HAVING not competed in the same league for the last four seasons, the meetings between Celtic and Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership in the forthcoming campaign promise to be even more intense occasions than usual.
But Niko Kranjcar, the Croatian midfielder who signed a two year deal at Ibrox yesterday, is quite comfortable that he will be able to handle whatever the Glasgow derby match throws up in the months ahead.
Kranjcar became a hate figure with the Bad Blue Boys, one of the most notorious supporters groups in world football, when he took the inadvisable step of leaving Dinamo Zagreb for their hated rivals Hadjuk Split back in 2005 after a fallout with his manager.
The first time he returned to Zagreb to play in an Eternal derby match for Split, he was left in no doubt about just how much his departure had angered the ultra element of their fan base.
“The Celtic v Rangers game will be up there with Dinamo Zagreb v Hajduk Split,” he said. “That is definitely pretty full on – especially if you move from one to the other and then you go back home!
Read more: Rangers MD Stewart Robertson 'relaxed' over Mark Warburton's Ibrox deal
“I had a couple of flares thrown at me. They missed me by a couple of inches. I couldn’t hear my own thoughts when I had the ball. It was interesting. Thank God it’s over and it’s not going to happen again.
“But I definitely won’t be intimidated by the atmosphere in the Old Firm game. I am looking forward to it. It is a game that you really look forward to. When you have been through what I went through you can handle anything that any game throws up at you.”
Indeed, the opportunity to play in one of the most famous fixtures in the game was actually one of the main reasons that Kranjcar, who has signed a two year contract with the Championship winners, agreed to move to Glasgow so readily.
“I always associated Rangers with Dado Prso and obviously Nikica Jelavic is a close friend,” he said. “But I don’t need them to tell me what Glasgow Rangers is about. I grew up in a football family in Croatia.
“We obviously didn’t follow Scottish football, but you hear about the Old Firm. I was a football fanatic when I was a kid and heard about the biggest derby matches in the world.
"One was the Old Firm game and the other one was River Plate against Boca Juniors in Argentina. You don’t need people to tell you what Rangers means.”
Kranjcar, then, needed little persuasion to join his former Queens Park Rangers team mates Joey Barton and Clint Hill at Ibrox. Nevertheless, the attacking midfielder was impressed when Mark Warburton, the Rangers manager, flew to the United States to persuade him to sign.
The two men had dinner together in New York, where the 31-year-old had been playing for North American Soccer League club Cosmos in order to keep his fitness levels high ahead of a planned return to Europe in the summer, and spent three hours talking about football.
The ex-Portsmouth, Spurs, Dynamo Kiev and Queens Park Rangers player came away from the meeting in no doubt whatsoever about where the next destination in his career would be.
“That was probably the most persuasive thing,” he said. “I was thinking: ‘Why is he coming?’ He doesn’t really need to convince me to come to Rangers given what I knew about the club. But it was great to speak to him. Once I met him it convinced me even more so.
“We had a really good and constructive conversation about where he sees the football club and the direction they want to take things. I was really impressed, both by that message and by the effort he made in flying out to meet me.
“The response from the manager was positive and from that moment on I knew I would be really happy with the opportunity to sign here.”
Kranjcar, who will join up with Rangers on their pre-season trip to the United States next week, may be moving to a new club in a new country in the new season, but he is hopeful the presence of Barton and Hill will help him to settle on and off the park.
Midfielder Barton and defender Hill are two of six new signings that Warburton has so far made during the close season as he prepares to launch a challenge to Celtic for the Premiershihip title. Matt Crooks, Jordan Rossiter, Josh Windass and Kranjcar are the others.
“It helps when you see familiar faces and play with players who know you after training with you day in and day out,” he said. “I am really delighted to be playing with them and to have signed for Rangers.”
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