From the hedge to Champions – The Rangers journey

That feeling this morning is the moment every Rangers supporter has been craving. The moment we all kept faith in and that moment we have all waited for for a very long time.

Rangers are Champions. Our world record 55th title has been delivered and ten years of hurt is over.

Our story is unprecedented and it is one that will be told worldwide.

Our famous football club are champions, legendary status for everyone involved is now secure. The scenes this weekend, now shared across social media, are a mere glimpse into what this football club and players are about to experience.

If you had told me during 2011-17 that Steven Gerrard would be our manager, the one who would lead us to 55, then be filmed doing a ‘Klinsmann’ across our famous dressing room floor, I would have said you were mental.

But yet here we are, Champions of the country.

When I look back on the journey it is remarkable that we sit where we do, it is also fitting that it comes on the anniversary of the takeover of 2015 which accelerated the growth of our club rapidly.

The despair tasted in 2012 won’t ever be forgotten but that chapter is now closed.

The pain that we suffered whilst Sandy Jardine and Ally McCoist fought to keep our titles and keep our club, will never be forgotten. Division three was won at a canter but doesn’t fill me with the romantic tales it probably should have. Football was overshadowed by a realisation we were once again in the wrong hands and the quality was never really where it should have been. From Sandaza prank calls to Charles Green’s on field speeches, it is part of the journey that doesn’t need to be overly examined, at this moment in time.

League two was an unbeaten year but nothing again to be excited about. Cup disaster and painful performances littered the season as we did what we should to progress on. A lot of folk believed the opportunity to really grow an identity was being missed, the chance to bleed the club dry off it certainly wasn’t. Massive amounts of share money wasted through greed and mismanagement, boardroom stories never far away.

We lost Sandy and someone who was a great Ranger. The most painful moment of a turbulent year.

The championship year was a disaster as Ally’s team finally crumbled as many found out it’s lack of quality. From crippling defeats at Alloa, Hibs and Queen of the South, Ally finally fell on his sword and we suffered through a limp season which saw club legend Stuart McCall narrowly miss out on promotion. Which, given the mess we were in, was quite an achievement.

But it was off the field that everyone became extremely concerned. Players were being asked for pay cuts and huge losses threatened our very club once again, the internet was awash with rumours of more impending disaster. An AGM in a tent and crowd boycotts were just a small part of the bigger picture. We were a mess, the club was in the wrong hands and heading towards more heartache. Who can forget the arrogance of which David Somers addressed the Ibrox AGM.

They were ousted but not before they tried to steal £200k from RYDC, which summed up their time at the club.

The takeover win of 2015, six years to the day just yesterday, was one of the biggest moments in our club history. Dave King out manoeuvred the boardroom to storm into power with John Gilligan and Paul Murray by his side. Rangers were in the right hands, but we had a long way to go. We were badly treated, staggering stories of onerous contracts emerged as well as tales of Ibrox badly needing some tender loving care.

Still we were at least secure with the proper guys behind us. The Mark Warburton years were enjoyable, an exciting brand of football was born and we stormed the championship bagging the petrofac on the way. A Scottish cup run, which saw us beat them on penalties, was tarnished by a final defeat.

But we were back, another milestone on the journey but things didn’t quite go well. The lack of a defence was soon found out and Warburton manoeuvred his way to Nottingham, via the back door, as the first of two temporary Murty stints in charge would begin. But Warburton left us something special, a certain James Tavernier.

The Caixinha stint was a disaster and very quickly we saw it was never going to work, three subs at half time at home to Motherwell was a warning sign and it wasn’t long before he oversaw a humiliating European exit. He would last until October before the Murty bat signal once again lit up the skies. We narrowly dodged a major bullet in Derek McInnes and the fourladshadadream blog was born.

Caixinha also left us with a gift or two, Ryan Jack and a certain Alfredo Morelos.

The second Murty cameo came to a painful end but by that point Rangers was alive with Steven Gerrard fever. That moment we all needed arrived and the recovery went into overdrive as advanced boardroom investment propelled a Gerrard inspired Rangers side.

We would come up short in season one but European and league performances would show we were on the right track. Season two would be similar but halted due to a global pandemic with the team unable to be granted the right to see out the season.

Off the field Castore arrived as the Parks emerged to lead the boardroom charge. But it was on the field that everything came together under a revolution finally hitting its stride.

The season we all wanted is now here and we have a team to be proud of. This is a team breaking all sorts of records and swatting everything out of its way infront of them.

A team with quality, a team with an identity, a team with everything we need it to be.

There will be more written in days to come to salute this side and this club, but for now a brief story of the journey undertaken.

It’s unheralded, it’s unknown but there is no doubt of one single fact

Rangers Football Club are back and here’s to everyone one of us that took that journey.

Enjoy it, live it, breathe in every single second because it has been a hard long trek to get here.

This is our club, our city, our trophy

And it’s home

The fun new way to enjoy RangersFC matches is with Rangers Picks 📲

FREE to play with £1,000 up for grabs!

Find Rangers Picks inside the Official @RangersFC App 👉🏻 https://rangerspicks.app.link/ten104lads

🔞 T&Cs apply. Play responsibly. begambleaware.org

* This is a paid partnership advertisement with official Rangers partners Rangers Picks, Play for free, win money and win cash for the club *