Rangers Football Club are an association football team based in Glasgow, Scotland, who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers , Teddy Bears (from the rhyming slang for the same) and the Light Blues , and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses . They are sometimes referred to as Glasgow Rangers , although the word Glasgow does not form part of the club's official title. The club is incorporated as The Rangers Football Club plc . The club's home is the all-seated 51,082-capacity Ibrox Stadium in south-west Glasgow.
Rangers have won 52 domestic league titles, more than any other team in the world. They have won the Scottish League Cup 25 times — more than any other Scottish club — and the Scottish Cup 33 times. In 1961 Rangers were the first British team to compete in a European final when they reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. They won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1972, having been the runners-up in 1961 and 1967, and were runners-up in the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. An estimated 150,000 Rangers fans made the journey to Manchester for the final, most of whom did not have tickets.
Rangers' players and fans today are multi-national and of various religious and political affiliations, although the club have traditionally been identified with and favoured the Protestant and Unionist community of Scotland, as well as the Unionist community in Northern Ireland. For most of their history, Rangers have enjoyed a fierce rivalry with their cross-city opponents Celtic, and the two are collectively known as the Old Firm.
History
Main article: History of Rangers F.C.Formation and early years
The four founders of Rangers - brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath - met in 1872 and named their team after an English rugby club upon seeing the name in a book. In May of that year the first match was played, a 0–0 draw in a friendly against Callander F.C. on the public pitches of Glasgow Green. The only other match played that year was another friendly against a team called Clyde (not the present-day Clyde) resulting in an 11–0 victory and featuring the debut of the club's blue strip. The official founding of Rangers is recognised as taking place in 1873, when the club held its first annual meeting and staff were elected. The first season's fixtures were all friendlies, as the deadline for joining the Scottish Football Association had been missed, meaning the team did not take part in the inaugural Scottish Cup. By 1876 Rangers had their first internationalist, with Moses McNeil representing Scotland in a match against Wales, and by 1877 Rangers had reached a Scottish Cup final. The first ever Old Firm match took place in 1888, the year of Celtic's establishment. Rangers lost 5–2 in a friendly to a team largely comprised of "guest players" from Hibernian.
The 1890–91 season saw the inception of the Scottish Football League, and Rangers were one of ten original members. By this time Rangers were playing at the first Ibrox Stadium. Rangers' first ever league match took place on 16 August 1890 and resulted in a 5–2 victory over Heart of Midlothian. After finishing equal-top with Dumbarton a play-off was held at Cathkin Park to decide the who would be champions. The match finished 2–2 and the title was shared for the only time in its history, the first of Rangers' world record 52 championships. Rangers' first ever Scottish Cup win came in 1894 after a 3–1 victory over rivals Celtic in the final. By the turn of the century Rangers had won two league titles and three Scottish Cups.
The Struth Years
The 1919/20 season heralded the dawn of a new era for Rangers as manager William Wilton and number two William Struth initiated a Rangers dominance that was to last until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Though winning this season with 31 wins out of 42 games and scoring 106 goals, it was overshadowed by the subsequent death of manager, William Wilton. Taking over the manager's mantle, William Struth guided Rangers to a further 14 titles before the war. This period was also noteworthy for the attendances. On the 2 January 1939 a British league record was broken as 118,567 fans turned out to watch Rangers beat Celtic in the traditional new year holiday old firm match.
1970s
The 1971 Ibrox disaster overshadowed what happened on the pitch to a large extent in the early 1970s. On 2 January 1971, in the final minutes of the New Year's Day Old Firm game with the score set at 0–0, Jimmy Johnstone scored for Celtic. Within seconds Colin Stein had equalised for Rangers. As the 80,000 strong crowd was trying to disperse at full time, many fell down the stairway at the Copland Road end of the ground. Their momentum led to large scale crushing and 66 people died. It was initially thought the crush was caused by Rangers fans rushing back up the stairwell after the equaliser; however, a later enquiry said that the crush was likely to have happened ten minutes after the final whistle and to have been triggered by someone falling on the stairs. A benefit match to raise funds for the victims' families took place after the disaster. A joint Rangers and Celtic team took on a Scotland XI at Hampden watched by 81,405 fans.
In 1972, Rangers defeated Dynamo Moscow to win the Cup Winner's Cup, their first and only European trophy to date. Captain John Greig received the trophy in a small room within the Nou Camp due to a pitch invasion by Rangers fans.
Nine in a Row
Every year from 1988–89 season until the 1996–97 season, Rangers won the league title. This 9 in a row achievement meant that they equalled Celtic's record. The first three of these seasons the club was managed by Graeme Souness, the later six under the stewardship of Walter Smith.
Under Paul Le Guen
Paul Le Guen replaced Alex McLeish as manager after season 2005–06.
The season started poorly for Rangers, with a number of losses and draws against teams lower in the league, as well as their being knocked out of the League Cup by Division One side St. Johnstone. Rivals Celtic built a lead at the top of the table, while Rangers fought for second place alongside Hearts and Aberdeen. The first Old Firm match of the season resulted in a 2–0 defeat; the second - at Ibrox - was a 1–1 draw.
In the UEFA Cup Rangers became the first Scottish side to qualify for the last 32 of the competition in its current format.
There had been rumours during the season of disharmony at Rangers, between Scottish and foreign units, with players including captain Barry Ferguson disapproving of Le Guen's strict disciplinarian stance. It was announced on 4 January 2007 that Le Guen had left Rangers by mutual consent.
Walter Smith's return
On 10 January 2007, it was announced that former manager Walter Smith was the new manager of Rangers, with Ally McCoist as assistant manager and Kenny McDowall as first-team coach.
The following season Rangers embarked on a UEFA Cup adventure after dropping into the competition from the Champions League. The club progressed to the final, defeating Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen, Sporting Lisbon and Fiorentina along the way. The final was against Zenit St. Petersburg who are managed by former Rangers manager Dick Advocaat. They lost that match 2–0, amid serious disturbances caused by some supporters. Video evidence was released by the Greater Manchester Police of Rangers fans attacking officers in Manchester city centre following the defeat.
The 2008–09 season saw Rangers make a below-par start to their UEFA Champions League campaign, losing out in the knock-out stage to FC Kaunas of Lithuania. The financial consequences of the failures to qualify for the Champions League were revealed when the club posted a loss of £3.9m for the six months to December 2008, and in March decided to offer staff the option of voluntary redundancy as a way of cutting costs. Despite a tight title race, on the final day of the league, Rangers managed to claim their 52nd league title. With their title success, Rangers gained automatic entry into next season's Champions League group stage. Rangers won the Homecoming Scottish Cup for the 33rd time after defeating Falkirk 1-0 in the final, clinching a double in the process.
Club colours and crest
The club colours of Rangers F.C. are royal blue, white and red.
The team's home strip invariably features a royal blue shirt (often with white and/or red trim). Traditionally this is accompanied by white shorts (often with royal blue and/or red trim) and black socks with red turn-downs. However when wearing the 'home strip' Rangers will occasionally alter the shorts and socks, sometimes replacing the black socks with white ones; or replacing the white shorts and black socks combination with royal blue shorts and socks.
The basic design of Rangers away strips has changed far more than the traditional home strip. White and red have been the most common predominant colours for Rangers alternate strips, though dark and light blue have also featured highly.
In recent years, Rangers have also introduced a third kit. This is usually worn if both the home and away kits clash with their opponents. The colours used range from light
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