"The Diary of a full back" Issue 3

Today’s ‘Forgotten Full back’ is former Netherlands international Arthur Numan who retired from professional football in 2003. Just looking at Numan you can tell he is from Holland. That stern look and those strong facial features screams Dutch. The left back started out playing for amateur club SV Beverwijk as a more attacking player before long time mentor Dick Advacaat, manager of Haarlem, signed him and played Numan at the back. After five seasons he moved on to play for FC Twente and Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven where he won a league championship, but it was his time at Glasgow Rangers where I saw him play and want to focus on.

Legendary Kit! 

As we mentioned, Dick Advacaat was a huge figure in the playing career of Arthur Numan. Advacaat gave him his professional debut, moved him to left back, and also made him his first signing as Glasgow Rangers manager. During his time in Glasgow he was a part of the best team ever assembled in Scottish football history. Alongside Numan were names such as Stefen Klos in goal, Jorg “The Hammer” Albertz, Andre Kanchelskis, Claudio Reyna, Barry Ferguson, Lorenzo Amoruso, and the Dutch trio Giovanni van Bronckhorst and the De Boer twins. How did a team playing in the SPL attract such talent? That team would have finished in the top half of the Premier League and if it wasn’t for legendary striker Henrik Larsson, that team would have dominated Scottish football much sooner. If I was to describe Arthur Numan’s game I would go with a more cultured version of Dennis Irwin. What do I mean by this is? Well when fit Numan was a very consistent performer who would always be rated a seven out of ten in the paper the next morning. Arthur was a more composed player on the ball than Irwin but struggled with injuries. The Dutch defender missed a lot of games in the first three years at Rangers but the 2002-2003 season he was injury free and helped them to win a treble. Unfortunately, the club with all that talent in the squad were spending above their means and after Numan’s last season were cutting costs. The defender offered to cut his previous wage in half to stay in Scotland but Rangers decided to release him. So after 45 caps for Holland appearing in 2 World Cups and 1 European Cup, along with successful stints with all five club teams he chose to retire in 2003.

Euro 2000 Dutch kit

I didn’t know how loved Arthur Numan was until I did the research for this article. He has numerous websites dedicated to him, including a Glasgow Rangers fan club that uses Numan’s name. He even has a book written by Mark Guidi titled ‘Oranje and Blue’ but in my eyes he is a legend for two reasons. First he played in that unbelievable Rangers team with all the names I mentioned previous, and secondly Numan played in some of my favourite football kits of all time. Glasgow Rangers and Holland were both sponsored by Nike 

and at that time produced some of their best work.

After football, the ex Gers' left back stayed in his adopted country and did a little TV work before accepting a job as Holland’s B team manager. So people I give you today‘s ‘Forgotten Full back’ and legend Arthur Numan.