A REMARKABLE ROLLER COASTER
Superhuman effort from Ibrox men to lift Scottish Cup after Seville agony ensured season ended on a high
NOW we have reached the end of a rollercoaster campaign for Rangers, featuring dizzy highs and painful lows, how will this season ultimately be remembered?
I would suggest it will go down as a remarkable season. Yes, it could have been a sensational one had Rangers beaten Eintracht Frankfurt to win the Europa League. But it was still a remarkable season.
Seville was a fantastic experience. I met my son Nicolai in Malaga and we rented a car and drove to the game. It was an incredible drive because the only cars and buses we saw on the roads belonged to Rangers fans.
There were over 100,000 Rangers fans in Seville and it was just amazing to see. I had to pinch myself at times just to make sure it was real. Rangers in a European final ten years on from being in the Scottish Third Division?
At the game I met some of the Rangers directors and I also bumped into John Greig. It was great to see John again. I actually had to go pitch-side to do an interview for Danish television and it was right in front of the Rangers end. The fans gave me quite the welcome, I have to say.
They were singing and shouting and a lot of photos were taken. The Danish television people were saying to me: ‘What a reception you got there!’
It was lovely to be fondly remembered in Glasgow 24 years after leaving.
It was just fantastic to see these Rangers fans full of joy and expectation and when Joe Aribo scored to make it 1-0 it looked like it was going to be a magical night, fairytale stuff.
Unfortunately it was not to be as Frankfurt equalised and after extra-time it was down to penalties.
When a goalkeeper as good as Allan McGregor could not get near the Frankfurt penalties in the shoot-out, you have to say the quality of the Bundesliga side’s kicks were just different class.
I don’t think Aaron Ramsey touched the ball more than once or twice before taking his kick in the shoot-out, which was saved by Kevin Trapp.
Even if you are a huge name with big experience, it’s a tough situation because you are not on the same wavelength as the other players who have been on the pitch for the full 120 minutes.
But it took a lot of nerve and guts for Ramsey to step up and take a penalty in those circumstances and anyone can miss from the spot.
I saw that in the semi-finals of Euro ’92 against Holland when the only player who missed in the shoot-out was the best player in the world at that time, Marco van Basten.
Unfortunately for Ramsey, it came at the end of not the best of times for him at Rangers. He came as a huge signing but he’s not been able to show what he’s capable of and unfortunately he’s leaving with his head down.
Losing in a European final is heartbreaking and John Lundstram gave an emotional interview after the shoot-out. It will take time but these Rangers players have to put it into perspective. Celtic won a European trophy in the 1960s, Rangers won one in the 1970s, Aberdeen won one in the 1980s. Celtic reached a final in 2003 and Rangers reached one in 2008.
When will Rangers be back in a European final? Perhaps never, perhaps in five or ten years’ time. Nobody knows, but these players have made memories to last a lifetime on this current run.
For Rangers to reach a European final playing in such style was particularly amazing.
They did not park the bus. They played a fantastic style of football all the way to the final and that was the most pleasing thing about the run for me.
People say Scottish teams are good at defending and they can get great results in front of a noisy home crowd. But Rangers showed this season against really good sides and world-famous names that they can play their own style of attractive football and get results. When they reflect on that, they can be very proud.
After the low of losing the Europa League final, and a gruelling 120 minutes plus penalties in the heat of Seville, a lot of pundits thought it would take a superhuman effort to get up for the Scottish Cup final three days later.
It looked an almost impossible task but Rangers came out and played as well as they could on Saturday. It was a tough game and it went to extra-time but the game was all about Rangers. They wanted it more.
Craig Gordon made a couple of fantastic saves but apart from a close call through Ellis Simms in the first half, Hearts did not really create anything.
Rangers are such a fit team. When they faced Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals last month they had just had extra-time against
A big summer lies ahead and the board have to back Gio
Braga. But Celtic looked the more tired side.
It was the same on Saturday with Hearts looking shattered in extra-time before goals from Ryan Jack and Scott Wright brought the cup back to Ibrox for the first time since 2009.
That meant an upbeat end to a season that saw Steven Gerrard leave Ibrox in November and a new management team arrive as Rangers were losing 3-1 to Hibernian in the semi-final of the League Cup.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst had to try and make it as successful a season as possible and with the European run and the Scottish Cup win they end the campaign on a high. Now it’s going to be about rebuilding for Rangers and Gio. They built a team under Steven Gerrard and kept the squad together for a number of years.
But now experienced players like Allan McGregor and Steven Davis could be leaving alongside Connor Goldson, while Alfredo Morelos, Joe Aribo, Ryan Kent, Jack and Filip Helander are entering the final 12 months of their deals.
A big summer lies ahead and the board need to back Gio in the transfer market.
But the European run could also help. Big clubs will now be looking at Rangers and seeing they have tremendous talent in their ranks like Calvin Bassey, who could play in any team in the world right now with the form he has been showing.
Aribo scored in the final, Kent could play in a number of leagues. It’s going to be interesting to see where that leaves Rangers.
They could potentially lose players if the price is right and Rangers will then have to go out and find replacements. Those players can often need time to adapt to life at Rangers but there are really important Champions League qualifying matches coming up early in the new season.
It’s going to be an unpredictable summer at Ibrox. But it will be fascinating to see what happens as Rangers try and rebuild a team capable of winning back the title next season and challenging for cups while embarking upon another European adventure.