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in the world to win more than 50 league titles. Rangers have won 107 trophies in total, making them one of the world's most sucessful football clubs. Rangers are the first side from Scotland to reach the last 16 of the Champions League. The club's home is the 50,411 all-seated ] in south west ]. The first team colours are royal blue shirts, white shorts with black and red socks. in the world to win more than 50 league titles. Rangers have won 107 trophies in total, making one of their 18 league matches. Rangers formally became a business company in 1899 and match secretary ] was appointed as the clubs first manager.

Rangers players today are multicultural, although the club has traditionally been identified with the ] community of Glasgow. For most of its history Rangers has enjoyed a fierce rivalry with crosstown opponents ] who traditionally drew much of their support from Glasgow's ] community. Between them, the two clubs dominate Scottish football and are collectively known as the ].

The club's correct name is simply 'Rangers' although it is sometimes incorrectly called 'Glasgow Rangers'. This frequently happens with ] commentators seeking to distinguish between them and other similarly named clubs particularly ]. The club is nicknamed 'The Teddy Bears' (from the rhyming slang for Gers - -off match finished 2-2, the title was shared. Rangers had to wait until ] to taste their first ] success after losing to ] in ] and ] but finally lifted the trophy for the first time after a 3-1 win over Celtic. Rangers even came close to winning the ] in ] when they lost to ] in the semi-final. Rangers ended the nineteenth century with further Scottish cup wins ] and ] and a League championship win in ] during which they won every one of their 18 league matches. Rangers formally became a business company in 1899 and match secretary ] was appointed as the clubs first manager. The club also appointed its first board of directors under the chairmanship of James Henderson. Rangers were well on their way to becoming one of Scotland's top two clubs.

not reverse the decline. Morale amongst players and supporters plummeted amidst credible rumours of players unrest and dressing room divides. A worsening financial position exacerbated the gathering gloom. The club failed to win a major competition in the ]-] season. Having continued in similar fashion in season ]-], Advocaat resigned as manager and took up a General Manager position, which he would later leave after only 11 months. ] was the surprising appointment as the new Rangers manager in December 2001.

Advocaat's tenure at Ibrox had been a paradoxical one. On one hand, the quality of football at times had been peerless. Advocaat spearheaded the building of ] - a £14m training complex at Auchenhowie which was viewed as essential if the club was to compete with its European peers in nurturing home-gown talent and developing players. On the other hand, Advocaat's man-managership was at times lamentable, and many argued that he had squandered a real opportunity to establish Rangers as consistent European competitors. With the club deep in financial difficulty, there was no realistic prospect of boosting its fortunes through further expensive player acquisitions. The challenge of restoring the club to supremacy in Scotland looked to be an unenviable one for Alex McLeish.

===Under Big Eck=== ===Under Big Eck===
McLeish's appointment was met with a lukewarm reaction amongst many Rangers supporters. Some viewed it as symptomatic of the down-sizing of the club's ambitions after the spendthrift years of Advocaat. Others saw in McLeish a manager whose mixed fortunes at Hibernian and Motherwell left him ill-equipped to cope with the demands of managing a high-profile club like Rangers. A few, remembering McLeish's days as centre-half colossus in Alex Ferguson's great Aberdeen side of the early 1980s, questioned whether someone lacking any obvious 'bluenose' credentials could revitalise a club faced, for the first time in decades, with a concerted challenge from a seemingly rejuvenated Celtic. McLeish's appointment was met with a lukewarm reaction amongst many at Hibernian, and hope that

Such concerns were quickly allayed, however, as McLeish's Rangers began to display a spiritedness that had been sorely lacking in Advocaat's final seasons. Cup successes in McLeish's first season, ]-], saw a renewed sense of optimism that Rangers could regain the ascendancy claimed fleetingly by Celtic under the managership of Martin O'Neill. A 3-2 defeat of Celtic in the season's climactic Scottish Cup final , orchestrated by Barry Ferguson's sublime midfield promptings, reinforced the view that Rangers could once more gain the pre-eminence enjoyed for almost all of the period since Graeme Souness's appointment as manager in ].

McLeish's first full season as manager, ]-] saw the club fulfil this sense of promise. Another victory over Celtic, this time in the League Cup , provided the first leg of the club's latest treble. Rangers' fiftieth championship was secured on a dramatic last day of the league season, with victory over Dunfermline denying Celtic the title on goal difference . Victory over Dundee in the Scottish Cup final saw a triumphant finale to the season .

The successes of McLeish's initial period as manager proved difficult to sustain. The club's parlous financial position, in the wake of the profligacy of the Advocaat era, meant a period of relative austerity. Wage bills were slashed as the club embarked on an extensive cost-cutting programme in an attempt to stabilise a mushrooming (and unsustainable) debt. Confronted with a squad of well-paid but ageing players largely assembled by Advocaat, McLeish was compelled to re-build without the luxury of the generous transfer kitty enjoyed by his predecessors over the preceding two decades.

McLeish was required to rebuild not through the high-profile and often audacious signings of the Souness,way for more signings including ] and the return of former captain ]. Those signings helped Rangers win the ], with victory over Motherwell . The league, however, appeared to have been lost, as Rangers handed a five-point lead to Celtic, with only four games of the season remaining. Faced with the need to win a final match at Hibernian, and hope that Celtic would fail to win away at Fir Park, Rangers secured a fifty-first championship as Motherwell overcame a 1-0 deficit with two goals in the last two minutes .

Season ] - ] got off to a bad start, with Rangers only winning 6 league games out of the first 16, and being knocked out of the League Cup by arch-rivals Celtic. Speculation over Alex McLeish's future has been rife and it is said that he has been given until early December to save his job. Although with a draw against Italian giants ], McLeish became the first manager to guide a Scottish team past the group stages of the Champion's League. However there was still significant pressure on McLeish from fans because of the club's poor position in the Premier League table. It was widely expected that McLeish would leave the club on ] ] after a press conference was arranged by Chairman David Murray. However Murray stated that McLeish would remain in charge indefinitely () but did concede that domestic results would need to improve.

==Famous Players==

==Team Managers==
1983]] - ])
*] (] - ])
*] (] - ])
*] (] - ])
*] (] - ])
*] (] - ])

==Current Squad==
===]===
{|
! width="25" align="right" |1.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |22.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|] (on loan at ])
|-
! width="25" align="right" |25.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
|}

===]===
{|
! width="25" align="right" |2.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |3.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |5.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |12.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |14.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |15.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|] (on loan at ])
|-
! width="25" align="right" |16.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |18.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |20.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |37.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |32.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|] (on loan at ])
|-
! width="25" align="right" |36.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|] (on loan at ])
|-
! width="25" align="right" |34.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |51.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|}

===]===
{|
|-
! width="25" align="right" |6.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |7.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-

! width="25" align="right" |8.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |11.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |17.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |20.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|] (on loan at ])
|-
! width="25" align="right" |24.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |31.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |33.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|}

===]===
{|
|-
! width="25" align="right" |4.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |9.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |10.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |19.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |21.
! width="200" align="left" |]
||] (on loan from ])
|-
! width="25" align="right" |23.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|] (on loan from ])
|-
! width="25" align="right" |26.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |39.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |44.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|-
! width="25" align="right" |50.
! width="200" align="left" |]
|]
|}

==Non-Playing Staff==
{|-table style="width: 100%; text-align: left;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"
|valign="top"|
*'''Chairman:''' ]

*'''Chief Executive:''' Martin Bain

*'''Director of Finance:''' David Jolliffe

*'''Director:''' ]

*'''Non-Executive Director:''' Alastair Johnston

*'''Non-Executive Director:''' David Cunningham King

*'''Non-Executive Director:''' John McClelland

*'''Non-Executive Director:''' Donald Wilson

|valign="top"|
*'''Manager:''' ]

*'''Assistant Manager:''' ]

*'''First Team Coach:''' ]

*'''Reserve Coach:''' John Brown

*'''Club Doctor:''' Dr Ian McGuinness

*'''Physiotherapists:''' Davie Henderson, Stuart Collie, Steve Walker
|}

==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 league cup defeat''':
1-7 Celtic, October, 1957

'''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

'''Most capped player''':
Terry Butcher, 77 caps for England

'''Highest transfer fee received''':
Giovanni Van Bronkhorst, £8.5m, Arsenal, 2001

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

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

*] (Goalkeeper)
*] (Defender)
*] (Defender)
*] (Defender)
*] (Defender)
*] (Midfielder)
*] (Midfielder)
*] (Midfielder)
*] (Midfielder)
*] (striker)
*] (striker)

==Famous Rangers fans==

SANTA CLAUS
HOWARD OFF HALIFAX
THE DOG FROM FRASIER
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG

== Honours ==
Rangers have the all-time worldwide lead for domestic league championships, racking up their 51st title in 2005. They also share the all-time worldwide lead for ] with ] club ], with 17 as of 2004-05 and hold the record for ], with 7 so far.

Rangers won their 100th major trophy in ], the first club in the world to reach that milestone.

* '''European Cup Winners Cup Champions''' 1972 ''(1)''
* '''Scottish League Champions''' 1891, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005 ''(51)''
* '''Scottish Cup Winners''' 1894, 1897, 1898, 1903, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 ''(31)''
* '''Scottish League Cup Winners''' 1946, 1948, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005 ''(24)''
* '''Emergency War League''' 1940 ''(1)''
* '''Southern League''' 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946'' (6)''
*''']''' (Premier) 1984, 1992. (Junior) 1985 ''3''
* ''']''' 1979
* ''']''' 1984, 1989

==See also==
*] - Other articles on Rangers F.C.
*] - Footballers who have played for Rangers F.C.
*]
*Rangers by season: {{RFCbyseason}}

==External link==
*
*
*
*

Revision as of 14:47, 16 December 2005

in the world to win more than 50 league titles. Rangers have won 107 trophies in total, making one of their 18 league matches. Rangers formally became a business company in 1899 and match secretary William Wilton was appointed as the clubs first manager.

Under Big Eck

McLeish's appointment was met with a lukewarm reaction amongst many at Hibernian, and hope that