The minute he walked into Rugby Park, everyone at Kilmarnock had the distinct feeling that loan signing Findlay Curtis would be making his presence felt.
There was no awkwardness about his arrival even though it was the youngster’s first day at a new club. He did, of course, work with Killie management duo Neil McCann and Billy Dodds when they were coaching at Rangers a year ago.
‘The door to our office burst open and all I heard was a familiar voice shouting my nickname, “Alright Dodo?” That was Fin checking in,’ Dodds tells Daily Mail Sport.
‘He’s got a real presence about him. He lights up a room when he walks in. He invigorates you. There’s this nervous energy about him that’s infectious.’
His agent, Gordon Reid, conveys the same sort of impression about 19-year-old Curtis. ‘You tend to hear him before you see him,’ he explains. ‘I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just his personality. He’s lively.’
Curtis is a boy from Balfron in deepest, darkest Stirlingshire, a sleepy village with barely a couple of thousand residents. He’s been part of the Rangers football system since the age of six and his parents have clocked up the mileage to prove it.
Findlay Curtis has wasted little time in making his mark at Kilmarnock with some fine displays
‘It’s not always been plain sailing for him,’ says Reid. ‘There have been some difficult times for Fin during his football development but he’s come out the other side and he’s all the better for it. He’s grounded which helps when suddenly his profile goes through the roof.’
His first-team debut came off the bench in the 5-0 Scottish Cup defeat of Fraserburgh at Ibrox when he set up Cyriel Dessers in the 90th minute to complete his hat-trick.
Four nights later, he was delivering another half-hour cameo as a substitute, this time against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Europa League when Rangers lost out to a stoppage-time Bruno Fernandez winner.
Five appearances in the Rangers top team last season grew to 21 in the first half of this current campaign. Russell Martin picked Curtis in the starting line-up for his first competitive match in charge — a Champions League qualifier against Panathinaikos at Ibrox.
With an impressive sense of occasion, Curtis made the big breakthrough six minutes into the second half and changed the whole dynamic of the tie. Eighteen at the time, he jinked in off the left side and ripped in a right-footer to break the deadlock.
‘A belter from the boy from Balfron,’ roared Rory Hamilton, the Premier Sports commentator. Doing the broadcast analysis alongside him was former Rangers winger and current Kilmarnock gaffer Neil McCann, who was also purring at the quality of that Curtis contribution: ‘He’s a cool cat this kid, I’ll tell you.’
Now Curtis has been handed an opportunity to excel on the international stage with Scotland
Martin, off to a 2-0 winning start at Rangers, was also impressed. ‘He’s got the athleticism and the talent to be playing in the team and he’s got the character to go with it.’
Findlay, himself, struggled to keep a smile off his face as he lapped up the after-match adulation. ‘I only found out at the team meeting at ten o’clock yesterday morning that I was playing. I was texting my mum and dad telling them I was starting. My dad started crying, my mum started crying.
‘My thanks go to them because they’ve taken me here, there and everywhere for my football. The credit goes to them. I couldn’t get to sleep last night but I felt good this morning. All my family were here plus my girlfriend, her parents and all my mates.’
Curtis had scored three times by the end of August but soon found himself with a new manager to impress when Martin was sacked and replaced with Danny Rohl.
In January came the decision on whether Rangers should put their talented teenager out on loan to get increased game time or keep him as part of their revitalised title challenge. Kilmarnock had made no secret of their desire to recruit Curtis for the rest of the season. Rangers decided that was the right move.
‘We look forward to bringing Findlay back in the summer and we get a better player,’ said Rohl at the time. ‘All these things can go in the right direction.’
His last game of the season for Rangers was in Portugal and, although they lost 3-1 to Porto in the Europa League, Curtis made an impact with the cross which set up Djeidi Gassama to head in the opening goal.
Curtis’ last involvement with Rangers before completing his loan move to Kilmarnock was to set up a Europa League goal for Djeidi Gassama in a 3-1 defeat to Porto
He’d barely got off the return flight when he was draping a Kilmarnock scarf around his neck and, without time for a training session, made his debut off the bench in a 3-0 home defeat of Aberdeen.
‘We knew what we were getting because we’d worked with him at Rangers for the last few months of last season,’ says Dodds. ‘But what we’ve got now as a player has taken even Neil and myself by surprise.
‘In terms of progress, he’s turned on the afterburners. When he’s accelerating towards goal it’s scary. Everything about Fin is developing really quickly. He’s working hard every day and he’s improving in leaps and bounds.
‘I think it was the right decision for Rangers to put him out on loan. He needs to be playing regularly and we’ve already seen what that can do in terms of development.
‘It’s beneficial for Fin and it’s beneficial for Rangers when you think about the player they’re going to be getting back in the summer. Game time has shunted him so far forward in a short space of time.
‘We’ve already played him at right back, right midfield and off the front but there’s no doubt that he’s at his best when he’s playing as a winger.
‘He’s only going to get better because that’s what he’s striving for.
Curtis has been tipped to excel on the international stage due to his technique and tenacity
‘When we worked with him at Rangers he never questioned what he was being asked to do in training. And, when we were finished with him, he kept working away on his own. Practising different types of crosses. Curling the ball into the box, aiming at a target. And aiming to become a better player.’
Now comes his call-up to the Scotland squad for the World Cup warm-up matches against Japan and Ivory Coast.
‘I like him,’ said Scotland boss Steve Clarke when announcing his inclusion in the squad. ‘He’s direct and likes to make things happen. I’ve always tried to introduce young players when I think it’s the right time and Findlay falls into that category.’
Clarke’s assistant Steven Naismith, another who won his first Scotland call-up while playing for Kilmarnock, sees massive progression in Curtis.
‘He’s been really good. I think what’s helped him is he’s been around the Rangers first team for the last couple of seasons, had a big impact at the start of this one and now he’s continuing to play lots of games at Kilmarnock.’
Rohl reckons Curtis will make the most of his chance, saying: ‘I’m so pleased. He deserves this opportunity. Now it’s up to him. Maybe he can go to the World Cup.’ If he does go to the greatest football show on earth, McCann and Dodds would like to think that, by then, Curtis has helped to wipe away any relegation worries for Kilmarnock.
Curtis has already announced himself to Rangers fans with a series of fine performances
In their last two games, Killie have beaten the Premiership’s top and bottom teams in Hearts and Livingston. Six points out of six has them going in a positive direction with, still, plenty work to be done to make their escape from the drop zone.
That’s firmly in the mind of former Scotland striker Dodds but he does admit to excitement about the prospect of first exposure for Curtis to senior international football.
‘Stevie Clarke has gone for something different. He’s gone a bit leftfield, maybe literally. Fin’s a bit like Ben Gannon-Doak and there’s no doubt we miss him being around and what he does for the team. So this is putting a different dynamic in the squad.
‘My message to Fin is to enjoy every minute of the experience and just do what you can do. The great thing is he appreciates everything he gets and I just have the feeling that he’ll grasp this opportunity with both hands.’
