Rangers FC
From RangersPedia
Rangers Football Club are an association football team based in Glasgow, Scotland, who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as Bears. They are sometimes referred to as Glasgow Rangers, although the word Glasgow does not form part of the club's official title. The club is incorporated as The Rangers Football Club plc. The club's home is the all-seated 51,082-capacity Ibrox Stadium in south-west Glasgow.
Rangers have won 53 domestic league titles, more than any other team in the world. They have won the Scottish League Cup 26 times — more than any other Scottish club — and the Scottish Cup 33 times. In 1961 Rangers were the first British team to compete in a European final when they reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. They won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1972, having been the runners-up in 1961 and 1967, and were runners-up in the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. An estimated 200,000 Rangers fans made the journey to Manchester for the final, most of whom did not have tickets.
Rangers' players and fans today are of various religions and beliefs but they are known as a Protestant club around the world and more importantly, to the fans. The supporters also fly the Union Flag symbolising their support for the Union. They attract a large support from Northern Ireland and particularly the Unionist community in Ulster. Rangers FC - Scottish, British and proud.
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History
Formation and early years
Rangers were formed in March 1872 (not 1873 as had previously been assumed by many, including the Club itself) by four teenagers: Moses McNeil (16), his brother Peter(17), William McBeath (15) and Peter Campbell (15). These four are often referred to as the 'Gallant Pioneers' of the Club and they were soon joined by Tom Vallance (16) who rose to become captain and mainstay during the Club's early years. Little did they know that they had created one of the world's most famous football clubs. The idea of starting a football team came about in February of the year 1872. They wanted to get involved in the sport that was getting more and more popular in Glasgow by the day and decided on the name Rangers from an English rugby club. Moses was said to have chosen this name from C W Alcock's Football Annual. They finally got a ball and you could say it was a 'family affair'; half the team were made up of McNeil's and Campbell's.
As you may know, they played their first match in May 1872 against Callendar FC. It finished 0-0 at Flesher's Haugh, a public park that Peter McNeil had to get down there early to claim their space for the game and put up goalposts. The year 1873 is the official founding of Rangers as that was the year we elected office bearers. We were becoming business-like. The next match was against Clyde (not the present-day one) and it was the first game we wore the light blue. It must have done the trick as we beat them 11-0...who knew that throughout the next 130 years or so we would still be winning wearing the colour blue?
One problem that we did have was a ground. Flesher's Haugh was a public park and the players still had to get ready behind trees before a game. The Founding Fathers wanted a professional football club and the team trained 3 nights a week. We entered the Scottish Cup for the first time in 1874 but were knocked out against Dumbarton in the second round after beating Oxford in the first round. We eventually found a ground of our own in 1875 when we moved south side of Great Western Road to Burnbank. Vale of Leven opened it up with a 1-1 draw, Vale were Scotland's second club behind Queen's Park at the time. Five years after our founding, we made it to our first major cup final against Vale of Leven. The game was played at First Hampden Park and it finished 1-1 so a replay beckoned. Rangers refused to turn up for the replay and Vale were awarded the cup. The Rangers squad were enjoying a day out at the Ayr Races! In all seriousness, we were 1-0 up and put another one in the net but the ref disallowed it for offside. Rangers were that angry that they refused to turn up but they got their revenge the next year in the Charity Cup. We won this one 2-1 in a bad tempered match and it was Vale's turn to feel aggrieved as they protested against a disallowed goal but the SFA threw that away and the Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was the first major trophy to be won by the team.
The 1890/91 brought the first ever Scottish League and Rangers would find themselves tied with Dumbarton at the top. A play-off would commence and Rangers took a two-goal lead but let that slip and it finished 2-2. The Championship was shared for the first time in its history. Another notable season was the 1898/99 that saw us win every game - a record that no club can match. We would go on to make many more landmarks.
The Bill Struth Era
When Rangers first ever manager, William Wilton was tragically killed in a boating accident in 1920, Bill Struth took charge and began arguably the clubs most successful era to date. Struth had a phenomenal record as manager - he won 25 league championships in 34 years. Struths other honours included 10 Scottish Cups, 2 league cups, 19 Glasgow Cups and 17 Glasgow Merchant Charity cups. He was known widely for his disciplinarian attitude, and made the players wear collar and tie for training.
Struth took up other positions in the club as well as manager, before being manager he was Wiltons assistant. Towards the end of his career, he also took on the roles of director and vice chairman, after retiring as Rangers manager in 1954. The Bill Struth Main Stand and a bronze bust of him (located in the Main Stand) are tributes to him inside the ground, not to mention the famous painting of him that hangs in the Ibrox Trophy Room
The War Years
Rangers were incredibly successful during the war. Unfortunately, most of our results and cups didn't officially count because of players that served their country during the time. We were top of the league when war was declared in early September, 3 clear of Celtic. We had won 4 and drawn 1 of the first 5 games and sat familiarly top of the league with 9 points. It was 2 points for a win in those days remember. Rangers had many players that served in the army during this period, despite claims from people who casted envious glares down Ibrox way because of our success at the time. Out of the 34 domestic trophies available during this time period, Rangers won 25 of them.
Post-Struth to the 70's
These years were quiet years for Rangers, with not much happening on or off the park. After Struth, manager Scot Symon took over and lasted for thirteen years, winning six league titles, five Scottish Cups and four League Cups. In 1960 he took Rangers to the European Cup semi-final, only to lose to Eintracht Frankfurt. He was dismissed in October 1967.
Davie White was next to take charge. He lasted a total of two years, and did not manage to win any trophies. He was fired after Rangers were beaten 6-2 on aggregate by Polish side Górnik Zabrze. His team had enjoyed two decent runs in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in the years before.
Nine in a Row
Rangers won the league every year from 1989 to 1997. It was the second time in our history we had achieved this feat although the first time was during the war years and like the record 8-1 Old Firm win over Celtic, was deemed unofficial. Graeme Souness won 2 of those before departing for Liverpool leaving Walter Smith to win the the other 7. Rangers simply had more money than any other team in Scotland at the time and had better players. The most challenging one was in 1991 when it was between us and Aberdeen. All Aberdeen had to do was draw to win the league and Rangers had to win. Goals from Mark Hateley gave us a 2-0 win and set us up for the rest. The 9th was achieved at Tannadice thanks to a header from Brian Laudrup after a great cross from Charlie Miller. That elusive 10th proved one step too far but in all honesty, we should have won it with our hands tied behind our backs. Each team kept dropping points throughout and it came to the last 2 games of the season. We were 2 points ahead with two games to go and had Kilmarnock at Ibrox. Surely an easy victory but unbelievably, we lost it 1-0. This gave Celtic the opportunity to win the league on the last game at home to St. Johnstone and they did so. The dream was over.
Downsizing Under McLeish
Alex McLeish was appointed as Dick Advocaat's successor on 11th December 2001. He made an immediate impact at Ibrox, beating Celtic 2-1 in the semi final before beating Ayr 4-1 in the final. He achieved the double by beating Celtic 3-2 in the final, Peter Lovenkrands scoring in the last minute to secure a memorable triumph. The 02/03 season proved to follow on from where they left off and we won the 7th treble in club history. With players like Ronaldo De Boer, Barry Ferguson, Lorenzo Amoruso, Stefan Klos, Shota Arveladze etc... we won the league in the last day of the season to record our 50th League Championship, a world record. We finished the season with 97 points from 31 wins and 101 goals. A couple of goals proved to be the decider in that campaign as Celtic matched us all the way. This success was sandwiched between a League Cup final win over Celtic and Scottish Cup victory over Dundee. The next season was a huge disappointment, we sold off Barry Ferguson, Lorenzo Amoruso and Neil McCann to cut costs and the squad was never the same. We qualified for the Champions League but that was the only highlight and we finished the season trophyless. The 04-05 campaign was made up mainly of McLeish signings and it was a big improvement on the previous one. We won the League Cup against Motherwell and the league yet again went to the wire. With 5 games to go in the league, Celtic were up next at Ibrox. They held a 2 point advantage over us and a win for them surely would spell the end for our title hopes. Goals from Petrov and Bellamy gave them a 2-1 win and with 4 games left, they held a 5 points advantage. It looked impossible to come back from but Hibs defeated Celtic at Parkhead and things looked a tiny bit better. We defeated Aberdeen up north with a famous celebration from Dado Prso. Both teams would win the rest of their games until it came to the final day. With Rangers 2 points behind, we were away to Hibs and they were away at Motherwell. We had to win to have any chance of winning this title and hoped Celtic would drop points. Sutton put Sellick ahead around 30 minutes and things stayed that way at half time. We needed a two goal swing and the first of those came on 60 minutes as Novo's cross found it's way in the Hibs goal. The minutes ticked by and the Rangers players on the pitch were just stroking the ball about hoping to hear some news. The Hibs players just allowed us to do this as the scoreline guaranteed them qualification to the UEFA Cup. Then, with 88 minutes on the clock, the Rangers fans roared. Scott McDonald scored and made it 1-1 at Fir Park. Three minutes later and he scored again! Within a space of three minutes, we went from runners-up to Champions and it's probably the best championship win in history, although some will have their personal favourite. The 06-07 season isn't worth mentioning. To finish 3rd in a 2 horse race is unacceptable but we were the first Scottish club to qualify for the Last 16 of the Champions League. The only bright spark in a woeful season and the next would be managed by our second ever foreign manager.
The Revolution
Chairman David Murray described Paul Le Guen's arrival as "a massive moonbeam of success"...how wrong he was. The Frenchman went about his business quickly and brought in a number of players including Lionel Letizi, Karl Svensson, Libor Sionko and Filip Sebo. After a mixed preseason in South Africa, we went to Fir Park for the first game of the season. Big DJ on Clyde 1 described the first half as the best half of football he'd seen from Rangers for years and we won it 2-1. The season progressed and something wasn't quite right. We were unable to win 3 straight games for months and when we did do it, Falkirk ended it with a 1-0 win. When things appeared to be getting better (beating Aberdeen 2-1 up north, dominating Celtic at Ibrox, beating Hibs 3-0) we lost to Inverness and drew with St. Mirren. His last game proved to be at the location of his first and a Kris Boyd penalty gave us a 1-0 win. Boyd celebrated his goal with 6 fingers, in reference to former captain Barry Ferguson who had been dropped by the manager. Paul Le Guen explained in his post-match interview that he felt Ferguson was undermining him and had too much influence in the dressing room. Paul Le Guen and David Murray would come to an agreement and the Frenchman packed his things and signed for PSG a couple of weeks later. 'The Revolution' hadn't worked as planned and we turned to one man in our hour of need. Step forward Walter Smith.
Stability
Walter Smith returned to Rangers on January 10th 2007 from the Scotland post. He immediately brought in assistant Ally McCoist and Celtic reserve coach Kenny McDowall. He brought back Barry Ferguson and the team won 5-0 against Dundee United in horrible conditions in Govan. That's the kind of result Le Guen would've killed for. David Weir and Ugo Ehiogu were brought in to shore the defense and the central partnership had a combined age of 70! It worked though and hypothetically, if the league started since Walter's return in January Rangers would have won the league with games to spare. The 07-08 season was the serious one though and a lot of money was spent to make sure we would be successful. After a shaky start, we would go on a run of 18 wins in 19 games and one defeat in 30, even that defeat against Werder Bremen was enough to take us through! It all seemed perfect down Ibrox at that time before our run of games caught up on us. A Nacho Novo penalty in the shoot out would send us the UEFA Cup final and we seemed certain to win at least a treble. Despite having a 7 point lead with a game in hand, we blew it and Celtic won the league by 3 points. Zenit would also beat us in the UEFA Cup final and the dream season ended with a whimper, not what this team deserved at all. We would add the Scottish Cup and the League Cup to the Trophy Room but everyone knew we had blown it towards the end. The 08-09 season started horrifically; we were knocked out of Europe altogether by FBK Kaunas. Things were looking bleak but millions were spent once again and it contributed to us winning the title. One of the most important titles in our history was won at Tannadice and you can't even imagine the calibre of player at Ibrox the now had we not won that. A Nacho Novo volley from 30 yards against Falkirk in the Scottish Cup final would give us our 33rd success in that competition. So in 3 years Walter Smith has managed 2 league titles, 2 Scottish Cups, 2 League Cups and a European final. Take a bow.
Club colours
The Rangers club colours have traditionally been royal blue, white and red. This has been the case since the day of Rangers' birth, and the club are proud of this.
The home strip is always a traditional royal blue top with white/red trims, white shorts and black socks with red turnups. However, sometimes the socks and shorts combination can alter from royal blue shorts and socks to white shorts and white socks.
The away strip has differed year to year, and the Rangers were even seen one season sporting a (controversial to some) orange top which, incidentally, is one of the best selling Rangers tops of all time. The official colour of this kit was 'tangerine' though! Other colours are the predominant red and white, and light/dark blue aswell.
Rangers' have had four kit sponsors, which are CR Smith (1984 - 1987), McEwans Lager (1987 - 1999), NTL (1999 - 2003) and Carling (2003 - Present). We will be changing to Tennent's Lager for the 2010/11 in a 3 year deal worth £1.5m per year. It will be over 10 years we have shared the same sponsor with Glasgow's second club.
The kit was made originally by Umbro between 1978 and 1990. Admiral then produced the goods for two years between 1990 - 1992. Then it was Adidas (1992-1997), Nike (1997 - 2002), Diadora (2002 - 2005) then back again to Umbro, who make the current strip.
Click here to see every home kit we've had in our history.
Click here to see every away kit we've had in our history.
Club Crest
The famous 'RFC' Scroll crest is instantly recognisable to football fans across the world and is steeped in history. It is believed to have been used by the Club since its formation in 1872 although the oldest item to be found with this crest stamped on it is from 1881/82 season (image left). The Members Ticket for Rangers' previous home at Kinning Park is now on display in the Ibrox Trophy Room and this traditional design remained in place for over 70 years.
In 1959 the club moved away from this detail, replacing the Scroll crest with a lion and the Club's now famous motto 'READY'. A new circular look was also chosen, as can be seen from the image (right) taken from a Rangers Handbook from 1959/60. At the end of the 60's this again changed with Rangers having to register a new Crest which would become synonymous with the Club. The 'READY' Crest again featured a circular design but with 'The Rangers Football Club Ltd' shortened to 'Rangers Football Club' on the outer rim. In the middle a larger football was put in place with the lion and 'Ready' motto more prominent. This has remained the same ever since.
Although the 'RFC' Scroll Crest was omitted in 1959 it made a welcome return in 1968 when it was placed on the club's home jersey for the very first time. It was later added to the shorts a decade later for the start of the 1978/99 season.
Over the years there have been minor alterations to the Scroll Crest found on the club's strips. From 1990 to 1994 'Rangers Football Club' and the 'READY' motto were placed above and below the Crest respectively on the Admiral and Adidas manufactured jerseys. In 1997/98 the Crest was placed in a shield in what was Nike's first year in partnership with the Club but perhaps the most significant change was before the start of the 2003/04 campaign. Having clinched their 50th League Championship under the guidance of Alex McLeish, a year in which Rangers secured a domestic Treble, the Club decided to add five stars above the Scoll Crest, one for every ten titles won.
These stars will again sit proudly on the Rangers' kits for the 2010/11 campaign as Walter Smith's men look go in search of a 54th League success.
Records and Honours
European Cup Winners Cup
- Winners 1972; Runners-up 1961, 1967
UEFA Cup
- Runners-up 2008
Scottish League Champions (53)
- 1891, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010
- In 1891 the championship was shared with Dumbarton
Scottish Cup Winners (33)
- 1894, 1897, 1898, 1903, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009
Scottish League Cup Winners (26)
- 1946, 1948, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2010
Record Ibrox attendance:
- 118,730 v Celtic, Division One, January 2nd, 1939
Record Victory:
- 13-0 v Possilpark, Scottish Cup, October 6, 1877, v Uddingston, Scottish Cup, November 10, 1877 and v Kelvinside, Scottish Cup, September 28, 1889.
Most goals in a game:
- 14-2 Blairgowrie, Scottish Cup, 1934
Record Defeat:
- 1-7 v Celtic, League Cup Final, October 19, 1957
For a complete list, see List of records and honours
Video
Video by RangersMedia's very own McBoyd.
