So we’ve not yet actually really spoken about our interim coach leader Steven Davis. We’ll be honest, we have a few reservations about Davo, as much as we respect him, being the right guy to take the club forward in the meantime.
We’re absolutely sure the ‘give him a chance ffs’ brigade will march in here and slaughter us for seemingly criticising the man before ‘a baw is kicked ffs’, which we’re absolutely not, but Davo has always struck us as a bit on the quiet side, a gentle, dignified guy who isn’t really someone to get particularly angry and loud and isn’t quite ready to lead a side of Rangers’ gravity yet.
Of course, this could be totally unfair – Mikel Arteta could never have been seen as the manager he’s becoming, he too seemed the quiet wee lad and when he went into coaching, few predicted him to be as good as he’s ended up being. But then he got a Walter Smith-esque schooling under Pep Guardiola which is about as good as it gets, so there was an advantage there.
It absolutely does happen though.
But Davo’s Rangers TV interview was a wee bit rabbit in headlights, with the Ibrox midfielder admitting he absolutely didn’t expect this opportunity to pop up, more or less hinting he wasn’t really ready for it.
How could he be, he’s only 38 and still technically a player.
He will of course be aided by a very decent coaching unit, particularly Steven Smith who really is a shrewd appointment by the board, and while Alex Rae’s managerial career has been more miss than hit, he’s not stupid, and will offer useful guidance, as he definitely did under Eck in Belgium.
The board was put on the spot a bit here – the reaction to Aberdeen was horrific, and from what we understand, Beale actually pseudo-resigned – he said he wanted out, the board agreed, and a quick severance was agreed.
We are absolutely not on Davo’s back before he’s even taken a match, he’s a good guy, one of us, and we’d love him to turn the feeling at Ibrox round a bit, along with the group the club put together for him.
But we really do hope he has a bit of balls to make some changes – to drop the non-performers and actually start a half-decent side on Thursday.
He’d gain a lot of friends if he makes some big changes, even if we don’t really expect to win in Cyprus. A statement lineup would be nice.
We will see how Davo and the gang get on, but we admit, our expectations are only modest from such a hastily cobbled-together group.
There’s no real pressure from Ibrox Noise on these guys, they’ll just do their best.
And that was Davo’s promise – ‘to give it my best’.