Charlie McCann insists Steven Davis is his perfect inspiration as he looks to make the Rangers first team breakthrough this season. The 20-year-old is a Northern Ireland team-mate of the veteran Ibrox midfielder and is says he is his ideal Ibrox role model.
McCann made his top team debut in a Scottish Cup tie at Annan last season and came off the bench again in the competition before making his league bow against Dundee United at the end of the Scottish Premiership campaign.
He netted in the pre-season friendly win at Blackpool at Bloomfield Road and is hoping to kick on under Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Davis has been a major influence on the Coventry-born former Manchester United and spoke highly of him after they were involved together in Ian Baraclough’s Nations League squad during the summer. Davis also played a part in getting McCann to switch his allegiance to Northern Ireland having represented both England and Republic of Ireland at youth international level.
And asked if Davis is someone he can learn off, McCann said: “Yeah, definitely. I’ve spoken about it a few times. Just training with Davo and watching Davo, you can pick up stuff anyway but he’s always there to help you as well and I’ve got a good relationship with Davo.
“If I need help, he helps me and he’s helped me a lot recently as well with the Northern Ireland situation. He’s been good for me. You look at Davo and he’s the perfect example of a pro that you should be looking at to learn from. He’s got all the experience in the world and he’s a top, top player and played at the top level for years so you can only learn good things off Davo.
“You can take bits of advice and tips from watching and speaking to all of the midfielders in this team. You look at the likes of Jacko [Ryan Jack], Lunny [ John Lundstram ] and people like that, they’ve experienced a lot in the game and are top-quality midfielders so I think just by working and training with them every day I’m going to learn a lot anyway.”
McCann admitted being part of the squad for pre-season training has been a major learning curve, given him more time to work with Van Bronckhorst’s men on a daily basis. He said: “I was around it a lot last season but this period during pre-season has helped me a lot because there’s a bit more time for development and learning because it’s not all about going from game to game and focusing on the teams we’re playing. It’s given me a lot of time to speak to the coaches, learn some new stuff and develop that so it’s been good.
“I think it’s good because it gives you a real picture of what a professional season looks like with a weekend game and maybe a midweek as well. Playing a full schedule of games, it’s probably better than some development leagues where you might play half the games of what you do in a full season. I think playing against men gives you different challenges so it definitely prepared me a lot for stepping up into the first team.
“It’s been good for me. I’ve enjoyed it so far. Being in and around it every day and getting some minutes in games, it’s been good for me and I keep developing and taking it day by day but I’m really enjoying it. You’ve got to take it as it comes and see day to day, what happens but I think, personally, I want to build on last season.
“I broke through a little bit last season towards the end and hopefully this season I can break through a bit more and really establish myself and get some good minutes in games this season and hopefully do well. Being in and around it every day you’ve got to make yourself feel that you’re part of it because you’ve got to buy into it and I think I’m definitely trying that.
“Being around the quality of players every day does give you a lot to learn and it gives you the confidence as well that if you can hold your own with these players you’re doing something right. There’s always an option of that (loan) but I think, at the minute, I’m looking at staying, establishing myself and getting some minutes and trying to push for a spot in the team or at least involvement in the team in the games coming up this season.”
While he has enjoyed a full summer working with the first team squad, the midfielder reckons it’s also been beneficial too for the Dutchman after arriving mid-season. He said: “It’s crucial because although we did well last season, from the manager’s point of view he probably wanted a bit more time with us to work on how he wants us to play. We’ve been able to go into a lot more detail than what we did last season because we’ve had the time to do that so it’s definitely set us up in a better position.
“It just allows us to add more strings to our bows. We’ve got different systems that we know we can play now and we know we can switch between the systems and we can do it with ease so I think it’s made us a lot more capable of being flexible in games and if something’s not going right we can definitely change it.”
And on what he can offer the team, McCann said: “I can do a bit of everything in the midfield to be fair. I enjoy playing the 6 and getting on the ball and starting everything off for the team but I also like to think I can create things and get goals and assists. It’s what I try to do if I get in those areas of the pitch because that’s what I enjoy doing.”
Fellow youngster Zak Lovelace hasn’t wasted any time on making an impression after signing from Millwall in the summer, netting a double for a Gers XI against Queen’s Park in a closed doors game at the weekend. And McCann said: “Zak’s settled in well. He got a couple of goals against Queen’s Park so he’s doing well. It was a great feeling. I didn’t know what to do at the time because it was just one of those surreal moments but I was buzzing after it. It was good to get the first one and hopefully, there’ll be more.”
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