Niko Katic has lifted the lid on his exit at Rangers, and in typical Niko style hasn’t held back with the truth.
And it makes for worrying reading.
The fan-favourite Croatian, who Ibrox Noise was strongly against being let go, spoke candidly today about exactly the circumstances of his departure, and the story he tells is one of dreadful communication, poor management, and a disinterested coach.
The overriding message he gives is that he was eager to do anything the manager wanted, that the coaches wanted, and was ready to be a better defender for them and to learn their way of playing.
What he got back was silence, disinterest and apathy, something GVB never really denied himself when asked in a presser.
For whatever reason, he wasn’t willing to give Katic a chance, and with us now seeing a defence unwilling to jump, and conceding goals like they’re going out of fashion, we can’t help wondering if the Croat could have helped.
“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.”
Bad communication was what Umar Sadiq especially complained of, and while that was different management, it’s the same problem.
Katic goes on:
“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.”
This is a litany of wrong, and unfairness – not willing to give Katic any kind of chance and just not interested. What kind of defender does Gio like? Well, the fact the current setup is conceding constantly, never jumps, and blames each other, so it appears we know the answer.
GVB BADLY needs his men to stand up and be counted tomorrow otherwise Katic’s words will hit even harder.
Yes not telling a player where he is going wrong and advising is awful tbh ,maybe he should refuse to sign contracts ,come back overweight ,show no effort and get sent off when team needed him and he may have kept him/give him another chance ? ….the boy must have shown too much effort to keep fit and stay and play ,MYSTIFYING .
Ive always loved players that give their all even if not greatest, katic imo was good and gave his all ,shocking gio .
My trust in Gio reduces by the day.
I’ve always took the view that there were too many people not interested in Katic so there must’ve been fatal flaws in his game. That may still be true but if the lad has tried everything to get feedback on his performance and got none then that is almost criminal bad management. Another black mark against Gio. As for the type of centre back that Gio likes I can only assume it is an injured one or a midfield player who doesn’t have the stature to be a proper centre back.
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