The Rangers board asked me who we needed to get back on top and then I phoned him myself – Kenny Miller

Standards had slipped at Rangers when I left the club in 2018.

There weren’t enough winners. Guys who knew what it would take to get Rangers back on top. So when I was asked what was required I told the board they had to try to sign certain players. And Steven Gerrard was one of them. I even tried to do it myself. I called Davo and asked if he’d come back. But he was playing every week in the Premier League for Southampton.

Of course, he reiterated his love for Rangers and what the club meant to him – but the time wasn’t right. Thankfully for everyone at Ibrox, Steven Gerrard made it happen 18 months later. And it’s no surprise that, since then, standards have been raised. Rangers are now winning trophies, competing for titles and are a force again in Europe. And Davis has played a huge part in that.

Gerrard did his bit as well when he was appointed as manager. So did Allan McGregor – another player I urged the board to welcome back six years ago. Back then, they wanted to know how to compete with Celtic again. My answer was to go and get the likes of Davis and McGregor. It wasn’t just about what they’d give you on the pitch. It was more.

It was about driving those standards and bringing back a winning mentality. For me, that was lost from the minute Rangers ended up in Scottish football’s bottom league back in 2012. They needed the right type of person. Guys who had lived it, breathed it – and put silverware in the cabinet. Davis was the epitome of that.

It’s why he’ll be a real loss now that he has announced his retirement from the game. We both signed at Ibrox in the summer of 2008, even though Davo had been on loan for six months before and helped them reach the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester. As I’ve gotten older,