Antonio Colak tells Rangers he cost them £40m but sacking Gio could have cost them more

Colak's Ibrox double for Malmo in Champions League qualifier persuaded gers to bring him to Glasgow a year later

Comb through the list of people responsible for the current mess Rangers find themselves and you’ll notice in amongst the ranks of ineffective execs, dithering directors and blundering bosses the name of a certain Antonio Colak.

The Croatian was, of course, once on the Light Blues’ books. But the damage he caused wasn’t done during his 12-month stint as an Ibrox striker. Instead, you can trace a good deal of the club’s troubles back to the devastating double Colak blasted for Malmo as the 10-man Swede’s dumped Steven Gerrard’s Gers out of the Champions League back in August 2021.

That result saw a £40million windfall slip through Rangers fingers and so set in motion the nightmare events that have followed since. But Colak still believes the club he joined a year later could have saved themselves a good deal of bother had they stuck by the man who signed him.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst returned to Glasgow three months after that Malmo defeat to lead Rangers on a continental thrill ride as they stormed to the Europa League final and the group stages of the Champions League. But as life among the Euro elite began to bite into their Premiership form, the Gers board felt compelled to act and so began their “rise and repeat” cycle of hiring and firing managers.

“For me, Gio was a top coach,” Colak told Record Sport. “He brought me in and I had such a good relationship with him. I paid back his trust with goals. And he got results. He took the team to the Europa League final, won the Scottish Cup - and he took us back to the Champions League.

“Of course, then we had a period where we had a lot of injured players. If you want to survive in the Champions League, you need quality players. It was difficult to maintain the quality in the Champions League with so many players unavailable. At the end, you saw the results. Rangers are not used to losing games.

“Around the same time we lost some league games, then unfortunately the decision was made to remove Gio as coach. But I still believe he could have turned back a lot of things with the team.

“But you know how the football business is nowadays. Everything goes really fast. There's not too much patience in the business nowadays.”

Colak may have kicked-off Rangers’ rapid decline but in fairness to the frontman, he did his best to repair the damage when he returned to Glasgow the following season in a £1.8million move. It was his crucial winner against PSV in Eindhoven which ended the club’s 12-year wait to return to UEFA’s top table.

He laughed: “You know one year after, I made it all good! All the bad emotions Rangers had, I repaired it afterwards! But when I look back to the game with Malmo at Ibrox, I will never forget it.

“It was the first game after Covid where Ibrox was full. The emotions, the feelings I went through during that game were crazy.

“We went 1-0 down after Alfredo Morelos scored. We were then down to 10 men after getting a red card. But then I scored my two goals and yeah, I still look back fondly to them.

“Even when I was playing at Rangers, I can’t deny that I looked back at those moments and thought it was one of my best games that I’d had in my career. Of course, it was against Rangers but nobody knew then than I’d be back at Ibrox a year later.

“It was good for Malmo because we made it to the Champions League that season. But 12 months later I was back at Ibrox helping Rangers to do the same - so that was the payback.

“This was my target as soon as I arrived. I remember kidding with some of the players and the staff. I said, ‘You’ve brought me in because you want to play in the Champions League!’ So I did pretty well in the end and we made it to the group stage. It was a great memory.”

Colak couldn’t have got off to a better start in Glasgow, netting 14 goals by November. But when van Bronckhorst was dismissed as Gers lost ground on new Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou’s resurgent Hoops, the Dutchman was axed and so Colak’s prospects faltered with Michael Beale’s arrival.

“Of course, if you score 18 goals in your first season, then maybe you expected a different momentum,” said Colak, now now playing for Italian Serie B outfit Spezia. Under Gio, I had the run of games and the trust I needed - that’s why I was able to score a lot of goals.

“But then I picked up one or two small injuries and that meant I couldn’t have these continuous minutes. Things change really fast in football. As a player, you can only focus on your game.

“But when a coach knows how to use me, how to trust me, then he will always get the maximum from me. And this means goals.

“Of course, I look back with a really happy emotion to my time at Rangers. I still follow the team like crazy. I’ll have Rangers always in my heart.”

But Colak admits he will be torn on who to support when his two former sides meet again in Sweden on Thursday in their Europa League opener. He said: “You know my heart beats for both clubs. I had really really great memories with both teams.

“I still follow all the games that Rangers and Malmo play. Malmo are almost at the end of their season. They only have six games left.

“They’re 11 clear at the top of the league and will probably win the championship again. They have super supportive fans, so I think it will be a competitive game. But if I have to see it as a fan then I will hope for a draw and that both teams get a point.

Colak is hoping to make it two in a row in Italy. The striker joined Parma last season in a £2.5million deal after being told he was surplus to requirement by Ibrox boss Michael Beale.

He helped his new side win promotion back to Serie A but has opted to stay in the Italian second tier with new club Spezia after being promised more game time than he was getting at the Stadio Ennio Tardini.

He said: “Last year at Parma we became champions and we went to Serie A. Of course, personally I wanted to play more than I had last season.

“So this season Spezia were keen for me to join so I decided to move on permanent deal. We’ve started really well this season and I hope we can continue the same path like Parma last season.

“Our target is to go back to Serie A where Spezia was two years ago. We’ve started really well without losing a game. We know how tough the league is also.

“I only joined two weeks ago and of course you have to adapt to the team, to everything. Bur soon I will soon start games. I’ve been really well welcomed by the club, by the team, by the fans. And this is the most important thing.”

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