There is nothing I can say that will be a proper and fitting tribute to our former captain Fernando Ricksen
Fernando sadly lost his battle with illness last week and the outpouring of tributes, to the man, a testament of how loved he was
I met Fernando a few times over the years when I worked in the hotel industry, he was charismatic and friendly. He thought nothing of handing in tickets or memorabilia to the staff that looked after him. He would recover from low points in his Rangers career to captain Rangers to a helicopter Sunday triumph and play his part in a treble winning Rangers team. His contribution was whole hearted and passionate, he would give it his everything
His battle was extremely brave and he took it on head first as he did his whole life. He fought it bravely and raised thousands of pounds for MND Charity as he done so
Everyone in the Rangers family will miss him dearly and so they should, Fernando was a real hero of our support and he will be very sadly missed
Sleep easy Captain, we will miss you but never forget you
On the park Rangers have had an encouraging return since the Old firm disappointment. Good results against Livi, Feyenoord and St Johnstone have raised the spirits once more.
I suppose it’s even more encouraging that some feel we can play better and at points in all games we have found that slickness we all crave consistently
That’s what we need to do consistently, everyone wants to smash games and play fantastic football, but whilst the results are coming all that matters is the three points. We know we are a good side and it speaks volumes we are disappointed to only win 1-0 at home to Feyenoord.
The managements progress in Europe has been outstanding to the point that results in Denmark home and away, beating Legia and Feyenoord are all now becoming the norm. Two defeats in twenty three matches really is outstanding. We look forward to the other group games knowing we are capable with nothing to fear
It wouldn’t be Rangers though if there wasn’t some sort of controversy or ‘story’ doing the rounds especially on social media. This is no different and it involves the exclusion of Niko Katic from the last two matches.
Against Livingston Katic and Goldson were extremely poor, Katic himself at fault several times. However it is clear Goldson was also poor. Now Niko and Connor were clearly bickering at times during the second half. Good players will argue and shout at other teammates, if that was an indication of trouble in the ranks then Alan McGregor must be waring with everyone!
The truth is (whether we like it or not) is that Goldson is the managers go to Centre back, like Jack his midfielder, Tavernier right back, McGregor his no1 etc. Katic had a slight dip and Helander has come in and done incredibly well, that was always going to be the case for someone with such an outlay
There is no dressing room fighting, there is no issue with the manager and there is nothing untoward about the situation. Niko will be back in the team when the manager decides
Whether that’s right or wrong is opinion, I’m a huge fan of both and can see both sides of the argument. What I am prepared to do is trust the manager to get it right and if not trust the manager to correct it
That also brings us to recent radio claims of trouble with Dave King blah blah. I won’t give it much coverage but needless to say it’s absolute nonsense. It’s been a few months since the last story I rubbished, King and Park problems etc and this one is no different
One thing I’ve always done is be honest, we should always question our board and be on top of them, but stories of issues are not true
We continue on and hopefully keep getting results on the park, we have started the season well and that obviously causes problems which people don’t like, hence the fantasy – Rangers winning and doing well
Good luck to team and management for the busy schedule ahead, keep winning and rewards will come
This one’s for Fernando 💙
Ignore the nonsense, the irrelevant and the noise
🔴⚪️🔵
Four Lads Had A Dream 