It has been a tough start to the 2023/24 Scottish Premiership campaign for Rangers and manager Michael Beale, and with five games played in our domestic season, we are sat in fourth place in the table on nine points having picked up three wins – but we have already suffered two defeats.
With quite a turnover of players during the summer transfer window, the vast majority of them are yet to properly hit the ground running and settle into life in Glasgow and that does go some way to explaining our less than consistent form, but that has not stopped the pressure from building on the manager as the media focus in and there will certainly be odds available on how long he may stay in the job.
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One player who could have moved on during the transfer window, but did not, was 28 year old defender Ben Davies. The former Preston North End Academy graduate, and short time Liverpool player, made a £4 million move from Anfield in the summer of 2022, and in his first season at Ibrox he went on to make 34 starting appearances, with a further four showings from the substitutes bench.
Although he has only made one appearance so far this campaign, the recent 2-0 victory over St Johnstone, he recently held quite a bullish interview with the Scottish Sun where he explained that even though leaving was an option for him, he was adamant he was staying and was not going to make a move back down south.
More importantly, from his point of view, once Beale had indicated he still had a role to play, he is determined to do all he can to help the boss out and turn our season around.
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure what was said about me but as far as I was concerned I was a Rangers player and I wasn’t looking to move. My priority over the summer was getting fit and getting back in the team, which I did up in Perth. The manager said I was an important part of what he was looking to do going forward. So I took that in and made sure I went and got myself fit. He’s played me at the weekend, so…The manager has shown a lot of faith in me since he’s been here. It’s time I repaid that and put some good performances in.”
Despite his appearance tally, his first year did see him plagued by injury so that naturally played into the speculation that we were targeting John Souttar’s brother, Harry, but nothing came of that, nor the rumours suggesting he would head to Stoke.
“With last season going the way it did, my focus over the summer was to come back and put in a better year for Rangers. Hopefully now I’ve made my first start I can go on and do that. I need to improve on my consistency, being more of a leader, making sure I cement my place in the defence. Hopefully if I do that I can repay the faith the club showed in me last summer when they brought me in. Everyone has a point to prove here. This is Rangers so you need to win every game. When you don’t, it’s about knuckling down, working together and sticking together. I back the manager. I’ve got 100 per cent faith in him that we can have a good season this year. There’s a long way to go and he just needs people like me and others to put in strong performances for him. Hopefully we can do that.”
For now we will have to see if he remains in the side for the next test, but one thing is for sure, a solid run of victories now would do everyone the world of good.
