Who says there is not life beyond the Old Firm in Scottish football,
especially this season when the vulner ability of the Rangers side has
helped create a refreshingly open look to the top of the embryonic
league table.
Leven is a young man who provides ample evidence of the fact that
there is certainly life beyond Ibrox, for the 21-year-old is enjoying a
fresh start at Rugby Park after his career at Rangers was wrecked by
injury.
Four years ago Leven was promoted into the first team squad at
Rangers by Dick Advocaat. He sat on the bench during an Old Firm game
and a couple of other matches against SPL opposition and the Dutch
manager sensed big things ahead for the local lad making good.
“Advocaat was great. He told me I had a future at the club and then
the injury came along,” said Leven.
The injury was a serious one, a cruciate ligament wrecked by an
innocuous challenge during a pre-season friendly against Tranmere. Leven
was just shy of his 18th birthday when his world caved in.
The doctors initially told him he would be out for six months. The
reality was almost two years on the sidelines. During that period of
rehabilitation Advocaat revealed his softer side, constantly reassuring
the youngster that he would heal and come back stronger.
It is a far cry from the image of the little general as a poor
man-manager; a theory which became common currency during the latter
days of his reign. “Advocaat was first class. He was always asking how I
was keeping and making me feel involved with the team,” said Leven.
By the time he had regained his fitness, however, the regime at
Rangers had changed and McLeish was in charge. Having spent so much time
in rehabilitation, the young man had no chance to build up a
relationship with the new manager.
“Because I was injured I just never got to know him. He never came
and talked to me or anything. It was probably about a year-and-a-half
ago I realised I wasn’t going anywhere at Rangers.
“It was hard to accept, but at the end of the day life goes on and I
knew it wasn’t working and I needed to move somewhere else for my
future.”
He wasn’t alone. Darryl Duffy, Paul Reid, Andy Dowie and Steven
McLean have all gone a similar way in search of regular first-team
football. The irony, as Leven recognises, is that his former club’s
reduced circumstances mean he would have had a better chance of breaking
through now if he had stayed.
But there are no regrets. A phone call to former Rangers favourite
Ian Durrant earned him a trial at Kilmarnock last season and while
Jefferies was impressed by the natural talent of the midfielder
recommended by one of his coaching staff, he wasn’t ready to offer him a
deal.
Jim
Jefferies.....“Peter turned up
here last year a stone overweight because that is what happens when you
are not training every day at a certain level,” “I told him he had
ability, but that he needed to go away and show the right
professionalism over the summer and come back for pre-season in shape.
“He did that and we have seen a different Peter Leven this season.
We’ve given him a short-term deal until Christmas because we’ve got very
limited resources, but that is an incentive to him to go and prove he
has got what it takes and so far he has done that.”
