WRITTEN IN THE STARS
Arfield hopes key anniversaries are lucky omens and that a historic win is...
SCOTT ARFIELD won’t read his horoscope today. No lucky trinket will be tucked inside his washbag. His socks will be pulled on in whatever order feels convenient. The Rangers midfielder doesn’t do superstition. Not even ahead of the biggest game of his career. But Arfield still recognises how a mounting sense of history has formed around tonight’s Europa League final.
The Ibrox club’s 150th year also marks a half-century since the heroes of 1972 brought home the European Cup Winners’ Cup from Barcelona. Sadly, other icons have been lost in recent months.
Walter Smith’s death last October robbed Rangers of its greatest manager of the modern era. The grief felt was profound.
For those on the inside of the club, further mourning followed last month’s sudden passing of veteran kitman Jimmy Bell. Two days later, the stunning semi-final victory over RB Leipzig was dedicated to Bell’s memory.
It has now brought Rangers here, to a meeting with Eintracht Frankfurt in Seville and the club’s most significant occasion in 14 years. Arfield recognises the omens.
‘I am not superstitious at all,’ he stressed. ‘I used to be when I was younger. But I think there is something in fate or whatever people want to call it.
‘Obviously, it’s the 50th anniversary and the 150th year of the club and two icons of the club have passed this season. Hopefully, at 11 o’clock on Wednesday night, it will all come to fruition and we will be talking about these things happening.’
There will also be a moment for poignant, personal reflection within the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium. Other friends tragically lost will be on Arfield’s mind.
Former Falkirk, Bradford City and Queen of the South midfielder Chris Mitchell suffered from depression and took his own life in 2016. Eleven years earlier, Falkirk team-mate Craig Gowans died in a freak accident, electrocuted while carrying poles that came into contact with overhead wires at the Little Kerse training ground in Grangemouth. Arfield’s No 37 is in tribute to Gowans.
Asked who he’d be thinking of this evening, the 33-year-old said: ‘Probably people who are no longer with us. My best mate Mitch, from when we started in 2007. Craig Gowans and his family. These people who were in my journey when it started.
‘And then, obviously, Rangers people. When I signed for four years, I knew what it meant to people and they are all there. Everybody that is important to me is going to be in Seville and I’ll be doing it for them.’
There will be care, though, not to become too caught up in emotion. ‘I don’t really like to think about the magnitude of the games,’ continued Arfield. ‘Subconsciously, you know about it but I don’t think about anything to do with a game before it actually happens. And then you have maybe an hour after it to reflect if it is a monumental occasion.
‘But if you think about it before the game, you get nervous energy and burn yourself out in 20 minutes. As you get older, you don’t let yourself do that.’
In any case, the scale of the opportunity has already been reinforced by a man who knows better than anyone. Captain of the 1972 team, John Greig spoke at the club’s player of the year dinner earlier this month.
‘Bomber (John Brown) spoke, John Greig spoke, and they all reiterated what an unbelievable chance we’ve got,’ recalled Arfield. ‘That was prior to the Leipzig game, the Monday before it. So we knew. We knew anyway but when you have John Greig telling you what it actually means, it fully hits home. We are into the final but there is no point being in the final if you are not going to win it.’
That point is further emphasised by team-mates. Steven Davis and Allan McGregor were part of the squad that reached the 2008 UEFA Cup final in Manchester, albeit McGregor was injured for the defeat to Zenit St Petersburg.
‘They still talk about it,’ added Arfield. ‘But the thing that irks them most is that they never got that medal. As a team, we have a chance to put that right.’
Arfield was the first signing of the Steven Gerrard era so has been with Rangers on every step of their Europa League revival. He joined a club embarrassed by defeat to Progres Niederkorn in Luxembourg the previous season. The progress since has been astounding.
Four rounds of qualifiers were navigated to reach the group stage before successive campaigns in the last 16. Giovanni van Bronckhorst has further raised the bar since replacing Gerrard, but did Arfield ever imagine he’d end up in the final?
‘No, you need to be honest with yourself,’ he said. ‘The journey started four seasons ago against Shkupi and every time we’ve got better, going through the different stages of the competition.
‘We have got better with different sorts of players coming in. We’ve got stronger mentally and technically as a team. When you sign, you know you are signing into a club that is built on this (success), so you know you need to bring that back if you are here long enough to do that. When I signed, it did seem a long way away but every year we have got better. Particularly this season, we felt that, when we took every tie in isolation, we felt we could go through to the final.
‘Again, it is one more win. One win away from a gold medal and that’s our full focus.’