Happy days are here again


Moore rejoins Advocaat

ANGUS WRIGHT


CRAIG Moore, the former Rangers captain, has joined the struggling Bundesliga side Borussia Moenchengladbach on an 18-month contract. The Australia international’s agent, John Viola, spent yesterday morning in Germany sealing the deal.

The move sees Moore reunited with former Rangers manager Dick Advocaat, who took over in the summer after his spell as Holland national coach came to an end.

Moore’s Ibrox career was thrown into doubt when he sparked a club-versus-country row by insisting on representing Australia at the Athens Olympics. That meant missing a crucial opening month to the season, which saw Rangers lose to CSKA Moscow in a Champions League qualifier as well as suffer defeat to Celtic in the first Old Firm derby of the season.

The defender‘s decision to spend the month in Greece instead of Glasgow saw him stripped of the captaincy and placed on the transfer-list by manager Alex McLeish.

That led to speculation that he was set for a move south of the Border but no deal materialised before the end of the August transfer window and McLeish caused uproar among a section of the club‘s supporters by recalling the player to the first team.

He played a handful of matches for Rangers, but always looked set to move on this month, with Borussia Moenchengladbach emerging as the favourite for his signature once Advocaat admitted he was interested.

Viola claims the defender was also chased by a number of Barclay‘s Premiership sides but opted for Germany because of the opportunity to work under Advocaat again.

He said: "Craig Moore has signed an 18-month contract with Borussia Moenchengladbach. There were other interested parties from the Premiership but he wanted to work under manager Dick Advocaat again