For Rangers Wednesday 4 November 1992 was as good as it got in movies such as this. As Mark Hateley smashed the Scottish champions in front inside five minutes at Elland Road, cross‑border needle which had extended to the press box morphed into outright celebration. Rangers and their fans felt they were not sufficiently praised for a first‑leg victory in this Champions League clash with Leeds United. Hateley’s goal, later backed up by an Ally McCoist strike before Eric Cantona claimed a Leeds consolation, secured the tie for Walter Smith’s side – a side, that is, which was dominated by Scottish players.
Almost 30 years to the day, the notion of a Battle of Britain in football context has never felt so misplaced. A clever marketing slogan but, in football terms, nonsensical. Yes, Rangers fans descended on Liverpool in their thousands and yes, the element of crackle in the atmosphere before kick-off at Anfield inferred something different from the norm, but brutal reality soon took hold. The top clubs in England and Scotland are operating in different stratospheres.
