Maurice Ross made the front pages of the Norwegian tabloids yesterday. This was no sex scandal, no case of having his car vandalised, no brush with the law. He simply expressed the belief that Scotland would beat Norway.

Maurice Ross made the front pages of the Norwegian tabloids yesterday. This was no sex scandal, no case of having his car vandalised, no brush with the law. He simply expressed the belief that Scotland would beat Norway in tomorrow's World Cup qualifier.

It has been a while since the 27-year-old enjoyed such a prominent profile in his homeland. Ross, the former Rangers defender and lapsed Scotland internationalist, has quietly rejuvenated his career in the tranquil surroundings of the Norwegian Super League with Viking Stavangar. More importantly, he has rediscovered professional contentment after becoming submerged by his own ambition at Ibrox.

Ross has watched from afar as Alan Hutton, his one-time deputy at right-back, has been transformed into a £9m Barclays Premier League player. He has seen Kirk Broadfoot, signed initially as back-up for Hutton, thrive amid a familiar backdrop of antipathy to become a Scotland internationalist.

Ross was once that soldier. He joined Rangers as a 16-year-old, winning a treble, a double and a single and earning 13 international caps, the last of which he collected in the European Championship play-off against Holland in 2004.

Throughout his time at Rangers, Ross was regularly harangued by an unforgiving element of the Ibrox support: the same fans who have praised and pilloried Hutton and Broadfoot in equal measure.

The difference is, while their careers were reinvigorated under the attentive - even avuncular - man-management of Walter Smith, Ross cultivated a persecution complex under Alex McLeish. Indeed, the sight of an exasperated McLeish hollering at the poor full-back, whether to dole out criticism or pass on instruction, became a recurring theme at Ibrox and seemed to egg on his fiercest critics.

"You don't have to look too far for the common denominator between the two: Walter Smith," Ross told The Herald. "Managers who believe in you make all the difference: just look at how he has influenced their careers for the better. Alan Hutton became a £9m player under Walter Smith and Kirk Broadfoot has become an internationalist.

"When you have a manager like that you don't care what the guy in the stand or in the boozer thinks. You say to yourself Walter Smith rates me, what does it matter what anyone else thinks?' Alan and I played under Alex McLeish and for some reason had a hard time. Walter eventually came in and transformed Alan.

"How can you play with confidence if nobody really believes in you? Rangers fans expect the best but what got me was the hysteria attached to it. If you had a decent game, you had a great game. If you had an average game, it was a terrible one. It was surreal at times."

He left Rangers a broken man but despite spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves and Millwall, only now does he believe he is fully repaired after being frazzled by Old Firm expectancy. "I think I was verging on depression in my final year at Rangers," he said. "You are constantly fighting to prove yourself and it is draining, mentally more than physically. You can't escape the pressure."

Listening to Ross is an invigorating experience.

A thoughtful and intelligent individual, he surveys his, at times, chaotic career with candour and alacrity. He also knows his limitations and believes the daily struggle for acceptance became too great.

"Barry Ferguson and Aiden McGeady are naturals at the Old Firm," he said. "It is easy for them because their talent is that good. With me, I was not at Rangers level: I had to make up to that with fitness and attitude. There is nothing wrong with that. Henning Berg earned 100 caps for Norway. He was not as skilful as Frank de Boer but he was still a f****** good defender. Not everybody can be a Brian Laudrup.

"I had to constantly be at 100% in training and playing just to keep up with everyone. If I wasn't 100% my standard dropped below Rangers level. I had to be at my very best just to stand a chance. It was exhausting. I am not being dramatic, I was really struggling and it took me two years to recover."

He bears no animosity towards McLeish, or the fans whose constant barracking affected his chances of longevity for club and country. "Why did my Rangers career end the way it did? I say timing," he said. "The manager I had didn't think I was up to it. The thing that used to confuse me was, I would play in a big European game, or an Old Firm game in front of 50,000 people, then get dropped the following week against Partick Thistle or Livingston."

Ross has another year left on his contract at Viking. He and his family have adapted to the leisurely pace of life in Norway but the style of football is a little sedate for a man reared on relentless expectation.

"To be honest, I scoffed at first when people said I should try it out," he said. "I tell people the standard is good here but you can hear the contempt dripping from their voice. I still think I am good enough to play for Scotland but I made the decision to come to Norway so I have to accept that when I play well, it will not travel beyond the confines of this country.

"I miss the intensity of Scotland. I miss the blood and snotters. The players here all have a very even temperament. It is the thing I have struggled with most. The players just accept managers screaming in their faces. It is just part of their mentality and how they have been brought up.

"There is a lot of bureaucracy. I got a three-week ban for tripping somebody up. Off the field, I got stopped by the police in broad daylight for not having my lights on at 1pm in the afternoon."

Ross has unfinished business and craves an opportunity to demonstrate that his maturity and perspective can restore him to the heights of his younger days. "I would love to come back, even if not for Rangers then to play against Rangers and Celtic and show that I can still cut it against the likes of Aiden McGeady and Chris Burke," he said.

"I believe I can. I want to tick the box and prove it to myself.

"When you see Bob Malcolm and Stephen Hughes playing well against Rangers it gives you hope. I have learned to enjoy football again rather than stress over it. After I left Rangers, I had to lower the demands I put on myself. My mentality was not only my biggest asset but my downfall."

He is optimistic of Scotland's prospects in tomorrow's Group 9 encounter against Norway. "I can't understand a word of written Norwegian but my understanding is they will be coming over to avoid defeat."

Hold the front page?

Ross has not written off his chances of making a splash on the back one for Scotland.