RABBI Matondo suspected that Steven Davis was management material long before the Rangers midfielder was asked to take charge of the Ibrox first team on a temporary basis last year following the sacking of Michael Beale.
The winger, who is hoping to build on his bright display against Hibernian at Easter Road in midweek in the cinch Premiership match against St Mirren in Paisley this afternoon, saw how the 140-times capped Northern Ireland internationalist commanded the complete respect of everyone around him.
He also benefitted from the words of advice and encouragement which Davis, who this week announced he was retiring from football at the age of 35, regularly gave him even when he was sidelined through injury.
Matondo is certain that his old team mate, who is going to spend time with his family and ponder his next move, has a long and successful future ahead of him as a coach and a manager and would like to see him return to Auchenhowie in a different capacity.
READ MORE: Philippe Clement stresses Rangers will need to sell to survive
“It’s been a disappointing end to his career in terms of his injury,” he said. “It’s been hard for him in that respect. But you can never tell really when he is walking around. He is giving out information and trying to help everyone around him.
“Steven Davis is always going to be positive in everything he does. There have even been times where he has sent me a little message and pushed me to keep on going.
“When I have scored a goal he has said, ‘I know that’s what you’re about’. Stuff like that, nice touches. He is a class act. He was a great footballer, but he’s a good person as well.
“You can just look at him and get inspired. His presence is enough. He doesn’t need to say too much. He will obviously chat to you, but he isn’t a big, big talker. I would say that his presence speaks volumes.
“Sometimes his personality is enough to have an influence on you. He won’t speak too much, but when he does he immediately has the attention of the whole room. Sometimes you have just got to have it I guess. It comes from good performances, the way he has put in his performances. And being a good person.”
READ MORE: Who is Jefte? Rangers' latest inbound transfer assessed
Matondo added: “I don’t know what he will do next. That’s down to him what he decides to do with his career and the next part of his life. I would like to see that for him, but ultimately it is down to him.
“But could he be a manager? I think he could. I think he proved he could do that from even his spell as interim. I’m sure in the near future he can prove what he is about.
“It is important that Rangers keep guys who know what the club is about. It is easier when you have been around the club and you know the club. It helps, like when the manager came in. It helps a lot.”
Matondo, who is set to enjoy an extended run in the Rangers first team due to the injury which Brighton loanee Abdallah Sima suffered on African Cup of Nations duty with Senegal, is certain he can go from strength to strength under current Ibrox manager now he has put his injury issues behind him.
“Whether Abdallah is injured or not, I want to work hard and get myself into the team,” he said. “It is unfortunate Abdallah has got injured as he is a big asset and very important for us. It is sad to see him injured.
“The manager has always said to me from the get-go he knows what I am about. He has obviously seen me play in Belgium. He has just told me to play with freedom, not think too much, and go about it the way I can.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel