STEVEN Davis says he is determined not to allow his long-term injury to dictate his playing future as he provided an update on his recovery.
The midfielder played only 25 minutes in Michael Beale’s first competitive match in charge of the club before his season was brought to an end by a serious knee injury in December.
Speaking to RangersTV as he continues his recovery, Davis insists he is taking his rehabilitation day-by-day as he charts a course for his future: “I’ve been very fortunate throughout my career, this is the first long-term injury that I’ve had to deal with so I have to get my head around that really. I’m fortunate that I’ve got to this stage of my career without a serious injury so it’s a new challenge for me.
“It gives you a lot more time to think. I’ve had a very long and successful career, but at the same time I don’t want this to be my end chapter and to be the determining factor in me stopping playing. At this minute of time, my full focus is on doing the rehab to the best of my ability. I have a young family as well so I want to be able to get back to playing with them, get back on the pitch, and play for my country. I don’t want this to be the end of my playing career, but I’m also realistic that, with the age that I’m at and how big the injury is, that it’s going to be a difficult road ahead. I’m fully focussed on doing everything to the best of my ability.
“At this minute in time I’ve not thought too far ahead. I want to use this period while I’ve got a little bit more time on my hands to try and grow, whether that’s looking at different aspects from a coaching perspective or achieving something outside of football. I certainly want to maximise the time that I have not on the pitch and make the most of it.”
The Northern Ireland international has been a role model on the pitch across his two spells at Rangers, and he believes that he can take inspiration from within the Light Blues dressing room as he continues his rehabilitation.
He continued: “There’s good examples throughout the dressing room, players who have had longer term injuries in their career. You look at John Souttar, Tom [Lawrence] has been out for a period of time, Ianis [Hagi] is just coming back after a long-term injury. They are all motivating factors for me and it’s great to bounce things off them whenever I’m experiencing this first time despite being in the game a long time.
“We’re very fortunate to be at a club like Rangers where we have the best staff in every department and the medical staff are no different. It’s great that I have that care and attention, they’ll keep me right during my rehab and give me every possible chance of achieving my dream which is pulling on the Rangers jersey again.”
Michael Beale has made a positive impression since he was appointed as manager ahead of the resumption of the Scottish Premiership campaign in December, with Sunday afternoon’s victory over Partick Thistle making it 12 victories from the manager’s first 13 games in charge.
Davis can’t help but be impressed by the form of the side in recent months having enjoyed a successful spell under Beale while he worked alongside Steven Gerrard at Ibrox previously.
He added: “It’s been great. Since the gaffer has come in, we have the seen the gradual progression and the work he has been doing on the training ground has come to fruition. It all came to a head in the Hearts game where everyone was delighted with that performance over the course of 90 minutes. It’s been good as well whenever we’ve had to show our character in games and come from behind.
“There’s a lot of positives signs, and with the players coming back from injury the squad is only getting stronger. I’m really excited about what this group can achieve between now and the end of the season. We just need to keep pushing each other on a daily basis and really driving standards.
“He lets everyone know their roles on the pitch and what’s expected of them. We’ve seen that develop in the team already in the short period of time that he’s been here. The way he deals with players on a daily basis with his man-management skills, which we didn’t get to see as much first time around because that wasn’t his role, but everything points towards him having a long and successful career as a manager and I’m certainly hopeful that things at the club will be positive while he’s in charge.”