There was a moment in Hearts manager Steven Naismith’s playing career he was on track to be considered a Rangers legend.
Now, despite his impressive form as Jambos gaffer, the scars of comments made in the aftermath of the club’s collapse mean he will likely never be considered for the top job at Ibrox.
One of the best Scottish players of his generation, it’s unsurprising Steven Naismith, 37, is carving out a solid career as a manager given his experience at the top level.
But for all the guidance of the likes of Walter Smith at Rangers or David Moyes and Roberto Martinez at Everton, a kick in the club’s kidneys whilst we were lying flat out still hurts.
Hearts manager’s inevitable Ibrox murmurs
There has been some chatter out there surrounding Steven Naismith’s potential credentials as a future Rangers manager.
In ordinary circumstances, it is chatter which would make a lot of sense. The former striker’s tenacious style summed up the battling spirit of Walter Smith’s three-in-a-row winning team from the turn of the 2010s and he knows what it means to win at Rangers.
Naismith’s impressive establishment of Hearts as Scottish football’s third force, and his routine frustration of Old Firm rivals Celtic, are also big plus points on his managerial C.V.
But Rangers fans have long memories and comments made in a press conference in the aftermath of the club’s collapse in 2012 have tainted Naismith’s Rangers legacy.
Then manager Ally McCoist famously said that when Rangers were down there might’ve been more than a few having a fly little kick. Some of the most painful came from our own.
Steven Naismith killed Rangers manager chances in 2012
Speaking amid uncertainty over his playing future when the club was plunged into administration, Steven Naismith claimed “Rangers Football Club no longer exists in its original form”.
This statement was about Naismith freeing himself from any prospective transfer to the new Rangers holding company, who were obviously plunged into the SPFL’s division three.
In that moment both Naismith and Rangers teammate Steven Whittaker soured their Ibrox legacies with the “new club” line regularly used by rivals as a stick to beat Rangers with.
That two of our own picked that stick up – and bashed us over the head with it whilst we were bent double on the Govan concrete – hurt a little harder.
Over ten years on you’d think that some of us might be over it now. And for the most part we probably are.
Steven Naismith claims he “regrets” the comments and was given bad advice, we’ll give the Hearts manager credit for holding back Celtic this season.
But as for tipping him for being the next manager of Rangers?
Maybe the forward could’ve taken some cues from his former captain in Steven Davis, who ensured absolutely the club was given compensation after his switch to Southampton.
That’s the kind of class we expect from the manager of Rangers and it’s something Naismith might forever regret failing to display way back when.
