Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Rangers F.C." in English language version.
On Old Firm weekends, admission rates for local hospitals increase ninefold, and the cumulative total for arrests at Old Firm games is the highest in the world.
The conflict in Ireland failed to be the catalyst which swept the religious cobwebs from the Ibrox-based club's terraces and boardroom. One of its managers even had no qualms in the 1970s about urging his players to roar out the loyalist battle-cry 'No Surrender' as they ran up the tunnel at Ibrox.
Rangers chairman John McClelland has attempted to assure shareholders the club's £52m debt is nothing to be alarmed over.
Until Gravesen gave the home side the lead there was a wariness about both sides, which betrayed the number of players on each side who were making their first appearance in the conflict. If Celtic were expected to be dominant – with Rangers reliant on the absorption of pressure and the counter-thrust – Gordon Strachan and his players would also be mindful of the four-point advantage they held over their great rivals and the need not to risk having it damaged.
Attendance 49,463
GMP would like to stress that the vast majority of supporters have behaved impeccably and came to Manchester clearly intent on enjoying the carnival atmosphere.
Rangers chairman John McClelland has vowed to root out the racist fans who booed whenever Celtic's Bobo Balde and Momo Sylla had possession during his club's Old Firm derby defeat on Saturday.
The club's origins date back to 1872 when Moses McNeil, his brother Peter, Peter Campbell and William McBeath formed their own team in Glasgow.
The name Rangers was adopted from an English rugby club and the first game, against Callander FC, ended 0–0. The club's official beginning came to be recognised as 1873, when the first annual general meeting was held.
By the time of the first Scottish Football League season in 1890, Rangers had arrived at their current home of Ibrox, in the south east of Glasgow, via Burnbank and Kinning Park.
Rangers finished joint top of the league with Dumbarton, and after a play-off ended 2–2, a decision was taken to share the title.
This was the only time the league has ever been shared, and it marked the first senior honour for Rangers.
Rangers won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 1894, beating Celtic 3–1
Three years later, the club recorded their first ever Scottish Cup win, beating Celtic 3–1 in the 1894 final.
Rangers won the trophy again in 1897 and 1898 with victories over Dumbarton and Kilmarnock.
It would be over six months later before the newly-constituted Celtic club played its first ever match, on 28 May 1888 which resulted in a 5–2 win over Rangers, in what was called a 'friendly match'.
Rangers were handed a two-year ban by UEFA for their fans' poor behaviour. Waddell succeeded in getting this reduced to one year, meaning Rangers could not defend their trophy. Waddell argued that the police had over-reacted, that the fans were drunk but not intent on violence, and that recent European finals had witnessed rejoicing Celtic, Bayern Munich and Ajax fans running on to the park and those occasions had been deemed acceptable.
Dundee United knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup with a deserved fifth-round victory at Ibrox.
Rangers have been deducted 10 points after entering administration.
Reigning champions Rangers prevented the Scottish title being won on their own patch despite a dramatic late rally from nine-man runaway leaders Celtic.
BBC Scotland has learned that 10 of the 12 clubs were in opposition, with Kilmarnock abstaining and Rangers voting in favour.
Rangers suffered a shock first loss in the Third Division after crashing to defeat against bottom side Stirling Albion.
Rangers made a shock exit in the Ramsdens Cup after a penalty shoot-out defeat by Queen of the South at Ibrox.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle advanced to the semi-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup for the first time with an ultimately comfortable defeat of Rangers.
It was always going to put a massive strain on the city. An invasion of up to 200,000 Rangers supporters for the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester swamped the city's pubs and bars and the dedicated fan zones.
Donald Findlay QC tells John Humphrys about the effect singing sectarian, anti-Catholic songs at a party for Glasgow Rangers had on his life, and how he, at one stage, even contemplated suicide.
Rangers Football Club has confirmed it has filed legal papers at the Court of Session to appoint administrators.
HMRC lodged its petition over alleged non-payment of about £9m in PAYE and VAT following Craig Whyte's takeover.
Rangers' administrators estimate that the club's total debts could top £134m.
A criminal investigation is to be launched into Craig Whyte's takeover of Rangers Football Club in May last year.
And Green, who bought Rangers' assets after the company that formerly ran the club could not be saved from liquidation, believes the decision to sell tickets directly to visiting fans could spark trouble at the match.
The three-man commission will decide if the company that formerly ran Rangers broke Scottish Premier League rules.
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The commission will study the financial arrangements made by the Employee Benefit Trust scheme run by former Rangers owner Sir David Murray's company, Murray International Holdings.
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The probe was launched before the company that ran Rangers – The Rangers Football Club Plc – was consigned to liquidation.
The consortium now running the club, led by chief executive Charles Green, has refused to recognise or co-operate with the investigation.
Businessman Charles Green led a consortium to buy Rangers' assets for £5.5m and reformed the club as a new company. But the 'newco' did not get the required votes for re-admittance to the SPL and instead, Rangers were relaunched in Division Three, drawing 2–2 with Peterhead in their opening game.
Raith Rovers and Clyde insist plans to place the Rangers newco in Scottish Division One should not be forced upon Scottish Football League clubs.
"We have received an information pack from Sevco Scotland relevant to their membership application," said the SFA.
When Dick Advocaat became the Rangers manager in 1998, it was a brave new dawn for the Ibrox club as chairman David Murray attempted to begin a new chapter in the club's history following Walter Smith's departure.
Celtic 0–3 Rangers
Rangers created history by winning the title at Celtic Park in a stormy Old Firm game which saw referee Hugh Dallas injured by a missile thrown from the pitch.
Rangers 2–0 Parma
Rangers secured one of their most impressive European results in years, as Italian giants Parma crashed to defeat in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier
Full time: Kaiserslautern 3–0 Rangers
92 mins The Fritz Walter Stadium erupts on the referee's final whistle which brings down the curtain on Rangers' European campaign.
Alex McLeish has been unveiled as Rangers' 11th manager after a dramatic day at Ibrox.
Rangers capped a fabulous season with a hard-earned Scottish Cup win over Dundee at Hampden Park to seal the seventh domestic Treble in the club's history.
Rangers 6–1 Dunfermline Athletic
An injury-time penalty by Mikel Arteta clinched the SPL title for Rangers in an amazing afternoon at Ibrox.
Rangers were 5–1 up as the match entered the last few minutes, but with Celtic 4–0 up at Rugby Park and still playing, they knew the championship was not yet theirs.
Boumsong joined Rangers from Auxerre on a free transfer last summer and made just 28 appearances for them before moving to England.
Rangers have confirmed the signing of Monaco's Croatian striker Dado Prso.
Rangers have completed the signing of Nacho Novo from Dundee but manager Alex McLeish insists his summer spending spree is not yet over.
Rangers pipped rivals Celtic to the Scottish Premier League title after a dramatic final day of the season.
The Gers went into the final game two points behind their Glasgow rivals but a sensational late fightback by Motherwell gave them the title.
Peter Lovenkrands was the goalscoring hero as Rangers became the first Scottish club to qualify from the group stages of the Champions League.
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Criticised by some for his tactics during a run without a win now stretching to 10 games, McLeish got it right on the European stage with the surprise inclusion of Lovenkrands as a lone striker.
Rangers' dream of becoming the first Scottish side in the quarter-finals of the Champions League ended as they lost on the away-goals rule to Villarreal.
Alex McLeish will leave his position as Rangers manager at the end of the season, the club has confirmed
Rangers have announced that Paul Le Guen will replace Alex McLeish as manager at the end of the season.
St Johnstone recorded one of their finest results to stun Rangers at Ibrox and reach the CIS Cup semi-finals.
Paul Le Guen's relationship with Barry Ferguson was never likely to be a marriage made in heaven.
On one side was an authoritarian French manager used to having the final word and working with clean-living, tee-total players.
On the other was a passionate Scottish captain who enjoyed talisman status with the fans and liked to work hard and play hard.
There were reported to be differences between the duo soon after Le Guen took over at Ibrox seven months ago. And they came to the surface at a news conference before the last Old Firm derby on 17 December.
Rangers manager Paul Le Guen has left the club by mutual consent.
Walter Smith has quit as Scotland coach to become boss of Rangers for a second time after agreeing a three-year deal.
Rangers crashed out of the Champions League and into the Uefa Cup with a disappointing home defeat to Lyon.
Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Fiorentina have been dispatched, along with Sporting since Rangers qualified via their position in the Champions League group stage.
Rangers manager Walter Smith described the Co-operative Insurance Cup final win over Celtic as one of his "best ever" victories.
Smith, coming to the end of his second spell in charge at Ibrox, clinched a 20th trophy as Rangers boss after the 2–1 extra-time win at Hampden.
Rangers gave departing manager Walter Smith the perfect send-off as they wrapped up a third-consecutive Scottish Premier League title in style.
A blistering opening saw Kyle Lafferty net twice inside seven minutes, either side of a Steven Naismith strike.
Early in the second half, Nikica Jelavic smashed in a free kick and Lafferty completed his hat-trick with a composed finish.
Rangers exited the Europa League as Maribor claimed an aggregate victory to progress to the group stages.
Manager Ally McCoist believes his Rangers players have only themselves to blame for their shock League Cup defeat by a very youthful Falkirk line-up.
The plans, one of three options being considered by the club, could see the stadium in Glasgow completely rebuilt with a new capacity of 70,000. Rangers would retain the Bill Struth main stand, which is designated as a Category B listed building. Ibrox currently holds 51,082 fans, behind Hampden Park and Celtic Park.
A number of supporters clashed with riot police after a big screen in Manchester broke down. Officers later confirmed 42 people had been arrested.
Police in Manchester have released CCTV images showing up to 200 football fans chasing officers and attacking one of them after the Uefa Cup final.
The catalyst for the recent venom between the two sets of supporters was the 1988 incident involving Neil Simpson and Ian Durrant.
The Faculty of Advocates is to investigate complaints against the leading Scottish lawyer Donald Findlay QC after he was captured on camera singing sectarian songs.
Rangers have been fined £8,280 by Uefa for the behaviour of their fans during their match against Osasuna – but the Spanish club must pay £31,000.
Rangers are to face a Uefa disciplinary hearing over allegations of sectarian singing during last month's Europa League match away to PSV Eindhoven. The club's chief executive Martin Bain says they are "utterly dismayed" by the decision and that they will defend the club's position "vigorously".
Uefa has fined Rangers 40,000 euros (£35,652) and banned its fans from the next away European game for sectarian singing in a match at PSV Eindhoven.
Craig Whyte has completed his takeover of Rangers for £1 but amid continuing concerns by board members about his ability to invest sufficient funds.
Rangers have confirmed for the first time that Ally McCoist will take over as manager when Walter Smith steps down at the end of the season.
The club's reserve-team coach, Ian Durrant, will take charge of training on Friday ahead of the club's next match, a Tennent's Scottish Cup tie, against Dunfermline Athletic on Sunday.
Regarded as one of Scotland's greatest ever players, Jim Baxter can also be counted amongst the Rangers' greats for his terrific achievements in the '60s.
"Slim Jim" joined the club in 1960 for £17,500, a record at the time, and went on to win 10 trophies in the five years he spent in Scotland.
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The Record attendance for a friendly match in the United Kingdom is 104,493, who saw Rangers lose 3–2 to Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden Park on 17 October 1961.
Primrose was associated with the most virulent anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sentiment, and was openly allied with the orange order.
Attendance: 81,405
Scottish giants Rangers slumped to a shock European exit when Linas Pilibaitis gave FBK Kaunas 2–1 an aggregate win in their Champions League second qualifying round tie in Lithuania.
IncorporationDate 27/05/1899
PreviousNames
CONDate 31 July 2012
CompanyName THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB P.L.C.
Rangers were the first British team to reach a European final in 1961
NACHO Novo will be remembered forever as the man whose goal made the helicopter change direction.
RANGERS operations chief Ali Russell insists the Old Firm rivalry is the biggest in the world – because a billion fans tune in to watch two teams devoid of world stars.
I've been Rangers' first Catholic captain
RANGERS went into administration today – as it was revealed they had failed to pay £9million in VAT and PAYE from the current financial year.
The earliest badge featured the celebrated RFC scroll crest believed to have been used since 1872. Then there's the lion rampant and the club motto 'READY', which have appeared on Rangers' badges since 1959. Finally, see the evolution into the current badge, with the famous blue, white and red colours.
Both UEFA and FIFA hold Rangers up as a positive example of a club determined to tackle the problem that threatens its future. And the SFA joins in that praise. "On the sectarianism front Rangers have tried to develop a policy across the Protestant/Catholic divide," says Mr Mitchell. "They have imposed a large number of life bans on supporters who have been identified and found guilty of sectarian behaviour." And Rangers is not alone in taking such action. "Generally speaking it is by the clubs," he says. "If there is a criminal prosecution that has an effect as well, but the clubs themselves have taken that action off their own back, because they have the right to decide who can come into the stadium or not."
Rangers were born in March 1872, after a group of teenage rowing enthusiasts watched a game of football in Glasgow Green. Brothers Peter and Moses McNeil and Peter Campbell and William McBeath got their heads together to give rise to the club, who played just two matches in their first year.
It is believed that Moses McNeil suggested the name 'Rangers' after seeing it in a book about English rugby. The club played their first game in May 1872 at Flecher's Haugh in Glasgow Green against Callander, a match that ended in a 0–0 draw.
Rangers was officially founded in 1873 as that was the year they elected office bearers. The club first donned blue shirts in their second game, against Clyde (not the present-day club), and won it 11–0.
Five years after their founding, Rangers made it to their first major cup final against Vale of Leven. The game was played at First Hampden Park and finished 1–1, so a replay beckoned. Rangers refused to turn up for the replay and Vale were awarded the cup. The teams met the following year in the Charity Cup. Rangers won 2–1 and the Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was the first major trophy to be won by the team.
The 1890–91 season saw the inception of the Scottish Football League, and Rangers were one of ten original members. Rangers' first ever league match took place on 16 August 1890 and resulted in a 5–2 victory over Hearts. After finishing equal-top with Dumbarton, a play-off was held at Cathkin Park to decide the champions. The match finished 2–2 and the title was shared for the only time in its history – the first of Rangers' 54 championships.
2013/2014 42,938
After joining, Rangers finally reached their first final of the Scottish Cup in 1877 but were not victorious.
The eternal rivalry, known as the Old Firm, between the two Glaswegian city teams, Rangers and Celtic has been ongoing since the first Old Firm match in 1888, in which Rangers lost 5–2 in a friendly against the Celtic team which was largely made up of "guest players" from Hibernians.
At this point McLeish was viewed as one of the hottest managers in the game. Success doesn't last forever and Rangers financial state cost McLeish dear in 2003. Many of his prize assets were sold and subsequently Celtic won the league comfortably. Also, Rangers failed to pick up a single trophy that season.
Scotland's contributions to the development of the game were equally impressive in other areas. Glaswegian born architect Archibald Leitch was the pioneering football stadium designer of his day – by the 1920s 16 out of 22 of England's First Division stadiums were Leitch designs. The most famous example of his work still in existence is probably Ibrox. (This would undoubtedly please Leitch, who was a devout Rangers fan.)
McNeil won two caps for Scotland, the first Ranger to represent his country, the first on 25 March 1876 in a 4–0 win over Wales and the second on 13 March 1880 in a 5–4 win over England, in which he played alongside his brother, Henry. Henry McNeil won a total of 10 caps for his country and scored 5 goals.
Rangers secure a world-record 50th championship
Ally McCoist, the manager, normally leaves Sinclair and his staff to choose the youngsters but sometimes will stipulate who he and the first-team staff want. "That daily exposure is priceless," says Sinclair. "The boys become comfortable with the staff and first-team players. If they were round there [first-team pitches] once every six months, it would be a trial but it is a regular process. [Danny] Wilson, [John] Fleck and Little were all steeped in that."
Queen's Park and Rangers, two teams that first met competitively in a Scottish Cup tie in March 1879, some nine years before Celtic were formed, meet in an Irn-Bru Third division encounter at Ibrox.
He returned to Rangers just one year later where he would steer them to six league championships. He also took Rangers into European football for the first time reaching two Cup Winners Cup finals which was a fine achievement by losing in both finals
Jock Wallace was a giant of Scottish football. No other description can do justice to the man who ended Celtic's domination of the game in the 1970s and who, as manager, led Rangers to two domestic trebles within three years, the Glasgow club winning the League title, the League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
But the chief executive at Rangers, Martin Bain, insists there will be no repeat of the scenes of crowd misbehaviour which marred the club's last visit to Manchester. Some 200,000 Rangers fans descended on the city for the Uefa Cup final in 2008 and trouble started when a giant screen failed to work.
RANGERS ISSUED a full public apology to Aberdeen last night for labelling a section of the Pittodrie club's support "scum" in last Saturday's Ibrox matchday programme. Stewart Milne, the Aberdeen chairman, protested to Bob Brannan, the Rangers chief executive, yesterday about the anonymous article which also branded the Dons' team as "under-achievers and money-grabbers"
Findlay, Scotland's leading criminal lawyer, is a Protestant and proud of it. But he was embarrassed to be caught on video singing sectarian songs. They included "The Billy Boys", a verse of which goes: "We're up to our knees in Fenian blood, Surrender or you die, We are the Billy Boys."
GMP would like to stress that the vast majority of supporters have behaved impeccably and came to Manchester clearly intent on enjoying the carnival atmosphere.
Rangers yesterday paraded their latest, and most controversial signing, Maurice Johnston, in the process demolishing any remaining they were sectarian, and upstaging their arch-rivals Celtic.
In the past 15 years, both clubs have tried to stamp out bigotry, largely for pragmatic reasons. The IRA guff puts off sponsors and when the market in foreign footballers opened up in the 1990s, the old prohibition on signing Catholics became irksome for Rangers. Many of the foreign players who have since come to Glasgow must have struggled to remember whether they were playing for the Protestant team or the Catholic one.
All those championships and cups would never have found their way into the Ibrox Trophy Room but for that encounter between Peter McNeil, his brother Moses, Peter Campbell and William McBeath.
Their first match was an unlikely affair against Callander FC at Flesher's Haugh on Glasgow Green.
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The result was 0–0, but that didn't matter. Rangers had been born.
The name Rangers was adopted from an English rugby club. By their second fixture – the only other they played that first year – they had donned the light blue. It must have done the trick – Rangers beat Clyde 11–0.
In season 1875–76 they moved to Burnbank Park and towards the end of that season Rangers had their first international; Moses McNeil, one of the four founders, who made his Scotland debut in a 4–0 victory over Wales.
The following year Rangers made the breakthrough reaching their first Scottish Cup Final. It took three matches to find a winner, and sadly it was their opponents Vale of Leven. After two drawn games, 0–0 and 1–1, Rangers finally succumbed 3–2 in the second replay.
Sadly, Wilton was not to enjoy this extraordinary success which saw Rangers take the title 15 times in 21 seasons.
With the Championship back at Ibrox, Wilton – the club's first manager – died the day after the last game of the season in May 1920, drowning in a boating accident.
Struth, who was appointed his successor, lived to become a legend. He managed the club for 34 years, winning a glittering array of trophies – 18 League Championships, 10 Scottish Cups and two League Cups.
The continuation of trading operations enabled the Joint Administrators to put the CVA Proposal to the creditors of the Company and after the CVA Proposal was rejected by creditors, the Joint Administrators were able to secure a going concern sale of the business, history and assets of the Company to Sevco
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 1978–79 season.
There are more than 600 registered supporters clubs with over 30,000 registered members and these continue to grow, in keeping with the vision the club initially had.
Being a champion of charitable giving is our goal, and since our creation in 2002 we have donated over £1 million in cash awards and over £1,550,000 of in-kind support to hundreds of groups and individuals, making a combined total of over £2,500,000
1 Santa Cruz (PE) 0 × 0 Treze (PB), 59.966, 16/10/2011, Estádio do Arruda
It is hard to take that after Celtic were able to celebrate as much as they liked in Lisbon, our club and supporters were denied a post-match presentation because the Spanish police completely misunderstood the fans' on-field invasion at the end.
I played with a stress fracture in my foot. A guy jumped on it late in the final and I ended up with another fracture on the other side, but the euphoria kept the pain away until I was called down to this little room to receive the trophy.
It all passed in a blur, but I hobbled down there in agony with our manager Willie Waddell and a UEFA delegate and, in this cramped corner covered in Barcelona memorabilia, the delegate handed me the trophy and basically said: "Here, take the cup Glasgow Rangers, now go away".
When I got back to the dressing room all my team-mates were either in the bath or out of it. I felt sorry they didn't get to parade the trophy – ultimately what we were playing for – and even sorrier for all those people who had a paid a lot of money to travel to the Nou Camp and see that.
The biggest winning points margin in the history of the SPL was enjoyed by Rangers in 1999/00, when they finished 21 points clear of Celtic.
IT HAS been billed by the Ibrox club as the "original Glasgow derby". It might equally be argued that their hosting of Queen's Park in the Third Division on Saturday is the newest Glasgow derby.
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Although the teams last met in a League Cup tie 21 years ago and regularly jousted in the Glasgow Cup in the two decades before that, there has not been a league meeting since 1958, the year Queen's Park last played top-flight football. The fact the confrontation has returned to the calendar in a wholly different form was best encapsulated by Rangers ambassador Sandy Jardine.
THE Scottish Premier League has confirmed it has received the match delegate's report from the Old Firm derby but refused to divulge if alleged sectarian chanting from Rangers fans was mentioned within it.
Education and prevention is what we are really looking at and Scotland is a great example of somewhere where that has done a tremendous amount in practically eradicating the worst features of discrimination.
GLASGOW RANGERS were today forced into liquidation after major creditor Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) formally rejected an offer of a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) from the club's administrators.
122,714 supporters packed into Hampden on 5 May 1973 for the Scottish Cup Final between Rangers and Celtic.
We are pleased to confirm that agreement has been reached on all outstanding points relating to the transfer of the Scottish FA membership between Rangers FC (In Administration), and Sevco Scotland Ltd, who will be the new owners of The Rangers Football Club.
IBROX STADIUM (ATT 49,913)
Rangers manager Ally McCoist paid tribute to the troubled club's fans after 49,118 packed into Ibrox to watch Saturday's 5–1 thrashing of East Stirling, a world record attendance for fourth-tier football.
On 14 June 2012 a newly incorporated company, Sevco Scotland Limited, purchased substantially all the business and assets of Oldco, including Rangers FC, by entering into an asset sale and purchase agreement with the joint administrators.
Mr Green has previously stated that should the CVA fail his offer goes into an "automatic mode" to carry out a 'newco' switch at the Ibrox club, where all assets are sold to a new business entity for £5.5m and Rangers FC Plc, incorporated in 1899, is liquidated.
In June administrators Duff and Phelps confirmed it had failed to secure a route out of the insolvency event and the club's assets were sold to a newco owned by a Charles Green-led consortium in a £5.5m deal. The oldco, now RFC 2012 Plc, formerly The Rangers Football Club Plc, has been placed into liquidation.
The charity, which has donated more than £2.3m to various causes since it was set up in 2002, has reduced the amount it will take from the game to 10%, meaning the majority of the money raised will go to the club, which is currently in administration.
The Ibrox club confirmed its planned company voluntary arrangement (CVA) escape from administration would now fail as the tax authorities revealed they felt it was in the "public interest" to liquidate Rangers FC plc, incorporated in 1899.
The record Old Firm gate at a club ground was set on 2 Jan 1939 by a crowd of 118,567 at Ibrox.
David Murray, the chairman of Rangers, yesterday unveiled a bronze statue of John Greig, the captain who led his team against Celtic on the day of the accident. The statue lists the names of those who died in 1971 and 25 fans killed when wooden terraces collapsed during a match between Scotland and England in 1902. Mr Greig then laid a wreath at the plinth of the statue.
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An inquiry, however, later discounted the theory and said that the crush was likely to have happened 10 minutes after the final whistle and to have been triggered by someone falling on the stairs.
DAVID MURRAY, the Rangers chairman, moved dramatically last night to end the crisis at Ibrox by setting a new Scottish transfer record of £12 million for Chelsea's out-of-favour Norwegian international forward, Tore Andre Flo.
Zenit St Petersburg (0) 2 Rangers (0) 0
It is not only Scottish fuel stations that have been running on empty recently. The warning light began flashing on Rangers' tank midway through the second half last night, their exhausting schedule finally catching up with them, allowing a superior and fresher Zenit side to lift the Uefa Cup.
With the boundless relief and joie de vivre of a man who has been reprieved on the steps of the gallows and installed in a palace, Rangers produced a climactic performance to snatch their first championship since 2005 at sun-drenched Tannadice.
Rangers completed the second stage of their Scottish league and cup double in the baking heat of Hampden Park on Saturday thanks to a glorious goal from Nacho Novo, with his first touch of the ball only seconds after arriving as a half-time substitute for Kris Boyd. But the favourites were made to sweat throughout – and not simply because of the sweltering conditions.
The Old Firm collision it most certainly is not – to the relief of Glasgow's constabulary and A&E departments – but Saturday afternoon's visit of Queen's Park to Ibrox will draw the UK's second biggest crowd and resurrect a fixture that first appeared in the records in 1875 when the pair played a charity match in aid of fire victims.
Graham Souness lead the side to their first two championships as player-manager before his assistant, Walter Smith, took the reign, claiming another seven titles to equal a record set by Jock Stein at Celtic in the 1960s and 70s.
The humiliated Rangers boss that day was Scot Symon, so it is with a pleasing symmetry that Symon was a player in the other record victory in an Old Firm match. Because while Celtic's 7–1 win is the biggest win in official competition, Rangers went one better in an unofficial wartime Scottish Southern League ne'erday game between the two rivals in 1943. An Ibrox crowd of just over 30,000 watched a strong Rangers side including Symon, George Young and the legendary winger Willie Waddell rattle up an 8–1 victory.
Rangers chairman John McClelland has attempted to assure shareholders the club's £52m debt is nothing to be alarmed over.
Until Gravesen gave the home side the lead there was a wariness about both sides, which betrayed the number of players on each side who were making their first appearance in the conflict. If Celtic were expected to be dominant – with Rangers reliant on the absorption of pressure and the counter-thrust – Gordon Strachan and his players would also be mindful of the four-point advantage they held over their great rivals and the need not to risk having it damaged.
Paul Le Guen is satisfied his Rangers players will enter Sunday's Old Firm match in as positive a frame of mind as possible after they sealed the top qualifying position from Group A and secured a second consecutive clean sheet.
It would, of course, be churlish not to recognise the winning mentality of a team who have lost just a single domestic fixture since Celtic lifted this trophy at their expense a year ago. Yet this win arrived in the most unlikely of circumstances, sealing the League Cup despite being down to nine men.
Rangers' Champions League hopes were shattered as they crashed out of the competition at the hands of Malmo after being reduced to nine men in the qualifier in Sweden. Steven Whittaker and Madjid Bougherra were both shown straight red cards, before Malmo's Ricardinho was also dismissed by the referee Vladislav Bezborodov at the Swedbank stadium
Attendance 49,463
A full inquiry was under way today after Rangers fans clashed with riot police in Manchester last night after their team's defeat by Zenit St Petersburg in the Uefa Cup final.
Rangers chairman John McClelland has vowed to root out the racist fans who booed whenever Celtic's Bobo Balde and Momo Sylla had possession during his club's Old Firm derby defeat on Saturday.
Rangers football club, on track for its 49th Scottish premier league title, announced plans yesterday to float the business on the stock market and disclosed that talks are under way with a number of potential media investors.
From 1990 to 1994 'Rangers Football Club' and the 'Ready' motto were placed above and below the Crest respectively. In 1997–98 the Crest was placed in a shield but perhaps the most significant change was before the start of the 2003/04 campaign. Having clinched their 50th League Championship, 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.
Rangers have actually sported the Center Parcs logo during the course of two seasons. It was first worn in the 1996–97 Champions League match at Auxerre. In 1997–98 another Center Parcs logo was worn in the UEFA Cup first round first leg game in Strasbourg where again the 'Gers lost 2–1 (also wearing their change blue shorts)
Founded by brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath, Rangers shared their first championship with Dumbarton FC in 1890/91 then beat Celtic FC 3–1 to win their first Scottish Cup in 1894, clinching their first title outright by winning every game of the 1898/99 campaign.
William Struth's 34 years as manager from 1920 onwards ushered in the club's first golden era; Rangers won 18 league championships, ten Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups under Struth, including Scotland's first domestic treble in the 1948/49 season.
In 1961, Rangers became the first British club to reach the final of a UEFA competition when they got to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final only to lose 4–1 on aggregate to ACF Fiorentina; they lost 1–0 to FC Bayern München in the final of the same competition six years later before finally lifting the trophy in 1972 when beating FC Dinamo Moskva 3–2 at the Camp Nou.
UEFA appealed against the decision on 12 April by the Control and Disciplinary Body to find Rangers not guilty of alleged discriminatory chants by the club's supporters at both legs of the tie, on 22 February at Ibrox and 7 March at El Madrigal. Rangers have been fined €19,500 and severely warned about their responsibility for any future misconduct by their fans in relation to sectarian and discriminatory behaviour.
Founded: 1872
Biggest win: 10–0 v Hibernian 1898
Most appearances: John Greig 755 (1960–1978)
The club's origins date back to 1872 when Moses McNeil, his brother Peter, Peter Campbell and William McBeath formed their own team in Glasgow.
The name Rangers was adopted from an English rugby club and the first game, against Callander FC, ended 0–0. The club's official beginning came to be recognised as 1873, when the first annual general meeting was held.
By the time of the first Scottish Football League season in 1890, Rangers had arrived at their current home of Ibrox, in the south east of Glasgow, via Burnbank and Kinning Park.
Rangers finished joint top of the league with Dumbarton, and after a play-off ended 2–2, a decision was taken to share the title.
This was the only time the league has ever been shared, and it marked the first senior honour for Rangers.
Rangers won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 1894, beating Celtic 3–1
Three years later, the club recorded their first ever Scottish Cup win, beating Celtic 3–1 in the 1894 final.
Rangers won the trophy again in 1897 and 1898 with victories over Dumbarton and Kilmarnock.
McNeil won two caps for Scotland, the first Ranger to represent his country, the first on 25 March 1876 in a 4–0 win over Wales and the second on 13 March 1880 in a 5–4 win over England, in which he played alongside his brother, Henry. Henry McNeil won a total of 10 caps for his country and scored 5 goals.
Rangers were born in March 1872, after a group of teenage rowing enthusiasts watched a game of football in Glasgow Green. Brothers Peter and Moses McNeil and Peter Campbell and William McBeath got their heads together to give rise to the club, who played just two matches in their first year.
It is believed that Moses McNeil suggested the name 'Rangers' after seeing it in a book about English rugby. The club played their first game in May 1872 at Flecher's Haugh in Glasgow Green against Callander, a match that ended in a 0–0 draw.
Rangers was officially founded in 1873 as that was the year they elected office bearers. The club first donned blue shirts in their second game, against Clyde (not the present-day club), and won it 11–0.
Five years after their founding, Rangers made it to their first major cup final against Vale of Leven. The game was played at First Hampden Park and finished 1–1, so a replay beckoned. Rangers refused to turn up for the replay and Vale were awarded the cup. The teams met the following year in the Charity Cup. Rangers won 2–1 and the Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was the first major trophy to be won by the team.
The 1890–91 season saw the inception of the Scottish Football League, and Rangers were one of ten original members. Rangers' first ever league match took place on 16 August 1890 and resulted in a 5–2 victory over Hearts. After finishing equal-top with Dumbarton, a play-off was held at Cathkin Park to decide the champions. The match finished 2–2 and the title was shared for the only time in its history – the first of Rangers' 54 championships.
After joining, Rangers finally reached their first final of the Scottish Cup in 1877 but were not victorious.
The eternal rivalry, known as the Old Firm, between the two Glaswegian city teams, Rangers and Celtic has been ongoing since the first Old Firm match in 1888, in which Rangers lost 5–2 in a friendly against the Celtic team which was largely made up of "guest players" from Hibernians.
It would be over six months later before the newly-constituted Celtic club played its first ever match, on 28 May 1888 which resulted in a 5–2 win over Rangers, in what was called a 'friendly match'.
All those championships and cups would never have found their way into the Ibrox Trophy Room but for that encounter between Peter McNeil, his brother Moses, Peter Campbell and William McBeath.
Their first match was an unlikely affair against Callander FC at Flesher's Haugh on Glasgow Green.
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The result was 0–0, but that didn't matter. Rangers had been born.
The name Rangers was adopted from an English rugby club. By their second fixture – the only other they played that first year – they had donned the light blue. It must have done the trick – Rangers beat Clyde 11–0.
In season 1875–76 they moved to Burnbank Park and towards the end of that season Rangers had their first international; Moses McNeil, one of the four founders, who made his Scotland debut in a 4–0 victory over Wales.
The following year Rangers made the breakthrough reaching their first Scottish Cup Final. It took three matches to find a winner, and sadly it was their opponents Vale of Leven. After two drawn games, 0–0 and 1–1, Rangers finally succumbed 3–2 in the second replay.
Founded by brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath, Rangers shared their first championship with Dumbarton FC in 1890/91 then beat Celtic FC 3–1 to win their first Scottish Cup in 1894, clinching their first title outright by winning every game of the 1898/99 campaign.
William Struth's 34 years as manager from 1920 onwards ushered in the club's first golden era; Rangers won 18 league championships, ten Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups under Struth, including Scotland's first domestic treble in the 1948/49 season.
In 1961, Rangers became the first British club to reach the final of a UEFA competition when they got to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final only to lose 4–1 on aggregate to ACF Fiorentina; they lost 1–0 to FC Bayern München in the final of the same competition six years later before finally lifting the trophy in 1972 when beating FC Dinamo Moskva 3–2 at the Camp Nou.
The record Old Firm gate at a club ground was set on 2 Jan 1939 by a crowd of 118,567 at Ibrox.
Sadly, Wilton was not to enjoy this extraordinary success which saw Rangers take the title 15 times in 21 seasons.
With the Championship back at Ibrox, Wilton – the club's first manager – died the day after the last game of the season in May 1920, drowning in a boating accident.
Struth, who was appointed his successor, lived to become a legend. He managed the club for 34 years, winning a glittering array of trophies – 18 League Championships, 10 Scottish Cups and two League Cups.
The humiliated Rangers boss that day was Scot Symon, so it is with a pleasing symmetry that Symon was a player in the other record victory in an Old Firm match. Because while Celtic's 7–1 win is the biggest win in official competition, Rangers went one better in an unofficial wartime Scottish Southern League ne'erday game between the two rivals in 1943. An Ibrox crowd of just over 30,000 watched a strong Rangers side including Symon, George Young and the legendary winger Willie Waddell rattle up an 8–1 victory.
He returned to Rangers just one year later where he would steer them to six league championships. He also took Rangers into European football for the first time reaching two Cup Winners Cup finals which was a fine achievement by losing in both finals
Regarded as one of Scotland's greatest ever players, Jim Baxter can also be counted amongst the Rangers' greats for his terrific achievements in the '60s.
"Slim Jim" joined the club in 1960 for £17,500, a record at the time, and went on to win 10 trophies in the five years he spent in Scotland.
Rangers were the first British team to reach a European final in 1961
David Murray, the chairman of Rangers, yesterday unveiled a bronze statue of John Greig, the captain who led his team against Celtic on the day of the accident. The statue lists the names of those who died in 1971 and 25 fans killed when wooden terraces collapsed during a match between Scotland and England in 1902. Mr Greig then laid a wreath at the plinth of the statue.
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An inquiry, however, later discounted the theory and said that the crush was likely to have happened 10 minutes after the final whistle and to have been triggered by someone falling on the stairs.
Attendance: 81,405
It is hard to take that after Celtic were able to celebrate as much as they liked in Lisbon, our club and supporters were denied a post-match presentation because the Spanish police completely misunderstood the fans' on-field invasion at the end.
I played with a stress fracture in my foot. A guy jumped on it late in the final and I ended up with another fracture on the other side, but the euphoria kept the pain away until I was called down to this little room to receive the trophy.
It all passed in a blur, but I hobbled down there in agony with our manager Willie Waddell and a UEFA delegate and, in this cramped corner covered in Barcelona memorabilia, the delegate handed me the trophy and basically said: "Here, take the cup Glasgow Rangers, now go away".
When I got back to the dressing room all my team-mates were either in the bath or out of it. I felt sorry they didn't get to parade the trophy – ultimately what we were playing for – and even sorrier for all those people who had a paid a lot of money to travel to the Nou Camp and see that.
Rangers were handed a two-year ban by UEFA for their fans' poor behaviour. Waddell succeeded in getting this reduced to one year, meaning Rangers could not defend their trophy. Waddell argued that the police had over-reacted, that the fans were drunk but not intent on violence, and that recent European finals had witnessed rejoicing Celtic, Bayern Munich and Ajax fans running on to the park and those occasions had been deemed acceptable.
122,714 supporters packed into Hampden on 5 May 1973 for the Scottish Cup Final between Rangers and Celtic.
Jock Wallace was a giant of Scottish football. No other description can do justice to the man who ended Celtic's domination of the game in the 1970s and who, as manager, led Rangers to two domestic trebles within three years, the Glasgow club winning the League title, the League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
Graham Souness lead the side to their first two championships as player-manager before his assistant, Walter Smith, took the reign, claiming another seven titles to equal a record set by Jock Stein at Celtic in the 1960s and 70s.
When Dick Advocaat became the Rangers manager in 1998, it was a brave new dawn for the Ibrox club as chairman David Murray attempted to begin a new chapter in the club's history following Walter Smith's departure.
Celtic 0–3 Rangers
Rangers created history by winning the title at Celtic Park in a stormy Old Firm game which saw referee Hugh Dallas injured by a missile thrown from the pitch.
The biggest winning points margin in the history of the SPL was enjoyed by Rangers in 1999/00, when they finished 21 points clear of Celtic.
Rangers 2–0 Parma
Rangers secured one of their most impressive European results in years, as Italian giants Parma crashed to defeat in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier
DAVID MURRAY, the Rangers chairman, moved dramatically last night to end the crisis at Ibrox by setting a new Scottish transfer record of £12 million for Chelsea's out-of-favour Norwegian international forward, Tore Andre Flo.
Full time: Kaiserslautern 3–0 Rangers
92 mins The Fritz Walter Stadium erupts on the referee's final whistle which brings down the curtain on Rangers' European campaign.
Alex McLeish has been unveiled as Rangers' 11th manager after a dramatic day at Ibrox.
Rangers capped a fabulous season with a hard-earned Scottish Cup win over Dundee at Hampden Park to seal the seventh domestic Treble in the club's history.
Rangers 6–1 Dunfermline Athletic
An injury-time penalty by Mikel Arteta clinched the SPL title for Rangers in an amazing afternoon at Ibrox.
Rangers were 5–1 up as the match entered the last few minutes, but with Celtic 4–0 up at Rugby Park and still playing, they knew the championship was not yet theirs.
Rangers secure a world-record 50th championship
At this point McLeish was viewed as one of the hottest managers in the game. Success doesn't last forever and Rangers financial state cost McLeish dear in 2003. Many of his prize assets were sold and subsequently Celtic won the league comfortably. Also, Rangers failed to pick up a single trophy that season.
Boumsong joined Rangers from Auxerre on a free transfer last summer and made just 28 appearances for them before moving to England.
Rangers have confirmed the signing of Monaco's Croatian striker Dado Prso.
Rangers have completed the signing of Nacho Novo from Dundee but manager Alex McLeish insists his summer spending spree is not yet over.
Rangers pipped rivals Celtic to the Scottish Premier League title after a dramatic final day of the season.
The Gers went into the final game two points behind their Glasgow rivals but a sensational late fightback by Motherwell gave them the title.
NACHO Novo will be remembered forever as the man whose goal made the helicopter change direction.
Peter Lovenkrands was the goalscoring hero as Rangers became the first Scottish club to qualify from the group stages of the Champions League.
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Criticised by some for his tactics during a run without a win now stretching to 10 games, McLeish got it right on the European stage with the surprise inclusion of Lovenkrands as a lone striker.
Rangers' dream of becoming the first Scottish side in the quarter-finals of the Champions League ended as they lost on the away-goals rule to Villarreal.
Alex McLeish will leave his position as Rangers manager at the end of the season, the club has confirmed
Rangers have announced that Paul Le Guen will replace Alex McLeish as manager at the end of the season.
St Johnstone recorded one of their finest results to stun Rangers at Ibrox and reach the CIS Cup semi-finals.
Paul Le Guen is satisfied his Rangers players will enter Sunday's Old Firm match in as positive a frame of mind as possible after they sealed the top qualifying position from Group A and secured a second consecutive clean sheet.
Paul Le Guen's relationship with Barry Ferguson was never likely to be a marriage made in heaven.
On one side was an authoritarian French manager used to having the final word and working with clean-living, tee-total players.
On the other was a passionate Scottish captain who enjoyed talisman status with the fans and liked to work hard and play hard.
There were reported to be differences between the duo soon after Le Guen took over at Ibrox seven months ago. And they came to the surface at a news conference before the last Old Firm derby on 17 December.
Rangers manager Paul Le Guen has left the club by mutual consent.
Walter Smith has quit as Scotland coach to become boss of Rangers for a second time after agreeing a three-year deal.
Rangers crashed out of the Champions League and into the Uefa Cup with a disappointing home defeat to Lyon.
Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Fiorentina have been dispatched, along with Sporting since Rangers qualified via their position in the Champions League group stage.
Zenit St Petersburg (0) 2 Rangers (0) 0
It is not only Scottish fuel stations that have been running on empty recently. The warning light began flashing on Rangers' tank midway through the second half last night, their exhausting schedule finally catching up with them, allowing a superior and fresher Zenit side to lift the Uefa Cup.
Scottish giants Rangers slumped to a shock European exit when Linas Pilibaitis gave FBK Kaunas 2–1 an aggregate win in their Champions League second qualifying round tie in Lithuania.
With the boundless relief and joie de vivre of a man who has been reprieved on the steps of the gallows and installed in a palace, Rangers produced a climactic performance to snatch their first championship since 2005 at sun-drenched Tannadice.
Rangers completed the second stage of their Scottish league and cup double in the baking heat of Hampden Park on Saturday thanks to a glorious goal from Nacho Novo, with his first touch of the ball only seconds after arriving as a half-time substitute for Kris Boyd. But the favourites were made to sweat throughout – and not simply because of the sweltering conditions.
It would, of course, be churlish not to recognise the winning mentality of a team who have lost just a single domestic fixture since Celtic lifted this trophy at their expense a year ago. Yet this win arrived in the most unlikely of circumstances, sealing the League Cup despite being down to nine men.
Rangers manager Walter Smith described the Co-operative Insurance Cup final win over Celtic as one of his "best ever" victories.
Smith, coming to the end of his second spell in charge at Ibrox, clinched a 20th trophy as Rangers boss after the 2–1 extra-time win at Hampden.
Rangers gave departing manager Walter Smith the perfect send-off as they wrapped up a third-consecutive Scottish Premier League title in style.
A blistering opening saw Kyle Lafferty net twice inside seven minutes, either side of a Steven Naismith strike.
Early in the second half, Nikica Jelavic smashed in a free kick and Lafferty completed his hat-trick with a composed finish.
Rangers' Champions League hopes were shattered as they crashed out of the competition at the hands of Malmo after being reduced to nine men in the qualifier in Sweden. Steven Whittaker and Madjid Bougherra were both shown straight red cards, before Malmo's Ricardinho was also dismissed by the referee Vladislav Bezborodov at the Swedbank stadium
Rangers exited the Europa League as Maribor claimed an aggregate victory to progress to the group stages.
Manager Ally McCoist believes his Rangers players have only themselves to blame for their shock League Cup defeat by a very youthful Falkirk line-up.
Dundee United knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup with a deserved fifth-round victory at Ibrox.
Rangers have been deducted 10 points after entering administration.
Reigning champions Rangers prevented the Scottish title being won on their own patch despite a dramatic late rally from nine-man runaway leaders Celtic.
IncorporationDate 27/05/1899
PreviousNames
CONDate 31 July 2012
CompanyName THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB P.L.C.
The continuation of trading operations enabled the Joint Administrators to put the CVA Proposal to the creditors of the Company and after the CVA Proposal was rejected by creditors, the Joint Administrators were able to secure a going concern sale of the business, history and assets of the Company to Sevco
On 14 June 2012 a newly incorporated company, Sevco Scotland Limited, purchased substantially all the business and assets of Oldco, including Rangers FC, by entering into an asset sale and purchase agreement with the joint administrators.
BBC Scotland has learned that 10 of the 12 clubs were in opposition, with Kilmarnock abstaining and Rangers voting in favour.
We are pleased to confirm that agreement has been reached on all outstanding points relating to the transfer of the Scottish FA membership between Rangers FC (In Administration), and Sevco Scotland Ltd, who will be the new owners of The Rangers Football Club.
Rangers manager Ally McCoist paid tribute to the troubled club's fans after 49,118 packed into Ibrox to watch Saturday's 5–1 thrashing of East Stirling, a world record attendance for fourth-tier football.
1 Santa Cruz (PE) 0 × 0 Treze (PB), 59.966, 16/10/2011, Estádio do Arruda
Rangers suffered a shock first loss in the Third Division after crashing to defeat against bottom side Stirling Albion.
Rangers made a shock exit in the Ramsdens Cup after a penalty shoot-out defeat by Queen of the South at Ibrox.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle advanced to the semi-finals of the Scottish Communities League Cup for the first time with an ultimately comfortable defeat of Rangers.
IBROX STADIUM (ATT 49,913)
The earliest badge featured the celebrated RFC scroll crest believed to have been used since 1872. Then there's the lion rampant and the club motto 'READY', which have appeared on Rangers' badges since 1959. Finally, see the evolution into the current badge, with the famous blue, white and red colours.
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 1978–79 season.
Rangers have actually sported the Center Parcs logo during the course of two seasons. It was first worn in the 1996–97 Champions League match at Auxerre. In 1997–98 another Center Parcs logo was worn in the UEFA Cup first round first leg game in Strasbourg where again the 'Gers lost 2–1 (also wearing their change blue shorts)
Scotland's contributions to the development of the game were equally impressive in other areas. Glaswegian born architect Archibald Leitch was the pioneering football stadium designer of his day – by the 1920s 16 out of 22 of England's First Division stadiums were Leitch designs. The most famous example of his work still in existence is probably Ibrox. (This would undoubtedly please Leitch, who was a devout Rangers fan.)
The plans, one of three options being considered by the club, could see the stadium in Glasgow completely rebuilt with a new capacity of 70,000. Rangers would retain the Bill Struth main stand, which is designated as a Category B listed building. Ibrox currently holds 51,082 fans, behind Hampden Park and Celtic Park.
Ally McCoist, the manager, normally leaves Sinclair and his staff to choose the youngsters but sometimes will stipulate who he and the first-team staff want. "That daily exposure is priceless," says Sinclair. "The boys become comfortable with the staff and first-team players. If they were round there [first-team pitches] once every six months, it would be a trial but it is a regular process. [Danny] Wilson, [John] Fleck and Little were all steeped in that."
2013/2014 42,938
There are more than 600 registered supporters clubs with over 30,000 registered members and these continue to grow, in keeping with the vision the club initially had.
It was always going to put a massive strain on the city. An invasion of up to 200,000 Rangers supporters for the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester swamped the city's pubs and bars and the dedicated fan zones.
But the chief executive at Rangers, Martin Bain, insists there will be no repeat of the scenes of crowd misbehaviour which marred the club's last visit to Manchester. Some 200,000 Rangers fans descended on the city for the Uefa Cup final in 2008 and trouble started when a giant screen failed to work.
A full inquiry was under way today after Rangers fans clashed with riot police in Manchester last night after their team's defeat by Zenit St Petersburg in the Uefa Cup final.
A number of supporters clashed with riot police after a big screen in Manchester broke down. Officers later confirmed 42 people had been arrested.
Police in Manchester have released CCTV images showing up to 200 football fans chasing officers and attacking one of them after the Uefa Cup final.
RANGERS operations chief Ali Russell insists the Old Firm rivalry is the biggest in the world – because a billion fans tune in to watch two teams devoid of world stars.
RANGERS ISSUED a full public apology to Aberdeen last night for labelling a section of the Pittodrie club's support "scum" in last Saturday's Ibrox matchday programme. Stewart Milne, the Aberdeen chairman, protested to Bob Brannan, the Rangers chief executive, yesterday about the anonymous article which also branded the Dons' team as "under-achievers and money-grabbers"
The catalyst for the recent venom between the two sets of supporters was the 1988 incident involving Neil Simpson and Ian Durrant.
IT HAS been billed by the Ibrox club as the "original Glasgow derby". It might equally be argued that their hosting of Queen's Park in the Third Division on Saturday is the newest Glasgow derby.
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Although the teams last met in a League Cup tie 21 years ago and regularly jousted in the Glasgow Cup in the two decades before that, there has not been a league meeting since 1958, the year Queen's Park last played top-flight football. The fact the confrontation has returned to the calendar in a wholly different form was best encapsulated by Rangers ambassador Sandy Jardine.
Queen's Park and Rangers, two teams that first met competitively in a Scottish Cup tie in March 1879, some nine years before Celtic were formed, meet in an Irn-Bru Third division encounter at Ibrox.
The Old Firm collision it most certainly is not – to the relief of Glasgow's constabulary and A&E departments – but Saturday afternoon's visit of Queen's Park to Ibrox will draw the UK's second biggest crowd and resurrect a fixture that first appeared in the records in 1875 when the pair played a charity match in aid of fire victims.
In the past 15 years, both clubs have tried to stamp out bigotry, largely for pragmatic reasons. The IRA guff puts off sponsors and when the market in foreign footballers opened up in the 1990s, the old prohibition on signing Catholics became irksome for Rangers. Many of the foreign players who have since come to Glasgow must have struggled to remember whether they were playing for the Protestant team or the Catholic one.
I've been Rangers' first Catholic captain
THE Scottish Premier League has confirmed it has received the match delegate's report from the Old Firm derby but refused to divulge if alleged sectarian chanting from Rangers fans was mentioned within it.
Education and prevention is what we are really looking at and Scotland is a great example of somewhere where that has done a tremendous amount in practically eradicating the worst features of discrimination.
Both UEFA and FIFA hold Rangers up as a positive example of a club determined to tackle the problem that threatens its future. And the SFA joins in that praise. "On the sectarianism front Rangers have tried to develop a policy across the Protestant/Catholic divide," says Mr Mitchell. "They have imposed a large number of life bans on supporters who have been identified and found guilty of sectarian behaviour." And Rangers is not alone in taking such action. "Generally speaking it is by the clubs," he says. "If there is a criminal prosecution that has an effect as well, but the clubs themselves have taken that action off their own back, because they have the right to decide who can come into the stadium or not."
The Faculty of Advocates is to investigate complaints against the leading Scottish lawyer Donald Findlay QC after he was captured on camera singing sectarian songs.
Findlay, Scotland's leading criminal lawyer, is a Protestant and proud of it. But he was embarrassed to be caught on video singing sectarian songs. They included "The Billy Boys", a verse of which goes: "We're up to our knees in Fenian blood, Surrender or you die, We are the Billy Boys."
Donald Findlay QC tells John Humphrys about the effect singing sectarian, anti-Catholic songs at a party for Glasgow Rangers had on his life, and how he, at one stage, even contemplated suicide.
UEFA appealed against the decision on 12 April by the Control and Disciplinary Body to find Rangers not guilty of alleged discriminatory chants by the club's supporters at both legs of the tie, on 22 February at Ibrox and 7 March at El Madrigal. Rangers have been fined €19,500 and severely warned about their responsibility for any future misconduct by their fans in relation to sectarian and discriminatory behaviour.
Rangers have been fined £8,280 by Uefa for the behaviour of their fans during their match against Osasuna – but the Spanish club must pay £31,000.
Rangers are to face a Uefa disciplinary hearing over allegations of sectarian singing during last month's Europa League match away to PSV Eindhoven. The club's chief executive Martin Bain says they are "utterly dismayed" by the decision and that they will defend the club's position "vigorously".
Uefa has fined Rangers 40,000 euros (£35,652) and banned its fans from the next away European game for sectarian singing in a match at PSV Eindhoven.
Rangers football club, on track for its 49th Scottish premier league title, announced plans yesterday to float the business on the stock market and disclosed that talks are under way with a number of potential media investors.
Craig Whyte has completed his takeover of Rangers for £1 but amid continuing concerns by board members about his ability to invest sufficient funds.
Rangers Football Club has confirmed it has filed legal papers at the Court of Session to appoint administrators.
HMRC lodged its petition over alleged non-payment of about £9m in PAYE and VAT following Craig Whyte's takeover.
RANGERS went into administration today – as it was revealed they had failed to pay £9million in VAT and PAYE from the current financial year.
Rangers' administrators estimate that the club's total debts could top £134m.
A criminal investigation is to be launched into Craig Whyte's takeover of Rangers Football Club in May last year.
Mr Green has previously stated that should the CVA fail his offer goes into an "automatic mode" to carry out a 'newco' switch at the Ibrox club, where all assets are sold to a new business entity for £5.5m and Rangers FC Plc, incorporated in 1899, is liquidated.
And Green, who bought Rangers' assets after the company that formerly ran the club could not be saved from liquidation, believes the decision to sell tickets directly to visiting fans could spark trouble at the match.
The Ibrox club confirmed its planned company voluntary arrangement (CVA) escape from administration would now fail as the tax authorities revealed they felt it was in the "public interest" to liquidate Rangers FC plc, incorporated in 1899.
GLASGOW RANGERS were today forced into liquidation after major creditor Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) formally rejected an offer of a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) from the club's administrators.
Businessman Charles Green led a consortium to buy Rangers' assets for £5.5m and reformed the club as a new company. But the 'newco' did not get the required votes for re-admittance to the SPL and instead, Rangers were relaunched in Division Three, drawing 2–2 with Peterhead in their opening game.
Raith Rovers and Clyde insist plans to place the Rangers newco in Scottish Division One should not be forced upon Scottish Football League clubs.
"We have received an information pack from Sevco Scotland relevant to their membership application," said the SFA.
Being a champion of charitable giving is our goal, and since our creation in 2002 we have donated over £1 million in cash awards and over £1,550,000 of in-kind support to hundreds of groups and individuals, making a combined total of over £2,500,000
The charity, which has donated more than £2.3m to various causes since it was set up in 2002, has reduced the amount it will take from the game to 10%, meaning the majority of the money raised will go to the club, which is currently in administration.
Rangers have confirmed for the first time that Ally McCoist will take over as manager when Walter Smith steps down at the end of the season.
The club's reserve-team coach, Ian Durrant, will take charge of training on Friday ahead of the club's next match, a Tennent's Scottish Cup tie, against Dunfermline Athletic on Sunday.
In June administrators Duff and Phelps confirmed it had failed to secure a route out of the insolvency event and the club's assets were sold to a newco owned by a Charles Green-led consortium in a £5.5m deal. The oldco, now RFC 2012 Plc, formerly The Rangers Football Club Plc, has been placed into liquidation.
Founded: 1872
Biggest win: 10–0 v Hibernian 1898
Most appearances: John Greig 755 (1960–1978)
