HISTORY tells you Stephen Kelly wasn’t the first - and certainly won’t be the last - to decide his future lay away from one of Scotland’s big two.
In what has become one of the league’s most well-trodden paths, there he was, a midfielder of some talent and reputation, too good for the Rangers B team, but not quite good enough - at least in the eyes of Giovanni van Bronckhorst - to displace Steven Davis, John Lundstram or even Scott Arfield.
Given the athleticism and industry he showed in his first Livingston start on Saturday, some might wonder how wise that judgement was. Not that anyone in West Lothian will be complaining.
For now, the Lions are the major beneficiaries of Rangers’ decision, and already the capture of the 22-year-old looks like a shrewd one. Both for his new club and for Kelly.
“Going to any club, it’s good to feel wanted and that's a confidence boost,” said Kelly of his move to Livingston. “So far I’ve enjoyed it here, it’s different. Training and the physical work has been good.
“It was just the chance to play football. There were too many Saturdays when I was sitting watching the scores so to be involved, whether it be starting or coming on from the bench, that’s the main thing for me at my age. I need to get back out playing and I feel like I’ve done well.”
Kelly, who, in-between spells at Ayr United, Ross County and Salford City, made just a handful of appearances for the Glasgow giants, looked very much the part on Saturday. In fact, the biggest compliment you could pay him is that Stephane Omeonga’s absence was hardly felt.
And that chance to play first team football is not something he’s going to grow tired of anytime soon.
“It’s probably just part and parcel of football, especially being a young player at a bigger club,” he said, when reflecting on his appearances at Rangers. “There are so many players. It comes to keeping fit and doing the right things on and off the pitch. It is difficult but it’s part and parcel of what comes.”
When asked how he has found working with David Martindale, the Livingston manager, Kelly said: “He’s been really good, there has been a lot of tactical work. I didn’t know much about him but it’s been very good since I came in.”
In a funny twist of fate, should Stephen Kelly remain in situ this weekend, it will see him make his first-ever start at Ibrox when Livingston travel along the M8 to Govan.
“When it comes to 3pm, if I’m playing or on the bench or whatever, it’s 11 v 11 at the end of the day,” he said. “Everybody knows the size of the Old Firm, I’ve been at one of them for a long time but I’ll just try and focus on it as another game. There might be a wee extra added on to it.
“I know a lot of people there so it might be strange, I will just try and focus on the game as long as possible.”
When asked if he misses anything about playing for Rangers, he said: “I don’t think so. The size of the club is massive and European stage as well, because I was never in the 18 or 23, it’s hard to feel you were part of that, you know what I mean? It’s a hard one to answer.”
While Saturday marked a major milestone in Kelly’s career, it did much the same for St Johnstone’s David Wotherspoon. For the first time since November he was back on the pitch, as he completed another step in his return from anterior cruciate ligament damage.
His brief cameo wasn’t enough to spark the Saints back into life - they rather meekly surrendered to Dylan Bahamboula’s first-half winner - but that hardly seemed to matter in the grand scheme of things.
“It's been a long journey,” he said. “You set a target between six and 12 months and so you don't really have an end date for getting back so you just have to take it each stage at a time and crack on with what you have got in front of you.
"It's a good character-building exercise.
"My family has been great and my wife and my kids have been supporting me the whole way. My kids have been constantly asking when I am back playing football, so it will be nice to tell them I got back on the pitch.
"So it was a long journey, but it's still just the beginning for me.
"I want to push on and get back into the team and start winning games."
Crucially, his return means there is an outside chance he could still make Canada’s World Cup squad, which is due to be announced in the coming weeks.
"You don't know what will happen and the situation so I have just got to take care of myself and start performing for St Johnstone and that would get me into a good position and I will see where that takes me,” the 32-year-old said. "Obviously, I will be desperate and fighting to earn my place in that squad and I will do my utmost to get to the World Cup.”
