Kevin Drinkell hopes Rangers players still hurt like hell from losing the league after one season as title heroes. Because he knows that was the feeling that fired the Ibrox club back to the top when he signed for them.
Drinks, a £600,000 buy from Norwich, arrived for pre-season in 1988 to find a team fuming with themselves. The bulk of Graeme Souness ’ squad secured the club a first league crown in nine years in 1986-87. But Celtic snatched back the prize straight away under Billy McNeill to celebrate their centenary year in style.
The current Ibrox crop endured something similar. They romped to Premiership glory with Steven Gerrard to end the club’s top rank exile. Yet despite a wonderful European campaign, Gers relinquished their title to Ange Postecoglou’s Celts. Giovanni van Bronckhorst gathered his men for pre-season training with long-serving stars Connor Goldson, Allan McGregor, Steven Davis and Scott Arfield still in position. Drinkell hopes they spell out a similar message to the one from Souness and his senior stars 34 years ago – that ‘one and done’ is not a good look for Rangers and second or third best won’t be tolerated again.
Drinkell’s dozen league goals in his first Ibrox campaign helped Souness secure that 1988-89 trophy – 12 months after they’d finished THIRD behind Hearts and Celtic. He believes it was that setback, inspired by obsessive winners, which kicked off the Nine-In-A-Row years.
He said: “In the 1987-88 season, there shouldn’t have been a lot between the teams. But Rangers really missed Terry Butcher with a broken leg. That injury and other niggles caught them out.
“Myself and Gary Stevens were the new players signed and a big part was having Terry back fit again. But a really big deal was the guys already there and how highly motivated they were.
“They’d enjoyed a taste of it the year before, winning a championship for the first time in ages for the club. And they didn’t like being put on the back foot again so quickly. So there was this steely determination, with everyone out to make a huge impression.
“The feeling I got from lads like Ian Ferguson, Ian Durrant and Ally McCoist was Rangers weren’t going to fall behind anyone again. And with Terry coming back, he and Richard Gough were others who asked that question of you – are you up for this?”
Gaffer Souness brought all his players together in the centre circle of a pitch at their Italian training camp in the Tuscan mountains and made clear the scale of the uphill task. He cautioned that trailing Celtic again under his watch would not be acceptable.
Gers got off to a blistering start, thrashing Celtic 5-1 in the third game of the campaign, and never looked back. Drinkell said: “The Souness mantra was – if you can’t do it for me then I’ll just get someone else who can.
“We needed that mindset – we are the best team, we have the best kit, the best pitch – just improving every little bit. That’s certainly the way it seemed to go. We proved that year we were the better team.
“What Rangers need is a galvanisation. Everyone having a conversation like we had. Looking each other in the eye. Are you coming with us? Are you here for it? Right, let’s go out there and let’s do it.
“There will be huge determination for Rangers, having had the euphoria of winning the previous year. Even though they did well last season, especially in Europe, there was a downside of losing the league.
“It’s not a nice feeling when you have something after so long then it’s taken from you straight away. No one wants to be second best in Glasgow, it affects your whole life. Taking the kids shopping or the wife out for a meal, you want to do everything feeling like you’re the best.”
Rangers got stronger late in 2021-22, storming to Seville for the Europa League Final and beating Celtic in the semis en route to Scottish Cup glory. But the damage had been done in mid-season as new boss van Bronckhorst settled into the job following Gerrard’s exit to Aston Villa.
Drinkell hopes to see the Dutchman continue to put his stamp on the squad after his masterclass management in Europe. Drinkell said: “There was the change in manager, there were a couple of slip-ups, the dropped points at Ross County, to Motherwell, Dundee United.
“They couldn’t quite get back in there and get their noses in front of Celtic at the end of the day. Now Gio just needs to make it feel like his team. That only comes with a bit of time.”
Ex-Coventry and Falkirk forward Drinkell believes sorting out the future of Alfredo Morelos, out of contract in one year, is a pre-season priority. Drinkell added: “It’s down to the player, if he wants to stay and work hard then Rangers won’t need to cash in.
“But that’s got to come from him – a conversation that may even be happening now. Do you want to be here? If not, we might as well do business right now.
"The quicker they sort that out the better. It won’t help the squad to have this uncertainty around.”
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