Bangor's friendly against Rangers is a "great occasion for the club, players and city" says boss Lee Feeney

After impressing for Ards and Linfield, Feeney moved to Ibrox in December 1998 aged 20 in a deal worth £100,000, choosing Rangers over the likes of Everton, Preston and Sheffield Wednesday.

He made his debut the following month as a substitute against Dundee, but that would also turn out to be his last first-team appearance during a three-and-a-half year stay on their books before switching back to Windsor Park.

Feeney was part of the Rangers reserves side that travelled to Northern Ireland in 2000 to take on Linfield for Stephen Beatty’s testimonial and also played against Coleraine, where the attacker scored twice for a team that included new Gers signing Peter Lovenkrands, who had just joined from Akademisk Boldklub for £1.3million.

The current Rangers B side is packed full of emerging talent with 17-year-old England youth international Zak Lovelace making his first-team debut last year, as did former Linfield youth product Ross McCausland while Arron Lyall netted in their 3-1 victory over Crusaders on Saturday.

"The club has done well to get this fixture for the players and supporters,” said Feeney. “It's nice having a Rangers team coming to play in Bangor.

“I remember coming over with Rangers reserves and we played Coleraine and Linfield and out of that team I think six or seven went on to play first-team, some went on to play for Scotland and some in the Premier League in England.

"There's no doubts that there are future names that will be playing who will regularly play for Rangers and their countries.

"It does bring back good memories of when I came back to play over here and how we were treated as Rangers players. At the hotel you had supporters gathered, you went to games and you had supporters waiting on you getting off the bus.

"It gives the younger Rangers players a taste of what's ahead when they do become a first-team player. It's good for everybody.

"It's great for their team being able to play games. I always liked it as a player going away to stay in a hotel with your teammates so it's great for them as well as us."

Feeney suffered a calf injury during an U21 tournament in Chile not long after making his senior debut and was never able to force his way back into the first-team fold, admitting in a previous interview that “my mentality maybe didn’t match my ability and my hunger”.

He has been able to take lessons from those regrets into his managerial career and looks out for his players to ensure they remain on the right track.

"It's easy for young kids to go off track and lose focus of what they are really there for,” he added. “I think it's important clubs and managers see that and that they can get them back on track again and guide them.

"It's a bigger world now. You're looked at more, more in the goldfish bowl and everyone can see what you're doing, but I think it's up to managers and coaches to stay on top of it.

"Even me as a Bangor manager, I see some of my players' moods changing for a couple of weeks and would pull them aside to make sure everything is alright.

"You can lose your heart in playing or hunger, so it's important that they feel we're here for them and that they know it.

"The higher the level you go, the more demands you're asked for as a player. You have to do it every game, every training session you need to be bang on, whereas in the lower levels you can get away with it.

"I'm demanding consistency from our players in the Championship and told them they can't be below seven out of 10 every week because if they do then we could struggle and it'll be a snowball effect.

"It's up to them to work hard in training and build that mindset. It's important you keep an eye on everything personally."