STEVEN Gerrard knows a thing or two about carefully managing your game time as age creeps up on you. The Rangers manager made it until the age of 36 before calling time on a glittering playing career and was still representing his country two years prior to that. Yet the England great’s accomplishments, fine as they are, pale in comparison to another man currently plying his trade in Govan.
Back in March, Steven Davis wrote his own little chapter of history as the Ibrox side charged to their 55th Premiership crown. He played an integral role on the domestic front as his team secured a first top-flight title in ten years at the beginning of the month but by the end of it, the midfielder had grabbed an impressive record on the international stage too.
When Davis crossed the white lines of the pitch at Windsor Park as Northern Ireland hosted Bulgaria for a World Cup qualifier, he immediately became the most-capped British player of all time with an astounding 126 to his name.
Davis’ sensational form towards the end of the season would suggest that there are plenty of miles left in the tank yet, but there is an acceptance that the midfielder – who turns 37 in January – may have his game time carefully managed to keep him fresh for the big occasion.
And according to former Motherwell defender Stephen Craigan, there are few better suited to carefully choosing if and when to deploy his compatriot than Gerrard.
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“What will be vital will be how Gerrard manages him,” he said. “I think when you’ve had a guy like Gerrard who played deep into his thirties himself, he understands the requirements of having quality over quantity.
“That was important in the first half of the season. I thought Gerrard managed him well. He put him into some games and took him out. He allowed him to have his rest. But when the big games came along, he put him into the team. So that showed you how vital he was for the team.
“It’s up to others to then step up and try and move Davis out of the way. That will decide for how long and how many games Davis plays. If someone else is playing better or is affecting the game the way he affects it, then there’s a chance that they’ll play ahead of him.
“But at times last season, he was their best midfield player. He took the pressure off other players by taking the ball, he understood when to speed the game up and when to slow it down. His game management in and out of possession … everything about it. Very seldom do you see Davis break into a sprint.
“I think that all boils down to position. Sometimes that comes as you get older and you understand the game a little bit better. When you are younger, you chase about, you want to tackle people and show everyone that you are fit and fresh.
“Sometimes the game is played in the mind. Steven will certainly play to a high standard next season. Whether he does that by playing 40 games or 25, Gerrard will decide what’s best for him.”
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Craigan himself has sampled Davis’ professionalism and will to succeed firsthand having played alongside the midfielder at international level and the Premier Sports pundit admits he was delighted that his old team-mate overtook Peter Shilton as history’s most-capped British player.
He expects Davis to add a few more to his collection before he finally decides to call it a day – but stopped short of agreeing with the suggestion that the Ibrox fan favourite could clock up 150.
“It’s a difficult one because Steven has to find out what works best for him,” Craigan explained. “He has to get the balance.
“Particularly over the past year, year and a half, when you go to play international games it’s been triple-headers so there’s not a lot of recovery time in between. Previously when Steven was accumulating caps, you could maybe have four or five days in between a game.
“It will come down to how Steven feels and how long he’ll want to continue playing for Northern Ireland. Once you feel he feels that he can’t really affect games or is feeling a little bit fatigued …
“But 126 caps is sensational for a midfielder. When you consider the ground they cover, the distances he puts in. He always turns up for internationals but this one he hasn’t because it’s the end of the season and he deserves a break.
“Whenever he has been needed by his country he has led from the front either as captain or as a young boy turning up wanting to play. He is a role model for all young players in Northern Ireland, male and female, of what you can do and how far you can go, how important international football still is.
“Sometimes the bigger countries don’t appreciate it as much but when you are a smaller country you can go through tough times when results aren’t always as good. So I was so happy for him when he got the chance to go to the Euros in 2016 and captain his country there because when you think what he has given to his country he really deserved it.”
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