Portsmouth attacker Kal Naismith flourishing four years after Rangers release

Follow us on Google Discover

Released by Rangers in 2013, Kal Naismith is now leading Portsmouth to promotion with a terrific season in front of goal.

Before the start of the season, Kal Naismith’s Portsmouth career looked over. After managing just three goals in a disappointing debut season, the winger was made available for transfer at Fratton Park, Portsmouth News reported.

Yet, after a bright start to the campaign, Pompey boss Steve Cook changed his mind.

“There is a difference to the Kal of last season, without a doubt. His whole attitude about the game is better,” the manager told the Portsmouth News in September.

“Looking at his general performances and how he conducts himself around the club, he deserves to come off the transfer list.”

Seven months later, few at Fratton Park are regretting the decision to hand Naismith a second chance. Portsmouth are looking nailed on for automatic promotion and the 25-year-old is leading the charge with four goals in his last four games and 12 for the season overall.

Almost clubless in the summer, Naismith is now inspiring Pompey back up the divisions in the most prolific season of his career.

And it’s only now, four years on, that he is starting to show Rangers exactly what they are missing. As reported by the club’s official website, the club mutually agreed to terminate Naismith’s contract in 2013 after just 24 senior appearances.

No guaranteed success at Rangers today

Would the Glasgow-born winger, who emerged through Rangers’ academy system, have been a rather useful addition to Pedro Caixinha’s current squad?

The Gers are lacking in wide areas and with the new manager recently dropping Barrie McKay and hooking Emerson Hyndman before the hour in the last two games, an in-form Naismith may have proven a particularly handy member of the squad.

Though stand-out performances in England’s fourth tier offer little guarantee of success in Scotland, former Accrington Stanley duo Josh Windass and Matt Crooks will tell you that, Naismith’s form for Portsmouth shows that he is now a player capable of rising to a challenge.