French centre back Sebastien Faure admits his only regret about his three year spell with Rangers is that he never got to play with the Ibrox club in the top-flight.
The 33-year-old rose through the ranks at Ligue 1 giants Lyon but after making just one appearance for the club, signed for Ally McCoist‘s Gers in the summer of 2012 after they had been demoted down to the third division following liquidation. The former France youth international went onto make 59 appearances across the next three seasons to help the Light Blues into the Championship before leaving at the end of his contract in 2015.
And ahead of the Europa League clash between two of his former sides, Faure – who now turns out for French lower league side FC Limonest – has revealed just how his move to Govan came about. He said: “West Ham were interested in me and I had trials at Leeds United and then my agent told me Rangers were interested.
“I said no straight away because I felt like it would be a backwards move at 21, but he had bought me a plane ticket so I just went anyway! I did a training session and in the evening there was a League Cup match at Ibrox.
“There were 38,000 and it felt like I was hallucinating! I was well and truly under the Rangers spell. I signed. Every game the stadium was always full. We basically walked over every team for two seasons.
“I even went to Celtic Park once. The atmosphere was incredible, but Ibrox has nothing to envy it about. The difference between atmospheres in France and Scotland is amazing. In France, they stand up for the club anthems. In Scotland, they stand and sing for 90 minutes.
“I lived there for three years and there are things I will never experience in France. We had 4,000 fans following us every away game in the fourth tier.
“Football is sacred in Scotland. It sometimes took us an hour to get away to our cars after games signing autographs for the fans.
“I still follow Rangers and when they won the title under Steven Gerrard, it meant a great deal to me. My only regret I have is not having been able to experience the top league with them.
“I had signed for three years, but my goal was to be able to sign for at least one more season after. I take comfort in the fact that I feel I played a small part in helping them return to the top.”
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