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Nacho Novo on mum suicide bid as career kicked off

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ShaneRalfRoss

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Nacho Novo on mum suicide bid as career kicked off

IT'S the book everyone wanted - and it's only in your super Scottish Sun.

Nacho Novo is a cult hero at Rangers after snubbing bitter rivals Celtic.

But as he reveals in his new book, I Said No Thanks, Nacho suffered family heartache before landing his dream move to Ibrox.

On day one of our exclusive serialisation, the Spanish striker tells how he watched in horror as his mum threatened to kill herself after splitting from his dad - and how she died aged just 43.

And he hits back at claims he betrayed a team-mate by having an affair with the mother of his two young children.

Don't miss The Scottish Sun all next week for more sensational extracts from the book that will have the whole of Scottish football talking.

MY mum was lying on the living room floor, grasping the knife, threatening to kill herself.

Dad had left her, our family was falling to pieces.

Nacho Novo

The book ... by Rangers star

My family mean everything to me and it broke my heart to see the state my mother had got into.

She had stopped eating through the stress of the marriage break-up with my dad, Ricardo. She had become anorexic.

That day when I came in from training will always haunt me. No child should have to look at their mother wielding a knife and threatening to take her own life.

I could not believe my eyes. My mum. This beautiful woman who had been such a rock for her kids, who had always put us first, reduced to this.

Nacho Novo

Ball boy ... playing footie as a toddler

Her rake-like figure on the ground, screaming that she didn't want to go on.

I slapped my mum across the face to try and get her out of whatever trance she was in. I pulled the knife away and threw it to the side, then just cradled her in my arms.

It was absolute hell to see her in this condition.

This was such a horrible time, my sister was just 16, my football career was taking off in Spain with my club Racing Ferrol fending off offers from home and abroad to sign me.

Yet our house was in turmoil.

Looking back, there had been problems for a while between my mum and dad.

Not what myself or my sister Arantxa felt were major things, but kids very rarely see the full picture when a relationship is breaking down.

You just kind of get shielded from marital problems by your parents. Given my respect for my dad - and my love for my mother - maybe I just blanked it all out.

There were big cracks beginning to show and eventually they ripped our family unit apart.

My mum had been working as a cleaner part-time and my dad - a former footballer whose career was wrecked by injury - now had a job down at the docks.

So proud ... mum Isabel gazes at young Nacho on the day of his christening

So proud ... mum Isabel gazes at young Nacho on the day of his christening

They split up because Dad had found someone else in his life and moved out. This had been going on for a few months but the hardest part for my mum, and the two of us in the house, was that he was still around quite a lot seeing what was happening, visiting us, and then he would go.

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This devastated my mother. And my sister and me.

My father had been everything to me; my absolute idol and I had based my life on following in his footsteps, making him proud.

Now, as far as I was concerned, he was causing havoc with his actions. He was destroying our family and, even though I maybe didn't know the full story, what I saw was enough.

Huge resentment began to build inside me towards my dad. I blamed him for what had happened and there were things he started doing that just added to my mum's stress.

I know it wasn't an easy situation for anyone, break-ups never are, but he didn't handle it the right way and he caused her so much pain.

With all of this to contend with, my head was spinning when I took a call from my then agent Lasaosa Augustin.

He said a team called Raith Rovers in Scotland wanted me, I was needed in Madrid for talks. Videos had been sent over to Raith's manager Peter Hetherston and now he wanted to see me in training for a week.

I talked things over with my mum and my sister. They were both very excited for me and urged me to take the gamble and go to Scotland.

Family ... with sister Arantxa and mum Isabel

Family ... with sister Arantxa and mum Isabel

At the back of my own mind was the fact I would have to leave the two women in my life just when they needed me most. I'll never forget the strength they both showed.

Our family was struggling to cope with the fall-out from my dad leaving and there was a lot of anger, most of it still burning inside me.

They told me to go. Mum said: "Son, this is your dream. Go and chase it. Do it for me." I went to my bedroom and cried. I loved her so much, but I would have to go. And she knew it.

The next day I travelled to Madrid and met up with another player called Jorge Zoco and Lasaosa for our trip to Scotland.

The following morning we were on an early flight to Edinburgh. My life was about to change forever. I never discussed anything about my adventure with my dad.

Years later, I was rushing home on a flight to Madrid to see my sick mum Isabel - I was too late.

She died in the hospital in Ferrol, I lost her at the age of just 43. There was a problem with an artery in her heart, she'd needed an operation. When I landed in Madrid, she had already gone. I collapsed to my knees and shut my eyes.

My sister was 19 and I was 24. Our mother had been taken from us. Our father was no longer part of our lives. My sister Arantxa was pursuing her own sporting career as a fine basketball player but she was still a kid. I told her: "I will terminate my contract and get a job back here in Spain."

Arantxa was angry. She shouted: "Do you think mum would want that? She would NEVER want you to give up your dreams. Go back - I will be fine."

The tears were streaming down my face. Already, I could see my mum in her. Ever since I've tried to do as she asked - in my mum's memory.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/scotlandfeatures/2964883/Nacho-Novo-on-mum-suicide-bid-as-career-kicked-off.html#ixzz0nLNLm21n

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