Davis 'honoured' to become interim Rangers manager

Steven Davis declared himself "very honoured" after getting a call "out of the blue" to take charge of Rangers on an interim basis following the sacking of Michael Beale.

The 38-year-old Northern Irishman, who had two fruitful spells as a player at Ibrox, was invited by the Gers board on Sunday evening to take the reins until they appoint a new permanent boss.

Davis will be assisted by fellow former Rangers players Alex Rae and Steven Smith, as well as coach Brian Gilmour and goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart.

"I'm very honoured," he told Rangers TV on Monday. "The call came out of the blue a little bit. I wasn't expecting it but I'd just like to try and repay the trust the club have shown by putting me in this position.

"Obviously it's not a position we would like to be in, we're disappointed with where we're at at this moment in time but I'm really looking forward to the challenge.

"I'm delighted to get the opportunity. I believe in the group we've got. Things haven't gone the way we would have liked and we find ourselves in this situation but I'm sure with ourselves and the fans pushing in the same direction we can go on and get some good results."

Beale paid the price for a dismal start to the season, with Rangers third in the cinch Premiership - behind St Mirren - and seven points adrift of city rivals Celtic after three defeats in seven league matches.

In addition, they suffered a 7-3 aggregate defeat by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League play-off round in August, with a raft of summer signings having failed to shine so far.

Davis and the rest of the interim coaching staff must rouse the team following Saturday's humiliating 3-1 defeat at home to Aberdeen as they prepare to head to Cyprus to face Aris Limassol in the