Pick a Rangers all-time 11 and you hit the same wall every time. Do you trust the side you saw, or the one your dad talked about? For anyone under 45 it's the nine-in-a-row team. For an older lot it's Baxter, Greig and the night in Barcelona. I've tried to be fair to both, and I've only counted what a player did in a Rangers shirt. The years in brackets are each man's time at Ibrox.
How we got here
The defence of the late 1940s, Brown, Young, Shaw, McColl, Woodburn and Cox, was known as the Iron Curtain, and older supporters can still say the names in order. If you only know the 90s side, look these lot up.
The 1960s team had Jim Baxter in it and won the treble in 1963-64. Then on 24 May 1972, at the Camp Nou, Willie Waddell's Rangers beat Dynamo Moscow 3-2 to win the Cup Winners' Cup. Colin Stein got one, Willie Johnston got two, and John Greig was captain. For my money that's still the best night the club has had.
Graeme Souness arrived in 1986 and started spending like nobody in Scotland ever had, and English internationals began coming north. Walter Smith took over in April 1991. On 7 May 1997 Brian Laudrup's header at Tannadice won the ninth title in a row, which matched Celtic's nine from the Stein years. That's the bit most Rangers fans my age remember best.
The XI
4-4-2. Old-fashioned, I know, but it's how most of these men played, and McCoist was never happier than with a big man next to him.
Goalkeeper
Andy Goram (1991 to 1998). Fans voted him the club's greatest ever goalkeeper. He came from Hibs in 1991 and was in goal for six of the nine titles. Peter McCloy played 351 league games for the club and kept goal in Barcelona, so he's not far off.
Defence
Sandy Jardine, right back (1965 to 1982). He was right back in Barcelona in 1972 and still in the side ten years later, which tells you most of what you need to know. The football writers made him their Player of the Year in 1975.
George Young, centre back (1941 to 1957). The biggest name in the Iron Curtain. He captained Rangers and Scotland and played 293 league games for the club. A lot of younger fans won't know much about him, but ask anyone who saw him and he's the first name they give you.
Richard Gough, centre back (1987 to 1998). Souness signed him from Spurs in 1987, and he was there for the whole nine-in-a-row run, captain for most of it. Terry Butcher was the better player for a couple of seasons. Gough was there for eleven.
Eric Caldow, left back (1952 to 1966). He broke his leg against England at Wembley in 1963, and that was the end of his Scotland career. He'd captained his country by then. At Ibrox he played 265 league games and was the left back in the early 60s side, with Baxter in front of him. I went back and forth on this spot more than any other.
Midfield
Brian Laudrup, right (1994 to 1998). Only 116 league games, and he's still in. In his first season he became the first foreign player to win the Scottish football writers' award. In the 1996 Scottish Cup final he scored twice in a 5-1 win over Hearts, and Gordon Durie got the other three.
John Greig, centre (1961 to 1978). 498 league games. He captained the side in Barcelona and lifted two trebles in the 1970s, and over the years he turned out at wing half, centre back and left back. I've put him in the middle because that's where I'd want him if things were going wrong.
Paul Gascoigne, centre (1995 to 1998). Three seasons. Some will say that's not enough for an all-time side, and they've got a point. But on 28 April 1996 he scored a hat-trick against Aberdeen at Ibrox to win the eighth title, and he was the players' and the writers' Player of the Year that season. There were bad days too, plenty of them, and I've still put him in.
Jim Baxter, left (1960 to 1965). Slim Jim. He had no pace at all and never seemed to need it. He was the main man in the 1963-64 treble side, then broke his leg against Rapid Vienna in December 1964. He was sold to Sunderland the following year and came back for one more season in 1969-70.
Attack
Ally McCoist, striker (1983 to 1998). 355 goals, the club record. He was the first player to win the European Golden Shoe twice, in 1992 and 1993, and he did it with Mark Hateley alongside him.
Mark Hateley, striker (1990 to 1995). Which is why Hateley gets the other spot. He was Scotland's Player of the Year in 1994 and he made McCoist better. I know leaving Derek Johnstone out will annoy people, and I'll get to him below.
Manager
Walter Smith. Bill Struth managed the club from 1920 to 1954 and won 18 league titles, and nobody's coming near that. But Smith won seven of the nine in a row, came back in 2007, won three more league titles and took the club to the 2008 UEFA Cup final in Manchester. I'll take the man most of us actually watched. If you go with Struth, or Waddell for 1972, fair enough.
Close but not quite
Derek Johnstone is the hardest one to leave out. He scored the winner against Celtic in the 1970 League Cup final when he was 16, then played centre half in Barcelona two years later. He could have gone in up front or at the back. That's sort of the problem.
Davie Cooper (1977 to 1989) had the best left foot the club had between Baxter and Laudrup, and he played 377 league games. He died in March 1995, aged 39, and a lot of fans still can't talk about him without going quiet. If this were my favourite 11 rather than my best, he'd be in ahead of Baxter.
- Willie Henderson (1960 to 1972), the little right winger of the 60s, stuck behind Laudrup.
- Terry Butcher (1986 to 1990) was the first big signing of the Souness years and the first captain of them.
- Ian Ferguson (1988 to 2000) played through the whole nine, and Barry Ferguson (1996 to 2003, 2005 to 2009) captained the side when he was still a young man. Either could do Greig's job.
- James Tavernier (2015 to 2026) captained the 2020-21 side that went the league season unbeaten and stopped Celtic getting ten in a row. He was top scorer in the run to the 2022 Europa League final, too, which is a mad thing for a right back to do. I've still gone Jardine, and plenty will disagree.
- Arthur Numan and John Brown at left back.
From the 1972 team, Dave Smith and Tommy McLean both came close.
Quick answers
Who is Rangers' record goalscorer? Ally McCoist, with 355 goals.
Who is Rangers' greatest ever player? In 1999 the fans voted John Greig the Greatest Ever Ranger.
Make your own
Plenty of fans would rather have the 1972 Barcelona side on the wall than any all-time 11. That's McCloy; Jardine, Mathieson, Greig, Johnstone, Smith; McLean, Conn, Stein, MacDonald, Johnston, with Waddell as manager. Others want the side that won at Tannadice in 1997.
If you'd rather have the Barcelona lot or the Tannadice team on the wall, build it in our team builder, and we'll send you a proof before it's printed. £99 or £149 framed, free UK delivery. Or have a look at our ready-made Rangers prints.