HAVING nailed-down a regular starting spot in the Rangers starting XI under firstly Alex McLeish and then Paul le Guen, left-back Steven Smith was really catching the eye of the Light Blue faithful.
But then it all ground to a shuddering halt.
After 48 appearances, including in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, a long-term pelvic injury prematurely ended his 2006/07 season – his final match being a 1-1 draw with Celtic just weeks before Walter Smith returned in place of Paul le Guen.
He wouldn’t play again that season, and indeed, would feature only twice in 2007/08 – both in April – before finally earning a regular spot in the team for the latter part of season 2008/09.
His journey to staking a claim again was long and arduous, and one he feels was mentally tough on him as well as physically.
But, he overcame it, and went onto enjoy a good career, with spells in the English Championship, the MLS and back at Rangers in League One and the Scottish Championship before ending his career at Kilmarnock.
This week, he spoke at length to the Official Rangers Podcast, and said: “Since I was 17, I had been going and getting injection after injection, but that would only work for so long.
“I think after that Celtic game, I had two hernia operations and after I came back from the second one, it was really difficult – probably mentally more than anything else.
“They did everything right, but I remember being out on the pitch one day with the physio – Davie Henderson at the time.
“The two of us were quite aggressive, but I was saying to him, ‘I don’t feel right – there’s still a problem in here.’
“I think at that point, everyone was starting to think it was becoming a mental thing, as I was still in real discomfort – like it was still the same.
“So I’d had the two operations, and then after that, I think I went back into first-team training for one day, and your first day back after a rehab process, you’re never actually involved in the full session – you’re maybe non-contact or the players really don’t come near you, especially with the length of time I had been out.
“I ended up phoning the doctor, and telling him I still had problems. From that point, it then took me to another specialist in Germany, and I got another operation, again, a hernia operation but this time it was a little bit different.
“After that, that is when I started the rehab process. I think at that time, Michael Owen was in at the same time getting done, and he managed to get back playing in I think 18 days.
“But I was still, because of the failed processes I had been through before, it took a long, long time – but the club never once said to me, ‘you have to be back here’ etc. – there was no pressure put on me whatsoever and they gave me that time that I needed.
“I was probably mentally damaged a wee bit as well because I’d taken that long and had that many setbacks through the previous rehab processes that they just gave me all the time to get back to where I was before.”
The change of manager from Le Guen to Walter Smith was also a complication for the then 21 year-old, who added: “It was really difficult, and especially when the manager was changed. Alex McLeish and Paul le Guen knew what I was about – they knew how I trained and they knew how I worked.
“I’d had one experience with Walter Smith with Scotland ‘B’ team, but even then you are away for two or three days, so they don’t really get to know you as people.
“But at that point, even though they didn’t know me, they were still great towards me. Ally McCoist pulled me in for a meeting and was asking, basically, how they could get me back fit.
“He said, ‘who do we need to send you to, and we’ll get the best specialists and the best people to look at you.’
“That is when I ended up going to Germany. Everyone at the club, whether it be the doctors, the physios, the managers or the assistant managers, the sports scientists – they couldn’t have been more helpful to try and get me back to a level where I could then train again for a sustained period.”
Smith’s early days under McLeish included him making his Champions League debut in the Last 16 of the tournament at home to Villarreal.
It was the first time Gers had reached that stage of the competition – and Smith reckons he perhaps didn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of the tie at that time.
He continued: “I thought that was how it was always going to be – the Champions League, getting to that stage of the competition and getting to play against the best players.
“I was quite naive at that age thinking this was going to happen to me every year and you were going to experience.
“At that time, and at that age, I didn’t really have any fear of anyone I was playing against. There wasn’t any looking at the teamsheet and thinking about playing against Riquelme or Senna and people like that – it was just another game.
“I actually expected to win. That might sound strange as we were playing in the Last 16 of the Champions League, and I’m 19 and expecting to go out and win, but that is just the way I had always been brought up and I was always used to winning.”