IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK
Random events in Rangers history that happened in this corresponding week. Here are some memorable moments that happened between September 12 and September 18.
September 12 1987 – Trevor Francis makes his Rangers debut in a comfortable 4-0 win over Dunfermline at Ibrox. Francis was a teenage sensation at his boyhood club Birmingham City, before making history when becoming the first £1 million footballer in 1979 when he joined Nottingham Forest. He repaid that fee by scoring the winner in the European Cup final for them later that year. The 52-times capped Englishman was a veteran by the time he signed on at Ibrox, and his Rangers career lasted just the one season. He won a winner’s medal in the League Cup in a classic final against Aberdeen, making 25 appearances overall with his only goal being in the penalty shootout in that cup final. He passed away in 2023 at the age of just 69.
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September 13 2005 – A classic Champions League encounter at Ibrox sees Rangers defeat 2004 winners Porto 3-2. In a match that swayed one way then the other, the home team grabbed the points thanks to goals by Peter Lovenkrands, Dado Prso and Soti Kyrgiakos. Alex McLeish’s team would go on to become the first Scottish side to progress from a Champions League group.
September 14 1974 – Rangers travel to Parkhead in the last-ever season of the First Division before Scottish football would move to the new-look Premier League. Jock Stein’s Celtic were chasing 10-in-a-row, but it was Jock Wallace’s Rangers who won the points. Despite being a goal down at the interval, Rangers claimed their first Parkhead win in six years with goals by midfielder Ian McDougall and defender Colin Jackson. Ten-in-a-row would be swept away, as Rangers had clinched their first title in eleven years by the end of March.
September 15 1962 – Stuart Munro is born in Falkirk. The left back arrived in an unheralded £15,000 transfer from Alloa in 1984, and went on to become a solid, reliable and unsung hero for several years under Jock Wallace and then Graeme Souness. He made 237 Rangers appearances, winning 4 league titles and 3 League Cups.
September 16 2014 – Rangers of the Championship defeat Premiership side Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the second round of the League Cup at Ibrox. The only goal is scored by talented young midfielder Lewis McLeod, in a cup tie watched by just 15,000 fans at a time when the Rangers fans were in dispute with the ownership of the club. The “spivs” would be gone before the season ended, one where Rangers and Inverness would finish third in their respective divisions.
September 17 1994 – Rangers win 2-0 at Falkirk to ease some of the pressure on manager Walter Smith after the season had started with some terrible defeats at home and abroad. Big-money summer signings Basile Boli and Brian Laudrup scored the goals, players who would go on to enjoy very different Ibrox careers. Falkirk finished the game with ten men, after a red card to another man who would wear the royal blue. Defender Davie Weir was the player who was first back into the dressing room.
September 18 2011 – Ally McCoist enjoys a winning start to his managerial career in the Old Firm derby, as his team roar back from 2-1 down at the interval to sweep aside Neil Lennon’s Celtic by 4-2. Steven Naismith had opened the scoring midway through the first half, only to see Celtic strike twice before the break. But constant Rangers pressure eventually paid off, with goals by Nikica Jelavic, Kyle Lafferty and a second goal by Naismith.
