Alexei Mikhailichenko

He was a cultured attacking central midfielder. In some ways his role at Rangers was similar to that of Albertz - great going forwards but defensively lacking. Like Albertz he was initially played in his favoured CM position, but was moved to left midfield when his defensive deficiencies became apparent. Though very talented he was not well suited to the hurly burly of scottish football.
 
was voted one of the top central midfielders in the world at the euros

Bought by Walter and stuck out on the wing

Very poorly utilised


for all Walter's greatness
he took Miko - one of the best midfielders in the world and largely nullified him by playing him out of position
+ same applies to Boli too - one of the top defenders in Europe at CB, played at RB
 
In the same way Walter played Steven wide right he played Miko wide left. Any player he felt didn’t have a high enough work rate or was too light weight he played him on the wing. Did this with Davis too.

My heroes as a kid were Walters, Miko then Laudrup.

Never felt he was here for a payday, that tag went to Kuznetsov for me.

Also Adam, Lafferty, Fleck, anyone it seemed he didn't totally trust. Wasted a lot of talent that way.
 
Also Adam, Lafferty, Fleck, anyone it seemed he didn't totally trust. Wasted a lot of talent that way.
He was class. As earlier post his goal against them on NYD had them trying to get the game abandoned usual antics.
He was a funny guy too. My Dad was working at Ibrox with John Lawrence group. At that time there was a big flyweight fight in Glasgow and a South African boxer “Baby Jake” think was guys nickname, was training at Ibrox. This coincided with Jardel visiting and rumoured signing. Anyway the players were training on the pitch, when Milo comes out, last as usual.
He then shouts over to Walter “ hey boss, that new striker will never make it. He’s too small.”

Class
 
No not linking him with the manager role....


Watching some old videos of Rangers and noticed this guy was quite prominent in our midfield for a few seasons back in the day.

Just before my time really - what's the Bears memories of him?

Good player? Any game you remember him standing out?
I was good, the 2 goals v Celtic in the 1994 NY game when we were 3-0 up at the Piggery in half an hour, won 4-2.
 
My recollection of Alexei revolves around the 4-2 win at their pit, New Year 1994. I was back visiting at my parents house which was packed, probably 30 odd people. The game was on tv ( probably highlights) and I couldn’t hear a thing for all the chatter. For the one and only time in my life, the Texan came out in me and I shouted “ Y’all shut up”. Silence for a few seconds then back to the rabble.

Seriously, he was a very good player. BTW, he scored two that day.
 
To those lambasting Walter for playing him wide I'd say that is a touch of historic revision.

.

No it wasn't.

hwe was one of the finest midfielders of his time and when played in his normal position stood out like a sore thumb.

Wattie had that habit during 9IAR where he could have Cristiano Ronaldo as goalie and Baresi at inside right and still got results..
 
A little anecdote regarding our two Ukrainean stars. I was invited to a wet the baby's head bash by one of their team mates who I was friendly with. The venue was in Lochwinnoch with the lounge being hired for the collection of Rangers players and friends. Now there was a free bar which did a roaring trade in the usual beer and spirits apart from our two Ukraineans who spent the whole night on bucks fizz ffs.
Incidentally we had beaten Motherwell that day in the cup 2.0 [McCoist double]
 
Cracking player but wrong for Scottish football due to his lack of work rate.

Probably true and yet at the same time the reason why our game sucks! I remember Miko in an early game just watching a ball drift out of play on the touch line in front of the Sandy Jardine. He was never going to get it so he didn’t even try. Economy of effort. Right there and then we had a problem because of course we all wanted him to go haring after it, slide like a looney and still not get it...but at least he’d have tried in that pointless British way. He was the smart one.

In 2018 still nothing has changed. We still prefer a Dave McKinnon/Hugh Burns who were crap but gave their all, to a Miko who was brilliant but did just enough and no more.
 
In the same way Walter played Steven wide right he played Miko wide left. Any player he felt didn’t have a high enough work rate or was too light weight he played him on the wing. Did this with Davis too.

My heroes as a kid were Walters, Miko then Laudrup.

Never felt he was here for a payday, that tag went to Kuznetsov for me.

Very Unfair on Oleg mate. The injury did him and denied us a wonderful defender, as his first game demonstrated.
 
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Central Midfielder for the USSR. One of the Best teams in the world at the time.

Walter buys him and plays him left wing. Baffling

Remember his goal at the Pedo Dome on NYD 1994. Scored the 3rd when we were 3-0 up after just 12 crazy mins.

Also his tackle on Abede Pele against Marseille in the Champions League game at Ibrox 92/93 season. He crunched him on touchline won the ball fairly and crossed in for Gary McSwegan to score that 18 year header to make it 2-1 and start an incredible journey in Europe.
He got the 2nd & 3rd goals for us that day. Neil Murray should have scored the 2nd but Pat Bonner saved, straight to Miko who stuck it away. 3rd was a miss hit or deflected shot from Durie that Miko tapped in for 3-0.

Great day!
 
We all have that one player that really excited you when we signed them (hence my username) It was Miko for me, as I was at that perfect age where I was just totally obsessed with rangers and football in general. His pedigree was sensational and he was incredibly skilful. Obviously never really hit the heights with us and as everyone has said...he was a lazy bastard to be honest. A real luxury player in Scotland when it was a 100mph kick and rush around him.
 
A couple of weeks before he was signed I rememeber a photo of him sitting on the bench at Sampdoria eating a supersize bag of crisps.

Possibly part of the reason he didn’t really cut it in Serie A. :D
To be fair to the lad he played quite a few games that season and ended up with a Serie A winners medal.
 
We played Aberdeen at Ibrox and found ourselves 2-0 down at half time.

Something strange happened (injury in centre mid) and Walter played him central with Durrant running onto his passes.

He ran riot and we won 4-2

Back out to left wing the following week though!

Can you provide a link on YouTube to this game. Seems to have passed me by. I can remember Miko scoring the third in a 3.1 win against the sheep having been 1.0 down at HT when the big diddy aitken scored. Sounds like your 4.2 game was even better.
 
Played in correct position due to others being injured against Motherwell in the cup scored two goals looked unstoppable, great player with limited motion, Walter once said hes deceiving, he is slower than he looks.
He also said that he got warmed up with a hairdryer :D:D
 
Very gifted footballer but I really can't think of any game changing moment in all his time at Ibrox.
(And even Bert Konterman had one of those!)
 
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I think it was Souness who went after him but then left for Liverpool and the deal was finalised at the end of the season. A serious 'wow!' signing at the time, very few clubs in the UK were attracting that level of player.
 
To be fair to the lad he played quite a few games that season and ended up with a Serie A winners medal.

Mostly cameos coming off the bench for the last 15 minutes.

He was regarded as very much a fringe player at Sampdoria and they put up little fight to hold onto him.

He spent 4/5 years with us but let’s be honest he was never more than a peripheral figure. For a guy of that natural talent it’s a pretty sad indictment that all most of us remember of him is a couple of goals v Motherwell.
 
Mostly cameos coming off the bench for the last 15 minutes.

He was regarded as very much a fringe player at Sampdoria and they put up little fight to hold onto him.

He spent 4/5 years with us but let’s be honest he was never more than a peripheral figure. For a guy of that natural talent it’s a pretty sad indictment that all most of us remember of him is a couple of goals v Motherwell.
Suprised that more people don’t remember his new year day double at the piggery.
 
I wanted him to do well, but it took a while for him to influence the play. Very clever and great passing at times, but as all said lazy, so lazy.
I missed his first goal for us, as I was coming up the steps of the West enclosure after having a piss, and heard the cheer, gutted to miss it. Not many players could get away with being so lacklustre under Walter, so he must of had something!
 
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We played Aberdeen at Ibrox and found ourselves 2-0 down at half time.

Something strange happened (injury in centre mid) and Walter played him central with Durrant running onto his passes.

He ran riot and we won 4-2

Back out to left wing the following week though!

Thats the game I always think about, he had a player like durrant that was intelligent enough to be where miko would put the ball. THough I was sure it was 1-0 at halftime and we won 3-1!
 
Great player with exceptional economy of movement. He anticipated the 21st century energy crisis way ahead of everyone else and reserved his accordingly.
 
I
No it wasn't.

hwe was one of the finest midfielders of his time and when played in his normal position stood out like a sore thumb.

Wattie had that habit during 9IAR where he could have Cristiano Ronaldo as goalie and Baresi at inside right and still got results..
In Scotland aye....pity we got pumped by grasshoppers Zurich and the like.
Should have done much better in Europe at that time
 
Thats the game I always think about, he had a player like durrant that was intelligent enough to be where miko would put the ball. THough I was sure it was 1-0 at halftime and we won 3-1!
Miko and durrant were sensational in that second half
I always remember before we signed him a guy in my work stating "there is no way Rangers will sign alexei mikhailichenko" I think he had just been voted 3 or 4th best player in Europe about a year earlier
 
I remember going to an old firm reserve league Cup final one midweek at love St. Our left hand side was basically Van Vossen and Miko. Yes, Van Vossen at LB and Miko on the wing.

Miko should've been the link between midfield and forwards. Every move going through him. He was horribly underutilised but that was in part due to his attitude.
 
Played in correct position due to others being injured against Motherwell in the cup scored two goals looked unstoppable, great player with limited motion, Walter once said hes deceiving, he is slower than he looks.
That cup game against Motherwell was one of those where you could see a player really take control of the match.

Miko took total control of the second half of that game in particular - it was an incredible performance.

I absolutely loved the guy, although he was not given the chance to show his real value often enough.
He was enormously talented and had a control of the ball that few could rival.

In hindsight - he could have been better used by Smith but undoubtedly could have adapted his game a bit. Laudrup did and was an outstanding success.


The problem was that our transfer policy through the 1990s appears to be to splurge on someone who was coming available and think about how to fit them into the team afterwards.

A summer chasing Florin Răducioi and then spinning around and buying Salenko summed it up.
 
That cup game against Motherwell was one of those where you could see a player really take control of the match.

Miko took total control of the second half of that game in particular - it was an incredible performance.

I absolutely loved the guy, although he was not given the chance to show his real value often enough.
He was enormously talented and had a control of the ball that few could rival.

In hindsight - he could have been better used by Smith but undoubtedly could have adapted his game a bit. Laudrup did and was an outstanding success.


The problem was that our transfer policy through the 1990s appears to be to splurge on someone who was coming available and think about how to fit them into the team afterwards.

A summer chasing Florin Răducioi and then spinning around and buying Salenko summed it up.

For some reason I thought of Miko today. Retired after playing with us.... In my head he never played with Laudrup and today I saw a goal by miko set up by Laudrup. Did miko, gazza and Laudrup ever play in the same team?
 
Once seen him go past two defenders without touching the ball

Norman on the tour said that he regularly juggled the ball (keepy ups) from the top of the marble staircase to the bottom. Even Sir Walter cane out to see it done
 
I mind him doing keepy uppy using his shins for some reason during warm ups.
Yes he did warm up sometimes. Always loved that he would always try to score directly from a corner.
 
How come nobody ever says Albertz or Reyna we’re played out of position under Advocaat? Yet they always, always have a dig at Walter about Miko and Davis?
 
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