Rangers were not the only big name Scottish club who had fallen on hard times a decade ago.
While the Glasgow giants were attempting to claw their way back to the promised land of the Premiership following their demotion to the fourth tier, Rangers were not alone in having suffered an almighty fall from grace.
In that 2014/15 Scottish Championship campaign, the Gers found themselves in a battle for the second-tier title with Edinburgh rivals Hearts and Hibernian.
And, after finishing third, Stuart McCall’s side would then suffer the ignominy of a 6-1 aggregate hammering by Motherwell in the end-of-season play-offs.
No wonder Danny Wilson, despite Rangers holding a special place in his heart, was leaning towards following his head instead when a potential return to Ibrox opened up for him a decade ago.
Danny Wilson explains why he returned to Rangers from Hearts
The Auchenhowie graduate and former Under-19 captain was plying his trade for Hearts at the time, following an unsuccessful spell south of the border with Liverpool. And when Rangers contacted Wilson regarding an emotional Glaswegian homecoming, the five-time Scotland international took some time to weigh up the pros and cons.
“I had always wanted go go back to Rangers at some point,” Wilson admits, while crediting his spell at Tynecastle for kick-starting a career which had stalled at Anfield. “I think my period at Hearts was really important.
“Towards the end of that [2014/15] season, Rangers got to the play-offs and they lost heavily to Motherwell. Rangers were in a bit of a mess and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.
“I had a couple of [options] in the UK, and a couple of things abroad and abroad.”
While Rangers would become a cautionary tale of how not to run a football club, Hearts themselves had endured a period in administration during what was a scary time for many of Scotland’s most historic institutions.
As such, a clause was included in Wilson’s contract allowing him to leave Tynecastle for free should he wish to escape.
“Hearts put in a thing [in my contract] saying I could leave for free because I was under the Bosman Rule age. I was under the age of 24,” Wilson recalls. “After I won the [Championship] with Hearts, I thought; ‘It’s the right time to go, to leave on a bit of a high’.
“I knew there was interest from Rangers but I wasn’t 100 per cent sure if thats where I was going to go.”
David Weir was key to Wilson’s Ibrox homecoming
Danny Wilson now plies his trade with Livingston at the age of 33. He recalls that the eventual appointment of Mark Warburton in place of McCall back in 2015 served to knock down the final domino and pave the way for his eventual return.
Warburton’s assistant, at the time, was none other than former Rangers captain David Weir, a teammate of Wilson’s during his formative years at Ibrox.
“It actually got later and later in the summer and I eventually got a message from Davie Weir saying; ‘What are you doing?’,” Wilson recalls, Weir returning to Glasgow alongside Warburton when they both left Brentford.
“Obviously, I thought; ‘If Davie Weir is there, I played a lot of games with him, I’ve got a chance!’. And that’s what happened.”
Wilson would play a major role as Warburton and Weir helped end Rangers’ exile from the Premiership that following campaign. The well-travelled defender would then spend two more seasons at Ibrox befor embarking upon an American adventure with Colorado Rapids.
Flash forward to 2025, with Philippe Clement under pressure following that Scottish Cup catastrophe against Queen’s Park, Danny Wilson is warning Rangers against re-hiring Steven Gerrard.
Wilson’s return may have gone to plan, but they say ‘never go back’ for a reason.
