Warrior on pitch and off it... Rangers pay tribute to Ricksen

Rangers fans leave tributes at the gates of Ibrox after the death of club idol Fernando Ricksen

Most players possess an appreciation of how fortunate they are to be fit, healthy and talented enough to do the job they love.

There is certainly not an ounce of ambiguity in that view of life among the Rangers squad who experienced a collective sense of grief and sadness when they heard the news of former club captain Fernando Ricksen’s untimely death at the age of 43 yesterday morning.

“We were all in the team room at the training centre for our tactical meeting ahead of the Feyenoord game,” revealed midfielder Scott Arfield, pictured right.

“You only had to be in that room to see how much it affected the players, all  sitting there with the Rangers badge on our tops and knowing what a massive part of this football club Fernando is. It is going to hurt a lot of people.”

Arfield and his team-mates have first hand knowledge of the devastating impact motor neurone disease has on its victims.

In February this year, as he approached the latter stages of his own courageous battle with the life-shortening and – as yet – incurable condition, wheelchair-bound Ricksen paid a visit to the Rangers  training ground where the former Dutch international was greeted by manager  Steven Gerrard and his squad.

Just last week, there was another powerful reminder for them of the cruel and random nature of MND when Stephen Darby, a former Liverpool team-mate of Gerrard, was a guest at the Rangers training ground to help publicise his own fund-raising efforts in the bid to find a cure.

Darby was forced to retire at the age of just 29 last year when he was diagnosed with MND.

“That kind of thing makes you appreciate what you have,” added Arfield, right. “Not just in football, but in life. Everyone of us had a moment with Fernando when he came to the training ground.

“It was a very sad state of affairs and set of circumstances but despite that, he managed to lift everybody. I think we lifted his spirits as well that day. It’s a fond memory for all of us and we will remember that.

“We were also fortunate to be greeted by Stephen Darby last week. He has the same illness as Fernando and both the manager and Jon Flanagan played with him at Liverpool. We saw him at the start of the illness and it makes you think of everything you have got in life. It gives you a reality check.

“As professionals, as sportsmen, you go through those bad moments when you lose a game or you don’t have the best  performance. But there is a bigger aspect in life and you need to have a reality check. I think everybody should, not just  footballers.”

Rangers will try to honour Ricksen on the pitch at Ibrox on tonight when fate has decreed Dutch opposition in the shape of Feyenoord face them in their opening Europa League group stage fixture.

“We want to make people smile again and remember Fernando for the good reasons,” added Arfield. “Rangers will be in the headlines because of Fernando’s passing and we want to make sure we get a good result for him.

“He is an icon at this football club and rightly so. If you speak to anyone who played with him, particularly Allan McGregor who is still playing for us now, they speak so highly in terms of Fernando being a team player. He was always about the team rather than himself and I think that symbolises Rangers as a football club. If we can get back to that kind of feeling as a team, to how Fernando was as a player, we will be onto something good.”

Midfielder Arfield’s sentiments were echoed by his manager Gerrard, who played against Ricksen for England against Netherlands in Amsterdam in 2002.

“From playing against Fernando and watching him from afar, I knew the type of player he was and what he used to give to the team here at Rangers,” said Gerrard.

“He handled himself well, not just as a football player, but as a human being. He was the type to play with his heart on his sleeve and that was epitomised when he was taken ill in 2013 and given 18 months to live at the time.

“He fought ever so well, it summed up his character – a warrior on the pitch as well as off it.

“I met him recently and he was in pain and suffering but he was still putting up a fight. He deteriorated very much in the last six or seven days and was in a lot of pain and was very stressed, so no-one likes to hear that news.

“Myself, my staff and all the players were very sad to hear the news.”