Forever in blue genes...now Dorrans is living the dream
TALKING RANGERS
GRAHAM Dorrans has waited his whole life to pull on a Rangers shirt. In the end, the extra couple of weeks were worth it.
The midfielder finally got his wish yesterday afternoon as he put pen-to-paper on a three-year deal with his boyhood heroes.
He is the ninth signing of the summer for boss Pedro Caixinha and another part of the jigsaw as the Portuguese continues to remodel his Gers squad.
Dorrans started his career at Livingston and had a loan stint at Partick Thistle, but it was his move to West Bromwich Albion that saw him shoot to greater prominence.
Now he can’t wait to live the dream at Ibrox after completing his move from Norwich City and returning north of the border.
Dorrans said: “It feels incredible. It has been a long couple of weeks but to finally get it over the line is an incredible feeling and I just can’t wait to get the boots on and get started.
“I don’t think there is ever a wrong time to come to a football club like this.
“The size of this club is incredible – I’ve obviously had great times down in England, especially at WestBrom,butgrowingup,Iknew I always wanted to come to this football club and when the chance came around I jumped at it.
“It’s no secret I grew up a Rangers fan. I always wanted to come here, so when the chance came around, I was straight on the phone to my agent to try and get things sorted. Thankfully we are there and we can move forward now.”
While most of Caixinha’s summer recruits will take time to adjust to life in Glasgow, Dorrans arrives at Ibrox ready to hit the ground running and aware of what to expect.
Rangers will begin their Premiership campaign away to Motherwell next month as they bid to banish the memories from a wretched term last time out.
And the latest man to join the Light Blues is eager to follow in the footsteps of those he used to cheer on from the stands.
Dorrans said: “Last season was a little bit disappointing, we were so many points behind Celtic, so hopefully we can be much more competitive in the league next year and maybe get some of the trophies and take it from there.
“I grew up watching successful teams – people like [Jorg] Albertz, [Brian] Laudrup, [Paul] Gascoigne and even people like Barry Ferguson – good footballers – and watching teams like that was the buzz I got when I was younger. It was great to come and see that.”
THE deal for Dorrans has been completed too late to help Caixinha’s side in the Europa League but he could have a big part to play during the new domestic campaign.
And the 30-year-old is confi- dent he will be able to get up to speed sooner rather than later and start making his presence felt as quickly as possible.
He told RangersTV: “I have been keeping myself fit over the summer, the boys here came back earlier than me at Norwich and I have been training now for the last 10 days.
“I have done a little bit of running and I have had a chat with Craig Flannigan here, the Fitness Coach and he is confident he can keep me up to speed with the boys. Hopefully I can catch them up.”