Ronald de Boer on the surreal Rangers and Celtic chaos that 'family day trip' El Clasico simply couldn't match

BlueMeanie

Well-Known Member
The Dutch former midfielder insists he'll never forget his derby debut as he scored and assisted in a 5-1 Rangers win.


Ronald de Boer looks back on Rangers ' titantic tussles with Celtic and ranks as El Clasico as little more than a "family day trip" in comparison.
The Dutchman sampled two of the world's most famous derbies during a storied career but only one left him feeling like he'd undergone a religious experience.
De Boer signed for Rangers in 2000, famously turning down Manchester United despite a personal plea from Sir Alex Ferguson.
He scored one and set up another during his first experience of the derby cauldron as Dick Advocaat's side smashed their rivals 5-1 at Ibrox.
It's a day the 49-year-old will never forget as he explained why Barcelona and Real Madrid simply couldn't compare.
The former Barca midfielder told FourFourTwo: "Old Firm games were the most intense games I played in - you can't compared it to El Clasico in that sense.

"In Spain, people see it more as a family day trip.

"It's intense, but Rangers against Celtic is more extreme - you feel that the whole stadium is fanatically involved."
On the day he bagged and an assist in his derby bow, de Boer was struck by the almost cartoon-esque chaos unfolding all around him at Ibrox.
He added: "It was an incredible derby that I won't forget any time soon.
"I scored one and assisted another. The passion around that - religion, in a sense - is something else. It was unbelievable to experience.

"The games were always very physical. I remember some tackles where I was thinking, 'This can't be possible - back in Holland we would have had three or four red cards already!' The referees would just wave incidents away, or just give a free-kick at most.
"It was extreme, and sometimes it had nothing to do with football. It was a bit like what you see in cartoons, with a cloud of dust around the players fighting for the ball, which then slowly disappears as the ball is kicked away.
"That's the feeling I got."
 
Im sure Ronny made his debut v the sheep at Ibrox in a midweek league cup game but I could be wrong
 
" I remember some tackles where I was thinking, 'This can't be possible - back in Holland we would have had three or four red cards already!' The referees would just wave incidents away, or just give a free-kick at most.

"It was extreme, and sometimes it had nothing to do with football. It was a bit like what you see in cartoons, with a cloud of dust around the players fighting for the ball, which then slowly disappears as the ball is kicked away.

"That's the feeling I got."

I love the passion that accompanies the OF fixtures, but this section from his interview sums up the reasons why Scotland is now languishing as European also rans.

The refereeing is this country is absolutely horrendous.

Skill is bludgeoned out of existence and our SFA then holds it's hands up in horror and look bewildered when even diddy european sides hammer the second string of Scottish sides. In fact, even our so called "champions" have taken some humiliating bheastings in the past 7 years.

Until we get a grip of the just shite refereeing, we're making no progress as a footballing nation
 
What a player he was! Who was it he scored against at Ibrox where he cut in from the left and twisted and turned until he essentially had the defender running in the opposite direction as he curled a daisy cutter into the bottom corner? Might have been Killie at Ibrox.

I always loved his goal and celebration when McCann crossed to him at Ibrox and he finished with a side foot volley past Douglas. Goes without saying I loved his equaliser at the piggery too where you can still see the tarriars going tono celebrating their own goal as De Boer’s header hits the net (another sublime McCann cross incidentally).
 
What a player he was! Who was it he scored against at Ibrox where he cut in from the left and twisted and turned until he essentially had the defender running in the opposite direction as he curled a daisy cutter into the bottom corner? Might have been Killie at Ibrox.

I always loved his goal and celebration when McCann crossed to him at Ibrox and he finished with a side foot volley past Douglas. Goes without saying I loved his equaliser at the piggery too where you can still see the tarriars going tono celebrating their own goal as De Boer’s header hits the net (another sublime McCann cross incidentally).

Yes, DZ, Killie at home in the 02/03 season. In a lot of the games that season he was pretty much unplayable.
 
I love the passion that accompanies the OF fixtures, but this section from his interview sums up the reasons why Scotland is now languishing as European also rans.

The refereeing is this country is absolutely horrendous.

Skill is bludgeoned out of existence and our SFA then holds it's hands up in horror and look bewildered when even diddy european sides hammer the second string of Scottish sides. In fact, even our so called "champions" have taken some humiliating bheastings in the past 7 years.

Until we get a grip of the just shite refereeing, we're making no progress as a footballing nation

Our last 2 away games (Livi and Hearts), tv have given MotM awards to Lyndon Dykes and Ikpeazu..........both centre forwards, neither scored a goal between them.

Mutton and Craigan were telling the world what an exciting game it was on Sunday - but, the stats will show THREE shots on target. 2 of them goals.
 
Never forget running home from school and checking Teletext to see if the rumours about us signing him were true.
Was this a day or two after the game Reyna and Dodds scored at the piggery or is my memory not as good as it was?
 
I was just going to post about that.
He was immense that day.
Think it was a Sunday game.
What a player.
BBC showed it live I'm sure and Sandy Clark was the co commentator with Rob McLean and he raved about his performance .
Rob McLean late on in the game remarked it was a waste of time asking Sandy Clark who his MOTM was!.
 
Season 2002/03 when we won the treble De Boer was unbelievable.
Then at tannadice at the start of the following season, just after beating Copenhagen to reach the champ league, he kicked an advertising board and was out injured for a few months.
We sold Ferguson the day before, had lost Canniga, Amorouso, Numan and now De Boer.
 
What a player he was! Who was it he scored against at Ibrox where he cut in from the left and twisted and turned until he essentially had the defender running in the opposite direction as he curled a daisy cutter into the bottom corner? Might have been Killie at Ibrox.
Aye that goal was against Killie, he scored a belter of an overhead kick against Partick Thistle at Ibrox too.
 
Remember his performance on the Tannadice sandpit?

That's my favourite memory of him as well.
Remember walkimng into the ground thinking it would be a really hard game because our players wouldn't be able to play on such a dreadful surface. Then RdB gave an absolute masterclass.
 
im sure I was at Tannadice and one game Ronny kicked the advertising hoardings in frustration and it put him out for weeks
 
He dovetailed perfectly with Barry Ferguson.

My favourite type of player, the biggest asset he had was his brain. Very very clever player, he could see everything all around him.

I think of him as just sitting off the front men, pulling all the strings and controlling all the attacks.
 
Had some clowns saying he wasn't a success with us the other day on here, mad. He'd be our best player these days by a landslide. He was an absolute class act.
 
Proper jealous of the players that folks seen playing in a Rangers strip back in those days compared to some of the dross we've had in the 10 or so years that I've supported them.

I was lucky enough to grow up in the era of mccoist gazza laudrup etc. So many boyhood heroes. When I was at school none of us even looked the road of the EPL
 
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