Ross McCausland has made a name for himself in the Rangers first team but quietly progressed through the ranks after joining his boyhood heroes at youth level.
But that was nothing like a fellow winger who made the same move from Linfield to Ibrox a quarter of a century ago and arrived at the Light Blues amid much hype. Like many wide men from Northern Ireland who show great promise, Lee Feeney was dubbed ‘the next George Best’ when he burst onto the scene at Windsor Park.
It’s an impossible task to live up to – Keith Gillespie was another weighed down by it despite turning out for Best’s former club Manchester United – but nevertheless Feeney was saddled with it. At a time when Rangers splashing multi million pounds on international stars in the wild spending days of Dick Advocaat, the Dutchman agreed to a modest £100,000 outlay for Feeney.
There were high hopes for the Ulsterman but he failed to live up to the hype as he made just one appearance for Rangers off the bench – a 4-0 victory over Dundee one month after he arrived – before returning to Linfield three years later via a loan spell Down Under with Northern Spirit, the Australian club who had a tie-up with Rangers at the time.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph this week, Feeney reflected on his time at Rangers, saying: “When I left Linfield to go on a week’s trial I fitted in really well and held my own, I was pleased after every training session and obviously they made a bid and signed me.
“Then I went over and the honeymoon period was over, you have to get into it straight away. You can’t slow down and drop your standard. I was doing decent and made my first team debut but I got injured and during that time they signed Claudio Reyna and another midfielder – and I was playing midfield! That’s the environment you were in, they don’t hang about.”
He admitted in a previous interview that he should have made more of his chance. “I’ve had loads of regrets when I left Rangers,” he said. “I should’ve played more games with the ability I had and that was all down to me, it wasn’t down to not getting a chance or not getting opportunities.
“My mentality maybe didn’t match my ability and my hunger and I don’t think football was important enough to me at that stage. Again, I’m a laid back character and I never really pushed myself or drove myself to maybe aspire to what I should’ve been and that’s a big regret for me. I think my personality was a problem for me.
“I don’t mean to be big-headed or anything but when I look around me, the ability I had was fantastic and it’s a shame I couldn’t live up to that expectation.
Feeney, cousin of former Dundee United and Northern Ireland man Warren, is now manager of Bangor in Northern Ireland and admitted he has tried to use the mentality needed at Rangers to instil in his own players.
The 46-year-old told previously how legendary late Rangers boss Walter Smith had even tried to get him to Everton but he was delighted with the choice he made despite it not working out as he would have hoped at Ibrox – and negotiations were interesting.
He said: “I remember going into the stadium and the big marble hall and my dad looking around and going, ‘Phwoar, I’ve always wanted to be through these doors!’ Everyone has because as a supporter, you’re standing at the entrance watching the players going in wondering what’s behind the doors.
“But he was delighted to get the opportunity to do that. We did the tour and went upstairs and sat in the room with Dick Advocaat to negotiate the contract. Advocaat was on the phone to someone just before we went in and I think he was trying to do other deals but we’d came in and it was before they went for dinner.
“Now, I realised this afterwards because when I signed, after training Advocaat would go into his office and the rest of the boys would go up, get showered and changed and go upstairs to sit in the Cooper Suite waiting to get their dinner served, this was before Murray Park.”The players get their dinner put out before them but you’re not allowed to eat it until Dick comes down and he sits there and gives you the wee nod and then you can eat.
“What happened was, obviously Dick Advocaat was in between training and lunch so he and my dad got into a conversation about the MLS. The two of them just hit it off straight away, we were only meant to be in there maybe 20/30 minutes but we were in there for nearly an hour, them two talking about the MLS in the 80s and injuries and stuff that they had. So I can only picture the players sitting thinking, ‘When’s he coming?’ Them sitting with their pasta and Bolognese sitting in front of them freezing.”