Meet the man who gets De Canio's point across

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The Formula One power brokers Ecclestone and co-owner Flavio Briatore, as well as Indian steel magnate Mittal, have effectively made Rangers the world's richest club - but without translator Ruben Reggiani, their players would not be able to carry out the instructions of Italian manager Luigi De Canio.

Reggiani, who has an English mother and an Italian father, did not move from the country of his birth to England until he was 15.

With De Canio's grasp of the language still very limited, it will fall to Reggiani to relate the 50-year-old's thoughts to his players during Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie at Chelsea - even if it means giving them the hairdryer treatment.

Reggiani revealed: "De Canio is adamant that I have the same spirit as him when he is giving a team talk.

"So if he is ranting and raving, then I have to do the same. It was tough at first, because you wonder if the players will just think: 'Who the hell is this?' But it has helped me that I understand what it means to do sport at a high level."

Reggiani represented British rowing teams at the World Junior and European Championships.

Although a back problem has put the brakes on his ambitions, he hopes to be part of the British team in London in 2012. After graduating from Oxford Brookes University in exercise and health, he is studying for a Masters degree in sports science at Brunel University. Only a gold medal would surpass the intense - albeit brief - level of fame he gained when he acted as Fabio Capello's translator for the new England manager's first press conference last month.

Reggiani was questioned in some quarters for the way he rendered the words of Capello in English and he admitted that his short time in the spotlight had been daunting. "Doing the Capello press conference was mind-blowing," he said. "I have had to take a certain degree of criticism since but I don't think I got anything wrong. "Capello said well done to me afterwards."