By David Herd
At Rugby Park this midweek, a temporary new managerial regime took charge of Rangers for the first time. Former club captain Barry Ferguson, probably the best Scottish player to wear the colours this century, had returned to his Ibrox when duty called. His appointment as interim manager until the end of the season wasn’t universally acclaimed by the support, but even those doubting his coaching credentials could never dispute his magnificence as a Rangers player or his devotion to the club. Clement hadn’t been out of the door for even 24 hours when Ferguson was confirmed in the post, and he had brought with him no fewer than three former Rangers teammates as he looked to restore the winning habit into a squad who sadly lack so many of the new manager’s qualities as a player.
Ferguson was appointed captain by Dick Advocaat in 2000 at the age of just 22, and as well as winning 15 major domestic honours in the Royal Blue, the best homegrown midfielder of his generation had a burning will-to-win and fierce competitive edge to go along with his wonderful football ability. As a captain, he insisted on the highest of standards on the pitch and in the dressing room. And it’s accurate to say that the trio Ferguson called on were all cut from a similar cloth when they wore the Rangers colours.
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Hall of Fame goalkeeper Allan McGregor, the last man to start more than 500 competitive first-team games for the club, could even rival Ferguson for his legendary temper and inability to accept second best. Winger Neil McCann was a key man in two treble-winning campaigns. He was far from the physical hard-tackling and fist-shaking type on the field of play, but this hid a burning competitive desire that was seen most recently in a spell as manager at Dundee, where several of his players ended up on the wrong side of his confrontational manner. And finally, striker Billy Dodds, who scored goals in the biggest of matches, was well-known inside the Ibrox dressing roam as another constant moaner who was never slow to complain when his teammates failed to provide the service he required.
In his first interview as temporary boss, Ferguson spoke of how delighted he was to get this band of blues brothers back together. But as a quartet, it took some trawling of the archives to find the one and only occasion when a Rangers team had all four of them on the pitch at the same time. It came exactly 23 years to the day before their appointment as the new management team, on February 24 2002. And it was a day particularly memorable for two of the new backroom team.
Season 2001/02 had started horribly for Rangers, with Martin O’Neill’s treble winning Celtic disappearing out of sight in the league race well before Christmas. By mid-December, it had cost Rangers manager Dick Advocaat his job, the Dutchman being “moved upstairs” to be replaced in the dugout by former Hibs boss Alex McLeish. The former Scotland centre half quickly started to steady the ship, and by the start of February he had won over the doubters when he masterminded a first Old Firm win for Rangers in well over a year, a memorable Bert Konterman 25-yard guided missile deciding a League Cup semi-final in extra-time. By 24 February, the new manager was still unbeaten after 16 matches in charge, the most recent being a creditable 1-1 draw with Feyenoord in the UEFA Cup. His seventeenth game in the hotseat looked to be far more straightforward, a Scottish Cup quarter-final tie at Station Park against the minnows of Forfar Athletic.
With the second leg in Rotterdam just a few days later, McLeish decided to make a few changes to his side, confident he had the squad depth to take care of the part-timers in front of the BBC cameras. One of the changes he made was up front, giving a first start to Dodds under his management, and a first start for the player since in a defeat to Celtic the previous April. Another player restored to the eleven was McCann, who had been an unused substitute against the Dutch giants four days earlier. But the captain wasn’t rested, Ferguson again wore the armband, fresh from scoring a late equaliser from the penalty spot the previous midweek. Also unchanged was the man in goal, the impressive and consistent German custodian Stefan Klos continuing his perfect appearance record for the season, with highly-rated young deputy Allan McGregor watching on from the bench.
The full Rangers line-up was:
Klos, Ricksen, Amoruso, Vidmar, Numan, Ferguson, Kanchelskis, Hughes, Dodds, Arveladze, McCann (Subs – McGregor, Ross, Latapy, Wilson, Lovenkrands)
It would be an afternoon that even the perfectionist skipper would struggle to complain about. Many of the 4,504 crowd were still trying to get through the turnstiles when Rangers opened the scoring. And it was a dream return for Dodds, who smashed the ball into the Forfar net after clever interplay with strike partner Arveladze before sixty seconds had elapsed. Rangers had been embarrassed in a previous round when being held to a goalless draw at Berwick, they looked determined not to leave Forfar as red-faced.
There were a couple of scares inside the Rangers penalty area in the first half, but while the underdogs saw their efforts come to nothing, McLeish’s forwards were ruthless. Georgian international striker Arveladze doubled the lead on the half hour, and ten minutes later the contest was over. This one was the goal of the game, a delightful lob by Arveladze over goalkeeper Michael Brown after brilliantly controlling a chipped Stephen Hughes pass on his chest. And despite there being only five minutes till the interval, there was still time for a fourth Rangers goal, this time it was winger Kanchelskis who provided the killer finish.
4-0 up at the break, McLeish decided to send on Ross and Latapy after the break to allow Ricksen and Arveladze to put their feet up before Rotterdam. But the tide remained very much one-way. And the pressure told in 61 minutes when Dodds grabbed his second of the day with an accurate low shot past Brown. The forward then had the ideal opportunity to cap off his comeback into the fold a few minutes later, when Rangers were awarded a penalty after Dodds himself had been upended. But his spot kick was saved by the Forfar goalkeeper.
In the 74th minute, came the moment when the four future management team members all got to play together. McLeish decided that at 5-0 up, he could give the eager 22-year-old stopper McGregor a first-ever taste of the action, and he replaced Klos. It would be the start of a long and glittering goalkeeping career, one that only ended during the recent Michael Beale era in charge. The following sixteen minutes were the only time that McGregor, Ferguson, McCann and Dodds ever played all together in the Rangers first team. And they enjoyed one goal during that time, with Dodds completing both a hat-trick and a 6-0 rout when he finished off a fine McCann cross. Perhaps just as well for the defenders in front of him, McGregor’s short debut had been a clean sheet.
Billy Dodds scored his second Rangers hat-trick that day, then only ever scored in one more Rangers match before moving back to old club Dundee United the following January in a deal that saw Rangers sign United’s striker Stephen Thompson. Most of his sixteen further appearances came from the bench, and in all of them the Rangers goalkeeper was Klos. McCann left Ibrox just a few months after Dodds, his last game being the 2003 Scottish Cup final win over Dundee that clinched the club’s seventh and last treble to date. McGregor and Ferguson would enjoy two spells as Rangers players, their places on the Hall of Fame board at the top of the marble staircase evidence of the success of their Ibrox careers.
Ferguson, McGregor, McCann and Dodds. Between them they amassed 1,186 Rangers appearances, and all four of them lifted every major domestic honour with the club. But together, they only ever played at the same time for sixteen minutes. Now have three more months together. It won’t involve domestic silverware. But at Rangers there is always everything to play for. We all wish them every success.
