GAVIN Rae will this week prepare for the biggest game of his career with his fingers crossed for a Cardiff and Rangers cup double.
The 30-year-old swapped one blue shirt for another in June last year and he admits the chance to play in an FA Cup final has come as an unexpected bonus.
First and foremost, the all-action midfielder's sights are set on clinching his first piece o
f silverware on Saturday when City take on Portsmouth at Wembley.
He said: "It's the biggest game of my career. One of the biggest club competitions in the world. It's so well known throughout the world.
"To have a chance to play in it is great and I'm looking forward to it. I've not won any honours yet in my career and I'd love a winners' medal. That's what we're going out to do.
"Rangers won the League and the League Cup when I was there though I wasn't involved that season. It was disappointing.
"I played in the Scottish Cup final (for Dundee in 2003] as well but we got beaten by Rangers. It would have been great to win it but it wasn't to be."
Rae, recently restored to the Scotland squad by manager George Burley, hopes his former club can provide him with extra inspiration by winning their Uefa Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium tonight.
In any other year it is a game the midfielder would have been free to go and watch, with most teams' seasons having ended.
But Cardiff's busy build-up to Saturday's showpiece means he will have to follow the game from his living room – not that you will hear him complain. "Rangers have done great to get to a European final. It doesn't happen often," he said. "It would be great if they could win the Uefa Cup and we could win on Saturday as well.
"I'll watch the Uefa Cup final from home. I've still got some good friends there. A lot of people have been asking me if I'm going to go but we've got training on Thursday. I'll just be chilling out."
Finals are nothing new to Rangers, who could yet complete an unprecedented quadruple this term. Yet the same cannot be said for Cardiff, who last reached an FA Cup final 81 years ago.
"Rangers are a huge club," Rae added. "They're expected to win major honours. The difference for us is that no-one expected us to get there. We just have to play as well as we can and hopefully it will happen on the day."
Rae spent three-and-a-half years at Ibrox between 2004 and 2007 and was even handed the captaincy – albeit for a matter of days – when Paul Le Guen fell out with Barry Ferguson.
He was offered a new deal by the Frenchman's replacement, Walter Smith – who handed the armband back to Ferguson – but opted to leave in a bid to gain regular first-team football.
However, he insists there will not be even a tinge of regret when he turns on his television this evening.
"There was a lot of stuff going on there," he added. "When Walter came back in he changed it. For me it was about getting games so that's why I moved on. I've really enjoyed this season down here. The whole reason for coming was to get games and I've loved it.
"To get to an FA Cup final is an absolute bonus. I wish them all the best but my time there's finished. I've moved on. It means more playing. To have the chance of playing and winning a medal on Saturday, I'll take that."
Cardiff manager Dave Jones, meanwhile, expects Robbie Fowler to be "honest and truthful" in assessing his fitness ahead of the final.
Fowler has until tomorrow to prove he is fit to face Portsmouth at Wembley after recovering from a hip problem. The former Liverpool striker's last outing came back in December but Jones revealed he could still make the bench.
"We have to make sure that everything about him is right. The only person that will give me that knowledge is Robbie himself," he said. "Robbie has been around football long enough to be honest and truthful and say, 'look, yes I am fine' and at the moment that's what he's saying and in training he looks fine.
"But he has to be honest with me and say, 'look, there's no niggles, there's nothing' because I don't want to lose him for another three or four months just for the sake of one game."
The full article contains 784 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
