Sone Aluko has thanked Rangers for his time at Ibrox as a youngster - claiming that the 'big crowds' and 'expectation' that fell on his shoulders at a young age moulded him into a better player.
Aluko joined Rangers after being released by Aberdeen where he returned 12 goals in just 21 league games before they faced demotion to the bottom tier of Scottish football after a brief Ibrox tenure. It marked a sticky point in Aluko's career, after he rejected an objection against his contract being terminated during the Charles Green era.
The Scottish FA had ruled that players were free to leave if they wished - allowing Hull City to swoop in and secure his signature. But despite the sour ending to life at Ibrox, Aluko was fulled of praise for the club. He told Rangers TV: "I really enjoyed every moment with the club and at that point had no intention of leaving Rangers.
"I had been given this opportunity to play for a really big team and I was playing well. I was scoring almost a goal every two games.
"From that point, it was about 'continue this and next season we will try go and win the league and cups'. In my mind, I was going to try and win trophies with Rangers but then everything changed really quickly after that.
"You realise this isn't going to be what I thought it was going to be and we had to register new players and at the end my contract was up and there was an option that they couldn't take up... it was just a mess to be honest at that point.
"Then the opportunities came to move back to England and there were a few big Championship teams that were coming in. So yeah, it was a clear decision for me at that stage in my career. Off the back of the year I had, I needed to go and build a career for myself and go and prove myself back in England at a higher level.
"It was eventful. It was a really good learning experience for me, playing for a big club, understanding what it means, having that level of scrutiny, the press, playing for that level of crowd. It was so good for my career at that stage. I thrived on it. I like the big stage, and that was the big stage every week playing for Rangers."
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