WHEN a group of travelling Rangers supporters walked into a Copenhagen coffee shop ahead of their Europa League clash with Brondby, little did they know they were being served by someone who fulfilled the dream of pulling on the famous blue jersey.
Bajram Fetai may only have mustered one substitute appearance under Alex McLeish but the Macedonian-born Dane beams with pride when reminiscing about his short stay at Ibrox.
Fetai was one of European football’s hottest prospects when Rangers snapped him up in January 2004.
His performance for the under-18 Danish national team at a tournament in Germany alerted the attention of the Govan giants to make their play.
It was a move that would change Fetai’s life forever.
He recalled: “In Denmark, I was playing for the first team of B93. I had just left school and was working in a kindergarten with kids.
“I remember it was the 31st of January, a Monday I think, I came in in the morning and I was a little bit tired. My head was telling me I would just continue to play for B93 for another six months as that was all I had left on my contract.
“Then at 10 o'clock, I was out playing in the field with some of the kids and my phone rang. It was my agent who said, ‘We have a flight at five this evening, Rangers and B93 have agreed on the terms regarding your salary.’
“I was just shocked. I told my work, ‘I’m going home, I don’t think I’ll be back,’ so I went home, packed my stuff, talked with my family and from one day to another I was living in Glasgow.
“I was 18 just moving to another country like that on your own from one day to another was quite crazy.”
He may have been stepping into the unknown but Fetai was well aware of the size of the club he was joining.
He said: “I knew it was a big club because one of my favourite players at that time was Brian Laudrup when I was young.
“In Denmark, Rangers was on the lips of many people, not because of him but also Erik Bo Andersen – the Red Romario.
“I liked to watch Rangers because of Laudrup but also some of the characters they had back then, the guy who stood on the ball – Andrei Kanchelskis, I was also a big Paul Gascoigne fan back when he played for Lazio. So having those players there that have played for Rangers, I was thinking, ‘Wow! It’s a big club I’m going to.’
“On the night when I signed they were playing Stuttgart in the Champions League and Peter Lovenkrands scored.
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“That was my first experience of Ibrox as a new player, watching a Champions League game and I was just blown away.
“All those things I’ve seen on television was just confirmed by my presence when I was there and watching the atmosphere, the fans, Ibrox. It was an amazing experience.
“As a young kid, I’ve always been a dreamer, I had to pinch myself as if to say, ‘Is this real? Am I really here?’”
It wasn’t just Ibrox that enthralled a teenage Fetai, his new place of work and superstar teammates took his breath away.
He said: “When I saw the facilities where I had to train I was blown away. You could feel the big club mentality so that was amazing, I was in heaven.
“It was what I always dreamed about. Now I was breathing, eating, feeling and sleeping football.
“I was now a full-time professional, training in the morning and the afternoon – football was my job now whereas before it was my hobby.
“Ronald and Frank de Boer were there, they were amazing guys. As a young kid, I would watch Ronald on television playing for Ajax and Barcelona so having him there present and seeing his personality was amazing. Richard Witschge was also there on trial.
“In my eyes, they were stars so seeing their personality up close did something to me. I will never forget they gave me a pair of boots and took me to train with them to show me some exercises.
“That, for me, was huge and it affected me on a human level as well because I was thinking, ‘If these guys who have won the Champions League can be so down to earth, kind and giving then who am I not to do that?’
“Peter Lovenkrands was like a big brother for me also. He invited me to his home because we were both from Denmark. He showed a bit more care towards me as a young boy because I was alone in Glasgow.”
It wouldn’t take Fetai long to make his Ibrox bow in what would, ultimately turn out to be his only first-team appearance.
He would share a bench with Allan McGregor before coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute for Michael Mols in the 4-1 win over Dunfermline.
What would unfold would prove to be Fetai’s sliding doors moment. He recalled: “I’ll never forget that day in my life.
“I still try to tell my kids about that. It was one of those crazy weeks, I had an under 19 game where I scored some goals then on the Friday came the list for the game and I was in it.
“I was totally shocked, I hadn’t been there for long so I was like, ‘Ok, what do I do now? How do you do this? Let’s Go!’
“I drove to Ibrox with Peter Lovenkrands, I came into the changing room and I couldn’t wait to get onto the pitch.
“When I was warming up, I was like, ‘Ok, I’m ready, put me on!’ I was just waiting for the moment.
“We were 4-1 up and the way the crowd received me at that moment, I get goosebumps. I get really emotional talking about it because they saw me as one of their own like an academy player.
“I remember people were standing up and applauding my entrance to the pitch, I was flying, I was so high.
“I scored with my first touch, I banged it in from a corner to make it 5-1 but then the goal was disallowed wrongly for offside.
“Steven Thompson flicked it and I just hit it on the half volley, Boom!
“I went out to the corner and I just stood there and I remember getting eye contact with some of the fans, they were going crazy. I was like, ‘I’m in heaven’, then the whistle blew.
“I remember being disappointed with the goal being disallowed but at the same time I was like, ‘Keep going, come on!’
“But the time went so fast, if that goal would have stood, would it have changed my destiny in some way?”
Fetai was on cloud nine but he wouldn’t feature again as Rangers endured a disappointing campaign.
Inverness would be his next port of call on loan with a view of gaining more game time. It was a move Fetai regrets.
He explained: “I was proud of being part of Glasgow Rangers because I was on the bench for a lot of games after that and I was really appreciative of the small bites I was getting because I knew they would prepare me for the big step.
“But, at the end of the season, I remember I didn’t get any more appearances. I went home for vacation, that’s when the disappointment hit me a little bit.
“I was working hard every day in training and I wasn’t really told why I wasn’t getting on but I think that was just the culture because I was a young player - 'don’t ask too many questions, just do what you’re told'.
“I started to question myself, started to doubt myself as an individual, ‘Am I not good enough? Is it because they don’t want me here?’ You play all those scenarios in your head.
“The club was struggling a bit behind Celtic. I remember the gaffer was under pressure and we had some talks regarding myself and what’s the best for my development so I went to Inverness on loan.
“That was maybe the biggest mistake I made, with all due respect to them.
“I was already an alien at Rangers, now I’m at Inverness where there was nothing. We were training in a field where there were cows and it did something to my self-esteem and self-belief. I didn’t feel I was good enough.”
Fetai would return to Ibrox, as an Inverness player in March 2005 with McLeish’s men vying for the title they would eventually win in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Fetai would end that afternoon the villain after almost scoring against his parent club before Bryan Prunty netted a late equaliser.
It was a day that he remembers vividly.
He recalled: “That was a strange day.
“The day before it was being said in the newspapers that I should not be playing, that Inverness and Rangers had made an agreement but Craig Brewster overruled that so I was on the bench.
“I remember thinking, ‘Should I play or should I not play?’
“Malky Thomson [Inverness assistant] came to speak to me and he said, ‘Hey, don’t worry, if you come on just take it easy, don’t think too much about what’s been written in the newspapers.’
“I said, ‘I don’t care, just as long as you and Rangers find out and that doesn’t affect me in the future when I come back to Rangers.’ That’s what I was most concerned about.
“I came on and I almost scored and I became a bit of a villain after that. I remember leaving Ibrox and going to the bus that some Rangers fans were shouting at me in a negative way.
“I was like, ‘Come on, what should I do?’ I think I was put in a bad position there but no hard feelings, that’s football sometimes.”
Despite not featuring again for the first team, Fetai would be involved heavily in the under 19s where he would sample the Old Firm derby.
However, his views on the fierce rivalry are somewhat unique as he explained: “I was surprised just how big the rivalry it was. I knew they were rivals but when you are in it you feel it in a different way.
“As a player being on the pitch, it’s the hardest I’ve ever tried in my life. I remember playing for the under 19s in a cup final against them at Ibrox, I think we beat them and Ross McCormack scored, it was amazing. We were kids but there were 10,000 people there.
“I was like, ‘Ok, this is big!’ It was an experience that taught me a lot about the culture of Scotland.
“When I came to Scotland, there was a woman called Moira, may she rest in peace now, she died a couple of years ago, she was a bank manager in Milngavie and when we arrived as foreign players, in the beginning, she helped us create an account, all those practical things. She and her family were big Celtic fans which I found out later.
“I was in Glasgow city centre one day and I lost my credit card and someone had used £200 on it so I went into the bank and spoke with her and asked her to close my account and she did it and made sure the money was returned.
“Out of courtesy and respect, I bought her flowers just to say thanks and then she invited me to her home every Sunday to have dinner.
“She had two daughters and her husband Jim, may he also rest in peace, and then we started to talk and she said, ‘I know you are alone so I would like to be your second mother here.’
“She didn’t think of me as a Rangers player, she thought of me as a human being and then I found out they were big Celtic fans.
“Having that experience with Moira and Jim and their family blinded me from the rivalry, it blinded me from hatred. I put the human first because they did that towards me and that is what I took with me from Scotland.
“Maybe on the pitch I didn’t have so much success, I wish and hoped for more, but overall having those human experiences with Ronald de Boer and Peter Lovenkrands, the warmth of Moira and Jim and her family and the Scottish people made me a better human being.”
He may only have had 15 minutes of Rangers fame but Fetai still bleeds blue and keeps a close eye on events down Edmiston Drive. He said: “The thing that hurt me the most was when Rangers were relegated down to Third Division.
“Even though I only played one game, I remember it did something to me, I was hurt but I was also proud of them coming back up.
“Having a character like Steven Gerrard in the organisation was a big statement to the world and also to football that ‘We’re back!’ and winning the league without losing a game last year was amazing.
“I’m really proud to see Rangers back up where they belong.
“This season, I’ve not seen them that often because I’ve been through a real rollercoaster, I was sick with meningitis. I stopped my coaching career at FC Nordsjælland because of illness and kids and stuff so I haven’t really focused so much on football, I’ve been focussing more on myself.
“I would love to come back and see a game one day. As human beings, we all have big dreams and achievements. I feel privileged and honoured and very proud deep down inside that I was a Rangers player.
“Getting the opportunity to make my debut in front of 50,000 Rangers fans is something I will never forget.
“I wish and hoped that I could’ve had much more success on the pitch. I think I would’ve been a fans favourite. The Rangers fans and I would’ve connected on levels not seen before maybe, we’re talking Paul Gascoigne levels.”
Nowadays, Fetai runs the Social Brew coffee shop in the centre of Copenhagen and last November’s Europa League tie between Brondby and Rangers presented the 36-year-old with the ideal opportunity to reminisce and inadvertently laugh about his time in Glasgow.
He recalled: “A lot of supporters came to my shop because they followed me on Instagram so they came on purpose.
“I really appreciated that, I signed some autographs and had some pictures taken.
“I was helping in the bar and remember saying to some other fans, ‘Do you know that I used to play for Rangers?’
“They just started laughing, they thought I was joking and then when they had to leave I said, ‘Thanks for the visit, enjoy the game but just so you know I wasn’t joking, I’ve actually played for Rangers?’ and then they were like, ‘Really? What’s your name?’
“I showed them a picture and they thought it was crazy!”
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