Liam Kelly faces up to Rangers reality but insists 20 year dream debut wait was worth every minute
Liam Kelly is smart enough to realise his brief run in the Rangers line-up is in all likelihood already over. But even if it lasted all of 90 minutes, the Ibrox back-up keeper insists it was well worth the 20-year wait.
The former Ibrox academy graduate was hurriedly handed the gloves just moments before Saturday’s 1-0 win over Dundee kicked-off. The former Motherwell skipper got the nod when Light Blues No1 Jack Butland received the call he’d been holding out for from his expectant wife Annabel.
While the Englishman made the emergency dash to the labour suite in time to see the arrival of their fourth child, it was left to Kelly to help Gers deliver a much-needed three points against Tony Docherty’s Dens Park side. There wasn’t much enthusiasm around Ibrox after last week’s defeat to Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup final. But try telling that to Kelly as he finally fulfilled a life-long ambition to represent a club he first joined at the age of just eight.
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“It felt unbelievable,” said the 28-year-old, who returned to Ibrox in the summer for a second spell with the club. “I've been at Rangers a long, long time. It was 20 years ago that I first walked through the gates of the training centre. So that's what I've waited for the majority of my life. Over the moon that I got a clean sheet and a victory. Obviously, it could have been a lot more. I think everybody watching the game knows that. But I am so happy.”
While it was a big day for the Butland family, his Gers understudy insists it was just as special an occasion for the Kelly clan. But the Ibrox No2 knows he’ll be back on the bench when Philippe Clement’s side head to Paisley to face St Mirren on Boxing Day.
He said: “Obviously, I would love to keep playing. I'd love to play every game but I'm realistic to the situation as well. There was a personal matter with Jack on Saturday and moving forward, he's got so much credit in the bank. I think he's been our best player for a lot of games this year.
“He's an amazing goalie. I’m not resigned to the fact that I'll not be playing but I've got a lot of intelligence. I know how things work, I've been in the game a long time now.
"If Jack plays, then no qualms with that. He's played really well this year, and I've only done OK for one game, so I wouldn't be too expecting anything else to be happening.
“But moments like Saturday is why I signed, in case I was ever called upon. We do a lot of work with Colin Stewart, the goalie coach, to be ready. So in the warm-up after I got the news that I was going to be playing, he just said, ‘Let's go. This is what we're training for!’
“So, big thanks to him and big thanks to my mum, my dad and my grandad. They've obviously put a lot of effort into getting me here. They took me to a lot of Rangers games over the years. I was here for 14 years first time round. They've put so much effort into me and I'm sure they'll be glad watching that.”
Kelly admits he was suddenly gripped by nerves as he received the last-minute shout to get ready to play in the warm-up. But he need not have worried, with Docherty’s Dundee never a threat to a Gers team who should have netted much more than Vaclav Cerny’s second-half winner.
“I was really nervous,” he confessed. “I'm naturally going to be because I just didn't want to let anybody down. I know the boys worked so hard to be ready. But I've still got full belief in my own ability. I know exactly what I can do. And when I came in, I just didn't want there to be any drama. I didn't want there to be any hassle.
“Get the victory and then it doesn't matter who's in goal. The boys played well, the boys helped me a lot and we'll move on. It was always going to be a late shout. You're never going to get a lot of notice when you're the second-choice goalkeeper. But I'm always ready to go. Obviously, I've played a lot of games in this league now. I had a rough idea that [Jack pulling out] might happen. But before the game, we didn't expect it to happen.”
Kelly might not see much action these days but up until last season he was a Premiership regular. He took the big decision to call it quits at Ibrox first time round as he left in 2018 in search of regular first-team minutes. He’s now back with more 250 appearances for former employers Livingston, QPR and Motherwell under his belt. And he reckons his story can inspire the young pretenders currently following the path he once tried through the Ibrox academy.
“I'm a good example for people who leave the club,” he said. “It shows that you can go and have a career after you leave Rangers. If you're not playing and you want to play games, then go and do it. But also there's nothing better than playing for Rangers either, hence why I'm back here. The goalkeeping department is in really good shape here. The youngsters like Mason Munn and Lewis Budinauckas are really good.”
