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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Steven Davis responds to permanent Rangers manager poser

Steven Davis has remained coy over suggestions he could take on the Rangers manager role permanently. 

The 38-year-old will tomorrow night make his bow in the dugout as interim boss of the Ibrox club.

He was selected by CEO James Bisgrove and chairman John Bennett as the temporary choice to replace Michael Beale, who was dismissed from the position on Sunday.

It's not yet known for how long he will be in the role. But Davis is determined to get the results the club demands in the short term when they face off against Aris Limassol on Thursday and then St Mirren on Sunday.

"There’s not been any conversation in terms of a time frame," the Northern Ireland international admitted. "It all happened very quickly. I was asked to come in and take the game tonight. How things play out after that I’m not too sure.

"Regarding my feelings around it, I’ve obviously got ambitions. I did not quite expect it to happen quite as soon. I’m just determined to make the most of the opportunity I’ve been given and we will see what develops from there.

"I think for us we just want to give the boys the freedom to go out and play to their strengths really.  This is not a position we want to be in at this minute in time. But if you take the Europa League on its own we had a very positive result against Betis. It’s about us trying to continue that and if we get a result out here that will put us in a really strong position.

"There will be minor tweaks but the fortunate thing is I’ve been around the boys, I’ve played with a lot of the players, and I know their strengths and I want to give them the platform to show what they can do."

Davis also opened up on a conversation he had with Beale at the weekend after the changes were implemented by the club's hierarchy. 

He added: "I spoke to him on Sunday night. The conversation will remain relatively private but I wanted to thank him personally.

"The way he dealt with me with my injury and the tough time I’ve been going through over the last nine months, he and the staff were excellent in all the support they gave me.

"It wasn’t a position I wanted to see but we had a brief conversation and we wished me all the best."

Nicolas Raskin and Kemar Roofe are available for Rangers after the pair returned from injury in time to make the trip to Cyprus. Ryan Jack will be missing, though.

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