BOND OF BLUES BROTHERS
Lovenkrands backs Pedro’s Sporran Legion to unite under one banner to lead Ibrox drive for success
IT doesn’t need to be the team that drinks together wins together. The people are as important as the players, though. Peter Lovenkrands arrived at Ibrox in 2000 and walked into a multi-cultured dressing room. The Dane was part of the Rangers family, but he soon made Light Blue friends.
The likes of Barry Ferguson, Neil McCann and Billy Dodds were the Scottish voices behind closed doors, but there was a strong Dutch contingent in Artur Numan, Michael Mols, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Ronald de Boer, Fernando Ricksen and Bert Konterman.
In Dick Advocaat’s very own League of Nations, Stefan Klos and Jorg Albertz were key members of the side, as were Lorenzo Amoruso and Tugay.
Over time, the faces, both in the dugout and on the park, would change, but the need for a squad to become a team was as important as ever.
It is a challenge that Pedroedro Caixinha must overcome this season as the likes of Fabioabio Cardoso, Carlos Pena and Alfredo Morelos look to settle into life in Scotland.
The Portuguese has overhauled his Gers ranks in recent weeks and now he has to get them up to speed as quickly as possible in the Premiership.
Lovenkrands returned to Rangers earlier this summer after he was appointed to the Intermediate Academy as part of a coaching overhaul at Auchenhowie.
And the 37-year-old hopes the new arrivals and the tried and trusted stars in Caixinha’s ranks can n become a Light Blue unit t sooner rather than later.
“It all depends on the type of player that you are,” he told SportTimes.
“I came here from Denmark but I wanted to integrate with other people and I made the effort to be part of it. If you don’t, it is going to be tough.
“I have been there with people who aren’t interested in bonding but I have seen how it can benefit the team when you are so close.
“I had that experi- ence at Newcastle as well. There were 12, 14 players that went to the cinema and went for food during thet week because we just l loved spending time with each other. “We playe played cards, we played Uno anda we had a laugh. We w were a good bunch. It was the likes of Gutierrez and Coloccini from Argentina,Arg me from Denmark, the English bo boys, French b boys, and it was great because we made the effort. “If you d don’t make t the effort, ho how are you go going to bond toge together? You can’t forcef it. You have go got to want it to happ happen and we did that that. You could