SUNSHINE ON GRIEF
Don’t let Cup chance slip like in 2016
To this day I still can’t remember what I did on the night of May 21, 2016.
It’s as if I’ve erased it from my memory. And no wonder.
Because what I experienced that afternoon will NEVER leave me.
With 10 minutes to go in the Scottish Cup Final we were 2-1 up against Hibs at Hampden and on the verge of capping off one of the most historic seasons in Rangers’ history.
We had set out what we achieved to do by winning the Championship and getting the club back to Scotland’s top flight.
To top it off by winning the Cup would have made it an incredible campaign.
Instead? The feeling of anger and frustration I had after full-time lingered for a long time.
That final will be talked about for decades now because it broke Hibs’ 114-year hoodoo in the Scottish Cup.
And WE were the team on the receiving end. We have to live with that.
The goals we lost – and the manner we lost them – made me so furious.
The first one early in the game from Anthony Stokes was atrocious enough.
But the two Hibs scored from set- plays late on through Stokes and David Gray? That was just criminal. The feeling of devastation af terwards i s a lways going to be there. That’s only natural.
Then, of course, there were the scenes at full-time.
Luckily, I didn’t get any hassle from Hibees fans who had invaded the pitch.
be has to There succes s of it’s a level season – this um of minim one cup
There were people running about everywhere and I had to be on my guard.
I was ready if anyone wanted to come towards me but I managed to get off unscathed. It’s not a great memory for me. I remember congratulating the Hibs players inside, especially Darren McGregor – whom I’d got close to at Rangers – and the manager Alan Stubbs.
But that night was just a blank. I honestly couldn’t tell you what I did because I was so angry.
Remember, I had already won the Scottish Cup previously with Rangers in 2009.
But that didn’t make it any easier seven years later.
In fact, if I knew how it was going to end, I’d rather have NOT made the final.
We let a lot of people down that day and it put the whole place on a downer. And it got me thinking about what winning the competition this year could mean for Michael Beale and this current Rangers side.
The League Cup Final, against Celtic in a couple of weeks, is obviously huge.
But when you lose the title – which Rangers will have to accept this season – the Scottish Cup becomes massive.
Is it enough for Michael to just win one trophy?
Because he has just taken over, probably. But if he doesn’t win any silverware?
There wi l l be a pressure building already.
That’s not something new or strange. That’s the nature of the beast at Rangers.
Look at the success Celtic had dur ing their most recent Nine-in-a-Row run.
Then they had one season without a trophy and it was like the end of the world for them. That’s how it is at the Old Firm.
The Scottish Cup is the second biggest prize in Scotland after the league title.
So it’s paramount for Michael to win it.
Beat Partick Thistle at Ibrox today – which I’d expect – and they’re two games away from another final.
Having come through their journey back to the top, it’s now not acceptable for Rangers to go through a campaign winning nothing.
If Michael can go and win both trophies, he’ll have won two from two. Because forget the league, it was done before he replaced Gio van Bronckhorst.
So it would be an incredible start for him as manager.
For Rangers, there has to be a level of success in these competitions now.
And this season, it HAS to be a minimum of one.
If they can get to the Scottish Cup Final on June 3, it will be a chance for these players to put a real marker down to Celtic ahead of next term.
It’s the last game of the season, the showpiece of Scottish football. If you win it sets you up for the following campaign.
If you let the opportunity slip away like we did in 2016?
Trust me, I wouldn’t want any player to experience that.