IAN Black walked into the media room much later than he was due to yesterday.

No-one booed his timekeeping. The Rangers midfielder has become the country's most controversial and divisive footballer, for the time being at least, and in Scotland that's usually the cue for ducking responsibilities and keeping the press at arm's length. Not Black. Off the field he is a serious, plain-speaking figure capable of handling interviews just as he does opponents. And he talks as he plays: shirking nothing.

Rival supporters – and Rangers ones too, before they changed their tune when he joined them – regard Black as an aggressive, undisciplined wee scrapper. Many think he's worse than that: dirty or nasty. If there is a sneaking admiration and a wish that their own club had someone similar, it is usually left unspoken. The 27-year-old is more used to hearing abuse than compliments (although there was warmth from his fellow Hearts fans when he mingled with them at the Liverpool match on Thursday).

Everywhere else he goes, there is some degree of jeering. The decibels have risen over the past couple of years as his profile increased and he accumulated on-field baggage. The issue reached a nadir when Scotland supporters booed his introduction as an international player against Australia last week.

There is an attitude and a mischievous streak about a player prepared to taunt Hibernian supporters with a Hearts t-shirt at Easter Road, and anyone inclined to do so isn't likely to be bothered about what people think of him. Black is no exception.

"The booing spurs me on. It does. I've always been told that you must be doing something right if fans are singling you out," he said. "It feels good. It does spur you on if people are chanting abuse at you. You are obviously catching their eye for some reason."

Abuse from the opposition is routine, but from his own fans, and on his debut? That had to hurt? "Things happen in football. I know there was booing but nothing was going to detract from getting a cap and the biggest day of my career. It doesn't faze me, I've had it at every ground I've been at. I enjoy it and I'll have more to come.

"People label me as this bad guy. But if you get a hold of the stats on fouls by me and against me, I'm pretty sure there will be more kicks on me. A few people would be surprised and would probably shut up for a while. The Evening News carried the stats last year – fouls for and against when I was playing for Hearts. There were certainly more on me by the teams we faced. I'd love to see the stats from my whole career.

"I'm not the biggest so I go out and know it will be tough. I know I'll be up against bigger players. I've always believed if you go in half-hearted you will come out worse. I go on the park to win and I'll run through a brick wall for my teams."

He "definitely" wants to play for Scotland again, regardless of the hot potato of being picked while in the third division. For the meantime the priority is Rangers. It has been said that his combative style of play could result in him seriously injuring someone, or being seriously injured himself, in the third division because inferior players mistime their challenges or may even wish to deliberately hurt a Rangers player. He did not dismiss the latter notion.

"Everybody in the team will be a target," he said. "When players come up against a club like Rangers they are always going to try and make a name by hurting somebody. We know that could happen so we need to stand up and be counted. The games have been everything I expected, tough and physical."

Rangers supporters booed him as loudly as any others when his crude tackle put former Ibrox striker Nikica Jelavic out of the game for months. All is forgiven now. He has become a focal point because there is otherwise a shortage of on-field leaders. "I thought it was going to take longer to win them over but I've come in and I must be doing the right things for them as they're singing a couple of songs for me, which is delightful," he said.

"If I do the right things at Rangers I could earn myself an extension in the next year to 18 months and then have that chance to play in Europe. I'd love to do that. With the fanbase we have at Rangers it would be a really special night."

They play in another country tomorrow. The hop across the border to face Berwick Rangers will allow Black to play at Shielfield Park, where his father, also Ian, served the home club for two seasons in the early 1980s. "I've been to Berwick when I was a young kid. My dad told me we used to go there to visit people and to the caravan sites."

Rangers are gradually adapting to their unreal new surroundings. "I think the players have got their heads around being in the third division now," he said. "The Peterhead game [a fraught, 2-2 draw] was the kick up the backside we needed. We're all aware now what it's going to be like."

And they also know exactly the type of player they need to cope with it . . .