interview Rangers signings and contracts will be sorted, Steven Davis tells Graeme Macpherson

This first summer for Rangers’ new manager was meant to be all about the twin tasks of bolstering his numbers while convincing key individuals to commit to a longer stay. Thus far he has had far greater luck in the latter aspect.

Allan McGregor and Steven Whittaker have signed lengthy contract extensions, while prior to Saturday’s friendly win over Linfield in Belfast, captain David Weir -- at the age of 41 -- agreed to stay on for a further season. All eyes are now on Steven Davis to see if he will shortly follow suit.

Those on the outside looking in often wonder why it always seems to take an eternity for these deals to be done -- surely you agree to the terms or you don’t? -- but Davis has moved to assuage Rangers supporters there is no deliberate procrastination on his part.

“Talks are ongoing,” said the Northern Irishman. “We’re not a million miles away right now, it’s just the final details that need sorted. Maybe something in the next week or two will happen. I’m confident something will get done, so I’m not worrying about it yet.”

As he outlined his reasons for wanting to remain at Ibrox rather than pursue a long-held ambition to return to the Barclays Premier League, the thought lingered that perhaps Davis would be a handy man for McCoist to have in the room whenever he is making his pitch to potential signings.

Davis has seen the other side of things, playing with Aston Villa and Fulham before moving north to Ibrox in 2008, and believes the prospect of playing to win titles and cups, as well as participating in European competition, often outweighs the greater financial offerings elsewhere.

He concedes that he is perhaps slightly blinkered given that he grew up a Rangers fan, but feels there could be no better place for him to continue his career well into his thirties.

“I enjoy my football at this club, that’s my motivation,” he said. “I come in to my work happy every day and my family are settled here, which is a massive thing for me. There’s a lot to be said for that.

“I would never rule England out. It’s a great league to be involved in so maybe some day I’ll get back down the road. But I would rather be here winning things, involved in big European nights and great runs. You could sign for any number of teams and be involved in a relegation battle but at Rangers you get the chance to win things and fulfil ambitions.

“I know what it’s like down south. I know the grass isn’t always greener. Look at some of the people who have left here. They’ve found that out. It says a lot about the number of people who leave Rangers then want to come back.”

Davis echoed the calls for reinforcements but has sympathy for McCoist’s plight. “It’s a difficult time to get players in, especially with the early start to the season,” he said. “Everyone knows that deals usually get done late on in August. The manager is working as hard as he can to get the right people in. I think we’re all confident he’ll have done that by the start of the season and we’ll have a few fresh faces to add to the squad. We know the spine of the squad is there. We just need to add to it for a bit of depth.”

The brevity of the close season seems to have left many involved feeling somewhat off-kilter, with little time for players to reach peak fitness or to get back into the groove of playing matches again.

Rangers have just one more friendly -- in Blackpool tomorrow night -- before returning to competitive action against Hearts on Saturday. Against Linfield there were noticeable signs of rustiness, in the first half especially, despite the team eventually coasting to a comfortable win courtesy of goals from Juan Manuel Ortiz, his first for the club, Steven Naismith, Nikica Jelavic and Kane Hemmings.

Davis conceded that it wasn’t easy to make a proper assessment of Rangers’ state of readiness ahead of the big kick-off.

“I think it’s quite difficult to see where we are just now. It’s the shortest pre-season I’ve ever been involved in. Normally you’ve got a good two weeks’ worth of running before you start games but this time it’s only been a week then straight in. It’s only now we’re starting to get that sharpness back. I think it’ll take a couple of weeks before we get up to full speed,” he said.