Season 2010-11 was an almighty campaign for so many reasons. It was Walter’s last season in charge and we wanted to do three-in-a-row for him. Celtic would come at us with fresh belief and vigour after they replaced Mowbray with Neil Lennon, but we were ready, knowing Neil would have the players up for it.
We lost a few players during the summer. Boydy left on a Bosman to head down to Middlesbrough. On a professional and personal level, I was sorry to see him go. We also sold Kevin Thomson to Middlesbrough for £2 million and Danny Wilson moved to Liverpool for a similar fee. It gave the manager some funds to play with and he freshened up the squad by signing Nikica Jelavic and James Beattie. Vladimir Weiss joined us on loan from Manchester City.
We were probably short on numbers in the squad but we had plenty quality. We won our first eight SPL games, as did Celtic, and it meant something had to give in the first Old Firm game of the 2010-11 season. We won 3–1. A Kenny Miller double and a Glenn Loovens own goal cancelled out Gary Hooper’s opener. We lost the next two Old Firm games and drew the final encounter between us 0–0 at Ibrox. Allan McGregor saved a penalty from Georgios Samaras. It was a crucial save from the reliable keeper. Celtic were in the driving seat but we never gave up and our determination and quality got us into a position of being one point ahead of them with three games to go. We beat Hearts 3–0 and Dundee United 2–0 to take us into the last game at Kilmarnock. Again, a win made sure the title stayed at our place, regardless of what Celtic were able to do at home to Hearts.
It was a sweet, sweet day. We were three goals up inside eight minutes and won the game 5–1. I loved it. It was brilliant. For me, it was all about Walter Smith that day. He is Mr Rangers and he deserved to bow out with another title – the club’s 54th – and also the League Cup in the bag after we defeated Celtic 2–1 at Hampden.
It was also important we gave a good account of ourselves in Walter’s final European adventure with the club. We were in the Champions League and came out in Group C alongside Manchester United, Valencia and Bursaspor. It was an attractive section in many different ways and I was particularly excited about the Battle of Britain clash against Sir Alex Ferguson’s men.
We opened our campaign at Old Trafford on 14 September 2010. A few days before that we were at Hamilton Accies on SPL duty and we won 2–1. I was a sub that day, as was Kenny Miller, as Walter told us he was resting us for the game at Old Trafford. We both came on at 1–1 and I set up Kenny to score a wonderful winner. It sent us down south in good spirits but we knew we faced an almighty challenge to avoid defeat in the Theatre of Dreams. I had played there before with Wigan and I was relishing the occasion. I wanted to make sure I enjoyed it. And I did.
We drew 0–0. We battled hard to keep them at bay and the whole team put in a terrific shift. It was one of our best ever results to come away from there with a draw. Our fans were brilliant that night and I’ll never forget as we came back onto the pitch for our warm-down ten minutes after the final whistle and our fans were still inside the stadium. They chanted my name and I’ll cherish that moment forever. They were jumping around, singing, dancing, and I honestly felt like joining in.
Our next game was at home to Bursaspor and we defeated them 1–0. Stevie Naismith scored our winner. It was a deserved victory and was all the sweeter because it was our first three points in the Champions League since we beat Lyon 3–0 in France in 2007. Back-to-back games against Valencia followed. They were a brilliant team at that time and had the likes of Juan Mata, Joaquín Sánchez and Roberto Soldado in their line-up. They were neck and neck with Barcelona in La Liga. Mo Edu gave us the lead at Ibrox but they equalised. We missed several chances and Walter said it was the most chances he can ever remember any Rangers side of his creating in a Champions League clash. We then went to Spain and the Mestalla Stadium. We were trounced 3–0. We just couldn’t compete with them that night. We were a yard off it and we got punished.
Our final home game had Manchester United at our place. We had to win to have a chance of last 16 qualification. We had terrible injuries and I played in the middle of the park with Kyle Hutton. In my opinion, Hutton became a man that night. Steve Davis had to play at right-back. We battled hard and created a few chances but United won thanks to an 87th-minute penalty from Wayne Rooney. It was yet another great atmosphere at Ibrox. And they had the likes of Ryan Giggs, Dimi Berbatov and Rooney in their team so I suppose to not lose a goal in open play against them was good going. I was pleased with my display, and Sir Alex commented to me in person in the tunnel after the game that he felt I had played well. That meant the world to me. We may well have deserved to sneak a point but the consolation was that we were guaranteed third place in the section and a place in the Europa League.
Our last game was away to Bursaspor and we wanted to get something from it, both from a professional point of view and also to give the club extra funds from UEFA bonus money. Kenny Miller gave us a 19th-minute lead but they equalised through Sercan Yildirim. A draw was a satisfactory result, and the last 32 of the Europa League was next up.
We had to face Sporting Lisbon. A wee bit of added spice was that our former team-mate Pedro Mendes was playing for them. The first leg was at Ibrox and we went one up through Steven Whittaker. That would have been an excellent result to take to Portugal but they got a goal back in the last minute through Matías Fernández. I was injured and missed that game. We were underdogs in the return leg but we knew ourselves that we should never be written off. We knew how to get results away from home. El Hadji Diouf put us ahead after twenty minutes. But they went 2–1 up through Pedro Mendes and Yannick Djaló. We looked down and out but we kept at it and we were rewarded when David Healy’s cross was met by Edu, and he scored yet another important European goal for us. We went through on away goals.
The European bandwagon rolled on and thoughts of another UEFA Final crossed my mind. But it wasn’t to be, unfortunately. PSV Eindhoven knocked us out in the last 16. We drew 0–0 at their place but they defeated us 1–0 at Ibrox. But we emerged from that whole European campaign with great credit and it was important to do that for the club and for Walter after the previous season’s disappointment.
The many European experiences I’ve had are something I’ll never forget. I’m really proud to have been a part of them all under Walter.
Everyone has respect for Walter. He is a total gentleman, pleasant and down-to-earth. He is interested in you as a person and how your family is getting on. He is proper old school. He managed Rangers for a total of eleven years and had to adapt to new ways in the game. He spoke to me about how he had to change his style of management and embrace new methods.
One of the main things he found different was the introduction of sports science. It has pretty much taken over football. When I was young we played on a Saturday, off Sunday. In about it on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday was a particularly hard day and it wasn’t uncommon to get the legs run off you for forty-five minutes. That would be followed by a day off on the Wednesday. Thursday was a lot of crossing and finishing, shape and tactical preparation for the game on Saturday. Friday would have been short and sharp. A light session, some shooting practice and a few small-sided games.
Now you play Saturday, off Sunday. Monday is now known as a recovery day. Even pre-season has totally changed. The days of running up hills and sand dunes are gone. That’s how it was when I was starting in the game, and Walter would have been used to that for forty years as a player, coach and manager. Now you don’t run for longer than four minutes. We do four four-minute runs, with a three-minute recovery in between each run. So for someone from Walter’s era, that must have been a big change to allow sports science guys to come in and be more hands-on from day to day. But we were in no doubt who was in charge. When we used to mess around at training, he would spot it. He wouldn’t say a word, but every now and again you would glance in his direction and you would get ‘the stare’. He didn’t need to say anything. The fooling around stopped immediately.
The lack of bodies threatened to take its toll on a few occasions but Walter’s experience meant he was able to manage the situation to perfection. I won three SPL league titles with Rangers. Personally, my favourite season was 2009-10 when we made it two-in-a-row. As a person I had many challenges put in front of me and had to go through a huge range of emotions. It’s a major achievement to lift any championship because it’s not handed to you, but that season was a wee bit extra special. We also won at least one Cup every season to make it three consecutive Doubles.
I believe we were the dominant force in Scottish football at that time. Some people wanted to be critical of our style of football and thought we should have been more entertaining, but it’s about winning football games and getting the end result. We knew how to do that. Three different Celtic managers – Strachan, Mowbray and Lennon – all tried to get the better of Walter over the course of a league season and they were all found wanting. That says it all.
17
ADMINISTRATION
Craig Whyte bought Rangers in May 2011. We were just about to clinch three titles on the trot, in our win against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. It was also Walter Smith’s last game. Personally speaking, at the time I was delighted Whyte took control because he was supposed to have tens of millions of pounds at his disposal. I looked upon it as an end to the club’s financial troubles and the beginning of a bright new era. It was a chance for everyone to move on and we all thought it would give the new manager, Ally McCoist, substantial funds to spend on new players to improve the squad.
Whyte never introduced himself to the squad at the end of that season. He first addressed us in the pre-season when we played our first Champions League qualifier in Malmö in Sweden. It was brief, nothing major. He didn’t impress me. I remember thinking that his suit didn’t fit him properly and he didn’t wear a belt. He was very untidy. Call me old fashioned, but he did not dress the way the owner of Rangers Football Club should, like Sir David Murray and Charles Green, or ‘Mr Green’ as I call him.
It became clear pretty quickly that he did not want to deal with the players. We had a players’ committee of Davie Weir, Allan McGregor, Stevie Davis and me. Ali Russell was our point of contact. I was not impressed with him either. We had to deal with him to get our Champions League bonus money sorted. In previous years we’d received a substantial amount of money for qualification and we looked for similar money from the new regime, but after two meetings we knew it wouldn’t be forthcoming. We never agreed on a bonus. To be fair to all the boys, we never kicked up a fuss. We didn’t go to the manager and didn’t go to the media. We kept our counsel. Of course, it was academic, as we didn’t qualify. However, that was not the point. Alarm bells set off in my head, although not loudly. I still felt things would be fine.
But the noise level was cranked up a notch around September-time. Most of the guys have breakfast at Murray Park every morning, whether it’s a bowl of cereal or a slice of toast. It’s a great facility. We read the papers and have a blether. We had every paper there, from the tabloids to the broadsheets. One morning they weren’t there and word got around that the newsagent shop had withdrawn their service, as the club had not paid their bill. We couldn’t believe this. I was gobsmacked. Initially I thought it must have been an oversight. We also used to have coffee machines around Murray Park and they quickly went out of use. The club had stopped stocking them up.
Now, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, he clearly didn’t want to pay many people and the news later came out that he had told one of the employees in the finance department that he wasn’t allowed to sign cheques for more than £100. It was incredible. Of course, the thing that brought the club down was not paying PAYE and NI contributions over the course of his time at the club and that amounted to almost £15 million. We never did get any bonuses sorted out. Nothing was ever agreed, but at least we were always paid our wages on time.
There had been a lot of talk and rumours about administration for a while but lots of people said there was no chance it would happen to a club of our size so we just worked on and treated it as another part of everyday life in the West of Scotland goldfish bowl. Don’t misunderstand me, it wasn’t all sunshine and smiles, and we were given one or two indications that things weren’t always going to be sweet. For example, when Craig Whyte bought the club from Sir David Murray he inherited our bonus scheme for winning the SPL Championship in 2011. It was a deal agreed with the then chief executive Martin Bain and the senior players. It was a complicated deal we had in place and the amount of money the players received would depend on the level of debt the club had at that time. We felt, for example, we’d be in a good financial position as the club had sold Kenny Miller to Bursaspor for around £400,000 during that January transfer window and had also got rid of his wage. We also trusted Bain completely and thought we would be given access to the balance sheet if we wanted it.
On our return to pre-season we asked Ali Russell about the bonus money for winning the Championship. He kept fobbing us off with lame excuses. We tried and tried and tried, but he wasn’t budging. We weren’t allowed access to Whyte to speak to him about it. The players felt we were being treated with contempt. So who knows how Ally McCoist felt. It must have been such a testing time for him. In the previous two years we had always been paid the bonus money so we were shocked at Whyte’s stance on this.
Reluctantly, we had to admit defeat and we gave up the fight after months of trying to get some form of bonus paid to us. It’s hard to put an exact figure on it but I reckon I was due a minimum of £20,000. You multiply that by a squad of twenty players or so, and Whyte may well have saved at least £400,000 by not paying our 2011 title bonus. So, we were wary of him from very early on, but we still didn’t see administration coming.
On Monday, 13 February 2012, Craig Whyte and Ali Russell came in for a meeting with the squad before training and told us that administration was very probably going to happen within ten days. Whyte told us that if HMRC didn’t deal out of court in the big tax case, we’d get our full pay for the month then it would be up to the administrators.
This was a bombshell to us. Naturally, the players panicked.
My first thought was one of disbelief. Really, how can a club the size of Glasgow Rangers go into administration? How on earth has it come to this? And then anger set in. My thoughts turned to how it could affect my personal situation. I knew that if administration happened then the manager would have to pick players with not so much resale value to go. So I knew that at thirty-three I had virtually none, and my heart sank. It wasn’t about money for me. It was more about Glasgow Rangers Football Club and what it meant to me to play for this great club. I was shocked and saddened that we appeared to be heading into the final days of the club as we knew it.
I knew my time at the club would have to come to an end sooner rather than later, but not in thi
s way. It was very unfair. I was feeling cheated.
The following day when I got home from training I heard on the news in the afternoon that it had happened. 14 February 2012 will go down as one of the darkest days in the history of Glasgow Rangers Football Club. The players were texting each other and panic and worry spread so fast. Everyone feared the worst. I called the PFA and set up a meeting with Fraser Wishart. Allan McGregor and Steve Davis were involved in this with me. We set up a working committee from within the dressing room. At that stage, the players were happy enough for us to deal with it. We needed to know exactly where we stood legally. We arranged to meet at a pub in Milngavie, close to the training ground, as the media were everywhere because this had now turned into one of the biggest stories in the history of Scottish football. It made the headlines all over the UK and further afield.
The meeting was relaxed and we thought the best route was to round the boys up and discuss all angles and most importantly to stick together as a team like we had done for the past four years. We had to use the spirit that got us the trophies we’d won together.
The press were following our every move and we had to keep quiet on all fronts. Our first plan was the one we stuck to throughout – if anyone gets sacked then we will do all we can to let them know we are not happy, and we had a few tricks up our sleeve. We thought we’d be able to negotiate a wage deferral to help the administrators, as we felt we still had a chance of winning the league title and that would have kept us all focused.
My personal situation was that I was 100 per cent behind a wage deferral to help out the club. I had a great time at Rangers and they had been brilliant to me so I saw it as a chance to give something back. A couple of the players, understandably, said they couldn’t afford to take a cut in wages. But if it meant saving jobs at Ibrox and Murray Park then I was totally in favour of the plan. People such as Laura Tarbet, Jimmy Bell, Davie Lavery and Tiny had been there for decades. They had put their heart and soul into the club and didn’t deserve to lose their jobs. I wanted to help them in any way I could and so did the rest of the boys in the dressing room.
Simp-Lee the Best Page 17
