SIMPLY THE BEST!!! (Glasgow Rangers F.C.)

Member Name: thebigc1690

Product:	Glasgow Rangers F.C.
Date:	27/05/08 (459 review reads)
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The Ger`s, The light blues, The teddy bears, a few of the names the mighty Glasgow Rangers are known as. This giant Glasgow football club was formed in 1872 although the official founding is recognised as having happened one year later when the clubs first annual meeting was held and staff were elected.

The four men that built the first Glasgow rangers team were Peter Campbell, William Mcbeath and Brothers Moses and Peter McNeil. Rangers missed the deadline for joining the Scottish Football Association in their first season so it was spent playing only friendlies which meant that they missed out on taking part in the inaugural Scottish cup in that year but they were later to make up for that by to this day winning it more than thirty times.

Rangers are known as half of the old firm, one of the greatest rivalries in world football, the other half being Glasgow Celtic. Celtic were formed in 1888 and the first old firm match quickly took place a game which Rangers lost 5-2 but the team they played could scarcely be called celtic as they at that time did not have a full complement of players and had made the team up with mostly guest players from Hibernian football club.

1890/91 was the first ever Scottish football league and Rangers as they have so often since (51 times to be exact) went on to win it although for the first and only time they shared the league trophy with Dumbarton fc after finishing joint on points and drawing a play off 2-2 it was decided fair that the trophy was shared. The 51 league titles won by rangers to present day is a world record with no other recognised league team ever having won their domestic league this many times.

A 3-1 victory over their Glasgow rivals and the other half of the old firm (Celtic)in the final saw rangers win their first Scottish cup in 1894, they would go on to lift the illustrious trophy twice more before the turn of the century putting the club firmly on the map, Rangers had arrived!

With the ancient history out the way I will tell you a bit about the Rangers I have watched through my life. I became a fan of the club when my dad, a Celtic fan took me to see and old firm match at Celtic`s home ground (Parkhead) a match which rangers won three nil and being a kid I just wanted to support the team that won and I have never looked back much to my dad`s dismay.

Through my time as a fan which started around the age of 7 I have seen many good times and a few bad, most of the earlier years as a fan I have very few memories of but from about the age of 12 I can remember all the great occasions and even the bad that I experienced as a Glasgow rangers fan. I was lucky enough to be fan during the Davie Cooper era which for me was one of the greatest times to be a Rangers fan alongside the 9 in a row team which featured the likes of George Albertz (the hammer), Paul Gascoigne (gazza) and Brian Laudrup (pure genius).

To explain the 9 in a row team that I mentioned in the last paragraph, this was one of the rangers teams that formed the group of players who led Rangers to 9 league trophies in a row, equalling Celtics record which they said could never be done in modern times. Rangers should really have gone on to win ten but a lack of fresh faces to the club, tired legs and the announcement that our manager at that time was to quit at the end of the season all led to us throwing the tenth title away at the end of a very trying season. I believe had we reached ten we would have set an unbeatable record and stood out there alone as the record holders rather than sharing the title with Celtic.

Rangers have had some awesome players tread the turf at the amazing Ibrox Park from players way before my time like Moses Mcneil (one of the clubs founders) who in 1876 became Rangers first ever internationalist when he played for Scotland against Wales, John Mcpherson who was regarded as the best Rangers player during the clubs first 50 years with his everlasting claim to fame being that he was the first player ever to score a hat- trick in the Scottish league, Willie Waddell a man who gave his life to Rangers football club spending a massive 50 years associated with the club as player, manager, managing director and vice chairman of the club. Willie played more than 500 games for rangers although 200 of them were not realised as official because they came during war time. He scored 64 times outside of war time and 88 during it and on to one of the greatest talents ever to kick a ball in the light blue jersey of rangers Jim Baxter, Jim was truly world class ( a term which gets banded about far too much these days. He was a true genius with a ball at his feet, I have only ever seen video footage of this man but I can tell you that the sight of this man with a ball at his feet taking on player after player and showboating all the way is breathtaking.

Jim Baxter Loved to take players on and not just one or two he would have a go at the whole opposition team some times and pull it off. One of his most memorable moments came not in the light blue shirt of Rangers but in the colours of his country (Scotland) for whom he was capped 34 times. The moment came as Scotland took on the then world champions England at Wembley, Jm went on an amazing run down the wing playing keepy uppy with the ball whilst leaving English midfielders in his wake and although he never took time to sit on the ball after beating them as folklore would have us believe he did take time to stop and look back at the so called English greats he had left in his wake.

Jim Played 254 times for Rangers winning three leagues, 3 scottish cups and 4 league cups with the club and entertaining everyone who watched him with the exception of the Celtic fans who saw their team largely unable to beat a Rangers team with Jim in the side as he can boast playing Celtic 18 times and losing to them only twice.

On to players that I have seen playing for rangers in my time and amongst them are a few awesome talents also with the afore mentioned Gazza and Laudrup being up there with the best. I have admired and enjoyed watching many players as modern day fan but beyond doubt the most influential and talented player of the modern age was the late Davie Cooper.

Coop`s was a magician who could cross the ball with Beckham like perfection everytime, he was a true match winner. When rangers were struggling to find that perfect ball or the goal they needed to win matches Davie Cooper would oblige almost everytime.

Appearing for rangers 540 times, winning three leagues, three Scottish cups and seven league cups made sure he would go down as a huge part of Rangers history and become a massive favourite with the fans. Davie Cooper was also a Scotland international and he shone as bright in a Scotland jersey as he did in the light blue of his beloved Glasgow Rangers. Out of his 75 goals scored for Rangers the one against Celtic in the Drybrough cup stood out head and shoulders over the rest and not least because it was against their old firm rivals, Cooper took the ball on his chest on the edge of the box with his back to goal, it looked like he had nowhere to go but Coopers magic saw him flick the ball in the air four times with his left foot taking out four Celtic defenders as he did so before sticking the ball in the net for what has been voted the best rangers goal ever.

Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup were right behing Coop`s for class and ability with Gazza`s Flair and silky skills and Laudrups pace and intelligence they were areal sight to behold and tore apart so many defences and put on so many shows for all Rangers fans they will never ever be forgotten. Gazza these days is having so many problems with stress and mental problems it is very sad to see but I think it was always inevitable because of the life style he led whereas Brian was completely different, a model professional on and off the park Brian was an excellent role model for kids as well as an excellent footballer.

Now onto one of the most influential players to play for rangers in the modern era now back at the club as assistant manager, one Ally mccoist. Ally was an out and out goal scorer it didn't matter whether he had twenty chances or only one you could always rely on Coisty to stick the ball in the back of the net. He was never the hardest working player sometimes disappearing out of the game all together but when push came to shove up he would pop with the goal or goals rangers needed.

There are so many Ally goals to talk about but one of the most memorable for me came during a Scottish cup semi final against Hib`s when Rangers were one nil down and going out the cup unless they could find an equalizer in the last 5 minutes to take it to a replay. Ally Mccoist was on the bench because he was coming back from injury and had been rested for the upcoming league match against hearts at the weekend however the time had come to introduce him to the game, a corner to rangers was just about to be taken as Ally came on the pitch he made his way straight into the penalty area and as the ball missed everyone at the front post it made its way through to Ally at the back post who stuck out his right foot and poked the ball into the back of the net.

This was not only Ally`s first touch of the ball but proved to be his only touch as the game played out in midfield, so Ally literally had one touch of the ball that day and used it to score, a mark of a true goal scorer. Ally scored a total of 355 goals in 581 appearances for rangers including 34 in a season three times and a massive 28 hat tricks, no wonder he earned the nick name Super Ally.

In even more modern days we Rangers fans have been treated to some fine players but there have been bad ones too including Rangers record signing Tore André Flo who cost rangers over £12 million in a transfer from Chelsea. Flo failed to impress at Ibrox although in the cold light of day his goal per game ratio was not all that bad I think it was the fact that he cost so much and had such expectation on his shoulders meant that he could never fulfill his potential.

Coming right up to date now and the last few seasons have saw mixed emotions for Rangers fans, the arrival of paul le Guen as Rangers manager was expected to bring greatness to Rangers but instead brought disaster. LeGuen was known to be a fantastic manager in his home country of France but Scottish football did not aggree with him nor did most of the Rangers players which saw Rangers slump to some very bad lows until he was shown the door and the return of a true Rangers greatas manager, Walter Smith turned things around in a big way. Walter in this season (2007/08) led Rangers to the final of every competition he entered including the Uefa cup, Rangers lost the final of the Uefa cup but won both the Scottish cup and the CIS cup. Rangers almost had the league wrapped up to but with only a few weeks to go they let a seven point advantage slip through their grasp but with good rason in my opinion, Rangers because of call off`s due to the weather and A huge amount of cup replays and reaching the Uefa cup final found themselves playing a game every few days sometimes every two days for the last three weeks of the season and this proved too much for a tired team full of injuries and suspensions.

It was expected that the spl would extend the season to allow Rangers to fit in their remaining games in a normal manor but this never happened and ultimately cost Rangers the treble and possibly even done them out of European glory too. Playing the amount of games in the time Rangers had to has never happened in professional football before and I bet it never does again either.

So there you have it a bit of history and my opinion on what is a great Football club with great tradition and a great past. I unfortunately can't get to many games these days because of other commitments but I never miss a match on TV and get to Ibrox as often as I can to cheer on the mighty Gers.

I do not usually do lists in my reviews but I will finish this review with some history facts about Glasgow Rangers so you can better understand their history and get to grasp with their amazing Records which include winning their domestic league 51 times a feat which has never been repeated by any other team worldwide.

With 51 league titles, 31 Scottish cup and 24 league cup wins, Rangers are the most successful club domestically on the planet. They've also won the European cup winners' cup.

Scottish League Champions

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

Scottish Cup Winners

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 1996 1997 1999 2000 2002 2003 2008

Scottish League Cup Winners

1946/47 1948/49 1960/61 1961/62 1963/64 1964/65 1970/71 1975/76 1977/78 1978/79 1981/82 1983/84 1984/85 1986/87 1987/88 1988/89 1990/91 1992/93 1993/94 1996/97 1998/99 2001/02 2002/03 2004/05 2007/08

Manager`s past and present

William Wilton
was the first manager of Rangers
1899 - 1920

Bill Struth
during his 34 years as manager, he shaped the club's future for many years to come.
1920 - 1954

SCOT Symon
followed the legendary Bill Struth but he left his mark on the club during 13 years as Rangers manager.
1954 - 1967

David White
found himself pitched into the Ibrox hot seat in a sudden and unexpected manner.
1967 - 1969

Willie Waddell
with the club for almost 50 years contributed more to Rangers than any other man, as player, manager and executive of the club.
1969 - 1972

Jock Wallace
managed Rangers twice and, in the first of those stints, he succeeded to win two League, Cup and League Cup Trebles in the space of three seasons.
1972 - 1978 and 1983 - 1986

John Greig
was suddenly thrust from the playing field into manager's office.
1978 - 1983

Graeme Souness
Rangers first player-manager at Ibrox.
1986 - 1991

Walter Smith
grew up as a Rangers supporter and went on to manage the 9 in a row team.
1991 - 1998

Dick Advocaat
became the first manager from outside Scotland.
1998 - 2001

Alex McLeish
was appointed manager of Rangers mid way through season 2001 - 2002, it was thought buy some people that it was a chance taking on a manager that has little experience at the top level of management.
It was decided that McLeish would leave at the end of an unsuccessful season 2005/06.
2001 - 2006

Paul Le Guen
It was announced on March 11th 2006 that Paul Le Guen would take over the manager's job at Rangers in the summer of 2006. He comes with a great pedigree from his job with Olympique Lyon in France taking them to three successive Ligue 1 titles and into the Champions League.
It was announced on 4th Jan 2007 by Chairman David Murray: "Having met with Paul it was clear that in the interests of the club we agreed jointly to him stepping down as manager."
2006 - 4th Jan 2007

Walter Smith
David Murray announced on 10th Jan 2007 that Walter Smith would be returning to Rangers to manage the team for a second time along with Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall named as the dream team.
2007 -


RECORDS!
=========

Rangers hold the world record for number of domestic league championships won,racking up 51 titles.

They hold the record for domestic trebles,with seven so far.
Rangers won their 100th major trophy in 2000, the first club in the world to reach that milestone.

Have competed in European competitions in more seasons than any other British club,46 times as of and including 2006-07.

First Scottish club to qualify from both the Champions League group stage (2005-06)and the UEFA Cup group stage (2006-07).

Club Records!

Record home attendance: 118,567 vs Celtic, January 1939

Record victory: 13-0 vs Possilpark, Scottish Cup, October 1877

Record league victory: 10-0 vs Hibernian, December 1898

Record defeat: 2-10 vs Airdrieonians, 1886

Record league defeat: 0-6 vs Dumbarton, May 1892

Record appearances: John Greig, 755, 1960-1978

Record league appearances: Sandy Archibald, 513, 1917-1934

Record Scottish Cup appearances: Alec Smith, 74

Record Scottish League Cup appearances: John Greig, 121

Record European football appearances: John Greig, Barry Ferguson, 64

Record goalscorer: Ally McCoist, 355 goals, 1983-1998

Most goals in one season: Sam English, 44 goals, 1931/1932

Most league goals: Ally McCoist, 251 goals

Most Scottish Cup goals: Jimmy Fleming, 44 goals

Most League Cup goals: Ally McCoist, 54 goals

Most European goals: Ally McCoist, 21 goals

Shutout record: Chris Woods, 1196 minutes, 1986/87 (British record)

Most capped player: Frank de Boer, 112 caps for The Netherlands

Highest transfer fee received: Giovanni van Bronckhorst, £8.5m, Arsenal, 2001

Highest transfer fee paid: Tore André Flo, £12.5m, Chelsea, 2000

Some of the above information was taken from http://www.followfollow.com (the unofficial Rangers website) with thanks!

Thanks for reading!

©2008 thebigc1690

Summary: Follow, Follow we will Follow rangers anywhere, everywhere we will follow on!