RANGERS SOCCER REPLICAS |
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RANGERS HOME JERSEY |
RANGERS AWAY JERSEY |
| Rangers Football
Club is the world's most successful football club in terms
of domestic competitions won. Founded in 1873, Rangers play
at the 50,411 seat Ibrox Stadium in south west Glasgow.
Rangers play in light blue shirts, white shorts and black
and red socks. (Away tops tend to be red and white (never
green!) or blue and white (sometimes orange). In 1873, Moses McNeil, Tom Vallance and Peter Campbell saw a group of men playing football on Glasgow Green's Flesher's Haugh and decided to form a team of their own. Three of McNeil's six brothers (Peter, William and Harry) joined him in this this new pastime and together they formed the core of the early Rangers sides. The team's first game was in May of 1872 against Callander F.C. on Flesher's Haugh, which resulted in a 0-0 draw. At first they played under the name Argyle. Moses McNeil suggested the name Rangers after seeing the name in a book about English Rugby. Identified with the city's Protestant community, the club broke with tradition by signing a prominent Scottish (and Celtic-supporting) Roman Catholic player Maurice "Mo" Johnston in 1989. The present side is multinational and multiracial. For most of its history it has enjoyed a fierce rivalry with crosstown opponents Celtic, which in contrast draws much of its support from Glasgow's Catholic community. Between them the two clubs dominate Scottish football, and are collectively known as The Old Firm. The club's correct name is simply Rangers, although they are sometimes (incorrectly) called Glasgow Rangers - often by English commentators seeking to distinguish between them and other similarly named clubs, particularly Queens Park Rangers. The club is nicknamed The Gers by friend and foe alike, although the fans are known as "Bluenoses" or "Bears". In 1972, Rangers won the European Cup Winners Cup, beating Dynamo Moscow by a score of 3-2 in Barcelona. Rangers have won a world record 50 domestic championships, the most recent coming in 2003. During the 1990s the club was controlled by metals tycoon David Murray, who invested heavily in the ground and in buying expensive playing talent. Rangers won the Scottish League championship nine years in a row, from 1989 to 1997, and generally dominated Scottish football during that period. The club was criticised during this time, as some felt the amount spent on foreign players detracted from investment in developing home-grown players, although the creation of their training facility, "Murray Park", has led to steps being taken to correct this. The resurgence of rivals Celtic in the late 1990s has seen Rangers face a revival of significant opposition. Both teams are believed to harbour ambitions to play with leading English clubs in a lucrative "superleague", rather in the (somewhat anaemic) Scottish Premier League. As of 2004 Rangers' corporate debt was in excess of £70 million, although chairman Murray has pledged to wipe out the debt via a shares issue. Famous present or former players at Ibrox include: Alan Morton, David Meiklejohn, Robert Smith McColl, Willie Waddell, Jock Shaw, Paul Gascoigne, Terry Butcher, Graeme Souness, Ally McCoist, Mark Hateley, Brian Laudrup, Claudio Reyna, Arthur Numan, Lorenzo Amoruso, Rodney Wallace, Fernando Ricksen, Jim Baxter, Ray Wilkins, Richard Gough, Andy Goram, Barry Ferguson, William 'Sandy' Jardine and Jean-Alain Boumsong. |
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