Dodoo can draw from experience to hit new heights
JOE DODOO’S 19 minutes on the pitch as a substitute at Bournemouth were a long way off qualifying him for a precious Premier League medal for Leicester City last season.
The Rangers striker hopes that the months off the park training, listening and learning with the most unlikely team of champions in sporting history help him meet the criteria for a winner’s souvenir in Scotland this season.
Dodoo was restricted to a onemonth, five-game loan spell at Bury during the glory year with Claudio Ranieri intent that his best prospects stayed around the first team set-up to train, improve then play for the Under-21s.
In addition to his one and only brief Premier League outing on the south coast, he starred with four goals in three early-season Capital One Cup games. Then, from being part of the fringe framework around the fairytale, Dodoo savoured the insight into what made Leicester the English top-flight champions down the stretch. He has stored plenty for the career journey that lies ahead.
The next stop is Rangers where the 21-year-old has penned a fouryear deal and has discovered that, behind the scenes, there are some favourable comparisons to be drawn between the club set-ups.
‘Being around Leicester last season was amazing,’ said Dodoo. ‘At the start of the season it was just about staying up in the league. Then all of a sudden you’re top of the league. Then Christmas, January, still there!
‘The good thing about it was I saw how everyone reacted, I saw how the manager handled it and that was a great experience for me.
‘No one felt pressure, everyone was relaxed, normal, laughing, not thinking about the title.
‘Just going out week-in, week-out and saying: “We’re not going to lose. We’re going to fight and get the points”. There were no magic tricks. The lads were together and the confidence was there and they weren’t afraid of anyone. You can go for anything, not hold back and achieve great things.
‘At Leicester, the squad was really tight. I think that makes it easier to achieve things because it’s like a brotherhood. We have the same thing here at Rangers. Seeing that and being similar to Leicester I thought: OK, this is where I want to be.
‘At Rangers, the players when I first walked in were just great with me. That made it easy to fit in with their group. They’re a tight bunch after winning and doing as well as they did last year.’
Dodoo radiates positivity about his decision, which he admits surprised several friends and colleagues, to turn his back on Champions League-bound Leicester. He cites many of the selling points discovered during a training stint at Rangers before the cross-border bargain deal was franked.
It was just as well the allure of Rangers, Mark Warburton’s style of football, the promise of regular first-team action and the chance to compete for a place in the following season’s European competition were so stimulating.
For Dodoo was the subject of other offers while in Glasgow, justifying Warburton’s tactic of ‘man-marking’ all Rangers signing targets while they are in town just in case a sly move succeeds in turning their heads.
Spending time with one veteran at Rangers was another masterstroke. Dodoo’s face is wreathed in smiles at the mention of his natural striker mentor Kenny Miller. The 36-year-old has clearly made a huge impact on the Ghana-born England Under-18 cap in a short space of time.
‘Oh, yeah, you can take plenty from Kenny,’ enthused Dodoo. ‘He’s one of the vocal lads in the changing room and that’s great for a young player. You can pick his mind, watch him in training.
‘He’s constantly contributing in the video analysis, coming up with points you might not have seen. You may have to look twice and think: “OK. He’s always trying to teach everyone, tell everyone what he sees”. That’s what is great about being here. Everyone is so passionate and wants to learn.
‘He tells me things, I can tell him things and we can try and make it work together. It’s amazing to have a player like that with so much experience. I’ve been here only a month. So imagine come the end of the season how much I’ll have learned from him.’
Rangers’ system will allow Dodoo to menace wide or through the middle and, even if starting on the bench, Warburton’s fondness for at least one substitution by 65 minutes could see him routinely being introduced as the fresher, younger set of legs for Miller.
‘I see myself as someone who can do a lot of things,’ said Dodoo. ‘I can go in behind, come short, turn, go wide, take a man on, score goals. I prefer to play through the middle but if the manager wants me out wide, that can be great for the team.’