It was a performance that was cool, calm and composed, one that was Steven Davis all over. It was a performance that did not come as a surprise.

This time last week, Davis had a European victory in his mind as he prepared to head to Rome to cheer on Luke Donald’s side at the Ryder Cup. In a reminder of how quickly life and football can change, Davis now finds himself bidding for a very different kind of win on the continent.

It has been a whirlwind few days for Davis. As expected, he has not been flustered by the change or the opportunity as he has taken his promotion to interim Rangers manager in his stride.

A conversation with James Bisgrove and Creag Robertson on Sunday evening was the first domino to fall for Davis. He started work at Auchenhowie on Monday morning, travelled to Limassol on Tuesday and held his first press conference as a manager on Wednesday. Once those formalities had been completed, he was able to put a squad – which included the fit-again Nicolas Raskin and Kemar Roofe – through their paces at the Alphamega Stadium.

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The Europa League fixture with Aris Limassol is the first of two matches that Davis is guaranteed to take charge of. The second will come on Sunday when Rangers make the trip to St Mirren knowing that another negative result would – like it did for Giovanni van Bronckhorst a year ago – end their Premiership title ambitions regardless of who sits in the dugout thereafter.

Rangers continue to work through the process to appoint Michael Beale’s successor and Frank Lampard, Philippe Clement and Kevin Muscat have emerged as the leading contenders at this stage. As was made clear in the aftermath of Beale’s sacking, Rangers are content to take their time and are fully cognisant that the next man must be the right man at Ibrox.

For now, it all rests on the shoulders of a hero for club and country. The slogan of ‘Captain. Leader. Legend’ was not coined for Davis but it certainly applies to the 38-year-old.

He spoke of the respect that he has for the players in the dressing room that he now leads and of how he is sure that it is reciprocated. In one light-hearted moment, a local journalist stated his belief that Davis was liked by everyone within the media room. It was met with a laugh and a smile from the man himself.

The admiration that Davis has at Ibrox was part of the decision to put him in control. He is ‘honoured’ to have been asked and to have trust placed in him and he outlined his wish to give Rangers the freedom to go and play and enjoy themselves. He knows more than most that performances and results must improve markedly going forward and the onus is now on him to begin that process in the coming days.

Davis has long been thought of a potential Rangers manager. Over the last 10 months, he has had more time than he would have wished to think about that prospect as he recovered from the cruciate knee ligament injury that threatened to prematurely end his illustrious career.

The admission that it hasn't been ‘plain sailing’ sounded ominous but he is now in a ‘better place’ and his knee ‘feels good’. The future beyond Sunday is uncertain for Davis but he needs no reminding of how situations can change.

“Listen there’s not been any conversation in terms of a time frame,” Davis said when asked if he would like the job on a permanent basis. “It all happened very quickly. I was asked to come in and take the game. How things play out after that I’m not too sure.

“Regarding my feelings around it, I’ve obviously got ambitions. I did not quite expect it to happen quite as soon. I’m just determined really to make the most of the opportunity I’ve been given and we will see what develops from there.”

Davis didn’t get the chance to elaborate on the ‘minor tweaks’ that he will look to implement as Rangers begin life after Beale. Having been in and around Auchenhowie throughout his recovery period, he is well aware of the qualities and the personalities of those that he is now in charge of.

Given the raft of injuries that Rangers are still dealing with, there seems little that Davis will be able to do in terms of personnel. He must, though, find a way to inject some confidence and belief back into a squad that has failed to hit the heights throughout the campaign.

The victory over Real Betis on matchday one was picked out by Davis as one of the positives that he will look to build on. Regardless of what these two games mean for him, he knows what is at stake for Rangers.

“I just thought it was too good an opportunity for me to turn down,” Davis said. “I’ve got a great affinity with the club and when I got offered the chance to lead the team for one game, two games or whatever it may be, I wanted to help out in any way that I could. We are all together in trying to get results and trying to get back to where we want to be.”

The call that Davis received on Sunday evening came ‘out of the blue’. After a couple of conversations, he made his mind up quickly and knew it was an offer that he couldn’t refuse.

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The messages of support – from friends, former team-mates and managers that he has worked under - have flooded in over recent days. Davis has always been a figure that few, if any, people have had a bad word to say about and the support he has received has been appreciated.

As yet, he has not had the chance to respond to those well-wishers due to the ‘intense’ preparations for this fixture and he has leaned on assistant Alex Rae, goalkeeping coach Colin Stewart and Steven Smith and Brian Gilmour, who have been promoted from the academy, to help him through. His predecessor has also reached out.

“I spoke to him on Sunday night,” Davis said when asked if he had received a message from Beale. “The conversation will remain relatively private but I wanted to thank him personally. The way he dealt with me with my injury and the tough time I’ve been going through over the last nine months, him and the staff were excellent in all the support they gave me. It wasn’t a position I wanted to see but we had a brief conversation and we wished me all the best.”

Davis was joined in the media room by captain James Tavernier. Within minutes, he was posing for pictures alongside his new management team before getting down to the most important business of the evening and conducting a training session on a pitch that looked somewhat worse for wear.

He dismissed the potential for the heat in Limassol to be a factor but will no doubt cast a critical eye over the surface when Rangers return on Thursday evening. Regardless of the tumult of the last few days, the visitors will be strong favourites to give Davis a debut win.

“They are an athletic side and they like to get runners in behind and play forward quickly,” Davis said. “We will have to get the balance right in terms of how we approach the game.

“It’s been a really intense couple of days, trying to get as much footage and pick up how they play, although they have changed systems three times in their last five games. But their principles remain the same. Hopefully we have done a good job and the boys are well prepared for the game.”