Niko Katic doesn’t believe he was given a chance to prove himself under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and is convinced he could have helped with Rangers’ Achilles heel of defending set-pieces which has contributed to them shipping eight goals in their last two games.
The Croat joined Zurich before the end of the transfer window after finally admitting defeat in his bid to continue his Ibrox love affair. Katic, though, believes he was fighting a losing battle as his style simply didn’t fit under van Bronckhorst and that when he asked the Dutchman’s coaching staff for specific instructions on what they wanted from him he “didn’t think they were that interested”.
Steven Gerrard signed the 25-year-old from Slaven Belupo in his first season in charge and, while he didn’t play in the title-winning campaign due an injury which wrecked that entire season, believes he helped create a culture at the club which led to the historic title success in 2021.
But after returning in the summer from a loan spell at Hajduk Split he faced a make or break summer and he could see the writing was on the wall. His departure left him in tears but Katic vowed to return one day in parting quip to sporting director Ross Wilson.
In an interview with The Athletic, Katic said of his determination to prove his worth during pre-season: “They said we were to come back at maybe 80 per cent of our fitness but I was obsessed with my body fat as I wanted to come back 100 per cent. Day one was about me trying to prove myself to van Bronckhorst.
“It’s nothing bad but I felt I didn’t get a chance as we didn’t communicate. I asked his coaches whether they could walk me through their requests and what they expect from their defenders, but I didn’t think they were that interested and I never got that information.
“I played three 45 minutes in pre-season and I was happy with how I did. I made one bad pass against Sunderland but it wasn’t anything big. I expected to play against West Ham and Tottenham at Ibrox and was hoping everyone would be looking at me again, but I was the only defender who didn’t play.
“I was really disappointed, so I went to his office and asked him to just tell me what was going on as I didn’t think I deserved that after getting injured and trying to get back to help Rangers. If I played bad then fair enough, but at least give me a chance.
“He said he liked a different type of defender. I’m not Messi but I see the defenders doing typical defender things, not anything special or making the last pass. If someone is Virgil van Dijk then fair enough, but it is hard to watch the numbers of goals they are conceding right now as I believe I could have helped — especially with the goals from set pieces.
“It’s Scotland so a lot of the away games are physical no matter what you do and you need to have defenders to defend. I still think the I could help the club but the manager had a different opinion and I respect his decision. That’s football.
“I never cry but that day when people started calling and messaging me, I couldn’t stop. I flew back to Edinburgh and people saw me. They were saying I was a hero and that I shouldn’t leave. It was really difficult to leave as the support was amazing over the four years. Even when I was on loan, they wanted signed Hajduk shirts. It was a really big thing for me to be loved by the fans like that.
“I will always have a connection to Rangers. I said to (sporting director) Ross Wilson on my last day that I’ll see him in two years when he buys me back!”
Katic’s work ethic was admired by Gerrard and he was so intense that he even had to hire a psychologist as he immersed himself in life at Rangers. He said: “I would be first in to do my own work, then I’d do the training session, recovery, get home at 3pm to 4pm, sleep, watch the session we did, and then do a gym session in my living room. My whole day was about football. I couldn’t see anything else as I was living on my own. There was a game every three days and no breaks but I liked the way I lived.
“I would come back from the game and analyse every mistake or good pass. At one point, it started to become too much for my head and I started working with a psychologist for two years.
“Borna (Barisic) at one point told me my lifestyle was crazy. One day, he phoned me on FaceTime, laughing his head off. He said he opened his balcony door and he saw a truck of ice arriving outside my flat and knew instantly what was happening. I had built an ice bath to improve my recovery. I invested so much money in my body. There was a place for the kitchen table so I moved it, bought floor protection and made a gym.
“People would make fun of it but for me, it’s normal. I am obsessed with success. If God gives you the talent for something then you owe it to yourself and your family to use it. Steven said plenty of times I was really important to winning (title number) 55 as I helped build a culture of hard work which wasn’t there at the start. I think players and staff would agree I was the hardest worker, but I didn’t play so I couldn’t take any credit (for the league win in 2020/21). The thing about Rangers is that you can’t live on old achievements. The shirt is ‘heavy’.”
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