marco negri interview

[superswede]

dont know if this has been posted before, i dont know when the interview was but i found it entertaining.


An extract from an Italian Football magazine, with Marco Negri, about Rangers, and life with the Rangers..................
Marco Negri Interview

L.B. - Luigi Bruno (Interviewer)

M.N. - Marco Negri



L.B. - ' Marco, you left Rangers under very strange circumstances, why was that?'

M.N.-' Strange? There was nothing strange in anything that happened there, they simply did not want me there any longer'.

L.B.- 'Why was that?'

M.N.- ' The honest answer is that I didn't know then and I still don't know even today. Nobody ever explained why I had fallen out of favour.'

L.B.- ' Your goal record at Rangers was fantastic and when fit and available you were scoring for fun. I, and many others still do not understand why you left under a cloud'.

M.N.- 'Let's just say you are getting very close to why I think that I was frozen out. Scotland is a very claustrophobic place where everything is examined and analyzed endlessly. Scottish society is in many ways a backward place'.

L.B. - 'What do you mean by that?'

M.N. - ' The culture, the underlying culture of Rangers was not good. The first team players had a habit of drinking vast amounts of alcohol during the week. As you know here in Italy we have a different culture as professional footballers. We know that it is our duty to keep ourselves fit and healthy.
Some of the players there like Paul Gascoigne and Andy Goram would turn up smelling of drink BEFORE training!! I could not understand why such behaviour was tolerated by Walter Smith who was manager then'.

L.B.- ' Marco we are well aware of Paul Gascoigne's problems and it is sad to see his decline, we saw it earlier at Lazio. Are you saying that the players were out of control?'

M.N.- ' Absolutely, I tried to point this out to Walter Smith several times but he became very defensive and said that I needed to understand Scottish footballing culture. He would hear no criticism of Goram and especially Gascoigne who could literally do anything he wanted to and still get away with it! It wasn't just their drinking however, they had some really extreme political and religious views'.

L.B.- ' Could you elaborate on this please?'.

M.N. - ' Of course. They hated Catholics. All of them. I never understood why they were so filled with hatred. Several of us who were Catholic players and all foreigners were told upon arrival, never to bless ourselves at Ibrox as it could cause problems for us. I began to understand that Rangers was an extreme club very similar to Lazio here in Italy. You know, a right wing club with right wing supporters. I personally am not a practicing Catholic but my wife Anna Maria is, and it used to cause me pain when I heard what they said about my fellow Catholics. Lorenzo Amoruso and Jorg Albertz, just kept quiet and kept their heads down'

L.B.- ' What finally brought things to a head?'

M.N.- ' I was rapidly disillusioned by Rangers and especially their supporters. As part of my professional duties I was strongly encouraged to attend social functions which meant going to several Rangers supporters clubs. The last one I attended really brought home to me the fact that I had nothing in common with these people. The anti-Catholic feeling was venomous and the songs they sang that evening filled me with disgust. It was at that point I decided not to give my all for a club that condoned such behaviour. I went sick. Walter Smith knew the real reason for my 'illness' and he just ignored it. But I wasn't lying, I was sick, sick of Rangers and sick of what they stood for and that is the truth'

[P-Bhoy]

Well in mate. Shows you what the scum got up to.

[celticdaftdan]

We all know what they are like but hearing that from one of there ex players says alot have to say very well said by him.

[Wolfe Tone]

wow, its word for word for what he said, well well said by him and goes a long way to explaining why he left.

[Mizuno]

Yes. And I'm fucking gutted we never signed him. But I suppose he just wanted to get away from the place. Can't blame him.

[zmcfc]

Marco Negri, now my favourite Hun, well done for saying that...
Just shows the sick attitudes Rangers still have to this day...

[GlasgowTim]

good interview. they are getting found out more and more as the days pass

[hairytoes]

someone should post this in Fascist Fascist, I got kicked out.

[tim park]

well well,it all becomes clearer now,,i wonderd myself why negri was left out as he was a great goalscorer for rangers,

he scored for fun,and had better facial hair than paul hartly,id love to see a "shave off" between the 2

[irvy7]

im all for this interview but is there an actual source

[GlasgowTim]

Originally Posted by tim park

he scored for fun,and had better facial hair than paul hartly,id love to see a "shave off" between the 2

"shave off"

[Metrobhoy]

Negri was a player they had at the time who I was quite envious of. I think he score 5 in the one game and scored about 35 goals in 30 odd games for them. I could never understand why catholics or any decent folk would want to play for a team with so much hatred although perhaps he didn't realise what they were like I suppose.

[Daver]

No-one seems to have a source for it, not on Kerrydale, nothing....shall reserve judgement till after it has been confirmed (if it ever is!)

[Paul67]

I'd love a copy of this, if true. All the rumours were flying about at the time, and since, about this story, and it is very believable in my opinion.

Scotland's Shame.

[Hammer]

Extremely believable but a tad suspicious really.