It used to be a footballing shrine within Rangers’ training ground.
An impressive array of shirts, pennants, boots and balls filled every bit of room. Priceless memorabilia celebrating Ibrox icons and heroes of the past. From Davie Cooper to Brian Laudrup. Graeme Souness to Paul Gascoigne. Barry Ferguson to Fernando Ricksen. They were all there, in some shape or form. But this place was more than just a small Rangers museum.
It was a meeting point. A talking shop for players, teachers and staff alike. It was where new stars were brought as their first port of call. An induction center. The hub, where anyone who didn’t know what the club was about quickly found out. They had no choice. The smell of history, status and success filled their nostrils as soon as they walked through the door. Whether they were from Aberdeen or Argentina, they were taught. This little spot was a part of the Rangers fabric.
Now? Unless anything has been pinned up lately, it consists of four plain, white walls. It hasn’t just been rid of its treasures. Its very essence has been emptied. That whiff of nostalgia has been replaced by a smell of neglect. This place is Jimmy Bell’s old kit-room at Auchenhowie. What used to be a Rangers prize trove is now like any other kit-room.
Bereft and devoid of any sort of custom. It used to be part of the inner area. The legendary kitman’s pride and joy, built over the course of decades of service. Yet as we speak, the stuff that made it so special is lying in a shed. Jimmy’s widow, Janice, removed it – such was her sadness and disgust at the club’s treatment of her late husband’s successor.
Now, in the grand scheme of Rangers’ ongoing problems, this might not seem like a big deal. But it is. Because it’s symbolic. The tip of the iceberg when it comes to a gradual decline in standards and ethics at the club. Jim McAlister’s name isn’t one you hear mentioned too much around Ibrox these days. That’s easy for some people. Maybe his sacking didn’t register with most Rangers fans.
But the guy who was Bell’s trusted lieutenant when Steven Gerrard’s side won title No.55, and a key part of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s backroom team en route to the Europa League Final in Seville two years ago, was brutally binned by former chief executive James Bisgrove.
Ruthlessly axed amidst a sea of incompetencies and false charges. In February, McAlister won his unfair dismissal case against the club at an employment hearing. Neither the club nor Bisgrove offered any form of defence at the meeting. The meagre payment and legal fees might not have dented Rangers’ balance sheet. But in terms of the irreversible damage done? Well, that’s two-fold.
Firstly, McAlister had Rangers in his blood. A diehard supporter, who had won a dream job after his playing days, was left physically and mentally ill by the actions of Bisgrove and others. He’s now working alongside Gerrard again in Saudi Arabia.
Since the day he left Auchenhowie with a black bag over his shoulder, he hasn’t been back there or to Ibrox. And, as gut-wrenching as it is for him and his family, he has no plans to return. The second part really gets to the heart of the matter though. And it’s the bit that should concern John Gilligan, who must feel as if he’s stranded on a desert island right now in his job as interim chairman.
Getting rid of people like McAlister and what he represented, particularly after Bell’s death, is a path a club like Rangers should never go down. Other Rangers-minded people have also been treated with contempt.
Recently, a scout most folk might not have heard of, Scott Bryson, was also allowed to leave. He’s the guy credited with finding Nathan Patterson, who would go on to make the club £16million from his future sale to Everton.
While the likes of McAlister and Bryson were heading for the exit, Bisgrove was sliding his way up the marble stairs. Hindsight shouldn’t have been needed to detect a guy who gave off snake-oil salesman vibes, clearly using Rangers as a vehicle to further his own career.
How none of the present Ibrox board sensed that, beggars belief. Anyone who spoke to Bisgrove – and who truly had the club at heart – predicted his Ibrox finish. And those same people weren’t surprised when he jumped ship to Saudi, leaving a trail of destruction – and an unfinished Copland Road stand – in his wake.
Since then, the likes of John Bennett and others have also left. Somehow, Rangers are trying to run at the upper echelons of the game without a chairman, CEO, director of football or academy chief. Rectifying that is clearly a priority for Gilligan. In his former working life, he got things done and that’s a non-negotiable here. He’s an honest man with values. The type Rangers need at Ibrox.
He can also sniff out bull***t. And, importantly, he has been immersed in the club from the day he was born. Making the right appointments and putting Rangers back on track is a massive job for Gilligan or anyone who comes in. But that’s aside from what’s happening right now with Philippe Clement’s threadbare team, who are ill-equipped to win trophies.
And that’s away from tactics, style of play or progress in Europe. Rangers won’t achieve anything until another big hole is filled. They have to get the club’s heart and soul back, which has been ripped out in recent years.
Gilligan will have felt it. It’s probably mirrored in what he sees on the pitch and in the stands, with thousands of empty seats last time out against St Johnstone.
THAT’S the biggest thing he has to fix. And having men the calibre of Bell and McAlister around would be a good beginning point.
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