BlueMazza 0 Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Such awful news, all the best Nando 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,410 Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54andcounting 0 Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Although not the best video quality, we'll never forget this moment... Fernando Ricksen silences the tims. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigcid 0 Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Don't really know what to say the Rangers family are with you every step of the way. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 The video of him being interviewed and him getting emotional is one of the worst things I've ever seen and has made me completely depressed to be honest. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
True_Ger_1872 2 Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 The video of him being interviewed and him getting emotional is one of the worst things I've ever seen and has made me completely depressed to be honest. It was very tough to watch - you can see how hard it was for him - utter shame! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,410 Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 Rangers manager Ally McCoist backs calls for an Ibrox benefit match for tragic Fernando Ricksen 1 Nov 2013 07:59 McCOIST has offered the former Rangers player the club's full support following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease and reckons a benefit game is a great idea. ALLY McCOIST last night gave his backing for a benefit match to be played at Ibrox in aid of stricken Fernando Ricksen. The former Rangers and Holland full-back has shocked the football world by announcing, at age 37, he has incurable motor neurone disease. Rangers boss McCoist immediately offered the Dutchman the club’s full support and insisted they would be happy to be involved in a match that would provide financial and emotional support as Ricksen and his family face the toughest days of their lives. He said: “Some kind of game for Fernando’s benefit now would be great. We’d be open to anything we could do to help in any way we can. “We always like to think of ourselves as a big family. When you leave the club the ties stay for as long as life goes on. That’s a fact. “We would obviously be keen to do anything we can to help Fernando. “This is truly devastating news and the thoughts of everyone associated with Rangers are with Fernando. “I have seen images of Fernando in today’s media and my heart goes out to him and his family. I cannot begin to imagine what he is going through at the moment.” Ricksen started and finished his career with Dutch club Fortuna Sittard and had been working at setting up a challenge match with Rangers at the time the illness was diagnosed. McCoist added: “He was trying to organise a game between Fortuna Sittard and Rangers so there would be a relationship between the two clubs. “I think that’s still ongoing at the moment actually.” The man who brought Ricksen to Ibrox in 2000, Dick Advocaat, has spoken of his shock and dismay at the news of the former player’s disease. Advocaat, now coaching at AZ Alkmaar, went on to sign Ricksen for Zenit St Petersburg and the countrymen were together as the Russian side ended Rangers’ UEFA Cup Final dreams in 2008. Ricksen spent three years with Alkmaar before joining Rangers and Advocaat said: “The terrible news that Fernando suffers from motor neurone disease has deeply touched me. Even at AZ it has hit us hard. “He was here in Alkmaar for three successful years, the club has good memories of him. “On behalf of myself and AZ I want to wish Fernando and those around him much strength in the near future. “I have always worked extremely well with Fernando. Of course the stories about his escapades are known to many but he has always been a good professional under me. He was always respectful to me. “I had him at both Glasgow Rangers and Zenit St Petersburg and the Dutch national team and successfully worked with him. “At Zenit we became champions together and won the UEFA Cup.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-manager-ally-mccoist-backs-2663303 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 Double post 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,410 Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 Barry Ferguson: I can't start to explain the sense of shock I felt when told Fernando Ricksen has MND BARRY pays tribute to his old team mate who, he says, could be a right pain in the backside at times but who had a heart of gold. I’M not a morning person. Anyone who knows me, or who has had to put up with me over the years, will testify to that. To tell you the truth, I don’t even like speaking to people for the first few hours of the day. I like my own space – it’s just the way I am. So it’s fair to say Fernando Ricksen was my worst nightmare. I’d be sitting there, at Murray Park, having a cup of tea and some breakfast. Just minding my own business, taking it easy. The way I like it. And then the doors would burst open and in he’d come. Always at 100mph. Fernando did everything at 100mph – it’s just the way he is. Anyway, I’d roll my eyes and think to myself: Oh s***, here he comes – bang goes my peace. The truth is he didn’t shut up. Ever. The guy was completely hyperactive and always had to be getting up to something or other. He couldn’t sit still. So, yes I admit it, there was a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I saw him bolt in through those doors with that big grin on his face, like a kid on jelly beans. He was a total pain in the a***. But deep down I loved the guy for it. So I can’t begin to explain the sense of shock I felt on Wednesday night when I received the first text about his TV appearance in Holland. To be honest, my first reaction was almost to dismiss it. But as the texts kept coming I realised it must be true. That my old team-mate has contracted motor neurone disease. Now don’t get me wrong, I knew right away it didn’t sound good. But it was only when I went away and researched it on the internet that I realised the full extent of what Fernando is going through and of what lies ahead for him. A disease they cannot cure? It’s just too horrible for words. No-one deserves to suffer in that way. But Fernando of all people? Sometimes this world is too cruel for words because you will never meet a more kind-hearted guy. People made him out to be a lunatic because of all the stuff he got up to. He wasn’t anything of the sort. He was just a big kid who didn’t have an off button – and that’s hardly unusual in this line of business. Paul Gascoigne was the same type of character and there have been plenty of others. But that didn’t make him a bad guy and certainly not the kind of monster he was sometimes made out to be. He might take some comfort from knowing that the whole football world is behind him. Even the boys at Blackpool were asking me about him yesterday because they couldn’t believe the news. And all of us are sending him our support. Honestly, you could not meet a nicer guy than Fernando. It always made me laugh when I heard some of the nasty stuff people would say about him. These were the thoughts of absolute idiots who did not know the first thing about him as a human being. Well, just for them, here’s the truth about Fernando Ricksen. The man doesn’t have a single bad bone in his body – he was harmless. And I say that as someone who worked with him day in day out over two separate stints with Rangers. It was obvious to anyone who knew him that Fernando had a heart of gold. And I’m not saying that just because he’s ill. I’m saying it because it’s the truth. Fernando’s image suffered because he was capable of doing some stupid things on and off the pitch. But aren’t we all? Wasn’t it just the other week that I was writing about Scott Brown getting sent off against Barcelona? And explaining how I have done similarly stupid things all the way throughout my career? Those red cards were just part and parcel of Fernando’s make-up. He was a fiery guy on the park and sometimes he got carried away. He wasn’t out there trying to hurt or maim people. He was just one of those people who sometimes couldn’t help himself. The way he lived his life, the way he played on the pitch, it was always on the edge. He was whole-hearted in everything he did and I loved the guy for that. By the time I came back to the club from Blackburn for my second spell at Ibrox, Fernando was the team captain and I saw a huge change in him as a player. He thrived on the extra responsibility and from moving into midfield from full-back. I thought we complemented each other really well and I enjoyed playing beside him. We thought we could take on anyone together. The crazy thing is, that was only eight years ago. And now he’s fighting a battle against a killer disease – and he knows it’s one he can’t win. Aged just 37. Where do you start with something like that? I admit, I didn’t realise just how bad it was until I read up on it. Then I found myself doing a strange thing. I put my iPad down and went into the next room to lie down with the kids and watch the telly. They looked at me as if I was off my head. “What’s he doing? He was shouting and bawling at us 10 minutes ago!” But something inside me made me need to be close to my family. The proudest part of being a father is watching your kids grow up and playing a part in their development into adults. That’s what being a parent is all about. But Fernando has only just become a dad to a baby girl. He is not going to have that joy. And that’s the saddest part of all. I guess it just proves a point. That you’ve got to live life to the full because you don’t know what’s around the corner. Surely, if that was anyone’s motto it was Fernando’s. I thought about watching the video of him on telly the other night. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’ll remember him the way he was. With that big smile. About to ruin another bloody breakfast. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-ferguson-cant-start-explain-2663275 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 0 Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 The worst news 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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