Diamond in the rough

KENNY McDowall always suspected that Kyle Lafferty would come good. The object of unfavourable press and a target for the boo boys, the negatives tended to outweigh the positives in the player’s early Ibrox career.

But, along with the rest of the Rangers coaching staff, the current assistant manager, had a feeling it was simply a matter of time. After all, they had seen it before.

Later this month Liverpool will head to Ibrox for a glamour friendly and in their ranks will be Charlie Adam, written off too early at Ibrox and jeered by the Rangers fans. Having gone on to become one of the stand-out British players in the English Premier League, he is the beacon of hope for everyone involved in the Laffety evolution.

“Charlie Adam was a young boy who got a lot of stick here as well,” says McDowall. “But you couldn’t knock Charlie down with a demolition ball because he has confidence in himself and Kyle is like that. He believes in himself but he knows when he’s playing badly. That’s one thing players know, when it’s not going for you, but the least you can do is run about and try and make it difficult for opponents.

“When you work hard things come from it and your performances pick up. And that’s been the case with Kyle.

“He’s a big player and we’ve told him that. We need him on the park and playing well. We need him working on his game and trying to improve all the time. We’re talking about an international player here so he can do it. It’s about consistency. I always felt what makes a good Old Firm player is consistency. It takes a lot for the lads to play at the standard they set themselves week in, week out because there are people who want to knock them all the time and other players trying to stop them playing well, but they have to overcome that.”

That was always the nub of the problem. Still only 24, Lafferty had a lot of maturing still to do as a player and as a person when he arrived in Glasgow, with a £3.5 million price tag from Burnley in 2008. Despite scoring in only his second match, he proved to be a striker unable to reach double figures in each of his first two seasons and there was the fear that the stuttering form, on-field indiscipline and immature venting via a social network site would ultimately undermine his hopes of winning his critics over.

“But it’s my job to try and make him better,” adds McDowall, who is relishing his elevation to assistant manager, but still revelling in his role of hands-on coach on the training pitch. “There was always something there with Kyle which made you think he would come eventually.

“Was he frustrating? Absolutely. When he came up here at first one or two in the press wondered if he was worth the money. But he was young and it’s taken him time to get where he is at the moment. He’s settled down a wee bit and he’s a big player for the club.”

For all head-shaking and pub debates he has provoked, Lafferty has also found the net at crucial times. In the 2009/10 season he netted the only goal in a match against Hibs which secured that league title and while criticised for a poor miss in the final Old Firm match last season, he found his form in the run-in and scored a hat-trick in the final game to secure the Ibrox side their third consecutive SPL title and end the season with 15 goals.

“He scores big goals and he’s a big player. He appears like a daffodil – he comes out in April! Just when it gets to the business end,” jokes McDowall. “We’ve kidded him on a few times that the lads have done well for him and then he comes along and takes the glory. This season he ended up with a double hernia in pre-season and we thought ‘here we go again’. He has struggled to get a pre-season under his belt and that’s been his problem. That’s why taken him so long to get up to speed but then he comes in at the end of the season and scores big goals. He has a gallusness about him. It’s all confidence.”

Despite the hernia operation, Lafferty has picked up this term where he left off last season. Alongside Nikica Jelavic he is proving a more potent force, settling into a more central attacking berth as opposed to the wider position he was asked to fill earlier in his Rangers career.

“Kyle is a fantastic lad and is starting to settle down,” says McDowall. Maybe that’s something to do with fact his girlfriend is expecting a child. Certainly he is applying himself better. He can be hard on the eye at times but he has a knack of coming up with massive goals.”

Older, more settled on and off the pitch, Lafferty’s early flickers of potential have ignited. Four goals already this term and the daffodils are nowhere near blooming. The early frustrations have been worth it, apparently.

n Tickets for Rangers v Liverpool on 18 October are on sale now to season and bond holders and on public sale in limited areas only. Public sale for all other areas starts tomorrow. Call the Rangers Ticket Centre on 0871 702 1972 or log on to www.rangers.co.uk