Jason Holt recalls Rangers holiday and Bruno Alves
Former Rangers defender Jason Holt has opened up about his time at Ibrox, telling The Scottish Sun about a scary experience and a fearsome ex-teammate.
The now-Livingstone man revealed that Portuguese defender Bruno Alves would take players out in Gers training at any time.
He also recalled his scariest experience being the Incredible Hulk roller coaster in Orlando which he went on during a team trip to play in the Florida Cup during a winter break.
On the training-ground clashes, Holt told The Scottish Sun: “Which team-mate wouldn’t you mess with? Bruno Alves at Rangers.
“It didn’t matter how close to a game it was, if he wanted to hammer someone in training he’d do it. He didn’t have an off switch.”
And regarding his US experience the 28-year-old said: “I’m not a great one for rollercoasters but with Rangers we went to Orlando during the winter break and played in the Florida Cup.
“We tried to tick off everything, including the Incredible Hulk coaster, which scared the living daylights out of me!”
Wouldn’t like him when he’s angry
Now 40, Portuguese veteran Alves is still playing in Greece with Apollon Smyrnis and has built up somewhat of a hard man reputation over his long career.
His season at Ibrox is not generally remembered as a glowing success, with expectations high considering he had been a part of Portugal’s Euro 2016 winning side, although he was no longer a starter, and was continuing to get picked for the national side.
But it was the last season before the arrival of Steven Gerrard ultimately lifted the Light Blues back to the top of the Scottish game and then-manager Graeme Murty was sacked before the end of the season, with Gers eventually finishing third.
Alves did score a free kick in a wild 5-5 draw with Hibernian on the final day of the season before eventually being let go from the second year of his contract to move on to Parma in Serie A.
But according to Holt, while the 96-cap international may not have had the same effect in the first team, he was still a force to be reckoned with on the training ground.
Much like the Hulk himself, it sounds like it is generally better to think twice before upsetting Bruno Alves.
In other Rangers news, the club have made a bid for this ‘wonderful’ PL attacker.