“Better than Xavi” – but Davo’s Rangers career is coming to an end | OneFootball

The BBC described Steven Davis’ error last night for Northern Ireland as ‘uncharacteristic’ but the reality is that, for any Rangers fan willing to be honest and not fawn over Davo because of his reputation and who he is… he’s reaching the end of his playing days, and there’s nothing wrong with human frailty and age catching up.

The lad is 37 for goodness’ sake – do we expect him to keep on playing like he did 5 years ago?

More errors have creeped into his game now, and he can only really be a fringe player at Ibrox nowadays, even though many fans refuse to entertain the notion and abuse anyone who is honest about a player who does, in fairness, deserve a little slack.

Davo always did right by us – even when he left in 2012, he refused to sign for Southampton till Rangers received the £800,000 for his services – even on exiting, he was still one of us, still helping us.

Few have as much respect for Davis as we do – but no man is bigger than the club, and we cannot play him out of sentiment.

This is not to say he’s a shambles now and error-strewn, but he’s slower, less reliable, and doesn’t add a whole lot to Rangers’ midfield these days.

You can just about get away with aging when you’re a goalie, as long as your reflexes and reactions are still sharp, like Allan McGregor, you can play on till even into your 40s.

But outfield, and midfield and attack especially, are much tougher, due to the much higher workrate.

It’s unlikely Davis will get a new contract next summer, as a player anyway, but he certainly deserves to remain at the club for as long as he likes.

No one should be too harsh on him for his lesser performances the last 6 months, but even he will know the end is coming on his playing days.

But one thing is for sure, no one got more from Davis than Rangers did, and his form from summer 2019 was absolutely magical for the best part of two years, the best of his career.

He gave the Ibrox side everything he had, and then some.

Better than Xavi? Damn right!