of a top-flight battle.
As he watched Ryan Jack strike and secure Rangers a well-deserved 1-0 victory, there didn’t appear a lot needing fixed in Steven Gerrard’s team. By the time Davis had made a 70-minute debut three weeks later, the wheels were off and Rangers were back to square one. Trailing Celtic.
As the same problems that plagued Gerrard’s men in the first half of the season undermine them in the second, they have drifted further behind.
All the while Davis has been playing catch-up with his fitness and unable to do much to avert the slide to the 10-point deficit Rangers face today.
The Ibrox manager was dearly hoping this fixture — and the one to follow after the split — would carry much more meaning in title terms when he reunited Davis with Kyle Lafferty and Allan McGregor.
‘We need to try to put any seed of doubt in their mind, if possible,’ said Davis. ‘Celtic have a healthy cushion and it will be very difficult for us.
‘I’m not going to say we will take the title if we win. We just have to do our job and make them doubt themselves a little bit. As big as the gap is at the minute, you never know what can happen in football.
‘We now have a decent mixture of people who have played in the fixture, who know what to expect.
‘I don’t know if that strengthens my case for being involved, it’s up to the manager. But obviously I am desperate to play.
‘Our last win at Celtic Park was in 2010, so it was a good time to end that run because it has been too long.
‘It’s up to us to go and perform, make sure we get the result.’
That success for Rangers in enemy territory nine years ago was a 3-1 come-from-behind victory which helped Davis on the way to his third consecutive league title.
Interestingly, Neil Lennon’s team that day featured six debutants of the fixture. The entire Rangers starting line-up boasted Old Firm experience.
‘To win at Celtic Park, you need to go with a game plan, be organised and accept that Celtic might have possession,’ added Davis. ‘I wasn’t here earlier on in the season at Parkhead but I think we probably sat off them too much.
‘In the home game that I watched, we got in their faces a lot more and stopped them starting attacks and playing out from the back.
‘So that was the key factor in us winning the game at Ibrox. It’s about getting that balance right away from home.’
The pace of life was slower at Southampton. Their bitter enemies Portsmouth have been toiling to clamber back up the leagues in recent seasons.
Brighton away never did quicken the pulse for Davis compared to what he craved in Glasgow.
And so he returned hunting down more Old Firm memories like his match-winner in May 2009 at Ibrox that led to his first league championship win.
Or his Hampden strike in a classic League Cup final in 2011, settled in extra time by Nikica Jelavic.
‘You wouldn’t class them as derbies at Southampton,’ he said. ‘What we have here is obviously a special game and I always say to people down there to go and experience it at least once.
‘I had an idea something might happen about coming back when I watched the last game but you never know in football.
‘We were in training, so I saw the first half at the training ground and the second half at home.
‘I’ve always watched the games since I left Rangers, if I haven’t been playing. That won’t change.’
A goal and two 90-minute outings in Northern Ireland’s Euro 2020 qualifying victories over Estonia and Belarus might just have brought Davis back to where he needs to be for an Old Firm game.
Before the international break, he completed his first full league game for Rangers in the 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock.
‘I’m frustrated about mabye not making the impact I feel I should be making back here and not getting the game time,’ he admitted.
‘But, hopefully, with getting three 90 minutes within the last eight days, it will take me a step closer to where I want to be.’
I’ve always watched the Old Firm games — that will never change