Nine-in-a-Row glory left an unexpected mark on Dibble...
ALLAN McGREGOR and his goalkeeping coach have had plenty to grumble about before putting on the gloves and getting down to work.
Their fondness for Rangers dictates that recent results and more upheaval as the club trails so far behind Celtic has been hard to stomach.
The countdown to today’s 20th anniversary of the night Nine In A Row was clinched — May 7, 1997 in Dundee — jogs far happier memories.
For McGregor as a school kid fan still a year away from signing with his boyhood idols. For Cardiff City coach Andy Dibble as a most unlikely contributor to the story.
There’s no chance of Dibble forgetting that it is two decades on from the achievement, secured by a 1-0 victory at Tannadice. It is etched forever on his left shoulder.
The members of that 1996/97 squad love telling the tale of the goalie who signed in an emergency from Manchester City, played only seven games and got a tattoo to commemorate the occasion.
What most people don’t know is just how averse Dibble is to body art. Yet he was persuaded by pints and a little peer pressure to have ‘Rangers FC: 9 In A Row ‘97’ inked for always on his arm.
‘I am totally against tattoos,’ stated the 51-year-old. ‘Nowadays, it’s part of fashion for footballers. In my family, the way I was brought up was “no tattoos”. I still don’t like the idea of it.
‘I have never got another one. And I don’t plan to have another one. So to come back from the end of season trip to Toronto with a tattoo? Well, that just shows you how much I was caught up in it all, how much it meant to me at that time. I can’t change what I’ve got and I’m proud to have it on my arm.
‘It’s like a postage stamp, to be fair, you can’t really read it as it’s faded a fair bit.
‘We sat down and played Spoof, some lads were getting tattoos and it was thought up for me to get “Nine In A Row” if I lost — straight away. ‘So I did. From a bar in the middle of Toronto, I went to the shop a few yards away and got it done. For the last 20 years I’ve had stick. Mainly because I only played a tiny bit. ‘But I must have enjoyed it! Whatever happens in life, I can go to bed and think about it. I played my part.’ After his legendary jittery training displays when he first arrived, going on to keep clean sheets at Celtic Park on his debut then Tannadice that night were key. Owen Coyle scored twice two days earlier, on holiday Monday, for Motherwell to spoil the Ibrox party. A furious Walter Smith immediately insisted the job would be done in midweek. Thanks to the collector’s items of a superb left-foot cross from Charlie Miller and a Brian Laudrup header, victory was wrapped up after 11 minutes. ‘You could expect the unexpected from that team,’ said Dibble. ‘It was full of players who just worked so hard for each other. It meant so much to them. Rangers fans now pine for characters with the mentality that helped the club to those glory days. In McGregor, Dibble recognises such a figure. McGregor, 35, won three titles in Smith’s second spell in charge and has impressed on loan in the second half of this Championship season. ‘He is Rangers through and through, so passionate about the club,’ said Dibble. ‘He’s done a fantastic job at Cardiff. ‘We’d love to have him back but he’s still under contract to Hull City.’