Rangers hero says Ibrox opportunity gave him 'appetite' to stay in football as he takes on EFL Championship role
The former Rangers interim boss will be working under new Blackburn Rovers manager Michael O’Neill at Ewood Park.
Four-time Rangers Scottish top-flight winner Steven Davis says he learned a lot from his interim coaching spell at Ibrox as he prepares to take on a new challenge.
The 41-year old will reunite with his former National Team boss, Michael O’Neill at Blackburn Rovers as a first team coach. His only other post-playing job was at Ibrox over two years ago, when he took over interim duties following the dismissal of Michael Beale.
Davis, who claimed at the time the opportunity was ‘too good to turn down’, was only in the dugout for two Rangers matches - an away 2-1 Europa League defeat to Aris Limassol and a 3-0 Premiership victory over St Mirren in Paisley. He would make way for Philippe Clement just a fortnight after being appointed, but going into his new role in Lancashire he believes he learned from valuable lessons from his short-term Ibrox management stint.
Ibrox stint ‘a steep learning curve’
In an interview with Rovers TV talking about his experience as a coach, Davis said: “I got an opportunity straight out of the blue when I was still doing rehab at Rangers at the time, a couple of years ago. I got the interim job there for two years after they made a decision to sack the manager at that time.
“That was obviously a steep learning curve but a really good one for me. It gave me the appetite that I wanted to pursue that and since retiring I’ve obviously been on that journey in terms of trying to gain my coaching badges and gain that experience. I’m really looking forward to what I can take from this one.”
Davis won the last of his four Scottish top-flight titles in the 2020/21 ten-in-a-row stopping season at the age of 36. A leader on the pitch not just then but throughout his career, he went on to explain that becoming a coach was always part of his post-playing plans.
Davis helps new boss O’Neill multi-task
He continued: “Towards the latter stages of my career it was in the back of my mind. The longer it went on, I was fortunate enough to play to a reasonably late age in footballers‘ terms. As it got closer to the end I really wanted to focus on the playing side and maximise that and not distract myself. I know people have various approaches to that but that’s how I looked at it at the time. Since retiring, it’s been a focus of mine in terms of my coaching.”
Davis will join O’Neill, who was appointed Rovers boss last week after the dismissal of Valerien Ismael. O’Neill has been Northern Ireland National Team manager since 2022 and is preparing them for their all-important World Cup play-off against Italy next month. The veteran boss insists that his new role at Rovers won’t be a distraction as he prepares to take on a war on two fronts.
Upon his arrival, he said: "Look, if I felt for one minute that it would distract, I wouldn't have taken the opportunity. I wouldn't have done that to Blackburn either. The reality of the situation is we've done a lot of work on Italy, the manager there has had six games in charge, we've watched them as much as we can watch them, I don't think we'll see any surprises.”