Former Rangers defender has revealed that he became a hate figure when he joined the club - all because of his favourite song.
The Dutchman was a member of Dick Advocaat's PSV Eindhoven side and ended up following his manager to Glasgow. During one of his first interviews in Britain, however, he didn't exactly endear himself with the locals by claiming that he was a big fan of You'll Never Walk Alone - the anthem of the Gers' bitter rivals, Celtic.
"I was asked to name my favourite song and replied, You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers," Numan recalled in the latest issue of FourFourTwo. "I noticed there was a short silence among the reporters, which was odd. The next day, I got killed for my remark, both at the club and on the streets."
"People yelled, “You f**king bastard!” Little did I know, it was a song adopted by Celtic fans! In the tabloids, there was a huge headline reading: ‘Numan’s favourite song: You’ll Never Walk Alone’. What a start that was."
"Before my first game against Celtic, my Scottish team-mates jokingly said, 'Don’t you f**king dare sing along!'"
Numan, who made over 100 appearances for the Scottish giants said that he joined Rangers on a spur of the moment, as he wasn't given long to make the decision. Speaking to FFT though, Numan reveals that another team were interested in him and his teammate though - and things could have turned out very differently.
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"At the time, Atletico Madrid wanted me, so I travelled to Spain," Numan remembered. "They asked me to convince Jaap Stam to join Atletico, too, but he ended up signing for Manchester United and I went to Rangers."
You can read the full interview with Arthur Numan in the latest issue of FourFourTwo, out now.
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