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==History==
==History==
{{main|History of Rangers F.C.}}
{{main|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.


⚫
Rangers Football Club has a long and illustrious history. 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.

==Recent history==
{{current sport-related|mini=1|Rangers F.C. season 2006-07}}
{{current sport-related|mini=1|Rangers F.C. season 2006-07}}
===Under Paul Le Guen (2006-2007)===
===Under Paul Le Guen (2006-2007)===
Line 49: Line 47:


===Walter Smith's return (2007-present)===
===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 [[Scottish Football Association|SFA]] confirmed that Rangers enquired about the availability of the pair.<ref name="Walter Smith approach">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6233237.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Rangers' Smith approach revealed|date=7 January 2007}}</ref> However, on [[January 8]], the SFA rebuffed Rangers' approach for Smith.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6233237.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=SFA reject Rangers' Smith move |date=8 January 2007}}</ref>
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 [[Scottish Football Association|SFA]] confirmed that Rangers enquired about the availability of the pair.<ref name="Walter Smith approach">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6233237.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Rangers' Smith approach revealed|date=7 January 2007}}</ref> However, on [[January 8]], the SFA rebuffed Rangers' approach for Smith.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6233237.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=SFA reject Rangers' Smith move |date=8 January 2007}}</ref>


Revision as of 23:57, 18 March 2007

For other teams called Rangers, see Rangers F.C. (disambiguation). See Ranger for other meanings.
Rangers F.C.
File:Rangers.png
Full nameRangers Football Club
Nickname(s)The Gers, Teddy Bears, Light Blues.
Founded1873
GroundIbrox Stadium
Glasgow
Scotland
Capacity51,082[1]
ChairmanScotland Sir David Murray
ManagerScotland Walter Smith
LeagueScottish Premier League
2005-2006Scottish Premier League, 3rd

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 F.C. [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.

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.

Under Paul Le Guen (2006-2007)

File:Rangers2dundeeunited2carddisplay.jpg
Card display at Ibrox to welcome Paul Le Guen.

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, Maurice Johnston, Rangers had a policy of not signing any player who was Catholic.

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.[13]

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 howrever, declared the Rangers fans not guilty of alleged discriminatory chants.[14] UEFA challenged the ruling, and their Appeals Body partially upheld the appeal[15], 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".[16]

Stadium and training facility

Main articles: Ibrox Stadium and Murray Park
The front facade of the Bill Struth Main Stand

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[17] 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.[18]

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.[19] 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.Template:Col-6
Scotland Scotland

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 Scotland 1899–1920
Bill Struth Scotland 1920–1954
Scott Symon Scotland 1954–1967
David White Scotland 1967–1969
William Waddell Scotland 1969–1972
Jock Wallace Scotland 1972–1978
John Greig Scotland 1978–1983
Jock Wallace Scotland 1983–1986
Graeme Souness Scotland 1986–1991 254
Walter Smith Scotland 1991–1998 266 169 49 48 63.53

Dick Advocaat

Netherlands 1998–2001 194 131 33 30 67.53
Alex McLeish Scotland 2001–2006 235 155 44 36 65.96
Paul Le Guen France 2006–2007 31 16 8 7 51.61
Walter Smith Scotland 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.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Germany GER Stefan Klos
2 DF Scotland SCO Andy Webster (on loan from Wigan Athletic)
3 DF Scotland SCO David Weir
4 FW Belgium BEL Thomas Buffel
5 DF Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH Saša Papac
6 MF Scotland SCO Barry Ferguson (captain)
7 DF France FRA Brahim Hemdani
8 MF Scotland SCO Kevin Thomson
9 FW Croatia CRO Dado Pršo
10 FW Spain ESP Nacho Novo
11 MF Scotland SCO Gavin Rae
12 DF England ENG Ugo Ehiogu
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 MF Czech Republic CZE Libor Sionko
15 FW Scotland SCO Kris Boyd
17 MF Scotland SCO Chris Burke
18 DF Scotland SCO Ian Murray
19 DF Sweden SWE Karl Svensson
20 DF Scotland SCO Alan Hutton
22 GK Scotland SCO Allan McGregor
23 FW Slovakia SVK Filip Šebo
25 MF Scotland SCO Charlie Adam
26 DF Scotland SCO Steven Smith
28 DF France FRA Antoine Ponroy
30 MF Senegal SEN Makhtar N'Diaye

Reserve and Youth Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
34 GK England ENG Lee Robinson
36 DF Scotland SCO Steven Campbell
38 GK Scotland SCO Calum Reidford (on loan to Dundee)
41 DF Scotland SCO Alan Lowing
42 MF Scotland SCO Steven Lennon
43 MF England ENG Sam Woods
44 MF Scotland SCO Paul Emslie
45 FW Scotland SCO Rory Loy
46 DF Scotland SCO Martin Ure (on loan to Cumnock)
47 MF South Africa RSA Dean Furman
48 DF Scotland SCO Chris Smith
49 DF Scotland SCO Jordan McMillan
50 DF England ENG Michael Donald
51 GK England ENG Joe Sagar
52 MF Belgium BEL Jeroen van den Broeck
No. Pos. Nation Player
53 MF Scotland SCO William McLachlan
54 DF Scotland SCO Scott Hadden
55 DF Scotland SCO Ross Harvey
56 FW Scotland SCO Chris Craig
57 MF Scotland SCO Steven Kinniburgh
58 GK Scotland SCO Scott Gallacher
59 DF Scotland SCO Andrew Shinnie
60 MF Scotland SCO Stephen Stirling
61 MF Scotland SCO Alistair Park
62 DF Scotland SCO Nicholas Gallagher
63 DF Scotland SCO Ross Perry
66 FW Ivory Coast CIV Lacine Cheriff
70 FW Scotland SCO John Fleck
–– FW Northern Ireland NIR Andrew Little
–– FW Denmark DEN 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 Thompson
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:

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Scotland SCO Andy Goram
2 DF Scotland SCO Sandy Jardine
3 DF Scotland SCO John Greig
4 DF Scotland SCO Richard Gough
5 DF England ENG Terry Butcher
6 MF Scotland SCO Jim Baxter
7 MF Scotland SCO Davie Cooper
8 MF England ENG Paul Gascoigne
9 FW Scotland SCO Ally McCoist
10 FW England ENG Mark Hateley
11 MF Denmark DEN 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[20], 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)[21] 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

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
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

  1. ^ a b "A Look at Ibrox's Rich History". Rangers Official Website.
  2. ^ a b "Total Number of Championships". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 23 November 2006.
  3. ^ a b "Glasgow Rangers - 100 Trophies". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 21 October 2001.
  4. ^ "A rivalry tied up in religion". BBC Website. 26 August 2006.
  5. ^ "Le Guen says team are improving". BBC Sport website. 17 December 2006.
  6. ^ a b "Auxerre 2-2 Rangers". BBC Sport website. 23 November 2006.
  7. ^ "Clash of cultures". BBC Sport website. 5 January 2007.
  8. ^ "Ferguson anger at Le Guen comment". BBC Sport website. 17 December 2006.
  9. ^ "Le Guen and Rangers part company". BBC Sport website. 4 January 2007.
  10. ^ "Rangers' Smith approach revealed". BBC Sport website. 7 January 2007.
  11. ^ "SFA reject Rangers' Smith move". BBC Sport website. 8 January 2007.
  12. ^ "Smith installed as Rangers boss". BBC Sport website. 10 January 2007.
  13. ^ "Who's getting cuffed today?". Sunday Herald. 24 April 2005.
  14. ^ "Rangers handed fine". UEFA Website. 12 April 2006.
  15. ^ "Rangers appeal upheld". UEFA Website. 24 May 2006.
  16. ^ "Joint Supporter/Club Statement". Rangers FC Website.
  17. ^ "Scottish football". June 2006.
  18. ^ "Gers to unveil The Bill Struth Stand on September 9". Follow Follow Fansite. 22 August 2006.
  19. ^ "New kids on the ball". Evening Times. 30 January 2007.
  20. ^ "Domestic Trebles". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 23 November 2006.
  21. ^ "Rangers 1-1 Inter Milan". BBC Sport website. 6 December 2005.

External links


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