Steven Davis vows to ‘give his all’ after being put in interim charge of Rangers

Steven Davis is determined to make the most of his chance in the Rangers hotseat as he admitted it came sooner than expected.

The 38-year-old Northern Ireland international, who had two successful spells as a player at Ibrox, was asked by the Gers board on Sunday evening to take the reins until they appoint a new permanent boss following the departure of Michael Beale.

The former Gers midfielder, who had been returning to fitness at the Ibrox club after a serious knee injury despite his contract expiring in the summer, will be assisted by fellow former Rangers players Alex Rae and Steven Smith, as well as coach Brian Gilmour and goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart.

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Speaking in Cyprus ahead of the Europa League clash with Aris Limassol in Cyprus on Thursday night, Davis spoke about a “whirlwind” few days while addressing his future.

“Obviously it came out of the blue,” said Davis, who revealed Nicolas Raskin and Kemar Roofe have returned from injury.

“Sunday evening, I was just at home. It wasn’t a call that I was expecting.

“Things moved very fast and I came in on Monday morning and I started to work.

“It was James Bisgrove (chief executive) and Craig Robertson (board member) that I received the phonecall from.

“Obviously it was a bit of a whirlwind after that. I went off the phone and I had a few conversations but my decision was made very quickly.

“I was honoured by the fact the board had that conversation and my name came up and they put their trust in me to try and do this job.

“I’m going to give it my all to try and be successful.

“Listen, there’s not been any conversation in terms of a time frame. I 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 really to make the most of the opportunity I’ve been given and we will see what develops from there.

“I’ve got the experience of Alex Rae in beside me and Colin Stewart and Steven Smith and Brian.

“I’ve had a lot of messages from managers I’ve worked under. Unfortunately I’ve not had a chance to respond because it’s been quite intense preparing for this game.

“I appreciate the support I’ve been given but I haven’t had the chance to reach out to anyone or felt the need to just yet.”

Beale departed the club following the 3-1 defeat to Aberdeen at Ibrox which left the Light Blues seven points behind cinch Premiership leaders Celtic, albeit they beat Real Betis 1-0 in their first Europa League fixture.

Davis insists it is time for everyone at the club to “step up”.

He said: “‘Listen, there’s a lot of character within the dressing room. There’s a lot of leaders in there as well.

“Everyone knows it’s time to step up. The great thing about football is you get another opportunity to turn things around.

“It’s not a position we want to be in. Everybody is hurting from it.

“The main focus is first and foremost getting a result on Thursday and building on it from there.

“We won our opening group game. We are in a strong position and we want to build on that

“I think for us we just want to give the boys the freedom to go out and play to their strengths really.”