January 23 – Scottish giants Rangers have organised a tribute match for their former Dutch international Fernando Ricksen at Ibrox this Sunday. Ricksen was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2013. He played for the club for six years between 2000 and 2006 – a golden time for the club that is currently embroiled in the bitterest of boardroom struggles for control.
Former players and manager are hoping fans will put that behind them and turn out for a player whose fortunes have similarly turned for the worse but on Sunday will receive a huge boost of support from an impressive line-up of former teammates who will be in Glasgow.
Funds raised will go to his, his daughter Isabella, Motor Neurone Disease Scotland and the Rangers Charity Foundation.
A Rangers select team will be managed by Alex McLeish and features legends like Jorg Albertz, Michael Mols, Rino Gattuso, Barry Ferguson, Andy Goram and Ronald de Boer will take on an All Stars side. Stars such as Teddy Sheringham, Ronald Waterreus and Darren Anderton will turn out for the All Stars with Graham Roberts managing the side.
Motor Neurone Disease – known in some parts of the word as ALS and which claimed the life of Italian legend Stefano Borgonovo last year – is a debilitating and terminal illness.
Ricksen has found support from within the football community and fans. Last May, around the time he lost the ability to speak – a power he has since fought to recover – Fortuna Sittard, his first club, staged a tribute match of their own. Roy Makaay, Mark van Bommel, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Giovanni van Bronckhorst were among the star names who turned out that day.
Ricksen told the Rangers website: “I am very much looking forward to the game on Sunday. It is always a good feeling to come back to Glasgow and for me it feels like coming home.
“I played most of my footballing life at a high pressure level – Champions League, Cup Finals and of course the Old Firm. That feeling you get leading up to those games is incredible. That’s the feeling I have at the moment and it will become more intense the closer it gets to Sunday.
“Since I was diagnosed with MND in October 2013 I thought I would never get that feeling back again.
“Thanks to Rangers, my family, close friends, everyone who has supported me in these difficult times and the Rangers fans who will be coming to the game on Sunday, I will experience that feeling again. I want to thank them for making this possible.”
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