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Advocaat's gamble Rangers go with Flo with season at stake vs. Celtic
GLASGOW (Reuters) -- Rangers manager Dick Advocaat is probably the least ostentatious gambler you could meet, and in many ways the sober-suited Dutchman looks more like a bank manager. Yet on Sunday, he will stake 12.0 million pounds (US$17 million) on "Blue-22" in an effort to save his reputation -- and his team's domestic season. Advocaat has to defeat bitter foe Celtic in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox to prevent their Glasgow rival taking what would amount to an unbeatable 18-point lead in the Scottish Premier League title race. That prompted the rush to sign Tore Andre Flo from Chelsea in time for the match. The Norwegian striker, whose 12.0 million pounds fee shattered the Scottish transfer record, will walk out at Ibrox Stadium with No. 22 on the back of his blue shirt and a huge burden on his shoulders. The new man has to rescue a season that has torn apart at the seams for Rangers, despite massive investment by Advocaat. And, as every soccer fan knows, the Old Firm clash is just about as unpredictable as roulette. Advocaat found that out himself in 1998 when then-Celtic boss Jozef Venglos was in a similar position to the Dutchman's current predicament, and Celtic won the derby 5-1, though Rangers went on to win the league. Kenny Dalglish, one of the most experienced managers in England, saw his brief reign in charge of Celtic last season reach a low point with a 4-0 defeat to Rangers. Title hopes at stakeIf Rangers, who are in fourth position, fail on Sunday, they can wave goodbye to the Scottish title. That might lead some fans calling for Advocaat to go after two years at Ibrox in which Rangers have won two successive titles. Despite the fact they are still in European competition, albeit in the UEFA Cup rather than the Champions League, trailing Celtic domestically is now intolerable for Rangers, who have won the title 11 times in the last 12 seasons and romped home 21 points clear of Celtic last season. Advocaat had spent more than 60.0 million pounds (US$84.05 million) on transfer fees in his time at Rangers before buying Flo. He spent 7.0 million pounds of that before Flo's arrival with the recruitment of Ronald de Boer from Barcelona and goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen from Odense after Stefan Klos damaged his ankle. But neither stopped the rot. Indeed, things have simply gone from bad to worse for Rangers. It started to go wrong on August 26 when Celtic inflicted an astonishing 6-2 defeat on Advocaat's side at Parkhead. While Martin O'Neill's Celtic side has remained unbeaten, Rangers have lost four times in the league and the 0-0 draw away to Dunfermline last Saturday left them 15 points behind Celtic. But Rangers are not even second. They are fourth in the table with 29 points from their 15 matches behind Celtic (44 from 16), Hibernian (36 from 16) and Kilmarnock (30 from 16). Heavy defeatOff the field, things are even worse. Advocaat stripped Lorenzo Amoruso of the captaincy after a heavy 3-0 defeat at home to Kilmarnock, yet surprisingly left the Italian defender in the side. However, rumors of dressing room feuds have persisted, with the colony of six Dutch internationals allegedly given special preference by the coach, and that has not been dispelled by two recent incidents. Arthur Numan and Michel Mols castigated Amoruso's defending for conceding the late goal against Monaco three weeks ago, which cost Rangers a place in the Champions League. On Monday, the club admitted that Fernando Ricksen and Andrei Kanchelskis had been involved in a clash on the training ground. The Dutch defender was not punished, but Kanchelskis has been banished to the second team, but only for refusing to play in a second-team game claims Advocaat. Former Rangers player Brian Laudrup believes that one of the problems is that there is no inspirational leader at Ibrox. "Then, we had Richard Gough as captain and he always led by example," said the former Denmark player. "Now I get the impression that Rangers miss a true leader. "I think the biggest difference between the side now and a few years ago is that there are fewer Scots in the dressing room now. "We had Gough, Andy Goram, Ally McCoist, Ian Durrant, Stuart McCall, who all knew what an Old Firm game meant. "Before every match with Celtic, these guys would almost be fighting each other to say their piece and tell the foreign players how much the match meant to the supporters. "Now you are lucky if there is two Scots in the lineup." Laudrup feels that the signing of his former Chelsea teammate Flo may help. "He will give the team a massive boost. The timing could not have been better. "Sunday is Rangers' most important game of the season, and if they don't take three points, then the title race will be over for them."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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