IT seems like only yesterday a freckle-faced 16-year-old stepped out on to the hallowed Hampden turf and into the history books.

Back on Saturday, May 24, 2008, with four minutes of the Scottish Cup final left, John Fleck replaced Jean-Claude Darcheville in the Rangers line-up against Queen of the South to become the youngest player to feature in a British Cup final – a status he still holds to this day.

The summer before Fleck had been handed his debut for the Gers top team against SV Lippstadt in a pre-season tour of Germany as he became the first 15-year-old to play for the first team since Derek Ferguson in 1982.

However, the teenager, who was billed by some as the new Wayne Rooney, struggled to live up to his billing and eventually after failing to make the starting place a regular feature in the early days of his career, with him electing to leave Gers and move south to Blackpool and then Coventry.

Now having shared the Murray Park training pitches with many of the current Ibrox starlets, like Fraser Aird and Lewis Macleod, Fleck has warned them that while it is tough to make the Ibrox first team, it is even tougher to stay there.

But with Rangers now benefiting from the instalment of Walter Smith as chairman and Ally McCoist firmly ensconced in the managerial hot seat, Fleck reckons there is no better time to be making the grade with the club he will always love.

He said: "I trained with the likes of Fraser Aird and Lewis Macleod when I was still at Rangers and it was obvious back then that they had loads of talent.

"They were both grounded young guys and it is great that they have made it through to the first team.

"Maybe out of everything that has happened at the club the big positive has been that so many of the younger lads have had the chance to play for the first team and play for a title-winning Rangers.

"No one can take that away from them.

"But guys like Fraser and Lewis have had to work hard to get into the first team and this summer they will have to work even harder to stay there.

"Rangers have signed a few players who are from the SPL and that will make the competition for places even tougher.

"But I am sure it will bring out the best in the lads and only help bring them on."

When it comes to the frenzy that surrounded his own breakthrough, that day in the sunshine at Hampden, and the comparisons with Rooney, Fleck admits it all seems like another lifetime away as the now 21-year-old makes his way in the game at Coventry.

He said: "People may have called me that but I certainly never did and it didn't really bother me.

"They also said I was going to score so many goals and do this and that.

"It is amazing to think I was only 16 when I played in the 2008 Scottish Cup final, but I am still only 21 and my best football is all in front of me."

With fatherhood beckoning, Fleck has clearly matured into a considered young man and he believes his greatest problem at Rangers was a positional identity crisis.

He said: "When I was at Ibrox I was getting played left midfield or maybe just off the main striker and that was not my best position.

"My game has never been about being a goalscorer. All I ever wanted to do was play centre-mid and create chances for others.

"At Coventry Steven Pressley has come in and I have played over 40 games and had my best season in senior football. To be honest I can't wait for the new season to roll around."

But it is clear that leaving Rangers was something that was very hard to do for Fleck, and equally, the desire to pull on the light blue still burns brightly within him.

He said: "The decision to leave Rangers was the toughest of my career. I have been brought up to love the club and it will always be in my heart, but at the end of the day the decision had to be made.

"I wasn't sure I was going to be playing week in, week out, and the last thing I wanted was to be warming the bench in the Third Division.

"One day I would definitely love to go back but go back and play in my best position in central midfield.

"I am still only 21 and I have a lot of development ahead of me. But it is great to be down at Coventry and to have had a season behind me when I have played against the likes of Arsenal.

"That is why I am here and hopefully it will mean I become the best player I can be."

Fleck has no qualms that the Ibrox dream team of chairman Smith and manager McCoist will restore Rangers to domestic dominance.

The former Ranger said: "I think it is great news that Walter has come in as chairman.

"He is a Rangers man through and through and he commands so much respect and only has what is best for the club at heart.

"With Ally managing the team and Walter the chairman, Rangers now have probably the two best men in the top positions at the club."