For 16 years, Robbie Fraser wore the Rangers crest on his chest. Now, he has a chip on his shoulder. Thanks to Dunfermline, he also has a smile on his face.
Fraser left Ibrox on loan last January believing that a first team squad place would be there waiting for him on his return. History, of course, tells a very different story. Philippe Clement’s sacking changed the narrative of Fraser’s tale before Russell Martin wrote the final chapter.
Seven months on, Fraser has games under his belt and promotion in his sights. He also has the matter of a Scottish Cup semi-final to look forward to as Dunfermline attempt to move within 90 minutes of a shot at the silverware.
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Fraser tells the Rangers Review that his move to East End Park has been ‘absolutely brilliant’ and has allowed him to show the player that he knows he is ‘capable of being’. On the face of it, bidding farewell his boyhood heroes has been the best thing for the left-back. Yet the sense of regret, of injustice even, has been a motivating factor throughout an impressive and enjoyable campaign.
“It's absolutely crazy,” Fraser says when asked about the turnaround from leaving Rangers to having potential cracks at promotion and the Scottish Cup on his agenda. “I almost feel like I have a chip on my shoulder, a real point to prove. Honestly, until the day I retire, I will always feel like I was capable of playing for the club, for Rangers. But it didn't materialise.
“Dunfermline have been amazing for me. They're an amazing club, amazing people at the club, amazing fan base. The players are brilliant to be with every day.
“It'll be a massive turnaround if we can maybe get through that [semi-final] and get into the final and see where that goes. We want to focus on the league as well. We've got massive aspirations to get up because the club's a huge club and the club deserves to be in the top league.”
If Fraser has his way, he will be a Premiership player once again too and a second successive promotion through the play-offs would be a moment to cherish for the 22-year-old. His first came during that loan with Livingston as David Martindale’s side beat Ross County in the final last May.
That time in West Lothian was designed to prepare for the rigours of first-team football at Ibrox. Last term started with appearances against St Johnstone and County before opportunities came harder to earn. He came off the bench in the draw with Tottenham Hotspur and the final seconds of the Old Firm win at Ibrox proved to be his last competitive outing for the club that he first joined as a seven-year-old.
“I'm not going to lie, it was tough in the moment,” Fraser said. “I came off the back of an extremely good loan at Livingston that almost went perfectly for me. Started almost every game, got promotion, got my first senior goal. It was looking great. I had real confidence going back in.
“Before I went on loan, Clement told me that if he stayed, I was going to be part of the plan. It was just to go out and get game time, and I would be part of it. Obviously, that didn't materialise that he stayed at the club.
“I still went back in with the same confidence that I could be part of it. I feel I should have been part of it. But that's life. Obviously, Russell Martin had his own plans.
“I feel I was quite hard done by. I felt at that time it was time to think about me, think about change. I think Dunfermline have been the perfect club for me.”
Looking back, Fraser can pinpoint the day when his fate was sealed. His Rangers career was over before it was officially over.
He was one of three left-backs that Rangers sold in the summer as Ridvan Yilmaz signed for Besiktas and Jefte joined Palmeiras. Jayden Meghoma – three years Fraser’s junior and with only a loan spell at Preston North End to count as first-team experience – was recruited as Rangers were left short of depth on that side of the defence.
“I went in and done the first two, three weeks of pre-season as normal, I was in good shape,” Fraser said. “I won the fitness test. I got my body in the condition I knew I had to. I was training well and then I went to St George's.
“Just as we got back from St George's, they separated the group. It was a small training group to the side and then the rest of the main group on the other pitch. That's when I realised that the writing was on the wall.
“A few days later, Russell at the time spoke to me and said ‘Look, the club feel it's best for you to go and develop somewhere else.’ It is what it is. I felt it shouldn't have been the case.
📸 A first @RangersFC start for Robbie Fraser in today's match at Tynecastle. pic.twitter.com/ozAuPqlCM8
— Rangers Academy (@RFC_Youth) May 18, 2024
“I felt I had a lot to give to the club. I felt I wasn't given a good enough opportunity and a chance. I felt I was capable, but that's life. It was done in a manner where they said it face-to-face to me.
“When I left, Dan Purdy sent me messages saying I was a model academy graduate and they think I will go on to do great things. It was nice that way, but at the moment it hurt. But, yeah, that's life.”
And with that, Fraser’s association with Rangers, in a playing capacity at least, was over. A week after signing a three-year deal, he made his debut for the Pars in a defeat to Raith Rovers and he has gone on to play more than 30 times this season.
He had sought advice from his father on his next move. His agent, David Moss, was once on the books of Dunfermline during his own playing career and the chance to work under a ‘serial winner’ like Neil Lennon was an attraction.
“For me, I've always kept the same attitude no matter what,” Fraser said. “As soon as I came back from that training camp, I knew the writing was on the wall for me.
“I still got my head down. I came in and trained in a small group every day. Kept focused, kept focused. My agent was working away in the background looking for clubs.
“Fortunately, Dunfermline came in. As soon as that materialised, I wanted it done. I was in great shape. Straight away, Neil Lennon started me in the first game in a derby. So, yeah, that worked out perfectly for me.
“I could just feel it was a really big club that were going places. There was a good crop of young players with a mix of experience. It was a really good environment to go into. I've been absolutely made to feel welcome from the start. It's a great club to be a part of.”
Fraser may have left Rangers, but Rangers has not left Fraser. His years at Auchenhowie and Ibrox shaped him as a player as well as a person and the habits he inherited with a blue shirt on his back are still within him now that he wears black and white.
The chance to play week in, week out has been relished this term. He is thankful for maintaining his fitness and his form and for the chance to showcase his talents on a regular basis. He is proving he has the quality, while the character has never been in question.
“Yeah, just that drive, that winning mentality every day,” Fraser said. “Obviously, Rangers play at the top end of the league and Dunfermline are trying to get themselves up to that top league.
“So, we try to drive standards every day into the boys at Dunfermline. From the background I have had, I have had the demand that's through the roof every day.
“There's pressure on you every day. So, I've come into a club that maybe doesn't feel so on you as much, but I'm trying to drive those standards internally at the club. I feel I have been, and obviously, the gaffer has been at the club.
"We're really trying to drive the club forward in the play-off sports. We've got a semi-final, so the club's going in a really good direction.”
That fixture with Falkirk is now looming on the horizon. It has been earned the hard way after memorable wins over Hibernian and Aberdeen and the draw was kind to the Pars as Celtic were avoided at the last four stage.
The National Stadium was where Fraser made his debut for Livingston last season. Those aforementioned Premiership appearances under Clement were made there, too, and Fraser was on the bench against Dynamo Kyiv. Naturally, the build-up to the Bairns fixture will be somewhat different for the former B Team captain.
“You really don't think as far ahead as that,” Fraser said of the Scottish Cup story this term. “But as you tick off the rounds, you think ‘well, maybe we can make a real run of this.’ Then we got to Aberdeen and we fancied ourselves. I thought we were brilliant that night.
“We set ourselves up with a massive tie, a massive opportunity. We know we're capable. We're more than capable. But we know Falkirk have got a really good team as well.
“If we're on it on the day, then we feel we can win. But those are the games, those are the occasions, that any club wants to play in. I'm grateful that I've got the opportunity to walk out at Hampden.”
Those wins over Hibernian and Aberdeen sparked predictable calls for Premiership structural change, with clubs like Dunfermline used as examples of why the top flight should be expanded. That debate is an old one, and fruitless one at this stage.
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Fraser has no doubt the Pars are a Premiership outfit in waiting. If Lennon is to take them there this season, then Fraser will have a significant part to play. It would be quite the way for the defender to end his first term in Fife.
“There are loads of different areas of the club that just show how big the club is,” Fraser said. “Where we are in the league, we're in the semi-final of a cup, even the crowds we get at home games are quite massive compared to any other club in the league.
“Obviously the group of players, which includes players that have played in the top league, there is a mix of players that have played with national teams. We have had to call off games because of international call-ups.
“We've got a really good group and I feel we'd be so suited to the top league because we've more than matched and obviously we've beaten two of the top clubs in the top league.”
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