The Big Interview: Fabrizio Ravanelli keeps picture of Cumbernauld visit to remind him of time at Dundee
The 48-year-old was capped 22 times by Italy and won the Champions League with Juventus, but won't forget his time at Dens Park
THE photo of his visit to Cumbernauld is still on show in Casa Ravanelli.
It doesn’t have the status of his European winners’ medals.
It doesn’t carry the prestige of his 22 Italian caps.
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But Fabrizio Ravanelli will forever hold on to that image to prove that his six-game, three-goal stint at Dundee wasn’t a complete waste of time.
The Juventus legend scored in a Champions League final, lifted the Uefa Cup and won Serie A with two different clubs during his career.
A hat-trick against Clyde at Broadwood in the CIS Insurance Cup shouldn’t even make his top 1000 career moments, but amazingly he gets a daily reminder of it.
Scottish football regularly throws up crazy stories but Ravanelli’s Dundee cameo was one of the most surreal.
He was promised the world by Dens director Giovanni Di Stefano when he was lured north on a two-year deal worth £5k per week in September 2003.
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Within two months he was unemployed.
Axed along with 14 other players without getting a single penny that was due to him as Dundee entered administration with debts of over £20million.
Ravanelli has barely spoken a word about his ordeal since the day he walked out of Dens Park, but revealed it’s one of the biggest regrets of his career.
He said: “I remember everything from my time at Dundee but I only really left with bad souvenirs from that experience.
“I have one photograph in my house in Italy. It’s from when I scored a hat-trick for Dundee against Clyde in the cup.
“It shows me celebrating one of my goals but that is all I have from my time in Scotland. That was the best memory.
“I left Dundee with nothing else but that photo.
"I was there for six games, the club went into administration and I never went back.
“I played professional football for almost 20 years.
"When I looked back on what happened at Dundee and how things worked out, it was one of the biggest disappointments of my career.
“I love Scotland. I love the passion of the people. I like the football and the fans.
"I would have liked to have stayed at Dundee for my contract and have success at the club but the situation was impossible.
"I had no option but to go when we went into administration. It was a sad moment in my career but there was no way I could stay.”
So how did a 1990s Italian football icon and Juve legend like Ravanelli end up playing for Dundee in the first place?
Influential director Di Stefano had the gift of the gab and offered him a massive contract in September 2003, even though the Dens club didn’t have the money to pay it.
Ravanelli had watched his former Derby County team-mate Craig Burley head to Dundee and also agreed to join Jim Duffy’s side.
Scottish football was big news. Celtic had just reached the Uefa Cup final and Rangers had a team full of stars.
Yet, the bubble would soon burst. After six games and no wage packets for Ravanelli, Dundee were placed in administration in November.
The Italian was told his contract had been terminated.
He checked out of the city’s Apex Hotel and has never been back since.
Ravanelli said: “When I arrived at Dundee, there was talk that the club was having some problems.
"I asked Giovanni what was going on but he said, ‘Everything is okay. We can build something special here’.
“Dundee is a good club, a big club, and he convinced me to sign a two-year contract. He was very ambitious.
“I’d a good impression of the club when I agreed to sign but very quickly I discovered that there were serious money problems.
"I then realised it wouldn’t be possible for me to stay there and the club went into administration.
“Myself, Craig Burley and a lot of other players left the club. They couldn’t pay us.
“I never spoke to Giovanni after that. The club didn’t pay me what I was owed. I left without any money.
“That was disappointing for me and my family. It wasn’t a nice way to the leave the club.”
Almost 14 years on Ravanelli, 48, looks back at his time at Dundee and thinks about what might have been.
The Dark Blues were in Europe when he signed and the Italian believes they could have become a real force in Scottish football, with him banging in goals.
He said: “I went back to Perugia after Dundee and I did well for them in Serie B. I had a fantastic time there but I could have been scoring for Dundee.
“I believe I would have scored a lot of goals in the SPL. We had a good team.
“I played in attack with Nacho Novo and he was a good player who did very well with Rangers.”
RAV WAS WELL UP FOR FIR PARK
FABRIZIO RAVANELLI has confirmed he DID apply for the Motherwell manager’s job last month.
The Italy legend made contact with the Fir Park board before they appointed Steve Robinson as Mark McGhee’s successor.
The former Juve youth coach last managed in France with AC Ajaccio in 2013, but left after just five months.
Ravanelli was recently in the running for the Ghana job but insists he remains open to working as a boss in Scotland — if the right project crops up.
He said: “I’d like to be a manager in Britain — that is one of my targets now.
"England is a fantastic country but so is Scotland and I would be really interested in becoming a coach there.
“I was interested in the Motherwell job, definitely.
"I didn’t talk to anyone but, of course, a good club in Scotland would be good for me. It would be great to go there.
“If the right proposal came forward from any Scottish club in the future, I would consider it.
“I had good experiences abroad as a player and there would be no problem with me working in Scotland.
“I speak English and I believe my passion for the game would suit the country. The players play with the heart.
"They are hungry and they always play to win.
"When I go back into management, I’ll have a team with a mentality 100 per cent strong like they have in Scotland.”
GREAT MEMORIES OF IBROX
FABRIZIO RAVENELLI claims Ibrox gave him one of his best-ever Champions League experiences.
The Juventus legend scored three goals in two games as the Italians beat Rangers 4-0 and 4-1 in 1995/96.
Ravanelli lifted the Champions League that season after scoring in the final against Ajax, which Juve won 4-2 on penalties, but he admits the packed crowd at Ibrox was one of the best he encountered.
Ravanelli said: “I scored twice against Rangers in Turin and once in Glasgow.
"Juventus had a very good team that season.
"It was difficult for Rangers against us but the biggest thing I remember is the atmosphere in their stadium.
“Wow. It was a special night. The noise from the crowd was fantastic.
"As a player, I always liked to play in noisy stadiums where the fans put 100 per cent into the game.
“It helped me play to my full power as a player and get the job done. It brought out the best in me.
“Rangers had some good players back then. Paul Gascoigne was in their team and we expected a hard game in Glasgow.
"Their fans pushed every player. It was like a 12th man.”
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