Rangers F.C.

Did You Know?

• Rangers won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1972 with a 3–2 victory over Dynamo Moscow at the Nou Camp.
• On 2 January 1939, a British league attendance record of 118,567 was set at an Old Firm match at Ibrox.

History

Rangers were formed by four founders – brothers Moses McNeil and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath – who met at West End Park in March 1872. The club's first match, a goalless friendly draw with Callander, took place on Glasgow Green in May of that year. David Hill was also a founder member. In 1873, the club held its first annual meeting and staff were elected.

Moses McNeil became Rangers' first international player in 1876, representing Scotland against Wales. Rangers reached the Scottish Cup final in 1877 but, after drawing the first game, refused to turn up for the replay and the cup was awarded to Vale of Leven. The club won its first major cup, the Glasgow Charity Cup, the following year against Vale of Leven. The first-ever match against Celtic took place in 1888, with Rangers losing 5–2 in a friendly.

The 1890–91 season saw the inception of the Scottish Football League, with Rangers as one of ten original members. Their first league match resulted in a 5–2 victory over Heart of Midlothian. After finishing joint-top with Dumbarton, a play-off ended 2–2 and the title was shared. Rangers' first Scottish Cup win came in 1894 with a 3–1 final victory over Celtic. By the start of the 20th century, Rangers had won two league titles and three Scottish Cups.

Crest and colours

Rangers Football Club operates with two distinct official emblems, an unusual arrangement for a football team. The older scroll crest, which shows the interlocking letters RFC, is worn on the team’s matchday kits. The other, a lion rampant crest, appears on merchandise, in media coverage, and on official club paperwork. The scroll design is thought to date back to the club’s founding in 1872, though the earliest known item bearing it comes from the 1881–82 season.

In 1959, the club replaced the scroll with a lion rampant crest featuring a lion, an old-style football, and the motto “Ready” (short for “Aye Ready,” Scots for “Always Ready”), all encircled by the club’s full name. This lion crest was modernised in 1968, keeping the same elements, and received further updates in the early 1990s and again in 2020 to reach its current form. The modern circular version is common on merchandise and in media but has never been a regular feature on the shirt.

The scroll crest returned in 1968, appearing on the shirt front for the first time, even as the lion crest remained the official logo. It first showed up on the team’s shorts in the 1978–79 season. For the 2021–22 campaign, a special 150th anniversary crest was introduced. Over the years, the scroll crest’s look on the shirt has changed: from 1990 to 1994, “Rangers Football Club” and “Ready” were placed above and below it; from 1997 to 1999, it sat inside a shield.

After the 2003 season, five stars were added above the scroll, one for every ten league titles won. A 140th anniversary crest, with “1872–2012” above and “140 years” below, was worn during a home league match against Stirling Albion on 8 December 2012.

Club identity, supporters and relations with other clubs

Rangers are one of the best supported clubs in Europe, with their 2017–18 home league attendance among the 20 largest in Europe. A CIES Football Observatory study of attendance figures from 2013 to 2018 ranked Rangers 18th in the world, with the club accounting for 27.4% of total Scottish attendance, placing them eighth overall for national attendance share. The Rangers Worldwide Alliance is a network of supporters clubs with more than 600 registered clubs and over 30,000 registered members, plus many unregistered clubs.

The official club website lists over 100 supporters' clubs in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with over 100 further clubs across more than 35 countries. Rangers fans hold records for high attendances, including the highest home league attendance of 118,567 on 2 January 1939. The club's record attendance was 143,570 for a Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibernian on 27 March 1948 at Hampden Park. In 2008, up to 200,000 Rangers supporters travelled to Manchester for the UEFA Cup Final; a minority rioted, resulting in 42 arrests.

In 2021, Rangers supporters were criticised after gathering in George Square to celebrate winning the Scottish Premiership, breaching COVID-19 lockdown regulations; 53 were arrested and over £58,000 of damage was done. In 2022, an estimated 100,000 fans travelled to Seville for the UEFA Europa League Final with no arrests made. Supporters group Club 1872 are shareholders in the club.

Ownership and finances

Rangers Football Club became a limited company on 27 May 1899. For decades, no single owner held more than half the shares until 1985, when the Lawrence Group took a 52% stake after a deal with vice-chairman Jack Gillespie. Lawrence Marlborough, the group’s head, sold his interest to David Murray for £6 million in November 1988. In 2000, Murray took the club public, renaming it The Rangers Football Club plc.

On 6 May 2011, Craig Whyte bought Murray’s shares for £1. The following February, Whyte filed court papers to appoint administrators; the next day, the club entered administration over £9 million in unpaid PAYE and VAT. Administrators later estimated total debts could exceed £134 million, largely depending on a tax tribunal regarding an Employee Benefit Trust scheme used since 2001. In November 2012, the tribunal ruled in Rangers’ favour, and an Upper Tribunal backed that in 2014.

However, HMRC appealed to the Court of Session, which decided in November 2015 that the club owed tax and national insurance on those payments. In June 2012, the Crown Office asked police to investigate Whyte’s purchase and financial management. Charles Green struck a deal with administrators to buy the company for £8.5 million if a CVA passed, or its assets for £5.5 million if it failed. The CVA was rejected on 14 June 2012, pushing the company into liquidation. Accountancy firm BDO was then appointed to probe years of financial mismanagement.