Rangers F.C.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other teams called Rangers, see Rangers F.C. (disambiguation). See Ranger for other meanings.

Rangers F.C.
Full name	Rangers Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Gers, Teddy Bears, Light Blues.
Founded	1873
Ground	Ibrox Stadium Glasgow Scotland
Capacity	51,082[1]
Chairman	Sir David Murray
Manager	Walter Smith
League	Scottish Premier League
2005-2006	Scottish Premier League, 3rd
Home colours 　 Away colours

Rangers Football Club is a football club from Glasgow, Scotland, which plays in the Scottish Premier League. Rangers are the most successful club in Scottish football, with 51 league titles^[2], and have won the most trophies of any football club in the world.^[3]

The club's home, the all-seated 51,082-capacity Ibrox Stadium in south-west Glasgow, has been accredited as one of UEFA's five-star stadia.

Rangers players and fans today are multi-national and of various religions, although the club has traditionally been identified with the Protestant Unionist community of Scotland. For most of their history, Rangers have enjoyed a fierce rivalry with their cross-city opponents Celtic.^[4]

The club is nicknamed The Teddy Bears, from the rhyming slang for Gers (short for Rangers), and the fans are known to each other as 'Bluenoses'. The club's correct name is simply Rangers F.C. although it is sometimes incorrectly called Glasgow Rangers. This frequently happens with English commentators seeking to distinguish between them and other similarly-named clubs, particularly Queens Park Rangers F.C. This naming convention is also popular in Europe and further afield, where any club without its location in its name receives it as a prefix or suffix, for example Red Star Belgrade.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Under Paul Le Guen (2006-2007) 1.2 Walter Smith's return (2007-present) 2 The Old Firm and Sectarianism 3 Stadium and training facility 4 Notable players 5 Team managers 6 Current squad 6.1 2006-07 Transfers 6.2 First-team squad 6.3 Reserve and Youth Squad 7 Non-playing staff 7.1 Boardroom 7.2 Management 8 Club records 9 Greatest team 10 Honours 10.1 Major honours 10.1.1 League 10.1.2 Cups 10.2 Other honours 10.2.1 League 10.2.2 Cups 11 References 12 External links

History

Main article: History of Rangers F.C.

Formed in 1873, Rangers were the first club in the world to win more than 50 league titles. Rangers are the most-honoured football club in the world, having won 107 trophies in total.

For current news on this topic, see Rangers F.C. season 2006-07

Under Paul Le Guen (2006-2007)

Paul Le Guen replaced former manager Alex McLeish as manager after season 2005-06. Known for unearthing and nurturing young talent, Le Guen immediately made a number of signings for the club, as well as releasing and transfer-listing various players.

The season started poorly for Rangers, with a number of losses and draws against teams lower in the league, as well as being knocked out of the League Cup by Division One side St. Johnstone. Rivals Celtic built a lead at the top of the table, as Rangers fought for second place alongside Hearts and Aberdeen. Despite poor form against sides in the bottom half of the SPL, a number of more promising results were achieved, including wins over Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibernian. The first Old Firm match of the season resulted in a 2-0 defeat, the second - at Ibrox - was a 1-1 draw, after which Le Guen said Rangers deserved at least the point.^[5]

Throughout the disappointing first six months of the league campaign Rangers' results in the UEFA Cup were more respectable. Qualification for the group stage was achieved with a 2-0 aggregate win over Molde F.K., and Rangers proceeded to become the first Scottish side to qualify for the last 32 of the competition with wins over Livorno, Maccabi Haifa and Partizan Belgrade and a draw away to AJ Auxerre.^[6]

There had been rumours during the season of disharmony at Rangers, between Scottish and foreign players, with players including captain Barry Ferguson disapproving of Le Guen's strict disciplinarian stance.^[7] The imbalance came to a head on the day of the second Old Firm game of the season, with stories appearing in the Scottish media that Ferguson was angry with comments made by his manager regarding the captaincy of the club, and how Le Guen perceived it to be seen as more of an important role in Scotland than it is in France.^[8] on January 1, 2007, Le Guen stripped Ferguson of the captaincy, and after protests from a section of the fans at the away match at Motherwell the following day, it was announced on January 4 that Le Guen had left Rangers by mutual consent.^[9]

Walter Smith's return (2007-present)

Following the departure of Paul Le Guen, a number of media sources report an "understanding" that the new management structure would consist of former Rangers manager Walter Smith and former player Ally McCoist, and the SFA confirmed that Rangers enquired about the availability of the pair.^[10] However, on January 8, the SFA rebuffed Rangers' approach for Smith.^[11]

On 10 January 2007, it was announced that Smith was the new manager of Rangers, with McCoist confirmed as assistant manager and Kenny McDowall as first-team coach.^[12]

The Old Firm and Sectarianism

Rangers' most distinct rivalry is with Celtic F.C., the other major football club based in Glasgow; the two clubs are collectively known as the Old Firm. Rangers' traditional support has largely come from the Protestant community, while Celtic's has come from the Roman Catholic community. Consequently, the rivalry between the two clubs has often been characterised along sectarian lines. Both Rangers and Celtic now accept that they have a problem with sectarianism, and both admit that a proportion of their supporters have been, and continue to be, guilty of perpetuating partisan, sectarian beliefs as well as cultural intolerance.

During the late 19th century, many immigrants came to Glasgow from Ireland. This was around the same time that both Old Firm clubs were founded, Rangers in 1873 and Celtic in 1888. Celtic grew out of the Irish Catholic community and Rangers came to be identified with the Protestant community. Until Graeme Souness signed former Celtic player Mo Johnston, in 1989, Rangers were said by him to have had an "unwritten policy" ^[13] of not signing any player who was Catholic ^[14], although Johnston was by no means the first Catholic to sign for the club ^[15].

In recent times, both Rangers and Celtic have taken measures to combat sectarianism. Working alongside the Scottish Parliament, church groups, schools and community organisations, the Old Firm has made efforts to clamp down on sectarian songs, inflammatory flag-waving, and troublesome supporters, using increased levels of policing and surveillance.^[16]

On 12 April 2006, following an investigation into the conduct of Rangers supporters at both legs of their UEFA Champions League tie against Villarreal CF, the Control and Disciplinary Body of UEFA declared the Rangers fans not guilty of alleged discriminatory chants.^[17] UEFA challenged the ruling, and their Appeals Body partially upheld the appeal^[18], fining the Ibrox club £13,500, and warning the club as to their responsibility for any future misconduct.

On 9 June 2006, Rangers, in conjunction with representatives from several supporters clubs, announced that they would comply with three UEFA directives:

• The club is "ordered to announce measurable targets in order to reduce sectarian behaviour amongst its supporters".
• The club is "to control their anti-sectarian activities by producing comprehensive statistics that are communicated to the public".
• The club is "to make a public address announcement at every official fixture, be it international or domestic, stating that any sectarian chanting and any form of the song Billy Boys is strictly prohibited".^[19]

Despite these measures, UEFA indicated they will launch another investigation after Rangers fans clashed with riot police and were filmed making sectarian chants during the defeat by Osasuna in the UEFA Cup match in 2007. The Rangers Supporters Association secretary indicated his belief that a small minority of fans are to blame, suggesting "it doesn't matter how often they are told [to stop sectarian chanting], some people will just not listen." ^[20]

Stadium and training facility

Main articles: Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park

The club used a variety of grounds in Glasgow as a venue for home matches in the years between 1872 and 1899. The first was Flesher's Haugh, situated on Glasgow Green, followed by Burnbank in the Kelvinbridge area of the city and then Kinning Park for ten years from the mid-1870s to the mid-1880s. From February of the 1886-87 season Cathkin Park was used, until the first Ibrox Park, in the Govan area of south-west Glasgow was inaugurated for the following season. Ibrox Stadium in its current incarnation was originally designed by the architect Archibald Leitch, a Rangers fan^[21] who also played a part in the design of, among others, Old Trafford in Manchester and Highbury in London. The stadium was inaugurated on December 30, 1899; Rangers defeated Hearts 3-1 in the first match held there.

Since 1899, two major disasters have taken place at the stadium. The first occurred in 1902 during a Scotland vs England international match, when a section of terracing collapsed leading to the deaths of 26 people and over 500 injuries. The second disaster took place during the traditional New Year's Day Old Firm game in 1971. As the crowd were leaving the match, barriers on the stairway to the rear of passageway 13 at the Copland End collapsed, causing a crush and resulting in the deaths of 66 people, with over 200 injuries. The second disaster led to a major redevelopment of Ibrox, overseen by the general manager Willie Waddell. After being converted to an all seater stadium, Ibrox was awarded UEFA five-star status.

The stands in Ibrox are: The Bill Struth Main Stand (three tiers; the top one known as the Club Deck), Govan Stand (two tiers), and the Copland and Broomloan Stands (both two tiers) which are behind the goals. In addition to these, there are also the East and West Enclosures (in the lower tier of the Main Stand), and the two corners adjacent to the Govan Stand are filled in. After work in summer 2006 to make the Bar 72 area situated in the Govan Stand, the total capacity of Ibrox is 51,082.^[1] On August 22 2006, Rangers announced that the Main Stand would be renamed The Bill Struth Main Stand in September 2006 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of their former manager Bill Struth, who served as manager of Rangers for 34 years.^[22]

Rangers training facility is located in Auchenhowie, near Milngavie in Glasgow. The facility is known as Murray Park after chairman Sir David Murray. It was proposed by then-manager Dick Advocaat on his arrival at the club in 1998 and was completed in 2001 at a cost of £14m. Murray Park is the first purpose built facility of its kind in Scotland, and incorporates features including nine football pitches, a state of the art gym, a hydrotherapy pool and a video editing suite. Rangers' youth teams are also accommodated at Murray Park, with around 140 players between under-10 and under-19 age groups using the training centre.^[23] Various first team players have come through the ranks at Murray Park, including Chris Burke, Stevie Smith and Charlie Adam. International club teams playing in Scotland, as well as national sides, have previously used Murray Park for training, and Advocaat's South Korea team used it for training prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Notable players

For a complete list of Rangers players with a Wikipedia article, see here.

Scotland Jim Baxter¹ Ralph Brand¹ Eric Caldow¹ Alec Cleland Davie Cooper¹ Sammy Cox¹ Gordon Durie Ian Durrant Alex Ferguson Barry Ferguson¹ ² Duncan Ferguson Robert Fleck Torry Gillick¹ Andy Goram¹ Richard Gough¹ John Greig¹ Willie Henderson¹ Sandy Jardine¹ Mo Johnston Derek Johnstone¹ Stuart McCall Ally McCoist¹ Robert Smith McColl George McLean Peter McCloy Ted McMinn Moses McNeil¹ Bob McPhail¹ David Meiklejohn¹ Alan Morton¹ Gordon Ramsay Jock Shaw¹ Gordon Smith Graeme Souness¹ Colin Stein¹ Willie Waddell¹ Willie Woodburn¹

Argentina Claudio Caniggia Gabriel Amato Australia Craig Moore Tony Vidmar Belgium Thomas Buffel² Croatia Dado Pršo² Denmark Erik Bo Andersen Brian Laudrup¹ Peter Løvenkrands England Terry Butcher¹ Paul Gascoigne¹ Mark Hateley¹ Graham Roberts Nigel Spackman Trevor Steven Gary Stevens Rod Wallace Mark Walters Ray Wilkins¹ Chris Woods Finland Jonaton Johansson Antti Niemi France Basile Boli Lionel Charbonnier Brahim Hemdani²

Georgia Shota Arveladze Zurab Khizanishvili Germany Jörg Albertz¹ Stefan Klos² Greece Sotirios Kyrgiakos Iceland Arnar Grétarsson Albert Guðmundsson Italy Lorenzo Amoruso Gennaro 'Rino' Gattuso Marco Negri Sergio Porrini Netherlands Frank de Boer Ronald de Boer Peter Huistra Michael Mols Arthur Numan Giovanni van Bronckhorst Peter van Vossen Northern Ireland Sammy English Bert Manderson¹ John McClelland Jimmy Nicholl Billy Simpson¹ Norway Henning Berg Tore André Flo

Russia Andrei Kanchelskis Oleg Salenko Spain Mikel Arteta Nacho Novo² Sweden Joachim Björklund Robert Prytz Jonas Thern Trinidad and Tobago Marvin Andrews Russell Latapy Turkey Tugay Kerimoğlu Ukraine Alexei Mikhailichenko United States Claudio Reyna

¹ - Player is included in the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame.

² - Player is currently playing for the club.

Team managers

Name	Nationality	Period	Record
			P	W	D	L	Win %
William Wilton		1899–1920
Bill Struth		1920–1954
Scott Symon		1954–1967
David White		1967–1969
William Waddell		1969–1972
Jock Wallace		1972–1978
John Greig		1978–1983
Jock Wallace		1983–1986
Graeme Souness		1986–1991	254
Walter Smith		1991–1998	266	169	49	48	63.53
Dick Advocaat		1998–2001	194	131	33	30	67.53
Alex McLeish		2001–2006	235	155	44	36	65.96
Paul Le Guen		2006–2007	31	16	8	7	51.61
Walter Smith		2007–Present	12	8	2	2	66.67

Current squad

2006-07 Transfers

For a list of Rangers' 2006-07 transfers, see here.

First-team squad

Players names in bold have international caps to their name.

No. Position Player 1 GK Stefan Klos 2 DF Andy Webster (on loan from Wigan Athletic) 3 DF David Weir 4 FW Thomas Buffel 5 DF Saša Papac 6 MF Barry Ferguson (captain) 7 DF Brahim Hemdani 8 MF Kevin Thomson 9 FW Dado Pršo 10 FW Nacho Novo 11 MF Gavin Rae 12 DF Ugo Ehiogu

No. Position Player 14 MF Libor Sionko 15 FW Kris Boyd 17 MF Chris Burke 18 DF Ian Murray 19 DF Karl Svensson 20 DF Alan Hutton 22 GK Allan McGregor 23 FW Filip Šebo 25 MF Charlie Adam 26 DF Steven Smith 28 DF Antoine Ponroy 30 MF Makhtar N'Diaye

Reserve and Youth Squad

No. Position Player 34 GK Lee Robinson 36 DF Steven Campbell 38 GK Calum Reidford (on loan to Dundee) 41 DF Alan Lowing 42 MF Steven Lennon 43 MF Sam Woods 44 MF Paul Emslie 45 FW Rory Loy 46 DF Martin Ure (on loan to Cumnock) 47 MF Dean Furman 48 DF Chris Smith 49 DF Jordan McMillan 50 DF Michael Donald 51 GK Joe Sagar 52 MF Jeroen van den Broeck

No. Position Player 53 MF William McLachlan 54 DF Scott Hadden 55 DF Ross Harvey 56 FW Chris Craig 57 MF Steven Kinniburgh 58 GK Scott Gallacher 59 FW Andrew Shinnie 60 MF Stephen Stirling 61 MF Alistair Park 62 DF Nicholas Gallagher 63 DF Ross Perry 66 FW Lacine Cheriff 70 FW John Fleck –– FW Andrew Little –– FW Adda Djeziri (on loan from BK Frem)

Non-playing staff

Boardroom

Position	Name
Chairman	Sir David Murray
Chief Executive	Martin Bain
Football Administrator	Andrew Dickson
Director of Finance	Donald McIntyre
Operations Executive	Laurence MacIntyre
Director	John Greig
Non-Executive Director	John McClelland
Non-Executive Director	Alastair Johnston
Non-Executive Director	David Cunningham King
Non-Executive Director	Donald Wilson

Management

Position	Name
Manager	Walter Smith
Assistant Manager	Ally McCoist
First Team Coach	Kenny McDowall
Reserve Team Coach	Ian Durrant
Youth Team Coach	Billy Kirkwood
Goalkeeping Coach	Billy Thomson
Fitness Coach	Adam Owen
Head of Youth Football	Jim Sinclair
Youth Coach	Tommy Wilson
Youth Coach	Craig Mulholland
Youth Coach	Alan Kernaghan
Physiotherapist	Davie Henderson

Club records

Record home attendance: 118,567 .v. Celtic, January 1939

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

Record league victory: 10-0 .v. Hibernian, December 1898

Record defeat: 2-10 .v. Airdrieonians, 1886

Record league defeat: 0-6 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 league cup appearances: John Greig, 121

Record European appearances: John Greig, 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

Greatest team

Goram Jardine Gough Butcher Greig Cooper Gascoigne Baxter Laudrup Hateley McCoist

Rangers' Greatest Ever Team

The following team was voted as the greatest-ever Rangers team at an awards ceremony in 1999. Thousands of Rangers fans voted:

No. Position Player 1 GK Andy Goram 2 DF Sandy Jardine 3 DF John Greig 4 DF Richard Gough 5 DF Terry Butcher 6 MF Jim Baxter 7 MF Davie Cooper 8 MF Paul Gascoigne 9 FW Ally McCoist 10 FW Mark Hateley 11 MF Brian Laudrup

Honours

• Rangers hold the world record for number of domestic league championships won^[2], racking up 51 titles.
• They hold the record for domestic trebles^[24], with seven so far.
• Rangers won their 100th major trophy in 2000, the first club in the world to reach that milestone.^[3]
• 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)^[25] and the UEFA Cup group stage (2006-07).^[6]

Major honours

League

• Scottish League championships (51):

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	19971	1999	2000	2003	2005

¹ - Equalled Celtic's record of nine championships in a row

Cups

• European Cup Winners’ Cup winners: 1972
• Scottish Cup winners (31):

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

• League Cup winners (24):

1947	1949	1961	1962	1964	1965	1971	1976	1978	1979	1982	1984
1985	1987	1988	1989	1991	1993	1994	1997	1999	2002	2003	2005

---

Other honours

League

• Emergency War League (1): 1940
• Southern League (6): 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946
• Glasgow League (2): 1895/96, 1897/98

Cups

• Milk Cup (3): (Premier) 1984, 1992; (Junior) 1985
• Drybrough Cup (1): 1979
• Tennents' Sixes (2): 1984, 1989
• Glasgow Cup (44): 1893, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1918, 1919, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1948, 1950, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1971, 1975*, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987
  *1975 trophy shared with Celtic after 2-2 draw
• Glasgow Merchants and Charity Cup (32): 1878-79, 1896-97, 1899-1900, 1903-04, 1905-06, 1906-07, 1908-09, 1910-11, 1918-19, 1921-22, 1922-23, 1924-25, 1927-28, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1933-34, 1938-39, 1939-40, 1940-41, 1941-42, 1943-44, 1944-45, 1945-46, 1946-47, 1947-48, 1950-51, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1959-60

References

External links

• Official website
• Rangers F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats

Rangers F.C. Seasons
2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07

Rangers F.C.

Club

Players | Managers | Seasons | History | Hall of Fame

Stadium & training facilities

Ibrox Stadium | Murray Park

Miscellanea

Old Firm | Rangers TV

Football in Scotland, 2006/2007 v • d • e
The SFA National team List of venues List of clubs Under-19 team Under-21 team B team Women's team League system Seasons Champions History
League Competitions in Scottish Football
Premier League First Division Second Division Third Division East League Highland League South League Junior Leagues
Cup Competitions in Scottish Football
Scottish Cup League Cup Challenge Cup Junior Cup
Scottish Premier League 2006-2007 v • d • e
Aberdeen | Celtic | Dundee United | Dunfermline | Falkirk | Hearts | Hibernian | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Kilmarnock | Motherwell | Rangers | St. Mirren
Scottish Premier League seasons
2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07
UEFA Cup 2006-07 v • d • e
Quarter-Finals AZ | Bayer Leverkusen | SL Benfica | Espanyol | Osasuna | Sevilla | Tottenham Hotspur | Werder Bremen Eliminated in Round of 16 Braga | Celta Vigo | Lens | Maccabi Haifa | Newcastle United | Paris Saint-Germain | Rangers | Shakhtar Donetsk | Eliminated in Round of 32 AEK | Ajax | Blackburn Rovers | Bordeaux | CSKA Moscow | Dinamo Bucharest | Fenerbahçe  Feyenoord (expelled) | Hapoel Tel Aviv | Livorno | Nancy | Panathinaikos | Parma | Spartak Moscow | Steaua | Zulte-Waregem Eliminated in Group Stage Austria Wien | Auxerre | Basel | Beşiktaş | Club Brugge | Eintracht Frankfurt | Grasshoppers | Heerenveen | Liberec | Mladá Boleslav | Odense | Palermo | Partizan | Rapid Bucureşti | Sparta Prague | Wisła Eliminated in First Round Achna | Artmedia | Atromitos | Åtvidaberg | Brøndby | Chievo | Chornomorets | CSKA Sofia | Derry City | Dinamo Zagreb | Groningen | Hearts | Hertha Berlin | Iraklis | Kayserispor | Legia | Levadia | Litex | Lokomotiv Moscow | Lokomotiv Sofia | Marseille | Molde | Nacional da Madeira | Pasching | Rabotnički | Randers | Red Star | Rubin | Ružomberok | Salzburg | Schalke | Sion | Slavia Prague | Standard Liège | Start | Trabzonspor | Vitória Setúbal | West Ham United | Xanthi | Zaporizhzhya