A recurring theme on the messageboard is Rangers' European record. There's no getting away from the fact our Club have underperformed regularly, while also being on the wrong end of some dreadful results. Among the darkness, though, there have been a some shining lights that have provided us with moments that will be treasured for life.
A new book on Rangers recently hit the shelfs. Follow On: Fifty Years of Rangers in Europe by Iain Duff charts Rangers' somewhat rocky course through the half-century they've been involved in European competition. While there are plenty of us who want no reminding of games we'd witnessed in the past, it is encouraging to see a new name added to the relatively short list of authors who have written about Rangers in the recent past and for that reason alone the book should be reported.
It's possibly a difficult task to offer a review of a book written by a guy who obviously cares and thinks deeply about Rangers and not be drawn to offer praise for the sake of it. However, it has to be said that this is a book with something for everybody in it and – at the risk of employing a cliché or five – will appeal to any Rangers fan who reads it.
Rather than trying to look for positives and presenting every defeat as unlucky, the author takes a mature and detached view from events on and off the park that the book details. There is most definitely no, “I'm great, you're great, we're all great” type of empty rhetoric that is a feature of too many of the Club's official publications; nor are there instances of self-loathing and needless apologia that accompanied The Advocaat Years and Ten Days That Shook The Rangers. This is a book that has adopted a firm Rankean philosophy when presenting the past and the book is all the much more accessible and readable for it. Indeed, the author takes a critical stance with ex-players who attempted to excuse Rangers' failing by exaggerating the talents of their opponents. It is a refreshing attitude to read in a book, however painful the memories it may evoke in the reader.
The book is set out in a chronological style in the main, starting with a brief history of the origins of European competitions and begins as far as Rangers are concerned with the game against Nice in 1956. A good part of the author's source material comes from interviews with players who took part in the early games and the sense that comes from it is that every away trip was a trip into the unknown. There's a kind of child-like excitement that surrounds the early days.
Where this book stands out is the author's willingness not to look at the past with blue-tinted glasses but to offer facts to the reader, no matter how unpalatable they are. One of these facts is the arrogance and naivety displayed by the Rangers management team of the late 50s and early 60s with regard to doing research on their opponents. Such instances are analysed critically and reasonably and do not fall victim to a fan's inclination to find excuses for his team's behaviour. In saying that, however, Duff's obvious enthusiasm for Rangers is very much in evidence in the wonderful chapter of the book that is dedicated to Rangers' trip to Wolverhampton in 1961, a chapter which, in this reader's, opinion even surpasses the detailing of that famous night in Barcelona 11 years later.
With the book set out in a logical format, the narrative moves from one game to the following one with criticism and praise dealt out as and when necessary with regard to team performance and selection. As it's told in such a manner, the book retains its accessibility throughout, particularly with the recounting of sporting and political anecdotes in relation to the Rangers games under discussion. Did you know THAT Russian linesman from Wembley 1966 refereed a Rangers game shortly after?
Perhaps inevitably as the book moves onto games that are fresher in the modern memory, games from the mid 70s onwards, Barcelona excluded, are given more coverage and analysis, with a bit more attention paid to non-European issues, such as the state of the Rangers team in the early 80s followed by the Souness Revolution. It is a welcome addition to the book, keeping its narrative fresh while maintaining its primary focus of detailing Rangers' participation in European competition. Of particular interest in this era are the recollections of players of the period, one in particular by Robert Prytz which will no doubt be a surprise to many.
As the book moves into even more recent times, it is obvious that games from the 90s have provided the author with some notable personal highs and lows. To his credit, he still remains detached enough to offer a critical eye while paradoxically writing with the obvious emotion of a genuine football fan rather than, say, a failed theology student who thinks he is in fact a noted social commentator.
Some might say that an author writing with an evident fervour for Rangers would detract from the book. This is very much not the case with this offering. The numerous humiliations witnessed by Rangers fans in the 1990s are not glossed over in favour of the run in 1992/93 but are analysed and commented on with a critical eye that does the author credit, albeit accompanied by a tangible sense of disappointment, even hurt at Rangers' performances. Ironically, this is probably the book's strength. The readership are not treated like children but instead are offered 260 or so pages that praise when it is necessary, criticise with a strength according to situation and flow in a writing style that is highly accessible to anybody.
At the beginning of this review, the thought was offered that the book contains something for everybody. The reasoning for that is as follows: historically valid and interesting study of an element of Rangers' past; quotes from ex-players; excellent descriptions of the supporters' role in certain games; fascinating anecdotal accompaniments for the football issues; a total emphasis on the many, many good points of the Rangers support; and an appendix of statistics that will surely prove worthwhile when talking about Rangers' times in Europe years from now.
It's a book that will appeal to Rangers fans who can accept that we have not performed as required on too many occasions in the European arena. Some will not agree with the book's findings. Some may even question the validity of writing a book that details 50 years of Rangers in Europe. The answer to that is easy. It is by no stretch of the imagination a celebration or even a tip of the hat to glorious failure. It is a well researched acknowledgement that for half a century our Club has taken part in European football competitions and, good and bad results both taken into account, is a landmark worth writing about. And the best reason for reading this book? It's a book about Rangers by a genuine Rangers fan.
Ayrshire Billy Boy
