Ricksen was always a real battler on and off the pitch
SAYS JAAP STAM
YOU’D like to think Jaap Stam would know one of life’s true warriors when he sees one. In the eyes of the Feyenoord boss, both on and off the pitch, Fernando Ricksen was worthy of the accolade. To see his former Dutch international team-mate go out on his shield yesterday aged just 43 brought a deep sense of shock and sadness. Amid the grief, though, there was also a palpable sense of pride in Stam’s heart at how the former Rangers midfielder had tackled the horrors of motor neurone disease these past six years. There was also comfort to be taken from knowing Ricksen had lived his last days with the same gutsy determination which had characterised his playing pomp. ‘He had that disease for six years,’ said Stam. ‘He was a player and a person that was always willing to fight for everything. ‘That was whether he was out on the pitch, in his life or even when he had the disease. He tried to stay fit as long as possible.’ The 12 caps Ricksen earned for Holland between 2000 and 2003 came when Stam was a defensive rock at Manchester United then Lazio. While their paths never crossed at club level, Stam’s estimation of a player who floated in and out of the Dutch squad in the early part of the century was considerable. ‘He was very good, even though maybe not everyone in the world knew him as a player, but in Holland we knew how he was and what he could do,’ added Stam. ‘When Fernando came to the national team, he normally played right-back and I was centre-half. ‘We would talk to each other all the time about what we needed to do. ‘He didn’t always get picked but he came when we needed him and played his part. ‘He always did very well but sometimes he was a little bit insecure in his own way. ‘That was normal but we helped each other out, with positioning, communicating and coaching. He wasn’t a player who always made the headlines but he was very useful for the team and squad. ‘He contributed to a lot of important games and victories. He was very well thought of within Holland.’ Ricksen was no angel, of course. An inability
to keep himself in check cost him more caps and eventually his international career. Yet Stam, like so many others who knew him, yesterday spoke of a man with a mischievous glint in the eye but a heart the size of his country. ‘He was very lively,’ he smiled. ‘Sometimes that could get him into trouble as everybody knows. So he was lively, but not in a bad way. ‘He was always being positive and helping out the other players, always in for a joke and in good spirits. ‘Everybody knows how his life went. It’s always sad to hear what can happen to players. ‘It doesn’t matter if you are young or old. Anybody can get a disease and can die at a young age.’ Prior to fulfilling his media duties at Ibrox last night, Stam joined the steady stream of Rangers fans who laid flowers at the stadium gates earlier in the day. ‘We really feel something for him but, even if it wasn’t a Dutch player, it would have been a good thing to do,’ he said. ‘A lot of people are dying at all ages nowadays and we need to think about them. ‘It’s not just football players who get this disease. It’s the “normal” people, too, if you want to call them that. ‘Feyenoord is a club for the people. We care about people and it was a good thing to do.’ What was already going be a highlycharged affair has now taken on an entirely different dimension. Few foreign players to have worn a Rangers jersey over the past 20 years were taken to the hearts of Rangers fans quite like Ricksen. For all his deteriorating health was a matter of public record, his loss at such a brutally young age is still numbing. Stam appreciates that, once the match starts, there will be a hugely emotional factor to contend with. ‘Even before this happened to Fernando it was a big game, but this is going to give it something extra,’ he added. ‘As a club, Rangers have been very good at taking care of him and his family. ‘He loved the club, he loved Glasgow as well. ‘The fans loved him. So it’s going to bring an extra dimension to the game. ‘We need to be aware of that and we are aware of that. ‘We need to do our own thing as a team, in terms of how we play and what we can bring to the game. ‘Everyone within our squad is used to playing in front of 50,000 people, so that’s nothing new. ‘We’ll be trying to play a good game. Hopefully it will be a good game for the fans of both teams no matter the result.’ Given the circumstances, talk of Stam possibly eyeing revenge for AC Milan’s loss to Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League final was given only a cursory mention. ‘We both played at a high level and had success in England with the clubs we played for,’ added the Feyenoord boss. ‘But it’s about what we do with our teams now. ‘Right now, the two clubs are in the process of building to a level where they need to be and want to be. ‘Rangers and Feyenoord have both been doing that for the last few years.’ On the danger posed by Alfredo Morelos, Stam was more forthcoming. ‘I have been warning my team they need to be very careful with a certain player — what they must do and what they are looking for,’ he admitted. ‘Rangers have quality and they use their physique — but they also play football.’