ARFIELD RAISES SALUTE TO RICE

Rangers midfielder declares his support for former mentor after Hamilton boss’s revelation he is in the grip of a gambling addiction

SCOTT ARFIELD regards himself fortunate to have been able to count on the support and guidance of Brian Rice through his career. It started when the Hamilton Accies manager, who went to school with the Rangers midfielder’s mum, gave the then teenage prospect lifts to Falkirk training.

And the former Bairns assistant manager would also try to keep the young star out of the pubs in Bathgate with the help of his doormen mates.

Then, as Arfield was eased into John Hughes’s first team at Falkirk after impressing against Dutch star Wesley Sneijder in a friendly against Ajax, he went on to play more than 100 games by the age of 21.

A nod from Rice to his old Nottingham Forest team-mate Sean Dyche at Burnley that there was a disillusioned Huddersfield Town player worth checking on worked out pretty well, too.

An English Premier League career followed before a dream move back to Scotland to feature in Europe and a title challenge with Rangers.

So when Arfield learned of the bombshell bulletin that the demons of Rice’s gambling addiction had his former boss firmly in their grip again, he was quick to reach out to him. Arfield was extremely supportive when Rice ran into trouble with his gambling problems a few years ago.

Now the Hamilton boss, who will host Rangers in the William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round tie in a fortnight, has reported himself to the SFA and faces disciplinary charges for breaching their rules on betting.

From Arfield, there is no judgment at his mentor’s lapse. Only concern and no small amount of admiration at Rice laying bare his flaws for public consumption in order to confront his addiction issues.

‘The fact that Brian is the manager of a Premiership team and in the public eye every day, I can only imagine that must have been hard for him,’ said the Ibrox midfielder.

‘Admitting he has a problem takes bravery, it was a very difficult thing to do — as it would be for anyone talking about an addiction and coming clean about it.

‘So if it helps anyone — in or out of football — admit their addiction, then obviously that has been an amazing thing to do.

‘If someone is in that predicament, then you’d hope that seeing someone high-profile like Brian Rice coming clean would help.

‘I’ve not seen any players who have really had problems betting on football. But I do know they have had problems betting on different things.

‘If Brian’s honesty and opening up helps them in different ways, helps them to save money and stop gambling, then that is better for everybody.’

Of their time together at Falkirk, Arfield added: ‘Chipper (Rice) was a big influence on me. He was brilliant. Yogi (Hughes) gets the plaudits as he was the manager.

‘But if you talk to anyone who was there, the young boys coming through at Falkirk and in his time at Hibs, everyone speaks very highly of Chipper on the training pitch.

‘He was always driving you forward. The players who are still in the game today from that time hold him in such high regard.

‘There were something like 11 players from the Under-19s who ended up making their debuts in the following two seasons.

‘That shows how big an influence he had on my career. I talked with him this week, so he knows…’

Rice spoke on Friday of being humbled by the backing he had received and read about since news of his relapse was revealed earlier last week.

Remarkably, he insisted that it was ‘easy’ for him to park his personal problems and concentrate 100 per cent on the day job of managing Hamilton.

That was another statement from his ex-coach that struck a chord with Arfield.

For the 31-year-old — it was revealed by Steven Gerrard — was dealing with an off-field situation late last year that the Rangers boss claimed would have persuaded many others to take leave of absence from work.

However, Arfield didn’t miss a day during that personally tough spell of which he has no wish to divulge any details. Football, training and playing for Rangers will always be the release he requires away from life’s other stresses.

‘That period was a bit difficult for me,’ the Canadian international admitted. ‘It’s not something I’ll open up for people to read about.

‘Everything is sound. It never crossed my mind for me to stay away. I love football. Training every day and playing on a Saturday is my get-out from everything else.

‘So it was never an option for me to stay away. Of course, family is a bigger thing and if they needed me, I would have been there.

‘But I love being at Rangers every day. I feel extremely lucky to be able to do it — and I’ll keep doing it for as long as possible.’

Gerrard went public on Arfield’s situation in December, just as a few questions were being asked as to why his customary high standards had dipped.

For games that the midfielder would normally have started, he had played a substitute role.

Yet 36 appearances by the end of this month, as Rangers fought for trophies on four fronts, remain a fine contribution from a player who started all 46 league games of Burnley’s 2016 promotion season.

Arfield commends Gerrard and his backroom team for creating the perfect atmosphere in the camp to ensure there is no moping about within a big squad.

‘It’s the worst thing ever when you’re not involved,’ said Arfield. ‘To be training all week and having nothing to look forward to. But the manager and his staff have kept people on the same page, kept them buzzing to come into training.

‘It has been like that from the start of pre-season and, if that continues, with no players throwing any strops, it will stand us in good stead.

‘It’s difficult sometimes to get in the team and, when you do, it’s hard to stay there.

‘I’m at the stage of my career where I see the bigger picture. That bigger picture is the team and you must put your own ego to the side.

‘If you’d talked to me five or 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have seen that side of it.’

As Rangers travel to Tynecastle today, 24 hours after Celtic hosted Ross County, Arfield is reminded of the back-and-forth title battles he watched from afar.

When playing for Huddersfield and Burnley, he regularly clocked how the race for the Scottish top-flight crown was playing out.

Now in the thick of it, as much as he tries to escape the frenzy over what their rivals are up to, friends and family are unlikely to allow that

‘CHIPPER WAS A MASSIVE INFLUENCE ON ME. IF HIS HONESTY IN OPENING UP ABOUT HIS ISSUES HELPS OTHER PEOPLE, THAT WILL BE GREAT’

to happen. ‘It’s different now to be involved in a title race,’ he said. ‘Back then, I knew players from both teams and it was a real ding-dong situation.

‘But when you’re actually involved in it, you can’t see that. You’re just focused on the job, nothing else.

‘You don’t read any articles, you don’t see or take notice of anything except what happens at the training ground or at Ibrox on a Saturday.

‘If Celtic are playing before us, I’d maybe look at the result later on. But I have mates and family who tell you everything — so sometimes you can’t get away from it.

‘A phone used to be something you just made phone calls with! Now it’s probably the worst thing.

‘Before I signed for Rangers, my ultimate goal was to be successful here and win trophies.

‘However, the minute you start to actually imagine what it would be like, you stumble and it can end up like last season.

‘So I am just focused on the next training session, the next game and then see what happens for us.’