KYLE LAFFERTY has revealed he would relish the chance to return to Rangers.
The forward, back in Scotland with the Northern Ireland squad ahead of tomorrow night's friendly at Hampden, left Ibrox in 2012 after choosing not to transfer his contract over to the Rangers newco following liquidation.
Lafferty scored the goals that clinched the Premier League for Rangers in three successive seasons between 2009 and 2011, but his time at Ibrox was marred by a number of on and off-field spats, including feigning an injury to get Charlie Mulgrew, then of Aberdeen, sent off at Ibrox, falling out with former manager Ally McCoist, and becoming embroiled in a Twitter spat with compatriot Neil Lennon.
Lafferty regrets that he will be remembered by many people for those "daft things" rather than for the 38 goals he scored during four years in Scotland. Currently out of favour at Norwich City, and on loan at Rizespor in Turkey until the end of the season, the 27 year-old would jump at the chance to return to Rangers to try to make amends for those previous failings.
"Some Rangers fans have asked me if I'd go back there and I'd jump at the chance," he said. "What happened for me at Rangers was disappointing. That [leaving following liquidation] wasn't how I wanted to end my career there. But it had to be done.
"I've supported Rangers since I was a young boy and still support them now. It would be good to go back to change people's perceptions of me. If I went back now I'd let my football do the talking. Hopefully that would change their minds of me. I've matured, definitely. I realised that if you want to mess around then you need to follow it up with football. When I was at Rangers I didn't do that enough. I've matured and I let my football do the talking and I'm enjoying it much more."
Lafferty is looking forward to returning to Hampden, even if he doesn't expect the warmest reception on this occasion. "It is going to be good to be back there," he added. "I have a lot of memories from playing there with Rangers in cup finals. I think the last time we played there was the League Cup Final win in 2011. We won a few games there against Celtic. I had four years of people booing me at Rangers so I'm sure I'll be fine on Wednesday! It will be good to see Scott Brown again - we had a few tussles on the pitch back in the day. There will be a few players I played with and against that I'm looking forward to seeing."
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