Rangers stunned by brave Hearts

Ibrox glory years end in tears

Dick Louden witnesses the final appearance of the battle-hardened Ibrox old guard end in a 2-1 Scottish Cup final defeat to Hearts

IT is all happening at Celtic Park these days. It was more than a touch ironic that the born-again stadium, which only a week ago saw Wim Jansen, the Celtic head coach, depart the Scottish game, should now witness a phalanx of Rangers icons doing the same. Indeed, the scene was even more poignant because Jansen did not bid farewell out there, on the pitch.

Walter Smith, the Rangers manager, did, arms raised to the heavens, features etched in a deeper emotion than this restrained man normally reveals. The adulation which reverberated around the stadium told its own tale. He may be remaining with the club, a reassuring symbol of continuity, but there is nothing quite like spontaneous interaction with the faithful.

His achievements were stunning. Ten League titles have been won in the 12 years since his partnership with Graeme Souness took shape. During his seven years in sole charge, Rangers won six championships, and won both the Scottish Cup and League Cup three times each. Europe remained a vision too far, but, in domestic terms, Walter Smith, OBE, has been a class act.

For Richard Gough, the captain, the farewells looked less emotional, perhaps because he had been over the course before. His urgent recall to Ibrox after the briefest of sojourns with Kansas City Wizards seemed to assume he had mysteriously acquired powers of wizardry during his time in the United States.

He never quite delivered such sorcery, but his contribution to Rangers over a decade was exceptional. Until yesterday, he never knew a season in which Rangers failed to win a major trophy. In the hoo-ha over his relationship with Craig Brown, the Scotland manager, it is often forgotten that Gough represented his country 61 times.

Ally McCoist, rapturously acclaimed when he appeared after the interval, will have his exploits immortalised in videos which record his astounding 354 goals for the club. It would have seemed totally out of character if he had failed to score in the match which heralded his exit. However, this will no doubt be au revoir rather than adieu. There must be a fair chance that we will soon be re-united with that infectious McCoist grin on the American or Japanese versions of Question of Sport.

However, nothing was calculated to provoke more nostalgia yesterday than the finality of his departure. Gifted playmaker, strategic thinker, natural linkman - all these things he was not. But he was endowed with a predatory flair, an instinctive nose for goals. His omission from the World Cup squad was logical, but if Tosh McKinlay is, in Brown's terminology, a specialist, they do not come more specialist than McCoist.

As Brian Laudrup saluted the admiring throng, it dawned with sudden awfulness that we have lost our most talented player. Here for only four years, but twice Scotland's Player of the Year, he thrilled with that tantalising pace, that mesmeric dribble, those awesomely accurate crosses.

Granted, there was a shading off in the last year. But what a legacy he leaves, this hugely gifted and inventive Dane. Now he moves on to a different blue shirt with Chelsea and with him the word genius disappears from our vocabulary.

Andy Goram, restored to fitness just in time, may have provided too much tasty fodder for the tabloids, but on the pitch he has been a shot-stopper extraordinary, whose courage and reflexes have been breathtaking. Goram's legendary agility now deserves to find a global audience in France next month. Rumour has it that he may then link up with Brescia in Serie A.

Stuart McCall has not actually said he will be leaving Ibrox, but his body language as he left the field on his substitution was not that of a man who expects to stick around. Tireless and committed, McCall went out as he arrived, offering that perpetual motion which served as a balance to the creativity of the likes of Laudrup. The accent may have belonged south of the border, but McCall's passion and belief in the cause were beyond question.

Nobody seemed more caught up in the outpourings at the end than Ian Durrant. For 14 years he has conducted an enduring love affair with the Ibrox following, especially after succumbing to that appalling injury which all but terminated his career.

Always poised to explode from midfield, Durrant seemed on the verge of maturing into a world-class performer when he was struck down. Nothing was quite the same thereafter. However, he has proved durable and now, as he ponders his future, he seems none too perturbed by the weakness of the Japanese economy.

Two other departing Rangers did not even have their names on the team sheet. With Alex Cleland, whose next destination may be the English Premiership, there was no option. Suspension dictated that he was excluded from an occasion when his speedy interventions down the right might have injected extra variety into Rangers' predictable approach. Cleland may not be the most organised of defenders, but his ability to break out at pace was a potent weapon.

For Marco Negri, it must all seem like a dream which cruelly evaporated. Seemingly unable to stop scoring, he reaped a phenomenal harvest of 36 goals before famine broke out. Its catalyst was a game of squash with Sergio Porrini, his fellow Italian. The eye injury he sustained impaired his focus in more ways than one. Afterwards, he was no more than a squad player, having failed to learn the lesson that you must dilute your squash.

Demoralised though they must have been, the boisterous Rangers support still contrived to accord warm and generous applause to the Hearts players as they accepted their medals. Now only memories remain. They will stay fresh, but a barren season was a sad note on which to terminate a rich era whose genesis was the arrival of Walter Smith. Now he must watch over the exodus.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk