ANDRIUS Velicka may not go down in Ibrox folklore as a Rangers great but his contribution to the title win in 2009 cannot be underestimated.
The Lithuanian’s arrival in Govan in the summer of 2008 went under the radar given the controversial acquisition of Kenny Miller a the big-money arrival from Burnley in the shape of Kyle Lafferty.
Velicka had spent an unhappy few months in Norwegian football with Viking Stavanger following an 18-month loan spell with Hearts where he’d endear himself to the Jambos supporters with goals in the Edinburgh derby as well as both halves of the Old Firm.
Walter Smith splashed out £1 million to bring him back to Scotland but he could’ve been a Rangers player earlier had it not been for Vladimir Romanov.
“When I played for Hearts, Rangers sent Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall to watch me,” he recalled.
“They told me, ‘We wanted you but we knew that Romanov would never sell you to us, or if he did sell he’d want around £7m’, so they said there was no chance to buy me.
“I had a transfer to Viking in Norway but I was very unhappy so after three months I asked my agent to try to get me somewhere else.
“I remember he called me, he had five offers from the English Championship and maybe after one week he called me and said there was a chance I could go to Rangers.
"I said, ‘Forget everything else, I’m going to Rangers!’”
Despite being overjoyed at finally becoming a Ranger, Velicka’s first involvement was forgettable, to say the least.
He would come on as a second-half substitute in the two Champions League qualifiers with boyhood club Kaunas as Smith's men were shockingly dumped out at the first hurdle only a matter of weeks after the UEFA Cup Final.
Velicka spent 12 years with the Lithuanian outfit who were owned by former Hearts supremo Romanov but says fatigue from the previous campaign contributed to Rangers humiliating exit.
“It was very disappointing. For me, it was very strange because I spent all my life at Kaunas so when the draw was made I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, what’s happened? Why?’
“Of course, I wanted to win but there were reasons we lost.
“I think Rangers were not ready 100%. If you remember the season before they played in the UEFA Cup final, they played many games in the league and the two cups so they maybe had one week off after the previous season.
“I remember Walter threw the bottles in the dressing room afterwards.”
Just four days after their horror show in Lithuania, Velicka would go from zero to hero as he netted the winner in the opening day win over Falkirk.
It was a strike that would spark a wager amongst coaches Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall.
“In my first league game, we played at Falkirk, I scored the goal and we won 1-0.
“I remember Kenny and Coisty made a bet, Coisty said I’d score 20 and Kenny said I’d score 25 that season.
“But just after two games it was tough to play because Walter said I needed to rest because I came to Rangers after three years without a holiday.
“Of course, I wanted to play but I didn’t play for about six months.
“I remember we went to Aberdeen in my third game and I was in the 18-man squad.
“It’s strange because I had played two games and had scored a goal, a winning goal but I was just sat in the stand.
“I was always with the team, if they got two days off, I got two days off.
“Everyone was training who didn’t play but I was given days off as well and I said, ‘What’s happening? it’s not normal that everybody is training who didn’t play and I was resting.’
“But after they explained, they said they think I could do better and that I needed a rest because I had three pre-seasons and three seasons playing without a break, I had played a lot of games for Hearts and Viking and the reason was that.
“But it’s also understandable that I wasn’t playing because Boydy and Kenny were scoring goals so it was very hard to come back.”
As much as Kris Boyd was keeping Velicka out of the team, he credits his former teammate with helping him settle into life as a Rangers player.
“Boydy helped me to adapt because I arrived for the first time at a big club so he was the first man who was helping me a lot. He was really nice to me.”
Despite a lengthy layoff, Velicka would return to action the following April to help power Rangers to their first title in four years.
He would net crucial goals in wins over Motherwell, Hibs and former club Hearts as well as scoring the opener in the Scottish Cup semi-final victory against St Mirren at Hampden, a feeling that still sends shivers down his spine 12 years later.
“I never played against Scotland at Hampden but the atmosphere that day was amazing.
“When you score and the crowd are going mad, if you’ve never played football you don’t know the feeling. You feel like you’ve done something for the people, not just for the team and the club but for the people who are coming to support you, who paid money to do that. It was incredible.”
Despite playing a major role in helping Rangers reach the final, Velicka would watch the 1-0 showpiece victory over Falkirk from the stand.
“I was very disappointed,” he explains.
“I scored a goal in the semi-final but for the final, I was in the stand.
“But this is football life. When you’re at a big club, you never know what’s around the corner.”
The closest Velicka would get to sampling the red hot Old Firm atmosphere was a place on the bench as Steven Davis netted the winner at Ibrox as Walter Smith’s men edged two points ahead in the title race with three games remaining.
Despite not featuring in a playing sense, the Lithuanian was blown away by the occasion and joked Barry Ferguson gave him an ad-hoc English lesson.
“The atmosphere was amazing, it’s a city where one part is green and white and the other part is blue.
“I remember we were going to the game on the bus and Barry Ferguson was sitting close to me.
“He said, ‘I’m buzzing! I’m buzzing already! I’m buzzing!’
“I asked him, ‘What does I’m buzzing mean?’
“He said ‘I don’t know how to explain in English but I’m buzzing!’”
Despite not coming up against Celtic as a Rangers player, Velicka lived out many a boyhood dream by playing and scoring at Ibrox. It’s a feeling he’ll never forget.
“I came from Lithuania. To be honest, I had never played in front of such a big crowd so I enjoyed it a lot.
“To play in front of 50,000 supporters with that atmosphere and even to score, for a Lithuanian boy from a small village was amazing!”
Rangers would march on towards the title, their first of what would be three successive league victories.
Velicka joked he could’ve helped topple Gordon Strachan’s Celtic side had he been signed earlier.
“For three years Celtic were champions before I came to Rangers.
“As soon as I arrived we won the league so I said why they didn’t get me before?
“Wherever I’m playing I’m always a champion!
READ MORE: Chris Vinnicombe on choosing Rangers over English elite and playing his part in nine in a row
“My character is one that I always want to win. It doesn’t matter if I’m playing against St Mirren or lower division teams, for me it was always to win, to win, to win.
“My wife used to say to me, ‘You’re crazy! Why are you running so much playing against lower teams?’, but it doesn’t matter for me, I want to score and I want to win.”
Despite his impressive goals to games ratio, Velicka’s time in Govan was numbered and he was soon on his way down south to Bristol City on a season-long loan before later returning to Scotland at Aberdeen.
Like many players before and numerous after, Velicka admits his career never reached the heights he achieved as a Ranger.
“I never wanted to leave but it’s the football life and you need to go to get a chance.
“I spoke with my agent and spoke with my family to work out what to do.
“I wasn’t playing but I was happy at Rangers but of course I was 30 years old and I just thought I need to play.
“The English Championship was a good level so I spoke with Bristol City and I thought, ‘Ok, let’s go,’ but it was the wrong move because after this move my career just crashed.”
Nowadays, Velicka spends his time coaching the Lithuanian national team under 15s through to the under 21s but he keeps an eye on his former club.
“I always watch for their results. I watched their game against Brondby when they won 2-0. I watch them on television at home, it’s Russian television but they show the Scottish Premiership.
“I would like to come back to Rangers to see the team but at this period (with COVID) you never know. I was planning to go to Scotland because my wee daughter never saw that atmosphere so we want to go to Glasgow and experience a game together.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here