‘Glass ceiling’ convinced Sone Aluko it was time to leave

The long-standing antipathy between supporters of the two clubs provides its own guarantee of that.

But if there was any residual fondness in the hearts of some Aberdeen fans for Aluko, who was a favourite during his more productive spells at Pittodrie, the winger may just have completely alienated them with some of his comments yesterday.

The 22-year-old says he owed Aberdeen no explanation for running down his contract last season and insists he would never have been able to fulfil his ambitions had he stayed.

“There is a glass ceiling in Scottish football,” said Aluko. “It’s nothing against Aberdeen, but you can’t win the league there. You can maybe win a cup now and then, but the Old Firm usually win them as well. Apart from playing in Europe, the best you can achieve is finishing third.

“I’d gone as far as I could at Pittodrie. I needed a new challenge in my life. At 22, I felt I would have options to make a move and go after the things I dreamed of when I was young.

“I didn’t tell Aberdeen the reasons why I left, because I don’t feel I needed to. My contract was up. They said a lot of things, that I left because of this and that, but when they asked me I said I just believed it was time for me to move on to a new challenge.

“I wanted to play for a club like Rangers. When I was seven or eight years old, the only clubs in Scotland I knew about were Rangers and Celtic. Even in Nigeria, they are recognised as massive clubs. Rangers are champions and everything about this club is very attractive, so I couldn’t let the option pass.”

Aluko has not played competitively for six months, since his final game for Aberdeen at the end of last season, and admits it was a risk to leave without having any firm offer elsewhere.

“There have been tough days,” he added. “But I’m a strong character and I’ve always thought things were going to get better. I have good people around me who advised me not to just jump at the first thing thrown at me.

“I turned down some offers, which looked risky because you don’t know what is coming further down the line. But today, I can say it was a good decision.

“I feel I can play at Champions League level one day. That’s my aim. Until I get there, I’ll never know. But some players don’t even get the opportunity. Some players never play at a club the size of Rangers. Now I’m here, I have to show what I can do and let other people judge. I don’t worry too much about how other people feel I have handled things to get here.”

Rangers manager Ally McCoist is content with Aluko’s level of fitness and hinted strongly that he could go straight into the starting line-up for tomorrow’s SPL fixture against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

“I would have no problems starting him,” said McCoist. “He started our closed door game against St Mirren this week and lasted just about the whole game. He looks fine in training and you can see that he’s not a lad who will have a problem with fitness at this stage of his career.

“He appears to be a smashing, level-headed boy who will handle being at a club like this fine. He will give us something different. The loss of Steven Naismith to injury would be a blow to any team, not just us. But we have not signed a like-for-like replacement for Steven in Sone. We have signed someone we feel will contribute in different ways to us winning games.”

Should Rangers win tomorrow, they will equal an 82-year-old club record of 15 consecutive away league victories. McCoist insists matching the landmark run of Bill Struth’s formidable 1928-29 squad is not uppermost in his thoughts.

“I don’t think about it much,” he said, “because the only record I want is to win the championship. We have been in a great vein of form away from home. It’s down to hard work which we have to continue.”

Lee Wallace and Sasa Papac remain doubtful, but Kyle Bartley and Lee McCulloch are available after injury. Highly regarded midfielder Jamie Ness, however, has suffered another setback. The 20-year-old limped out of the midweek closed door friendly against St Mirren with a recurrence of his chronic groin complaint.

“I could have wept for Jamie,” said McCoist. “As disappointed as I am, it’s nothing to match his disappointment. It’s been a long term issue for a while. He’s been to Germany for treatment and we have other things we are going to try. We’ll do everything we can to get him back playing on a regular basis.”

lIndian international strikers Sunil Chhetri and Jeje Lalpekhlua arrived in Glasgow yesterday to begin a trial period with Rangers. Chhetri, 27, and 20-year-old Lalpekhlua will train for the first time at Murray Park today.