Robin Pröpper: Everything breathes football here

Robin Pröpper has never made a secret of being open to a foreign adventure. But at FC Twente he was enjoying himself so much that he wasn’t thinking about it. He felt completely in place, didn’t want to be anywhere else. Until Glasgow Rangers knocked on the door, on the eve of the new season. On 31 July, he signed a two-year contract in Scotland.

By: Rick van Leeuwen

‘It happened very quickly all at once,’ the almost 31-year-old central defender says. ‘And then you have to make a decision quickly. I always said I wanted to make a step abroad at some point. But it is surreal when suddenly such a big club shows up. A double feeling, too. I found it difficult to leave FC Twente, but of course it’s great to end up at Rangers. Everything here breathes football.’

Making choices
Robin is happy that the reactions to his transfer from and around FC Twente were positive. ‘It really pleased me how the club and the supporters handled this. Of course it was awkward timing, so shortly before that first Champions League match against RB Salzburg, I thought so myself. I would have preferred it much earlier and I would have preferred to split myself in two, so I could stay at Twente and go to Rangers. But in the end you have to make choices. And for me it’s tremendously cool to be able to make this step.’

He already knows several players from his new club’s selection: Cyriel Dessers, with whom he played together at Heracles, and Václav Cerny, former team-mate at FC Twente. ‘I have also worked with assistant coach Andries Ulderink before. And Brazilian Danilo, who played at Ajax and Feyenoord, is also a familiar face. So the Eredivisie level is quite high here. Nice to meet those guys here again. And they have good experiences with Dutchmen at Rangers anyway, of course.’

Robin tells how the Scots he speaks to almost immediately talk about the Dutchmen who have been active here and how much they have meant to the club. ‘Then names like Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Arthur Numan, Ronald de Boer, Pieter Huistra and, of course, Dick Advocaat come up. I understand that Advocaat helped develop and establish the current training complex; they are still very happy about that.’

Debut
On 10 August, he made his debut for Rangers, in the league match won against Motherwell. At home; not at Ibrox Stadium (due to a renovation) but in a packed Hampden Park, the stadium where the Scottish team plays its home games. ‘Very impressive, nice to experience. I started in the starting line-up, played 70 minutes and it went fine. Just a pity about the own goal… I couldn’t do much about it, it was a very unfortunate moment. But of course that will be highlighted, that’s how it goes. Fortunately, we did win.’

“Very impressive, beautiful to experience”.

Glasgow Rangers, like FC Twente, played in the preliminary round of the Champions League. And like the Tukkers, the Scots failed to qualify for the group stage. ‘The first game against Kiev I didn’t participate yet. I had just got my visa and was on the bench. The return game I did play all the way through, my debut in the Champions League. A red card early in the second half unfortunately killed us. I notice myself that I do feel more and more comfortable on the pitch and among the boys.’

Special matches
Robin has been given the back number 4, which suggests a starting spot. ‘Here, it works a bit differently. We play around 60 to 65 games a year, so they rotate a bit more here, so the selection is often a bit wider. Of course, I do hope to play the majority and preferably all the games. But maybe it’s an illusion to be able to play so many games in a season completely, I don’t know. That also depends on the coach. In any case, my goal is to become a regular base player. And to compete for prizes with this team. I am also really looking forward to the games with Celtic. That rivalry is very much alive here, I already notice that. Those are special matches. But in the end, it’s the points against the lesser teams that count.

“Robin says the strength of this group is that the players get along well with each other.”

Stability and development
In recent years at FC Twente, Robin has been used to playing at the top. After finishing fourth and fifth last season, FC Twente finished third in the league. A great achievement, with which the Enschede team qualified for the preliminary round of the Champions League. With central back captain Robin Pröpper, who has spent a total of three seasons with the Tukkers.

Full of pride, he looks back on his old team’s development and the level of stability the captain himself had not quite expected, but had hoped for. ‘Look, every preparation for a season is different. Players leave, new players join. We had lost some quality players, like Ramiz Zerrouki, Václav Cerny and Virgil Misidjan. And then you always have to see to what extent you manage to fit in new players. That is very hard work. And if you then see how well that worked out and how we have maintained that for a whole season, we can be very proud of that. Of course, the technical staff played a huge role in that.’

Plenty of highlights, of course, after such a top season. Robin finds it difficult to single out specific moments, ‘then you always end up short-changing moments’, but one image that is still sharp on his mind is a goal in the home win against Ajax. ‘At the beginning of the season, the moment when Naci Unüvar goes one-on-one at the goalkeeper and Daan Rots is on the ground behind him, already cheering before the ball goes in. A picture was taken of that that hangs in the stadium. I thought that was typical of our season. It says something about the mutual trust within a team. That’s how we experienced many moments together, were able to celebrate many goals and victories together.’

Really putting something down together
According to Robin, the strength of this group is that the players get along well. Of course, when things are going well, you often hear: we’re having so much fun together. But in recent years we have really created something with each other; an atmosphere in which we can laugh, in which we can really tell each other the truth and in which everything is discussed in the dressing room. That atmosphere is also at the club and it’s so nice to work in. It also makes it easier for the new boys to adapt. That has been very important for our success.’

As captain, Robin tried to ‘guard’ that that atmosphere remained good, that players stayed in conversation, offered each other a listening ear ánd could laugh with each other. And everyone is equally important in that, but of course something has to be organised sometimes. I tried to take that on sometimes, but especially Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Michel Vlap are incredibly important in that. And Naci Unüvar is the one who provides the laughs on and off the pitch. So we had many different links within our team, which together made for a nice whole.’

Trainer of our time
On the pitch, Robin says he tried to take a leadership role, as the familiar extension of the trainer, whom he praises for his human approach. ‘Truly a trainer of our time. Very open, honest and relaxed, people-oriented, good communication. That contributes to that good atmosphere at the club. I also find it remarkable how he manages the team, by paying attention to everyone, from number 1 to number 22. And the coach does not do that alone, but together with his staff, with a lot of positive energy’.

According to Robin, FC Twente’s technical staff focus on improving individual qualities, with specific points of attention for each player. ‘They communicate very well about that. That allows everyone to put their money where their mouth is. I think that’s very important, because that attention to the individual is necessary to make a team better. Players need that too. They want that personal contact, so they know what is expected of them and can tell themselves how they feel about something.’

Experience box
One of the tangible results of that approach was qualification for the preliminary round of the Champions League. ‘Great that we achieved this with FC Twente. And to see what this means for people in the region. As a player and as a person, it is incredibly cool to experience; the euphoria together, celebrating goals together in the Grolsch Veste, the happiness of our supporters, the smiles on their faces. Then it is so much fun to be an FC Twente player!’

An additional advantage of the rising level was that he also continued to develop himself. ‘As a youth player I had little insight into what is really important as a defender,’ says Robin, who now has almost 400 matches in professional football behind his name. ‘I have gradually mastered that. I notice that defending is really an experience profession; by getting into situations a lot, you learn to foresee moments and assess them better. I think I have made a certain development in that respect, which makes me less likely to get into the wrong situations as a defender and less likely to make mistakes. I know more and more what is asked within matches, I did make that development. And that is an ongoing process.’

Besides and after football
Football is not the only thing on his mind. Robin has a family with two children, also enjoys playing other sports (‘Playing padel is something I like to do’) and tries to develop himself besides the football field. ‘I follow a number of courses and studies, sit on the Central Players’ Council of the Football Association, on the board of VVCS and on the CFC Participants’ Council. Sounds like a lot but not so much, mind you. And I occasionally read a book.’

“I also think it’s important to have something else besides football. To not just focus on football, precisely because I know football is finite.”

His activities outside football give the impression that Robin Pröpper is already preparing for his life after professional football. And that is true. ‘I hopefully still have years to go as a footballer, but I am regularly busy with life after that. I also think it’s important to have something else besides football. To not just focus on football, precisely because I know that football is finite. Besides, I get energy from doing things. At the same time, I do want to stay focused on performing on the pitch as much as possible. But after a training session or on a day off, I like to switch off football for a while and use my energy in other things.’

What form his social career will take, he does not dare to say yet. What he does know is that it can go two ways: completely into football or something completely different. ‘I am gradually trying to figure out where my ambition lies. Hopefully I will have many years to do so! My biggest ambitions for now are really still on the football pitch, now at Glasgow Rangers!’