Marco Negri - truth behind leaving Rangers

From an Italian Football magazine, an interview with Marco Negri, about Rangers, and life in Scotland.

LB- Luigi Bruno (Interviewer)

MN- Marco Negri

LB- Marco, you left Rangers under very strange circumstances, why was that?

MN- Strange? There was nothing strange in anything that happened there, they simply did not want me there any longer.

LB- Why was that?

MN- The honest answer is that I didn't know then and I still don't know even today. Nobody ever explained why I had fallen out of favour.

LB- Your goal record at Rangers was fantastic and when fit and available you were scoring for fun. I, and many others still do not understand why you left under a cloud.

MN- Let's just say you are getting very close to why I think that I was frozen out. Scotland is a very claustrophobic place where everything is examined and analyzed endlessly. Scottish society is in many ways a backward place.

LB- What do you mean by that?

MN- The culture, the underlying culture of Rangers was not good. The first team players had a habit of drinking vast amounts of alcohol during the week. As you know here in Italy we have a different culture as professional footballers. We know that it is our duty to keep ourselves fit and healthy. Some of the players there like Paul Gascoigne and Andy Goram would turn up smelling of drink BEFORE training. I could not understand why such behaviour was tolerated by Walter Smith who was manager then".

LB- Marco we are well aware of Paul Gascoigne's problems and it is sad to see his decline, we saw it earlier at Lazio. Are you saying that the players were out of control?

MN- Absolutely, I tried to point this out to Walter Smith several times but he became very defensive and said that I needed to understand Scottish footballing culture. He would hear no criticism of Goram and especially Gascoigne who could literally do anything he wanted to and still get away with it! It wasn't just their drinking however, they had some really extreme political and religious views.

LB- Could you elaborate on this please?

MN- Of course. They hated Catholics. All of them. I never understood why they were so filled with hatred. Several of us who were Catholic players and all foreigners were told upon arrival, never to bless ourselves at Ibrox as it could cause problems for us. I began to understand that Rangers was an extreme club very similar to Lazio here in Italy. You know, a right wing club with right wing supporters. I personally am not a practicing Catholic but my wife Anna Maria is, and it used to cause me pain when I heard what they said about my fellow Catholics. Lorenzo Amoruso and Jorg Albertz, just kept quiet and kept their heads down.

LB- What finally brought things to a head?

MN- I was rapidly disillusioned by Rangers and especially their supporters. As part of my professional duties I was strongly encouraged to attend social functions which meant going to several Rangers supporters clubs. The last one I attended really brought home to me the fact that I had nothing in common with these people. The anti-Catholic feeling was venomous and the songs they sang that evening filled me with disgust. It was at that point I decided not to give my all for a club that condoned such behaviour. I went sick. Walter Smith knew the real reason for my 'illness' and he just ignored it. But I wasn't lying, I was sick, sick of Rangers and sick of what they stood for and that is the truth.

..... a great find Reekie!

I don't think there's anything in there that we didn't already know about, but it's great to see quotation marks surrounding these comments.  Fair play to Negri for having the balls to speak out!  I guess this explains why he'd never celebrate or show any emotion on the pitch.

Nice one Reekie. Would be very interesting to see if any of the Scottish papers pick up on this and print it in full.

Nice one Reekie. Would be very interesting to see if any of the Scottish papers pick up on this and print it in full.

It'll be a cold day in hell when that happens. They wouldn't want to be accused of tarnishing the 'good name' of Rangers FC.

It'll be a cold day in hell when that happens. They wouldn't want to be accused of tarnishing the 'good name' of Rangers FC.

I was thinking the same thing! Good read nonetheless.  

That was an interesting read Reekie- explains a bit how he went from having such a massive impact to fizzling out of the picture altogether. Not a large surprise though that the supporters club shindigs have fairly risible behaviour though. It astounds me that these folk can see nothing wrong in acting that way at all, and especially in front of their own catholic players. Yet the media lets both of them get away with their supporters shit time and time again.

I'm sure there are some decent old firm fans out there, but i've not met many of them.

Nothing particularly groundbreaking.

Unless it was published by national media of course.

Which magazine was it in?

Not sure what Italian magazine it's from ... or even if it's a legit interview. Grabbed it from the bottom of another footy news article on The Scotsman's website the other day.

It's either a legit interview, or some wanky tim writing a bogus interview just to kick the huns in the teeth. Hope it does have an element of truth in there, cos it's pretty interesting reading.

I actually wasnt sure why negri left cause rangers have had other catholic players who seemed to quite enjoy it there, albertz and amoruso especially.

The sooner Rangers and Celtic vanish down a black hole, taking the sectarian hatred they help sustain, the better.

Believe it or not, just referenced today in DR comments section.

Yes, I know I shouldn't even be there, but it's good for a laugh and to feel superior to the knuckledraggers sometimes

is this a fake interview? a lot of threads out running this now

Did you post it on P&B?

Seems everyone knows it is a fake from the Celtic View.  Fair enough if it I suppose but still sadly believable.