DAMARCUS Beasley was delighted to see a few familiar faces at Murray Park this morning as he trained with the United States squad ahead of Fridays international friendly against Scotland. Beasley chatted with Gers boss Ally McCoist and the staff and also bumped into a few of his former teammates including Lee McCulloch and Kenny Miller who is currently using the facilities at the club’s training ground. For 31-year-old Beas returning to Auchenhowie was a special moment and it brought back a lot of memories from his three-year spell with the Light Blues. The winger - who is currently being used as a left back by US coach Jurgen Klinsmann - admits his time in Scotland was often frustrating with injuries holding him back on more than one occasion. Nevertheless he also enjoyed success at Ibrox and after signing for Walter Smith’s Gers from PSV Eindhoven in July 2007 he became part of a squad that would win two league titles, domestic cups and also reach the final of the UEFA Cup in 2007/08. During that campaign Beasley scored in the unforgettable 3-0 Champions League win over Lyon in the Stade de Gerland and also hit the net in the 3-2 Scottish Cup Final victory over Queen of the South at the end of that year. He left Rangers in August 30 to join German side Hannover and in June 2011 joined Mexican side Puebla, a move which led to an international return. On Friday night Beasley is relishing the prospect of facing Scotland and winning his 113th cap for his country. But for the next few days he is looking forward to returning to Murray Park to train in the build up to the game. He said: “It feels great, it’s still the same people here and it’s good to see everyone smiling. It’s really great to be back. “I had an up and down time here for three years but I have great memories, we won a lot of things together and we got to the final of the UEFA Cup. “So it’s good to see some of the boys I used to play with, including Kenny Miller, and to be around Murray Park again. “It is a great family environment at Rangers and you felt that every day when you came in for training. It was a great bunch of guys to be around and I’m glad I got to see a few of them today. “I do have a lot of fond memories, definitely more good than bad. I had a lot of injury problems when I was here and I just couldn’t get back into the team when I wanted to. “I think the Rangers fans saw spurts of how I can play, little instances of how I could help the team win games. That’s what I came here to do but I still wouldn’t change it, I loved my time here and we won a lot together. “It was fun to be a part of that group and obviously playing with Mo, another American, it was great to have him here as well. Ive kept in touch with Mo and I try to keep in touch with some of the guys that I played with. “Obviously everyone is in different places now since they left Rangers but you don’t lose those friendships. When you’ve been at a club for three years you see everybody every single day so you make friendships outside the football pitch.” Beasley has been keeping a close eye on Rangers progress this season and he cant wait for the day when his former club is back playing at the highest level in Scotland and in Europe again. He added: I still follow Rangers even although they are down a couple of leagues. But you know this club is just too big to fold. Its good to see them still doing well and theyve won a lot of games in a row now. Its been good to see and Im excited to see them get back to the Premiership in Scotland. Im always going to be a Rangers fan, Im always going to be a Rangers man and it was difficult to see what happened to the club. But they are going to be back on their feet in no time, winning championships and back in the Champions League. Itll be exciting to see that. //Stevie
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:32:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015