Summary

  • Rangers face Eintracht Frankfurt in Wednesday's Europa League final in Seville

  • A decade ago, they were in Scotland's League 2

  • Fans who have been on that journey tell us their stories

  1. Postpublished at 22:40 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Jack Holman: A personal low point was in 2015, when we lost Lewis Macleod to Brentford. It might not seem like much today, but we had tried to develop young players and all were found wanting. We finally found a youth player who might send us back into the big leagues so for him to be taken for £850k by an English Championship club was a demoralising blow. Now we see academy players in the first team looking like they belong in the Premiership and beyond. Our progress hasn't just been in the first XI.

  2. Postpublished at 22:39 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Stu Waugh: I remember drawing 1-1 at home to Kilmarnock midweek in October 2017, the frustration from the stands was the worst it had been to that point. We sat in the car and miserably debated whether we should sack Pedro Caixinha and when we'd ever be back to where we wanted to be having fallen well behind in the title race and utterly embarrassed ourselves in Europe.

    Little did we know that one year later, in October 2018, we'd be hosting Rapid Vienna in the Europa League group stage. That night felt like a turning point. European nights were back at Ibrox, the atmosphere was through the roof and the team responded as we looked like we belonged here with a 3-1 win.

    It took us a little longer to make the progress we wanted to domestically but that night felt like the beginning of something and started us on the upward trajectory towards 55 and to Seville. There has been lower lows and higher highs in the last 10 years but I always look back on those two as perhaps the most significant.

  3. Postpublished at 22:39 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Prosper Chabvuta: I started being passionate about Rangers when Steven Gerrard was appointed manager because I am a big fan of his. The fearlessness, calculated sporting arrogance, and tenacity adopted since his arrival has captivated my imagination. And add to that this current unbelievable gobsmacking journey in Europe. I am speechless. Viva Rangers.

  4. Postpublished at 22:39 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Lewis: I was at Rangers' first game back in League 2 against Peterhead and it finished 2-2 - quite the coup for my local side. However, these past two seasons have shown just how far we've come from that point. Winning a title unbeaten last season and reaching a European final within a decade is insane. Been a turbulent decade, but what a ride.

  5. Postpublished at 22:39 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    John McCroskie: My two boys have grown up in parallel with the descent and remarkable revival of our team. I never pushed them to support Rangers and as wee boys you saw the growing dominance of the global super teams in their lives and I came to think 'we have lost this generation'.

    As we stuttered up through the lower leagues and they got a bit older, it was as cheap to take them to the odd game as it had been for years, but a mixed blessing. I vividly recall the look on their faces as we trailed Morton late in a game to the taunts of the smattering of away fans in the Broomloan corner. And I thought again 'we have lost this generation'.

    Steven Gerrard brought some much needed gloss and credibility and slowly the Real, Barca, and Manchester mafia strips and overbearing presence started to fade.

    Then before lockdown came the comeback from two down against Braga and their first experience of a European night. The noise. The feeling of the steel and bricks and mortar shaking like an earthquake. They shrugged off Gerrard's departure and marched in behind GVB. And they have grown wide-eyed as a European club system rigged against small-country success has been turned on its head.

    I have a growing belief we can win this European trophy, something I had thought gone to my span on the planet. Just imagine what that feels like to a generation with their lives still ahead of them? No limits on what Rangers could still achieve with that belief.

  6. Postpublished at 22:39 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Gaz McLau: One memory that sticks out over the last decade is probably my first time back watching a Rangers game after we had been demoted - away to Queen's Park at Hampden in the third division.

    I remember a lot going through my head as we walked to the stadium, not bitter that we had been demoted but more relieved to see our fans pouring into stadiums when not long before that I thought we wouldn't have had a club at all.

    Once inside, I looked at the teams warming up and thinking "is this is our level?". Shows how much I knew, given the Queen's Park left-back was none other than Andy Robertson. At half time, it was 0-0, we hadn't played well and I remember thinking we were a million miles away from getting back to the top division.

    If someone have said to me we would be back in the Premiership by now I'd have laughed. If someone have said we would win the Premiership and stop 10 in a row, I'd have walked away. If someone have said we'd be in the Europa League final, I'd asked if you were alright, while secretly trying to call the emergency services.

    As a fan it blows my mind just as much as it would have if I was told it 10 years ago. This story will always stick with me.

  7. Postpublished at 22:39 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    George Aitken: Was at Ibrox at the start of their third division 'adventure' when they played East Stirling (my favourite local 'wee team'). Shire scored first but we went on to win the game and the title. I remember that the 40,000-plus attendance was the highest ever in the third division.

    The fans stayed so loyal through these very difficult years. I'm so proud of where we have got to and people like like Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant should know how much the fans appreciate the part they played in the resurgence of our club.

  8. Postpublished at 22:39 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    RangersImage source, SNS
  9. Postpublished at 22:38 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Imran Mohammed: There's been so many highs and lows since having to work our way up the leagues again. The major lows for me being defeats and draws to bottom-league sides. The first significant high was during the Mark Warburton era and beating Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final. To do that against an unchallenged Celtic showed that signs were there, that eventually we would manage to get back up to where we should be again.

  10. Postpublished at 22:38 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Jean-Sebastien: Lows: second behind Hearts in the first attempt in the Championship, then defeated by Motherwell in the play off. Then Old firm losses by four or five 5 goals. And Progres Niederkorn... nothing to add; sometimes silence is better.

    Highs: Defeating Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi final when Rangers were a Championship team. The revival under Stevie G. Europa League in the last three seasons but this one is a dream. In France, say the greatest clubs never die.

  11. Postpublished at 22:38 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Ian Appleby: Here's a cracker...

    Celtic went to Seville in 2003. My cousin Eric (Ed as we call him) was taking his eight-year-old son Daniel. I said to Ed "bring Daniel into town, I've something I want to do for him". Ed obliged and I met them in Sauchiehall Street. There were confused looks on their face I take them to the Celtic shop. Their heads are spinning, thinking "what's a Rangers man taking us here for?".

    I take them up to the attendant and say "get the lad the jersey of his choice", then we go up to the counter and I pay for it. My cousin was gobsmacked and so was Dan.

    Today, I came home from a 12-hour shift and opened my porch door to see a package. I opened it and there was a 1972 Rangers Cup Winners' Cup jersey with a note inside saying: "Uncle Ian, congratulations on your team reaching the Europa League final in Seville. Daniel... p.s I hope youse get gubbed!"

    Now that's football...

  12. Postpublished at 22:38 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Andrew Eddie: Late December 2021, I vividly recall using my leave from working in Singapore to coincide with a "Glasgow Derby" - Queens Park v Rangers in the third division. It was a closely-contested game with Rangers running out eventual winners due to a late goal by Fraser Aird. Difficult to imagine that today Rangers are in a European final. The progress have been seismic and I hope it continues.

  13. Postpublished at 22:37 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Darren: As low as it was, going down to the Third Division at the time was one of those where it is what it is. "No one likes us, we don't care" attitude, but we'll be back.

    What felt like a pretty big low at the time was not managing to go though each of the lower leagues season after season straight into the Premiership. Getting beaten over two legs in the Premiership play-off by Motherwell was a sore one. After that, getting beaten in the Scottish Cup final by Hibs was another low.

    The highs started with knocking Celtic out of the Scottish Cup in the semi final. That was a real statement that we thought we were back and able to compete with our Old Firm rivals. The next high was when we got our first Old Firm league win - 1-0 at Ibrox. This seemed to get the monkey off our back and it might just be at this point that there was starting to be a change in the air.

    After that, my next big high was going unbeaten in the league on our way to our 55th title - that in itself just speaks volumes. We were going to be happy to win it by any means but to be invincible was taking it to another level.

    Then reaching the Europa League final, which has been an almost unbelievable journey. Considering the resources we have compared to some of the teams we have put the to sword, it has been remarkable. I never imagined we would be competing at such a level so soon after those lows.

    But ask me what my biggest high is next week and I hope to have a different answer...

  14. Postpublished at 22:36 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    RangersImage source, SNS
  15. Postpublished at 22:36 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Fiona W: The last 10 years following Rangers can certainly be described as a rollercoaster. So many lows of struggling to beat teams in the lower tier, to the highs of getting back to the Premiership and winning the title in 20/21.

    It's one of my fondest times, spent with my Dad and seeing teams we had never seen us play before. Sadly my Dad passed away suddenly in early 2020 so missed seeing us return to the top. I know he'd have loved seeing us lift the title and get to a European final - things that seemed light years away when we were in the third division.

    In summing it up I'll paraphrase a famous writer - "it was the worst of times, it was the best of times".

  16. Postpublished at 22:32 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Stevie Alford: The lows were visiting places like Forres, seeing the match ball stuck in a hedge somewhere, and losing at Stirling Albion when their manager wasn't even there because he was getting married the same afternoon.

    The highs are the record breaking 55th title last year and doing it by a record margin and unbeaten. Nothing tops Leipzig, though. What a night. Ten years after kicking off at Peterhead to reaching a European final, knocking out high calibre sides along the way.

  17. Postpublished at 22:31 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    Neil: I moved to Seville from Scotland in summer 2012, before we even knew if there was going to be a Rangers the next season. I shared a flat with a guy from Leipzig. In 2017, I visited him in Leipzig and we went with a group of his friends to watch his team beat Rangers 4-0 in a friendly. They all had a little chuckle at us.

    Many of my friends here now are either Spanish Sevilla and Betis fans, or British ex-pats, with my closest friends supporting Leicester, Manchester Utd, and West Ham, all of whom have watched their clubs play Sevilla in the last few seasons...even Betis got to play Celtic.

    I was desperate to see Rangers play in Seville. Now, as fate has it, I will be seeing them - at the expense of Leipzig and West Ham - when there will be tens of thousands of Gers supporters here.

    The first Rangers game I watched after my move was a 0-0 draw away at Annan Athletic in September 2012 in my new, unfurnished bedroom. It's been an incredible journey, full of magic.

  18. Postpublished at 22:26 British Summer Time 16 May 2022

    David McCrone: Lows are definitely going into administration and being demoted to lower leagues. Rangers should have used that relegation to rebuild the club and its reputation. They should have promoted young players and built for the future, but instead they again tried to buy their way out of trouble and wasted a lot of money of journeymen and past-their-best players .

    The team never really improved until Mark Warburton was appointed manager. He brought in the likes of James Tavernier and got them playing attacking football again. Another low point was the removal of Warburton and appointing Pedro Caixinha, who took Rangers to new lows especially in Europe.

    The Gerrard appointment was brave and a big gamble but the board backed him financially and gave the team time to grow and mature and play the way Gerrard wanted. Highs are winning the league and rebuilding Rangers reputation in Europe and vastly improving Scotlands coefficient and gaining the Scottish champions direct entry to the Champions League.

    If Rangers win the Europa League it will top pretty much anything that has been achieved in the last 50 years .