It’s a new start for Rangers, not quite a new era, but there is a definite change around the club after Barry Ferguson’s appointment.
Philippe Clement’s time was up a long time ago with the former Rangers manager struggling to get to grips with the idiosyncrasies of the Scottish game.
The new coaching team played hundreds of games for Rangers, however, the quartet of Ferguson, Billy Dodds, Neil McCann and Allan McGregor only played on the same pitch once – and this is it.
The only game new Rangers coaching team played together
It was the 24th of February 2002 against Forfar Athletic in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals.
Alex McLeish was the man in charge and he named a strong team that featured players like Andrei Kanchelskis, Arthur Numan and Shota Arveladze.
It was a season of two halves, with a shambolic start under Dick Advocaat eventually seeing the Dutchman move upstairs to be replaced by a manager who never really gets the credit he deserves given the cost cutting that Rangers went through.
It ended with two cups back in the Ibrox trophy cabinet and a renewed hope, little did fans know what sort of drama would unfold the following campaign.
That Rangers squad was star-studded, although McLeish inherited a situation that saw high earners and big personalities forced to leave and his budget seriously cut.
Man of the match and a day to remember for a Rangers legend
Back to Forfar, and it was all about Dodds. Two goals and an assist saw him earn the man of the match award; however, it was slightly tainted by a missed penalty that would have seen him take the ball home with him too.
Dodds was the perfect rotation striker who scored 33 goals in 79 games for Rangers, asked to back up players like Michael Mols, Tore Andre Flo, Ronald de Boer, Peter Lovenkrands and Claudio Caniggia in his time at the club, not a bad selection of forwards to have.
McCann and Ferguson also started against Forfar, but with 17 minutes to go, few would have realised that a fresh-faced Allan McGregor was taking his first steps towards the Rangers Hall of Fame on his debut appearance.
It took another 4-5 years to establish himself as the No.1 though, battling mainly with Stefan Klos and, infamously, with Lionel Letizi.
Now, some 23 years later, he’ll be battling with the officials from the safety of the dugout.
