Nowadays, if a player left Atletico Madrid for Rangers and never played a game in two-and-a-half years, they would be ridiculed daily on social media regardless of the circumstances but that is what happened with Daniel Prodan, who failed to feature for the Scottish club between 1998 and 2001. Rangers failed to sufficiently investigate a serious knee injury sustained by Prodan when in Spain and he signed without undergoing a medical. Despite pleas to Dick Advocaat after regaining full fitness, he would remain away from the first-team squad and his only action while contracted to Rangers was back in Romania during a loan spell with Rocar Bucuresti. While the ligament damage would have kept him on the sidelines at any club, he would have likely got his chance elsewhere given he was an international defender of 50-plus caps. He insists that he has fond memories of his time at Rangers, but his long-term absence eventually led to his retirement at the age of 31.
A degree-educated, dart-throwing, non-smelling sports journalist based in a small Staffordshire town that has just become Floyd Mayweather's answer to the question: "What's the strangest place you have ever visited?"
