Light Blues 1990s star Pieter Huistra was the incoming Ibrox star’s first manager when he was breaking through in Holland.
Former Ibrox star Pieter Huistra sent Robin Propper on the road to Rangers by handing him his senior debut in football 12 years ago – and hopes the journey leads to Scottish Premiership title glory next year.
Huistra himself spent five years at the Light Blues and lifted 10 major honours, including five league titles, but it was in a very different era for Rangers with the Dutchman signed from FC Twente to join Walter Smith’s all-conquering side of the 1990s.
Propper will now make the exact same journey across the North Sea from Enschede to Govan after Philippe Clement sealed a deal for the FC Twente captain. But it was while manager of De Graafschap that Huistra first encountered the central defender after promoting the then teenager from the youth ranks to give him his debut in the first team. Huistra, 57, is now manager of Borneo Samarinda and spoke to Record Sport from the team’s training camp in Indonesia to give the lowdown on Propper’s football journey.
First encounter
“Gronginen was my first job as a manager and then I went to De Graafschap. Robin was in the Under-19s. We promoted him and he slowly broke into the first team. He was raw at the time, just a teenager. His reading of the game, intelligence and passing stood out for me. He had to get used to the intensity but he gradually got better at that and made good progress. He then went to Heracles and made the step up to Twente and if you keep your head above water and are captain then you are reasonably good. In that division they had many good strikers. He’s better against bigger strikers than smaller ones but he’s probably improved in that in the years since I worked with him. I don’t know why they would let their captain go, I’m not close enough to the situation. Twente is a team that always needs to sell to keep their budget up so maybe he’s the one they think they can let go for that kind of money.”
Style
“Robin is a footballing centre back who likes to build up from the back and take a little bit of risk.. Dutch defenders are good just now. Holland is always well known for strikers but we have a lot of good central defenders and Ronald Koeman has a lot of problems selecting because he has 12 or 14 good ones. It’s no problem for the Dutch central defenders to play in the Scottish league.
“It depends on how Rangers want to play. If they want to play in the opponent’s half then he was never the quickest but he’s a good reader of the game. If you have too much space behind him then… But when I managed him he was a real football player. My teams always play high up and press quickly so the central defenders have to play with a lot of space in the back, defending almost in the opposition half, and that’s maybe where he was a wee bit vulnerable. But he’s a good reader of the game so his intelligence meant he was on time.
“He’s not the fastest, but he’s quick in the head. It’s always hard to compare players but I’d say he is maybe similar in style to Stefan de Vrij who plays for Inter Milan and plays alongside Virgil van Dijk for the national team. He’s good in duels, very brave in defending. Of course when I played alongside the likes of Richard Gough and John Brown it was a different era so I can’t compare to my time at Rangers. In Europe now, football has changed a lot, central defenders are mostly the playmakers. That’s different from what it used to be.”
Age
“I don’t think 30 is old. It depends how the player looks after himself. The Dutch look after themselves, he comes from a football family and is a serious guy. It’s not too old. It’s more important how much he can be a help to Rangers. He will probably be a completely different defender to Connor Goldson. It’s a good signing for Rangers and a nice step for him, out of the Eredivisie – Twente was a good level – and it’s a nice step up for him. I’ve been following him since he went to Heracles (from De Graafschap) and FC Twente. Twente have had a good team in the last few years and he did well as captain. His brother (Davy) was a good player at Brighton and he has a younger brother (Mike) still playing in Holland.”
Rangers expectations
“He will enjoy Rangers – if you’re a footballer and want to feel the atmosphere and feel passion and the pressure and achieve things then you have to be at Rangers and the memory will last a lifetime. Twente isn’t the same but they are known for their loyal fans and I played for three years and they are a good club with a good history.
“I’d probably say they are like the Aberdeen of Holland. I have lost touch with him and I’m far away but he has people around him to give him advice – starting with Philippe Clement, the manager. I played in Belgium (for Lierse) for three years and played against Philipe Clement but I don’t know him too well as a coach. But Robin is intelligent and will adjust quickly. I always try to watch Rangers. I was there for five years and it’s about time again they win the league. It would make me happy to see him lift the league trophy – but to be honest I’d be happy to see anyone lift it!”
FOR MORE NEWS CLICK HERE
Leave a Reply