By Alistair Aird
Since Dick Advocaat had taken over as Rangers manager in 1998, it seemed that money was no object. With Champions League glory now the Holy Grail, tens of millions were spent in the Little General’s first two seasons to recruit the likes of Arthur Numan, Andrei Kanchelskis, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Mols. And in the summer of 2000, the bank was broken once again when Fernando Ricksen and Bert Konterman boarded what was fast becoming a predominantly Dutch bandwagon. And towards the end of August, David Murray loosened the purse strings once more to allow Advocaat to tempt one of the world’s best creative midfielders to leave Catalonia behind and come to the south side of Glasgow. He would make his European debut against the team Rangers face on Thursday, Sturm Graz. His first Rangers game was the midweek before in a tie against Aberdeen.
Ronaldus and Franciscus de Boer were born in the city of Hoorn – located circa 22 miles north of Amsterdam – on 15 May 1970. Both would start careers that would eventually lead to Ibrox in the early 1980s as part of the youth programme at Ajax. Ronald was an attacking midfield player, while Frank started at left back before moving into central defence.
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Ronald would have two spells with de Godenzonen (Sons of the Gods). After making the breakthrough to the first team in November 1987 and playing his part in the team that won the Eredivisie title in season 1989/90, de Boer joined FC Twente Enschede in August 1991 and stayed there until January 1993, scoring 22 goals in 50 appearances. This would be the launchpad for his career and his second stint at Ajax was laden with silverware as de Boer marked himself out as one of the finest attacking midfield players of his generation.
Ronald would notch up 103 goal involvements – 63 goals, 40 assists – in 307 appearances for Ajaz, adding four more Eredivise titles, three Dutch Cups, three Dutch Super Cups, the Intercontinental Cup and two Dutch Footballer of the Year trophies to the Champions League success in season 1994/95,
Alongside brother Frank, de Boer joined Barcelona in for 7.5 million Euros in January 1999. He would win a La Liga title in season 1998/99 and score three goals and register seven assists in 55 appearances for Barca before Dick Advocaat persuaded him to swell the Dutch colony at Ibrox in late August 2000. And de Boer made an immediate impact with a stunning display on his European debut against Sturm Graz in the European Champions League.
As far as debuts go, de Boer’s was high end in terms of quality and end product. His purchase had been expensive both in terms of transfer fee and wages, but those who witnessed his display that night didn’t question it. He left the field with a goal and two assists and he had drawn the foul that had earned Rangers a penalty kick. It seemed that Advocaat and David Murray had found their missing piece, the touch of world class that would propel them to Champions League glory.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. De Boer’s time in Glasgow was punctuated by numerous injuries, which meant that he never really produced the form he showed against Graz on a regular basis. For example, in his first season in Glasgow, de Boer played in under half of the 38 league fixtures largely due to the debilitating effects of a persistent knee injury. After scoring on his league debut against Hearts and against Celtic in an emphatic 5-1 win at Ibrox in November, de Boer would miss almost four months of football. Three days after scoring a hat trick in a 6-1 win over Dumbarton that marked the opening of the Strathclyde Homes Stadium, de Boer was substituted during a 2-0 win over Brechin City in the Scottish Cup on 27 January. He didn’t feature for the first team again until 12 May.
It was established that de Boer had damaged the cartilage in his knee. Surgery was required and further issues were found. The meniscus was broken and had become stuck between the bones in de Boer’s knee.
Including friendly matches and the like, de Boer had made 29 appearances in his first season as a Rangers player. Matches missed totalled 16 in the league, two in the Scottish Cup, two in the League Cup and one in the UEFA Cup.
He would miss the start of season 2001/02 too, absent from the opening two league games and both legs of the Champions League qualifier against NK Maribor and the first leg of the next round against Fenerbache. De Boer was back for the return leg in Turkey but couldn’t inspire the win that was required to make the group stages.
Injury would intervene throughout the season, one in which Rangers defeated PSG – de Boer missed a penalty in extra time in the second leg in Paris – en route to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. Rangers would change their manager too, Alex McLeish replacing Dick Advocaat. Silverware would return to Ibrox in the shape of the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup following successes over Celtic and Ayr United respectively. De Boer played in the Scottish Cup Final, but didn’t feature against Ayr United.
But after two seasons ravaged by injury, the Dutchman would remain relatively injury-free in season 2002/2003. He missed only five league games, a League Cup tie against Dunfermline Athletic and the Scottish Cup semi-final against Motherwell asRangers won the domestic Treble. The guile and goal-scoring of de Boer played a significant role in that success. He netted 19 goals in all competitions and created many more, as Rangers swept the boards in Scotland for the seventh time in their history.
Over the course of the season, he demonstrated an uncanny knack of ghosting into the penalty area to score vital goals. He netted a terrific goal against Celtic in a 3-2 win at Ibrox in December and a fine diving header at Tynecastle in May, but none of his strikes were more crucial than his header on the final day of the league season against Dunfermline Athletic at Ibrox. With Rangers and Celtic neck-and-neck in the title race and trading goals in their respective games on final day, de Boer’s goal put Rangers 4-1 ahead midway through the second half and restored them to the summit of the table on goals scored.
De Boer paid a heavy price for his exertions, though. After scoring twice in six pre-season appearances ahead of season 2003/04, de Boer started three of the first four Premier Division matches, netting in a 3-2 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie. He featured in the two matches against FC Kobenhaven that secured group stage qualification in the Champions League too. But after he was substituted during the 3-1 win over Dundee United at Tannadice at the end of August, de Boer wouldn’t play for the first team again until February.
Keyhole surgery was required on his left knee and the surgeon also ‘washed out’ the knee. It was according to the surgeon ‘wear and tear’, not a fresh injury. The initial prognosis was that de Boer would miss up to six weeks of action recovering from the operation, but in the end, he missed almost five months of action. Rangers missed him too, losing twice against Celtic and losing four of the six matches they contested in Champions League Group E while he was sidelined.
In what would be his final season in Glasgow, de Boer appeared just 21 times in a Rangers jersey and scored only three goals, adding to that early season strike at Pittodrie with goals against Dunfermline Athletic in the league and Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup. He missed all of Rangers’ matches in the UEFA Champions League, and although he was joined by his twin brother Frank in the Ibrox dressing room in January of 2004, a thigh problem for Ronald meant that the duo played in the same Rangers side on just eight occasions.
De Boer bid farewell to the Rangers fans when he came on as sub in the penultimate league game of the season, a 1-0 defeat at Ibrox against Hearts. Including friendly matches, he made a total of 153 appearances for Rangers, scoring 46 goals.
Capped 67 times by Holland whom he represented at two World Cups, Ronald de Boer was a player who exuded supreme self-confidence that bordered on arrogance at times. He was a terrific midfield playmaker, who could carve out goal-scoring opportunities for his team-mates on a regular basis thanks to his terrific vision and wonderful range of passing. And with a ratio of roughly a goal every three games, de Boer could be relied upon when it came to scoring goals too.
De Boer left Rangers in the summer of 2004 to wind down his career with Al-Rayyan and Al-Shamal in Qatar. He retired in March 2008.