THE Vladimir Weiss postcard from Qatar is suitably sunny. It reflects both warm remembrance and a gentle hint of heated battles to come.

Weiss, a 25-year-old Slovak, has a past, present and future that has Scotland at its heart. He speaks from the World Cup HQ in Qatar, where he has spent the morning looking at plans for what he believes will be a “fantastic” tournament, but he has time, too, to talk about more parochial matters, insisting he would love to return to Rangers, particularly to play against Celtic, and warning Scotland that Slovakia believes it can finish at least second in the World Cup 2018 group the countries share with England, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta.

Unprompted, Weiss remarks that the 2010-11 season spent in Scotland with Rangers was his most enjoyable and that he would be open to a return, but only after his long-term contract with Qatari side, Lekhwiya, ends.

“This was the year I enjoyed the most in my career,” he said of an on-loan stint from Manchester City that brought him both a league championship and a league cup winners’ medal. “It was such a great experience to play at Ibrox in front of those fans. It was amazing.” He states that the win over Celtic at Hampden, with Nikica Jelavic scoring the winner, was the highlight.

These beliefs are reflected in a Twitter page that shows Weiss running on to the Ibrox pitch in delight to a background of Rangers fans and he needs no encouragement to reflection the Scottish episode of his career that was preceded by Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers (loan), and followed by spells at Espanyol, Pescara, and Olympiacos. So what does a patch of Govan have that England, Spain, Italy and Greece have not?

“You have to look at the fans and the love they have for the club. And the atmosphere in the derby. I felt I had a great connection with the fans,” he says. It is a link he continues to foster through Twitter. “I enjoy the communication with both Rangers and Celtic fans,” he says.

He adds: “The Old Firm match was the biggest derby I played in. I played for Espanyol in the Barcelona derby but the rivalry between the teams in Glasgow makes that the bigger game. Every second of those matches is amazing and the special moment was the League Cup final. It would be great to be in that derby again.”

Weiss was allegedly in an after-match confrontation with the then Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, but he will only say: “There was talk saying that he said something to me in the tunnel but I never comment on it and I don’t want to."

The departure of Weiss was followed by a slump into administration and liquidation. But he believes the meltdown can have a positive aftermath. “Sure, it was not something the Rangers fans expected. But I think it will make the whole club stronger now when they come back to the top league. It is not an easy thing to go through but when we come back we will be stronger.”

We? “I said we because I have connection with the club. I am always going to be a Rangers fan.”

So does he hanker for a Scottish winter while making his fortune in sunny Qatar? “I would definitely consider coming back,” he says of a return to Ibrox. “I have another three years in Qatar but if there was a chance to come back to play for Rangers then I would definitely thing about it. Wearing the shirt again would be brilliant.”

He will visit Scotland on World Cup 2018 duty. Slovakia hold justified hopes of being at the forefront of Group F. They were in the second pot for a reason and the country leads a Euro 2016 group that include Spain and Ukraine, with La Roja already beaten in a record that simply states six matches played, six won.

“There is a good chance of us being in the top two. I am looking forward to it,” says Weiss of the 2018 group but he is consumed by the qualification for France.

“We have a strong squad and we face two important games with Spain away and Ukraine at home,” he says of upcoming fixtures. “We can qualify. We stick together and have a strong team spirit. We have a good, young team. We have a big chance and it would be really sad if we didn’t take it.”

The most conspicuous talents in the team are Martin Skrtel of Liverpool in central defence and Maren Hamsik of Napoli in midfield but Weiss insists that Slovakia has a strong collective that will only improve. He hopes he can recover from a broken hand to take part in what should be the decisive fixtures next month in Oviedo against Spain and in Zelina against Ukraine.

This injury has kept him from club duty but he is pleased to have made the move to Qatar. The grandson and son of professional footballers – his father, Vladimir Snr, was on the touchline at Pittodrie last night as manager of Kairat, Aberdeen's Europa League opponents – he has an attitude of adventure about his career. He has found Qatar an excellent place to live and bring up his family.

So why did he leave Europe to come to the Qatar Stars League in January 2014? “I was at Olympiacos and I started well but after three months I wasn’t enjoying myself. It wasn’t anything against the club but felt that I wanted to change and the opportunity came from Qatar and I decided to sign a long-term contract and settle down with my family,” he says.

His experience as a European playing in Qatar is intriguing. The 2022 World Cup has already attracted criticism over human rights, scheduling and the temperatures that games will be played in but Weiss has no worries about conditions.

“You get used to playing in the heat and you do not play in the afternoon. It's totally fine,” he says. He pointed out that the stadiums at the World Cup will be air-cooled. Solar panels will harness energy and this will be used to chill water, which in turn will cool air before it is blown through the stadium, keep spectators comfortable and, crucially, pitch temperatures below 27C.

"I played in the Al Saad air-cooled stadium,” he says. “I could not imagine it beforehand. You walk in and you feel the cool breeze. It was like 40 degrees on the outside and 25 on the inside. This will be a brilliant World Cup. I have looked at the detail, I know the country and today I watched the presentation. It is going to be amazing.”

Weiss will be in his early thirties when that World Cup finishes. It may then, perhaps, be time to fulfil that ambition to return to a Scotland where grounds do not require air conditioning.