Nacho Novo

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Nacho Novo
Personal information
Full name Ignacio Javier Gómez Novo
Date of birth March 26, 1979 (1979-03-26) (age 29)
Place of birth    Ferrol, Spain
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position Forward / Winger
Club information
Current club Rangers
Number 10
Youth clubs
1997–1998
1998–2000		 Racing Ferrol
Somozas
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2000–2001
2001–2002
2002–2004
2004–		 SD Huesca
Raith Rovers
Dundee
Rangers		 038 (22)
033 (18)
071 (26)
115 (36)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of June 9, 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Ignacio Javier Gómez Novo (born March 26, 1979 in Ferrol, Galicia, Spain), simply known as Nacho Novo, is a Spanish professional football player who currently plays for Rangers. He formerly played for Huesca, Raith Rovers and Dundee. Novo has stated his desire to play for Rangers for the rest of his career.[1]

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Novo joined Raith Rovers from SD Huesca in July 2001 and scored 18 goals in 33 appearances in his first season. His goalscoring record attracted the attention of then Scottish Premier League club Dundee who signed him for £100,000 in July 2002.[2]

He remained with Dundee for two seasons, and his form attracted the interest of several clubs. Both Rangers and Celtic, as well as Leicester City, were reported to be interested in signing Novo;[3] however, Celtic decided against a move after agreeing a fee - citing Novo's lack of commitment to signing for the club[4] - and Leicester City's offer also failed to materialise.

[edit] Rangers

Novo quickly signed for Rangers in July 2004[5] for a reported fee of £450,000. He wore shirt number 10 that had been vacated by Michael Mols. In his first season with the club he scored 25 goals, including the goal against Hibernian that won Rangers the league title.[6] He made his debut for Rangers in a SPL match away to Aberdeen on 7 August 2004. [7] His first goal came in his second appearance, netting in Rangers 2-1 loss to Russian side CSKA Moscow on August 10.[8]

Following his first goal Novo failed to score in his next eight appearances and pressure mounted on the little Spaniard as he was dropped from the starting eleven. The sides stuttering early season form did not help him either but things began to improve when he came on as a 66th minute subsititute in a league match against his former employers Dundee. Novo netted two goals in as many minutes which helped Rangers to a 2-0 victory [9], after that he was a regular in the Rangers side.

At the start of the 2005-06 season Novo broke his fifth metatarsal,[10] which ruled him out for several months. Upon his return from injury he failed to score in the twenty matches he played the rest of that season, being deployed more as a winger than a striker due to the form of Kris Boyd. His three goals had come against Celtic, Falkirk and Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta.

With the departure of Alex McLeish and the arrival of Frenchman Paul Le Guen, Novo found that his first team opportunities would be limited. He looked set to leave Rangers but a proposed transfer to English Championship club Coventry City fell through on transfer deadline day[11] and so the window closed with him still at Ibrox. At first he found his appearances sporadic, featuring in the first game of the season then waiting seven weeks for his second but after a mixture of poor results, injuries and good performancs in the reserves he returned to the first team. His first goal of that season, and in over a year, was in a 3-2 UEFA Cup win over A.S. Livorno Calcio on October 19, 2006.[12]

In the following match Novo came off the subs bench to score a late winner against St Mirren in a 3-2 win for Rangers.[13] He then started the next game at the expense of Dado Pršo, Motherwell held Rangers to a 1-1 draw with Novo named Man of the Match. His rejuvenated form continued with goals against Hearts,[14] Maccabi Haifa[15] and AJ Auxerre.[16] Novo continued to be a regular when Le Guen was replaced with Walter Smith.

The signings of Jean-Claude Darcheville, Daniel Cousin and Steven Naismith in the summer of 2007 led to increased competition for attacking positions in the Rangers side, and most of Novo's appearances in the early months of the season were as a substitute. On October 20, 2007 he started the first Old Firm derby match of the season and scored twice in a 3–0 victory for Rangers over Celtic.[17]

On the December 2, 2007 it was reported that Rangers were willing to offer Novo a one year extension to his current contract, which was to expire in July 2008.[18] However, Novo said that he would leave the club if he wasn't offered a longer contract. He was later offered a two-year contract extension, which keeps him at the club until 2010, and signed the deal on 21 December 2007.[19]

On 1 May 2008, he scored the winning penalty in the semi final shoot-out against ACF Fiorentina which put Rangers through to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. During the 2007-08 season Novo was sent off twice, both in league games before cup finals, meaning he missed both the 2008 League Cup final and the 2008 Scottish Cup final through suspension.

[edit] Rangers statistics

Correct as of 31 May 2008

Club Performance
Club Season League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Rangers 2007-08 28 10 4 2 3 2 14 2 49 16
2006-07 28 5 1 0 2 0 8 4 39 9
2005-06 24 2 2 0 1 0 5 1 32 3
2004-05 35 19 1 0 4 3 8 3 48 25
Total 115 36 8 2 10 5 34 10 168 53

[edit] Honours

With Rangers

Scottish Premier League
2004-05
Scottish League Cup
2004-05

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Novo clarifies Ibrox exit plans", BBC Sport website, 29 November 2006. 
  2. ^ "Dundee sign Novo", BBC Sport website, 4 July, 2002. 
  3. ^ "Celtic make Novo inquiry", BBC Sport website, 15 June, 2004. 
  4. ^ "Celtic drop Novo interest", BBC Sport website, June 30, 2004. 
  5. ^ "Rangers sign Novo", BBC Sport website, 6 July 2004. 
  6. ^ "Hibernian 0-1 Rangers", BBC Sport website, 22 May, 2005. 
  7. ^ "Aberdeen 0-0 Rangers" BBC Sport website 7 August, 2004
  8. ^ "CSKA Moscow 2-1 Rangers", BBC Sport website, 10 August, 2004. 
  9. ^ "Dundee 0-2 Rangers" BBC Sport website, 26 September, 2004
  10. ^ "Novo could be out for two months", BBC Sport website, 26 September 2005. 
  11. ^ "No go for Novo move to Coventry", BBC Sport website, 31 August 2006. 
  12. ^ "Livorno 2-3 Rangers", BBC Sport website, 19 October 200. 
  13. ^ "St Mirren 2-3 Rangers", BBC Sport website, 22 October 2006. 
  14. ^ "Hearts 0-1 Rangers", BBC Sport website, 19 November 2006. 
  15. ^ "Rangers 2-0 Maccabi Haifa", BBC Sport website, 2 November 2006. 
  16. ^ "Auxerre 2-2 Rangers", BBC Sport website, 23 November 2006. 
  17. ^ "Nacho man sinks Bhoys", Sky Sports website, October 20, 2007. 
  18. ^ "Rangers to offer Novo new deal", BBC Sport website, 2 December, 2007. 
  19. ^ "Deal Me in", Rangers official website, December 21, 2007. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Rangers F.C. – current squad

1 McGregor • 3 Weir • 4 Buffel • 5 Papac • 6 Ferguson • 7 Hemdani • 8 Thomson • 9 Boyd • 10 Novo • 11 Adam • 15 Gow • 16 G. Smith • 17 Burke • 18 Naismith • 19 Darcheville • 20 Beasley • 21 Broadfoot • 22 Webster • 23 Dailly • 24 Cuéllar • 25 Alexander • 26 S. Smith • 27 McCulloch • 28 Whittaker • 29 Cousin • Manager: W. Smith
Persondata
NAME Novo, Ignacio Gómez
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Novo, Nacho
SHORT DESCRIPTION Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Ferrol, Spain
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH