I Am Legend?

 

So I've been planning on writing this piece for most of the week. I had it mostly mapped out, who it would centre around and where I would lead the discussion. There were one or two folks I intended to mention, who thoroughly deserve it, but they weren't going to be the main focus. 

Then on Thursday "ball comes in, boy gets a good heeder to it, dive, stick my hand oot and didnae go in"... and with that some, not all, but some of the focus of this discussion has changed.

I should start by discussing what makes someone a Rangers legend to me. These days the word legend is thrown around very quickly. I've heard nearly every player from when I first started following the Rangers in 1987 until 2012 be described as a legend. It's hard to argue against any of them because you are then giving yourself the impossible task of putting forward negative points about someone who, ultimately, you hero-worship. 

I'm not about to start telling you, the reader, that Ronald De Boer isn't a legend because he came too late in his career, Claudio Reyna isn't a legend because he didn't stay long enough or that Kenny Miller isn't a legend because he played for them (actually no, on that one I will tell you, he isn't). Instead, I'm going to discuss what makes a player or staff member a legend to me and discuss a few of the current crop who I feel are legends already, I think you can guess who, and who I think are on the cusp.

For me a legend needs to hit a number of factors:

• Longevity
• Contribution
• Trophies
• Persona 
• Magic Moments

Lots of ex-Rangers players will have a number of these, but very few will have them all. For me John Greig is a legend for everything he has done for the club, not just on but off. Sandy Jardine also. Walter Smith is the legend. A large number of the 9IAR team such as Goram, Gough, Brown, Ian Fergusson, Hateley, McCoist, and Laudrup. I would even go against my own rule and squeeze in Gazza despite the lack of longevity purely because he makes up for it in abundance with the magic moments and persona, who can forget Gazza winning us 8IAR, or getting booked for booking Dougie "nae joy in life" Smith. 

After that era, there are probably fewer players to make it for me but you have to include Barry Fergusson, Jorg Albertz, and Lorenzo Amorouso. After that, I think you would be talking about great Rangers players but not legends. There is undoubtedly more that I have missed like Davie Cooper, Colin Stein, Derek Johnstone, and so on but I never had the chance to see them play so while they may be Rangers legends I can't be the one to lay the claim for them.

That brings us on to today's crop of players and management. After delivering world record-extending title number 55 at the weekend it has been implied on many a platform that this current squad is legends. With that in mind, I decided to look at it and see who, if any, I would consider actual legends and who are close to reaching that status.

I had intended to start by bringing up Allan McGregor, pointing out that even though Rangers fans love an argument, as the old saying goes you could have 10 Rangers fans stranded on a desert island and end up with 11 RSC's, you'd be hard pushed to find anyone say he isn't a Rangers legend.

That was what I intended to say, and then move on. Then Thursday night, with things tied at 1-1 in Prague, a 90th-minute corner is swung in and the Rangers defenders seem to lose a bit of concentration that allows Lukas Masopust a free header that seems destined to give Slavia the lead going into the second leg... but no. Allan McGregor shows the agility of a man half his age and the concentration and experience of a Pro at the top of his game to get down and across and stop the ball with his pinky finger, happy days!

It was a save that many will rank up there with his save in the same round 13 years ago against Werder Bremen and with Andy Goram's save against Pierre Van Hooijdonk. Those are the 3 best saves I think I have ever seen a Rangers goalkeeper pull off, but here's the thing, McGregor now has 2 of the 3. 

I never thought anyone would ever replace The Goalie as my favourite Rangers goalkeeper ever. I mean, he's called The Goalie for a reason, but as I sat there Thursday night, re-watching that save over and over I came to the realisation. He had done it. Allan McGregor is my favourite ever Rangers goalkeeper. 

Going into last season I probably would have tried to make an argument for him being 3rd on my all-time list of goalkeepers behind Goram and Stefan Klos, part of that being because I still had a little resentment for him leaving in 2012 and because I did love Klos too. However, as I watched him make save after save last year I began to realise that actually he was better than Klos and deserved to rank higher. The Celtic game on January 2nd this season then confirmed it. However, I would still argue with everyone who dared mention him as possibly challenging Goram for the crown of 'Rangers Greatest Ever Keeper', and the Thursday happened and he showed me just how wrong I was.

I love Goram to bits, he's iconic to me and as I say a true Rangers legend, but can you see a 39-year-old Goram making that save? At 39 Goram was playing for Queen of the South, not in a European round of 16 making a world-class save.

Next in the squad that I think needs discussion in the legend category is Steven Davis. Like McGregor, I think Steven Davis qualifies as a Rangers legend. Also like McGregor, Steven Davis is in his 2nd spell at the club however unlike McGregor how Davis left the club the first time adds to his legendary status for me. 

Like many at the time, Davis declined to transfer his contract over to the new company that bought the club and as such was eligible for a move. Absolutely nobody could, in hindsight if not at the time, begrudge Davis wanting to move on. He was a player at the absolute peak of his career, an internationalist, and one of the finest midfielders in the UK. No way could he be plying his trade in the bottom tier of Scottish football. 

It's how he went about this move though that makes him special. Davis could have moved for nothing, but when he signed for English Premier League team Southampton he refused to sign unless they paid Rangers some much-needed funds, to the tune of 800k I believe. Southampton were under no obligation to pay this money and Steven could have signed for free, but he insisted. Now what was done with that money is a tale for another day.

Davis is a player who came to Rangers, his boyhood heroes, from the EPL and helped Sir Walter and the team to 3 Premier League titles, 2 Scottish Cups, 3 Scottish League cups, and a UEFA cup final... that's right a UEFA cup final. Then after everything that happened he put the club first and made sure some money was recouped for him. 

Davis then returned in January 2019 with only one goal in mind. To help restore Rangers back to the top of the Scottish league and win title number 55. It may have taken him a few months to get back up to speed after not playing for so long but since he has been you could argue he's once again been the greatest midfielder in Scotland. He seems to stroll through games as if he is wearing a pair of slippers and smoking a pipe even at the age of 36.

I think Davis has made as strong an argument as any for Player of the Year this season and I could happily see him sign another year's extension. Especially after completing his mission of bringing title 55 home. For me, with all that he has done on the pitch as well as the way he tried to look after the club when leaving he is definitely a Rangers legend.

It would be impossible to discuss to players who have made it into the legendary status without also discussing the man who has made it possible for that by bringing them back to the club. Steven Gerrard. Is Steven Gerrard a Rangers legend? He's a Liverpool legend. He's a world footballing legend. But is he a Rangers legend...

For me? Yes. Steven Gerrard is a Rangers legend now. OK, he doesn't tick all the boxes I laid out. OK there are other managers like Dick Advocaat and Alex McLeish who probably tick more but I don't consider legends, but look at what Gerrard had to work with when he came in. Neither of those other two were taking over a team that had been playing in the championship only 3 seasons prior. Neither took over a team that had been knocked out of Europe in the 1st qualifying round by the 4th best team in Luxembourg the season before. 

Dick had a near-open chequebook to work with. Eck took over a team littered with world-famous players like Klos, De Boer, Barry... Gerrard came into a team who the season before started David Bates, Russel Martin, Sean Goss, and Jason Cummings in the final game. The jobs that they all took were wildly different.

Gerard has taken us from being a laughing stock, a fanbase that had to suffer countless videos of grown men in green and gray tops, who had dragged their families to the top of buildings while on a family holiday so they could film themselves saying "can you see the ranjurs coming" while their equally registered friend replied "naw, still can't see them", to a fanbase that has just seen their team crowned champions at the earliest point in a season in 119 years and draw 1-1 away in a round of 16 Europa League game without having lost a game so far in either competition.

He has come in, he has set standards and he has made sure the people that are coming in are aware of and meet those standards. He has made the club a worldwide story again, as was seen by congratulations from places like Levski Sofia, Royal Antwerp, Croatian national team, Linfield, HSV, Mainz, Triple H and the WWE, James Arthur and William Shatner to name but a few. Oh and Peterhead in Scotland...

One of Gerrard's first actions as manager was to make James Tavernier captain, which brings us nicely to the next part of the discussion. Spoiler alert here but we've discussed everyone I am happy to label a legend already, now we move on to two players I feel are within touching distance.

James Tavernier has been the subject of the fan's ire and a target for the boo-boys throughout his time at Rangers. Barely a game goes by at Ibrox where I've not heard the words "FFS Tav", and more often than that it's actually undeserved. There's also the usual "He's not a defender, he should play midfield" from a section of the supporters who feel they have a better understanding of the tactical side of football than Michael Beale and the "never a Rangers captain" brigade who no more about what is needed from a captain than former Liverpool & England captain Steven Gerrard or former Leeds, Coventry & Scotland captain Gary McAllister.

Is Tav the greatest right back to ever play the game? No, of course not, if he wasn't he wouldn't be plying his trade in Scotland, but he is a damn fine right-back who excellent going forward and does a lot more defensively than he is often given credit for. He's shown this season as well just how much of a captain and a leader he is on the pitch. It's hard to hear him when there are capacity crowds but during the lockdown, we have heard him leading on the pitch in abundance. 

We also have to take into consideration he's been there for a lot of the final leg of the journey. He was part of that team that beat our rivals in the Scottish cup semi-final only to then suffer the humiliating loss to Hibs in the final. He was part of the team that got put out by Progres, and was getting hammered by our rivals 5-0 and 5-1... but he outlasted all of them and he has been the one guiding us to that ultimate goal of 55.

A very very strong case could be made for Tav as a Rangers captain, he is the transition of whipping boys into champions, but he's just not quite there yet for me. This stance may soften slightly in a few years, however, I think he needs to stay and win a couple more. If we win the Scottish Cup this year, and he stays on and we win another 1 or 2 leagues with him as captain then yes, he will for me be a legend. 

I should caveat that with the fact he's already the RB in my best ever Rangers 11 these days though.

The last player in the current squad that makes this discussion for me is Connor Goldson. Like Tav he's not quite there yet for me but where Tav represents the transition of the Warburton to Pedro to Gerrard Rangers, Goldson is the face of the Gerrard Rangers. He's the rock that 55 has been built on.

So far Goldson is ticking just about every single box. He's an ever-present, the fastest player to make 150 competitive appearances for the club ever. He marshals that defense like a manager on the pitch and he provides amazing moments like his 2 goals at sharkhead earlier in the season. All this after a heart scare earlier in his career that cost him a lot of playing time. 

Like Tav the only thing missing to really cement him for me now is a few more trophies. If we can hold on to him for another couple of seasons I really think he will go down as a true Rangers Legend. If he does decide to leave in the summer to go play down South and take that last large paycheque I don't think there will be many fans that can or will blame him, but maybe the chance to play with Rangers in the Champions League and cement his place as a legend will be enough to convince him to stick around. I know I certainly hope it is.

All that being said, if they go on to win the Europa League this year even Edmundson will go down as a Rangers Legend for having played in the game against Lincoln Red Imps haha.

The Rambling Ger

I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. If so please check out my previous ones and recommend and share with as many bears you know.

I'm just like you guys, a bear who loves his club but has a bit of free time and wants to write content you will hopefully enjoy.

You can find me on:

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