X-Nico

16 unusual facts about Rangers F.C.


Albert Guðmundsson

Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson (5 October 1923 – 7 April 1994) was the first Icelandic professional football player and played for, amongst others, Rangers, Arsenal, FC Nancy and AC Milan.

Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom

This growth is, however, attributed by some to the rivalry between Rangers and Celtic football clubs as opposed to actual hatred of Catholics.

Billy Simpson

In recognition of his service to that club, Simpson has been made a member of the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame.

Chris Hegarty

Chris Hegarty (Northern Irish footballer), Northern Irish footballer currently playing for Rangers F.C.

Clydesdale Cricket Club

On moving to Pollokshields, the club sold its previous grounds in Kinning Park in 1873 to a newly founded football club called Rangers.

Dambusters March

It is also regularly played by Scottish football champions Rangers F.C. post match.

Hector the Tax Inspector

In 2011, supporters of Scottish association football club, Celtic started to use images and masks of Hector to insult supporters of their Old Firm rivals Rangers by referring to Rangers' tax problems with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Holditch Colliery Disaster

On 19 October 1937 Scottish Football League champions Rangers travelled to the Victoria Ground to play Stoke City in a benefit match for the victims of the disaster, raising £2,000 for the relief fund.

Phil Mac Giolla Bhain

Mac Giolla Bhain came to prominence by charting events leading to the financial collapse of the Glasgow–based football club Rangers.

Roker Park

In 1929 the old wooden grandstand was demolished and replaced by a new Main Stand, which was designed by Archibald Leitch, whose influence, the criss-cross lattice work, can still be seen at Ibrox (Rangers), Home Park (Plymouth Argyle) and Goodison Park (Everton).

Saeed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Rumours circulating the United Kingdom that Saeed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is considering purchasing Rangers and the Consortium is being fronted by Andrew Ellis who previously had links with QPR and Northampton Town.

The Sacred Art of Stealing

; Detective Inspector Angelique de Xavia : Glaswegian police officer and loyal Rangers F.C. supporter (despite the fact she is Catholic and her brother is a Celtic F.C fan) who feels isolated as a female Asian police officer.

Tiocfaidh ár lá

It was established in 1991, at which time Celtic was enduring a period of prolonged inferiority to Rangers F.C., their Old Firm rivals, giving the sense of "our day will come" an extra resonance.

Unspoken rule

In sports, Scottish football club, Rangers until 1989 had an unwritten rule of not signing any player who was openly Catholic.

Vera Pauw

In September 1998 Pauw was appointed coach and technical director of the Scotland women's national football team, while husband Bert van Lingen was working as assistant manager of Rangers in Glasgow.

Witheridge F.C.

Witheridge Football Club are currently managed by former Rangers F.C. & England Under 21 International Chris Vinnicombe.


1931 in Scotland

5 September - Celtic goalkeeper, John Thomson, dies in hospital after fracturing his skull in a collision with Rangers forward Sam English in the 'Old Firm' League derby at Ibrox Park.

1997–98 Middlesbrough F.C. season

The season also saw the arrivals of well-known players such as Paul Gascoigne from Rangers, Marco Branca from Inter Milan and Paul Merson from Arsenal, with Boro bucking the trend of players only being attracted by top-flight clubs.

2009 Magny-Cours Superleague Formula round

In the knockout stages, an all-British battle was the highlight of round one, with Rangers' John Martin and Tottenham's Craig Dolby recording the two fastest times of the first round.

2012 in Scottish television

19 July – The Scottish Football League approaches broadcasters with a package to show up to 25 live Rangers matches during the 2012–13 season.

André Bikey

On 31 August 2012, Amougou rejected a contract at Scottish Football League Third Division side Rangers.

Barn United F.C.

The club's current facilities at Haslett Park are basic but does feature a social club, which was opened in 1981 by Rangers player and Northern Ireland international John McClelland.

Brian McGinlay

At the domestic level McGinlay has refereed 21 Old Firm derbies, during which he never sent off a player, but he considers his most nerve-racking match to be the RangersAberdeen title decider match at the climax of the 1990–91 season.

Colin Tartt

He was a key member of the side that lifted the last ever instalment of the Anglo-Scottish Cup, despite Rangers manager John Greig calling him "the worst full-back in Europe".

Daisuke Matsui

Among the teams which were believed to have shown interested in signing him at the time were Catania, Genoa, Lazio and Torino of Serie A, Celtic and Rangers of the Scottish Premier League, Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg of the Bundesliga, and Lille of Ligue 1.

Didier Agathe

Agathe, who played over 100 league games for Celtic, was portrayed in fiction as a Rangers striker in the Robert Duvall movie, A Shot at Glory.

ENIC Group

During the football investment boom of the mid to late 1990s it began to acquire shares in football clubs around Europe and bought stakes in Tottenham Hotspur (29,9%), Rangers F.C. (25,1%), SK Slavia Prague (96,7%), AEK Athens F.C. (47%), Vicenza Calcio (99,9%) and FC Basel (50%).

Fabián Caballero

During the 2002–03 Scottish Cup, Dundee went on to qualify for the final of the competition, where they were defeated 1–0 against Rangers on 31 May 2003 as Caballero played a full 90-minutes of the match.

Fit and proper person test

In March 2012, Rangers owner Craig Whyte was found not to be a fit and proper person as the result of an independent enquiry.

GKS Katowice

Over the years fans of GKS got to witness their team take on the likes of Sportul Studentsc Bucharest, Rangers, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Benfica, Aris, Girondins Bordeaux and twice Bayer Leverkusen.

Gray O'Brien

The Manchester show drew the ire of football fans when, in October 2008, several months after the 2008 UEFA Cup Final riots, in a scripted line, O'Brien's evil character made a jibe about Rangers F.C..

Hill of Beath

Hill of Beath is the birthplace of Rangers F.C. legend Jim Baxter and Scotland captain Willie Cunningham and the home town of Celtic F.C. midfielder Scott Brown.

John Goossens

During this training camp he played exhibition games against the Rangers and Falkirk.

John Greig

John Greig MBE (born 11 September 1942 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former professional football player who, despite his boyhood allegiance to hometown team Heart of Midlothian, spent his entire career in Glasgow with Rangers as a player, manager and director.

Jozef Vengloš

Season 1998–99 saw his Celtic team in some excellent form, but they failed to qualify for the Champions League and lost the League Championship and Scottish Cup to Rangers, who also won the Scottish League Cup, completing the treble.

Kirsty McCabe

In January 2006, she briefly gained some measure of notoriety in Scotland following a forecast where she told Rangers fans heading to their game to "wrap up warm if they are heading for Castle Grayskull".

Kitch Christie

He picked up his lifelong nickname of "Kitch" from his fellow pupils, who named him after Don Kitchenbrand, a South African footballer with Rangers in the 1950s.

Lochore Welfare F.C.

Among these are Willie Johnston, who could often be seen playing for Lochore before going on to play for Rangers and Scotland and Ian Porterfield, whose greatest moment of glory was scoring the winning goal for Sunderland in the FA Cup final.

Maccabi Haifa F.C.

In the Groups stage, Haifa faced strong opponents: The Scottish Rangers F.C., the Serbian Partizan Belgrade, the French Auxerre and the Italian Serie A team Livorno.

NK Pazinka

Notable players who appeared for Pazinka during this spell included Dado Pršo (later with AS Monaco and Rangers), Zoran Škerjanc (formerly of Dinamo Zagreb and Recreativo Huelva) and Damir Desnica (one of the very few deaf professional footballers, formerly with Rijeka and Kortrijk).

Pieter Huistra

Between 1990 and 1995 he played for Scottish Premier Division club Rangers, becoming the first of a number of Dutch players to play for the club, where he won five League medals, two League Cup medals and a Scottish Cup medal.

Roland Juhász

On 8 August 2011, it was announced that Ally McCoist's Rangers F.C. could not agree with Anderlecht on the transfer fee of Roland Juhász.

Ruhrstadion

The stadium hosted a UEFA Champions League match between CSKA Moscow and Rangers in December 1992 because the teams weren't able to play in Moscow for weather reasons.

Saulius Mikoliūnas

On 2 March 2005, during a match against Rangers at Tynecastle Stadium, Mikoliūnas received a double red card from referee Hugh Dallas.

Scottish devolution referendum, 1997

Board members included Donald Findlay, a QC, Rector of the University of St Andrews and vice-chairman of Rangers F.C., and senior Conservative peer Lord Fraser.

Strathspey Camanachd

There was controversy surrounding the club in December 2011 as the Press and Journal erroneously reported that they had been given their ground by Craig Whyte, then chairman of Rangers F.C., who owns Castle Grant.

Tero Penttilä

Tero Penttilä (born 9 March 1975 in Suomussalmi, Finland) is a former professional football player who played for Rangers in defence.

Vyacheslav Malafeev

Malafeev has since been the first choice goalkeeper ahead of Kamil Čontofalský and won the UEFA Cup in 2008 after keeping a clean sheet against Rangers F.C..