There’s no place like home for Finn
Jonatan Johansson is fulfilling a dream by returning to Ibrox to sit in the dugout, hears Graeme McGarry
JONATAN Johansson walked into the Rangers dressing room for the first time in 1997 as a nervous youngster trying to make his way in the game at one of the biggest clubs in a foreign country. Last week, he strolled back through those doors as a man very much at home; with himself, with the club and what it means to their supporters, and with the country itself.
Scotland is now home for the Johansson family, and there is little doubt that Rangers represents Johansson’s spiritual football home.
The Finn is still pinching himself that he is back at the place where he made his name in the UK, and even more so that he is now in the same dugout as the man he respected, and initially feared, when he first arrived at the club
“I was only 21 at the time I arrived at Rangers and all I knew was football and doing my talking on the pitch,” Johansson said. “Of course, it was nerve-wracking to walk into the dressing room in those days with first of all Walter Smith.
“You had massive respect for the manager and then all the players. I’d never have thought back then that one day I would end up in the dugout here. Scotland has been very kind to me, a lot of things have happened here.
“It’s my first home now. Meeting my wife in those years I was here for Rangers the first time. I always had a really good connection with Scotland. When we were thinking of moving at the end of my career we always thought of moving back to Scotland. Then you start to think about where you want to coach and you start dreaming of coming back to this club. It has come true.
“I understand the responsibility and appreciate the pressures that come with this job and especially the manager’s job at a club like this.
“I’ve been around here for the last year so I know everything that has been going on at the club. I’m a fan as well so I know what the fans demand from the club, the players and everyone on the coaching staff. I am well aware of that.
“That’s something that you learn to handle as a player and you continue doing that. The main thing now is for us to work as hard as we can for the manager and the team so we can get good results.
“It’s very nice to be back, I’m happy and excited. It’s started to sink in now. Working with the players these last few days has been great.”
Manager Pedro Caixinha’s desire to appoint what was ostensibly seen as a “Rangers man” to his backroom staff perhaps does a disservice to the skills and experience that Johansson brings to the role.
When former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson, for example, was heavily linked with and indeed interviewed for the position, many pointed out that it would have been an appointment based almost entirely on his two spells as the inspirational leader of the side on the pitch, rather than his illfated coaching career with Clyde, that would have landed him the gig.
The fact that Johansson has been chosen, with his greater experience in developing young players from his time as coach of the Motherwell under-20s, hints that the job remit may actually extend beyond just having a “local” voice on the coaching staff.
“I applied for the under-20 position last summer and they kept me in mind. I put in my CV again and got invited to an interview,” Johansson said. “It was an hour of talking to the manager, going through things, he asked me a lot of questions. I thought we had a good discussion about everything.
“He wanted to know a lot about me as a person and what I would do in certain situations of course on the football side of things as well. He told me his way of doing things. He’s very interesting and systematic in how he likes to work.
“My remit is about knowing about Scottish players, Scottish teams, how to scout Scottish players, teams and help with that side – report on players. There is work on the training pitch. He wants a different view, a different perspective, on that.”
JOHANSSON endured a difficult first season at Rangers as a player before settling in, bursting into the limelight under new manager Dick Advocaat in his second term and hitting 17 goals.
He is hoping he can use that experience to help some of the players who may have yet to set the heather on fire since arriving at the club, such as Josh Windass and Joe Garner, as well as helping any new recruits
I’d never have thought back then that one day I would end up in the dugout here. Scotland has been very kind to me
get to grips with the enormity of the demands that come with playing at such a huge club.
“It’s very important that you focus on your football when you are at a club like Rangers; focus on your work that you do every day because that is what you can affect,” he said. “It’s about trying to tell players that, trying to show by example, concentrate on what your job is and the rest you have to sort of block it out. Be aware of it maybe, but you can’t let it affect what you do day-to-day in your work or in your games.
“When I came there were nine players coming in the same summer for Walter’s last season. Jocky Bjorklund was already there, Jonas Thern came in the same time as me and was someone who I looked up to as he was Swedish and could speak the same language.
“He helped me a lot about the pressure. He was important. Every team will have these players that you learn so much off as young players. Derek McInnes was another one as he lived close to me and helped me settle in.
“I was single; the foreigners had arrived with their wives at the time. Derek helped me settle into Scottish culture, sometimes you need some guidance. He was someone who helped me a lot when I came here.
“For a foreigner, when you come you know the size of the club. I’d watched Rangers in the Champions League and knew the Celtic rivalry, and you know how many fans there are. But you don’t really realise until you come here what you really have to adapt to – what to watch out for; what you can and can’t do and what you can’t say.”