NIKO KRANJCAR
Prefers Glasgow to NYC and has title ambitions
NIKO KRANJCAR has missed winning league titles.
He believes he can put that right with Rangers.
The midfielder began his career picking up back- to- back titles in Croatia, and had collected championship medals with Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split before his 21st birthday.
Since then, there have been 81 international caps and an FA Cup success with Portsmouth.
But Kranjcar, who turns 32 on August 13, is a man with a sense of frustration bubbling inside him.
He joined New York Cosmos earlier this year, and quickly realised that his career was fading away.
Scottish football, he believes, can help him sign off on a high.
He revealed: “In the first meeting I had with the Rangers manager, my first question was: ‘Is the goal to win the title?’.
“I’m not happy with the last two or three years of my career, achievement-wise.
“Unfortunately, moving to Dynamo Kiev wasn’t the best for me. It’s a fantastic football club but it didn’t click between myself and Dynamo.
“So I can’t be happy with myself in the last few years.
“I had a couple of nice loan spell sat Q PR but we got relegated.
“The motivation now is to finish my career on a high. To be at a big football club like Rangers sets me up to do it.
“The last time I really competed for a title was in Croatia.
“I could say we challenged when I was at Spurs, but we faded away at the end. We were up there but never really challenged.
“That’s why it was such a big thing for me to come to a club which was competing for a title.
“I still think I’ve got a good couple of years left, and this is a golden opportunity to come back to the form I had before.
“I honestly believe that we have the quality in the Rangers squad to push for the title. Our goal and aim this season is to win the league.”
It isn’t just about medals for Kranjcar, however. He wants to win and he wants to do it in style.
So for him teaming up with Ibrox boss Mark Warburton is a match made in heaven.
“Our style of play has surprised me,” he admitted.
“I knew about it, I’d read about it. I knew about how the manager likes to play football.
“But I’ve been really impressed, and I believe it’s the way the game should be played.
“In 90% of the games I played for Croatia, we were the team that had most possession. But it wasn’t really structured the way it is here.
“It is a real breath of fresh air and I am really enjoying coming to training every single day.
“I am honoured and blessed. It is a joy to be at this football club.”
Although he still has work to do on his fitness, Kranjcar is already wondering if playing with Rangers might just help get him a recall at international level.
He said: “My father was the first national team captain after Yugoslavia split up, so it runs in my family that it is a national honour.
“If I get the call up, I will be the happiest man in the world. But it is not in my mind at the moment.
“My priority is to improve in every single game, which I do believe I have been doing.
“I am still a bit away from playing at the level of the national team but I believe in myself. I have confidence in myself and I will do everything I can to achieve that.”
Kranjcar smirks when it’s suggested he might be kicked off the park in Scotland.
“I have had it all my life. There is nothing different,” he replied.
“It makes you happy when they can’t get close to you without kicking you. It means you are doing something right.
“Really, I don’t think this is a dirty league. I don’t think there are going to be nasty challenges.
“It is going to be physical, of course. But it is part of football, the way football is today.”
When it comes to tough Scottish players, they don’t come much tougher than Joe Jordan.
This is a golden opportunity to come back to the form I had before
His playing days were over before Kranjcar was out of short trousers, but he has been coached by the former Scotland striker.
He said “Joe Jordan is what I thought the Scottish spirit was like.
“I had a great understanding with him from the first day at Portsmouth when I came in.
“He is someone I have talked to a lot about football during my career.
“He helped me a lot in my development over those years.”
Kranjcar can’t wait for the Premiership action to kick- off on Saturday.
Everything, he stresses, is going well in his life. Even so, it’s hard not to smile when he maintains that life in Glasgow is better than New York.
But he is insistent that complimentary comments about his new city are completely genuine.
Even the weather gets his seal of approval. Let’s see if that lasts!
He said: “Glasgow is beautiful. I prefer it to New York. You might be laughing but I do prefer it.
“For me, it’s got a lot more soul.
“I’m surprised with the city. I feel really comfortable in it and I’m enjoying my time.
“It’s beautiful to play football in this type of environment.
“I like it when it’s wet and not too hot. I can run around!”