of position, described as embarrassing by The Times, when TV footage contradicted his story. Subsequently, the BBC featured reports that Rangers supporters' racism had increased, in support of Amoruso. In the 2000–01 season, when Rangers exited the UEFA Champions League to Monaco partly because of another bad mistake by Amoruso, he was stripped of the captaincy (which went to the 22-year-old Barry Ferguson). Amoruso had captained the club for two years, the first ever Catholic to do so. He was left humiliated by the demotion and later accused Advocaat of trying to destroy him. After Dick Advocaat's October 2000 attack on what he described as "fat necks" in his squad, reports named the Italian as a probable target. More errors had seen Amoruso again booed by his own teams' supporters. During this period Amoruso was linked with moves to English clubs Fulham and West Ham United. Advocaat was later removed as manager and Amoruso rediscovered his form under new boss Alex McLeish; winning the 2002 Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year. After a four-match ban for spitting on James Grady, he scored the winning goal in his final game for Rangers—the 2003 Scottish Cup final—and wept as he left the pitch. Blackburn Rovers Amoruso left Rangers in July 2003 to make a £1.4 million move to Blackburn Rovers, who wanted him as a replacement for Henning Berg. The sale was forced by Rangers' large debts. His Blackburn debut came on 16 August 2003, when he scored the opening goal of a 5–1 home win over promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers. In October, he was ruled out following a knee operation. As he returned and came into the team on a sporadic basis playing only eighteen times for Blackburn. His 2004–05 season was marred by regular injuries and he did not play any part of the 2005–06 season. He was released by Rovers in the summer of 2006. In January 2008, Amoruso briefly came out of retirement to sign for Cosmos of San Marino on a part-time basis. International career Amoruso represented Italy at the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship and won two caps at Under 21 level. He was never selected by Italy at full international level, which Amoruso attributed to a "strange mentality" pervading his homeland. He blamed Giovanni Trapattoni, Cesare Maldini and Dino Zoff for failing to provide him with the call-up he felt he deserved. In 2020, he