NIKO Kranjcar has gone full circle. A career that started out playing for established and respected clubs from a small nation trying to compete with the European heavyweights has returned to the same point via stops at several of the more cash-laden stations.
The gifted playmaker is now 33 but injury-free and harbouring no thoughts of imminent retirement. But he can look back at a career that began some 16 years ago in his Croatian homeland with first Dynamo Zagreb and then Hadjuk Split and draw parallels with the difficulties now facing Rangers and other Scottish clubs as they try to compete with their far richer and more powerful European neighbours.
He has seen the other side of it, too, most notably during a three-year stint with Tottenham Hotspur that coincided with the London side reaching the group stage of the Champions League for the first time. With money to burn and a squad that included Rafael van der Vaart, Luka Modric, Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale, it was not a surprise that success in the European arena came fairly easily for Harry Redknapp and his players.
It has been a different story for many Scottish and Croatian clubs of late. Celtic are again the sole Scottish flagbearers this season with Rangers, St Johnstone and Aberdeen already out, while Croatia – with a population slightly smaller than Scotland – will hope their four representatives can all overcome winless first legs to take their places in the group stage of either the Europa League or Champions League. Ironically, should NK Rijeka defeat Olympiakos next week it will have the knock-on effect of moving Celtic up from pot four to pot three in the group stage of the Champions League.
Kranjcar does not claim to have the answers to the eternal question about how to improve the prospects of clubs from smaller markets but knows that, were it based on goodwill and enthusiasm alone, Scotland would be regularly punching above their weight.
“Croatia is still lucky enough to keep producing wonderful talent year in year that they can’t afford to keep hold of,” he said. “We are a selling market and Scotland is the same. For Scottish football we would all agree you want as many teams to qualify for the group stages of European football.
“I think that’s something everyone inside of Scottish football needs to hope for. I do believe with a bit of extra quality and a bit of luck we can have two or three teams in the group stages of the Europa League and qualifying for the Champions League.
“I hope that is going to happen because my experience in Scotland has been tremendous even though I have been injured for the majority of my time here. I have seen the passion of the people and the love I have received, and other footballers have received here. I really want Scottish football to succeed in this way and I do believe it is doable.”
His former club Spurs are one of a minority of English Premier League clubs to have so far resisted the temptation to splurge tens of millions of pounds in the transfer market but he is philosophical – and pragmatic too – about the spiralling cost of football in the modern era.
“We can all agree the amounts of money are ridiculous but on the other hand there must be maths to it,” he said. “There must be a reason you can spend that money.
“You must be generating more money than you are spending although it is still frightening to see that money being spent on transfer fees, even on young players just starting their careers.
“It’s all because the public love football and pay money to watch it. That’s the reason the sums of money are getting bigger and bigger. If it’s a problem then maybe the governing bodies for each league are going to have to look into it. But if people didn’t watch football the transfer fees wouldn’t be that big. And the amount of money companies are paying for TV rights wouldn’t be as high either.
“Neymar cost over £200 million but they will sell shirts worth that amount easily over the next four or five years. So PSG and other clubs will have done their maths before paying these fees. I don’t think people just throw that kind of money away.”
First of all Rangers need to set their sights on halting Celtic’s domestic dominance before they can consider attempting sustained assaults on European football’s elite. Kranjcar knows that won’t be easy but felt his side needed to become more reliable before setting loftier targets.
“I’d say a consistent season with good results and not the ups and downs we had last season is what we need,” he added. “We are moving in the right direction, hopefully. Results are the only thing that in football so we have to start winning regularly – four or five on the bounce.
“That has to be a regular thing before you can say we are ready to challenge. I think consistency is the number one thing this football club needs to get back to where we all want to be.
“Playing against Celtic is four times a year but to win the league you can lose all four and win the other games if they slip up. That’s why I’m talking about consistency. The Old Firm matches by themselves are not going to win the league, it’s about what you do throughout the season. I still think we have a good enough squad to compete with anyone in the league.”
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