This season’s foray into the Champions League has been a difficult and painful one for Rangers. Halfway through their group campaign, no points, no goals and three defeats are all they have to show for their efforts.
It puts into context just how well the club performed 30 years ago in the first season of the revamped European Cup. In a week when Liverpool come calling, Mark Hateley, Stuart McCall and Archie Knox’s minds raced back three decades this very month when Leeds United arrived for a Battle of Britain play-off match and were beaten home and away to set up a run that would end in acrimony and suspicion that bribery had robbed Rangers of the chance of winning Europe’s top prize.
At the end of a 64-game season under Walter Smith, the Treble was in the trophy room but the one that got away and ended up in Marseille, before the French club’s owner Bernard Tapie was jailed for match fixing bribery, will be forever remembered by those who pulled on the blue shirt during that campaign. Star striker Hateley and midfielder McCall were two of the main men on the pitch; Knox was Smith’s right-hand man in the dugout and three decades on they continue to believe they were robbed.
Hateley, speaking on BT Sport’s Currie Club podcast, is convinced that Marseille were cheating even before a ball was kicked in the campaign that saw the French side come to Ibrox on matchday one and then face Gers in the game after Smith’s men had beaten Bruges in Glasgow - despite the dubious sending off of the England striker.
“After the draw (Marseille, Bruges and CSKA Moscow), which I thought was great because we were the underdogs and the pressure was off us,” Hateley said. “The way we were built to play, I thought we could go all the way.
“We were in the Moat House Hotel before the first game, I was sharing with Trevor Steven, who had been at Marseille the previous season and knew what had been going on at the football club back then. I got a phone call from a guy with a French accent who told me he was an agent and he wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t play against Marseille. I was thinking it was either Ian Durrant or McCoist winding me up, so I hung up. He came back to me three times and I told Trevor I thought it was one of the lads messing about, so I forgot about it.
“We got off to a good start with a 2-2 draw with Marseille at Ibrox and then in the Bruges game, their centre-half is hanging round my neck and when I heard the whistle I thought it was a free kick for us. I turned round and there was a red card inches from my face. He couldn’t wait to send me off.
“As soon as that happened the penny dropped. Unfortunately for us the allegations weren’t made until a long time afterwards. It wasn’t what could have been. It’s what should have been.
“The man (Tapie) was convicted. He went to prison for paying off referees. That is a once in a lifetime opportunity for most players to play in a Champions League Final.”
Knox added: “To not get to the final under those circumstances was hard. We went 10 games undefeated in Europe against the level of teams we were playing, it was a phenomenal run. I don’t think of what might have been in the final. What’s the point of torturing yourself?”
McCall tries to be philosophical but admits: “It was more after the last game against CSKA at Ibrox, which was 0-0. CSKA celebrated as if they had won the Champions League. But I try to take the positives. What a run we had.”
That run started by beating Leeds and Knox recalled getting a piece of advice from a fan in the build-up. He smiled: “I got the heads up from one of the supporters with regards to Leeds.
“The guy appeared at the side of the training pitch and said: ‘I hope you don’t mind. I’m Stuarty Daniels from the Kinning Park Loyal. I’ve been watching my Match of the Day videos and you’ll need to tell the boys to watch Cantona. If you touch him in the box he goes absolutely spread-eagled.’
“I said: ‘That’s good of you to tell us that, Stuarty.’ And I remember going down to Elland Road (Rangers fans were banned) and as we got off the bus, there’s a guy standing there with a Leeds hat, scarf, top...the whole lot.
“He lifts the Leeds top and has a Rangers top underneath and saluting the boys as they came off. And it was Stuarty Daniels, Kinning Park Loyal.”
Rangers won the away leg 2-1 to go through 4-2 on aggregate and set up the Champions League campaign. And the season ended with the Scottish Cup being won at Parkhead – and almost lost in a pub nearby. McCall said: “I think for Rangers supporters, if you are going to win a Treble and can’t do it at Hampden, the best place to do it is at your main rivals.
“The best part of it was to go back to Ibrox and go with all the lads to the District and the Grapes Bar with the trophy. How we managed to bring that trophy back, I’ll never know. We just said to our wives, give us an hour. And we visited all the pubs on Paisley Road West.”
Knox laughed: “McCoist and Durrant wanted to take the cup down to the District Bar. I said you can’t take it down there but they did and they lost the cup.
“I was beside myself. ‘Where is it? Where’s the Scottish Cup?’ We need to get out of here.’ We couldn’t find the cup. Eventually we got it back and the wee player on top of the trophy was all bent. I’m thinking ‘if anybody knows I’ve allowed that cup to go down to the District Bar...’."
