Hall of Fame: Rangers' All-Time Greats

Author: Bob MacCallum

Hall of Fame: Rangers' All-Time Greats

A sporting Hall of Fame is a rather American institution but Rangers became one of the first football clubs (if not the first one) in Britain to set up its own Hall of Fame to honour the greatest figures from its past. The club’s owner, Sir David Murray, established the Hall of Fame in 2000 as a way of commemorating the achievements of the most celebrated players in the history of Rangers. Since 1873, world-class footballers and great characters have been a hallmark of the club and have helped to make it the world’s most successful club with a record 51 League championships. Despite the fact that great players come and go, the club goes on.

The Hall of Fame currently has 71 members ranging from one of the club’s founders, Moses McNeil (1873-82) to captain Barry Ferguson (1996 – the present) Their names are picked out in gold on a panel given pride of place above the famed marble staircase inside the entrance to Ibrox Stadium. The initial list that contained players from the earliest days of the club was compiled by a committee but in recent years the Rangers fans themselves get a chance to vote new players into the Hall of Fame, choosing from nominees submitted by the original committee of Sir David Murray, Gers’ legends and current employees, John Greig and Sandy Jardine, present Assistant Manager and record Rangers goal-scorer, Ally McCoist and club historian, David Mason. Three players, from decades spanning the 1950s until the present day, are elected every March and presented with their award at a star-studded ceremony where former players team up once more and reminisce about what it was like to play for the greatest club in the world.

This book gives a pen portrait of every player elected to the Rangers’ Hall of Fame but also gives an overview of the era in which they played as well as a description of the career of the Gers manager who signed them for the club. Hopefully, this book will remind fans of truly great Rangers who gave such pleasure to millions by their skill, courage, determination and loyalty to the club. As former legend Sammy Cox said, after flying in specially from Canada where he has lived for over 50 years, when he was presented with his award, 'Once a bluenose, always a bluenose.'