THE recruitment of Jermain Defoe captured most of the headlines at Rangers this January but Alex Rae believes the signing of Steven Davis from Southampton might prove in time to be an even more significant piece of business, writes Stewart Fisher. The club’s former midfielder, a key member of the Ibrox squad which captured the Scottish top-flight title in 2005 on what became known as ‘helicopter Sunday’, feels the Northern Irishman can assume the same totemic role at the club that Richard Gough, John Brown and Ian Ferguson did during the 1990s as he returns for a second stint at the club. The 34-year-old from Ballymena’s shrewd midfield work helped Rangers rack up three league titles and eight major titles in all during that initial four-year period and assuming he stays fit can be the midfield schemer the Ibrox side are missing.

“When you look at Rangers’ stars of the past you think of [Brian] Laudrup, [Paul] Gascoigne, etc,” said Rae,” speaking as he joined vaping company VPZ to undertake a cigarette butt clean-up around Ibrox stadium. “But you couldn’t underestimate the importance of guys like Gough, Brown, Ian Ferguson and Steven Davis would come into that category. They just go about their business and cajole players to do better. If he can get in the team and produce the performance level he’s been doing in the last few years he will be a tremendous signing.

“I always felt as if Rangers needed an out and out leader in midfield who could pull the strings and I think Steven Davis will be absolutely ideal for that. Obviously, the marquee signing is Jermain Defoe, but I think when you look at Steven and what he can bring in terms of his levels of performance, it’s a win-win situation. You are just hoping from Rangers’ point of view that he’s up to speed, but he’s played 11 games this season so it’s not as if he’s not played at all.”

In addition to securing to the loan signings of Defoe from Birmingham and Davis from Southampton, Rangers recently persuaded Kilmarnock’s Jordan Jones and Glenn Kamara of Dundee to sign pre-contracts to join as early as next season. Rae is an admirer of both players and feels there would be merit for the Ibrox side in arranging a cut price deal to acquire the services of both players this month.

“I know how it works – I signed a pre-contract with Rangers years ago and from being a mainstay I ended up taking a back seat,” he said. “I saw Kamara in the summer playing against Portuguese teams and he stood out as he could manipulate the ball. Jones would also add good options going forward. Part of Rangers’ problems in the first half-season has been strength in depth. You look at the bench and they only had one or two options if chasing a game. I would get Jones in in a minute if I could.”