E will light up the centre of the park for our Greatest Premier XI? FIELD MAESTRO
and won a £7.5m move to Blackburn Rovers on the back of it. But Ferguson (below) never settled in England, returned in 2005 and promptly lifted a fourth league title on “Helicopter Sunday”.
His second spell wasn’t as successful in terms of trophies won and ultimately ended in a falling out with Walter Smith and his departure, but he still helped Rangers reach the 2008 UEFA Cup final and triumph in the league in 2009. He’s one of their greatest players in the modern era. 1997) and 1988).
Celtic (1981 to
Three (1982, 1986
THE Maestro. Debate still rages among the Celtic support about Paul McStay. For some, he was “the 12th Lisbon Lion”, a genuine world-class talent. Others, probably due to the fact he only won three titles in the 16 years he was at Parkhead, are less convinced.
It was McStay’s misfortune to be a player at his boyhood heroes at a time when Aberdeen and Dundee United were rampant and then Rangers could outspend their rivals many times over.
He suffered due to a heinous mismanagement at boardroom level that took the Glasgow club to the brink of bankruptcy in 1994.
But he remained loyal throughout those dark days and is admired and respected for that.
But there was more, much more, to McStay than a devotion to the Celtic cause. He was, at his peak, one of the best midfielders in Europe. He was elegant, composed in possession, capable of slicing open a defence with an inch-perfect pass, could glide past opposition players and scored spectacular goals.
He excelled at international level, made 76 appearances for Scotland and featured at Mexico ’86, Italia ’90 and Euro ’92.
Only Kenny Dalglish,
Player of the Year. His off-field issues – he was seldom off the front pages due to some infraction or other – surfaced in his second season, but he still netted 17 times in 34 matches as Rangers completed Nine-In-A-Row and lifted the League Cup.
How do you begin to describe Gascoigne the player? He was powerful and brave, he was an immense dribbler who ghosted past players, he possessed unique vision and delighted crowds, he scored superb goals and supplied chances for those around him. On top of all that he was, as England manager Bobby Robson famously remarked, “daft as a brush”.
Archie Knox was Smith’s assistant during his time in Govan. “Gascoigne was phenomenal,” he said. “He was only at Rangers for a short period of time. But he could create something out of nothing and did so on numerous occasions.”
Gascoigne was offloaded to Middlesbrough in March 1998 as his powers began to wane. But the memory of the player he was here lives on.
Jim Bett, John Collins, Kris Commons, Ronald De Boer, Eoin Jess, Tugay Kerimoglu, Shaun Maloney, Stuart McCall, Franck Sauzee.