TEAM 1
1
RANGERS
FOOTBALL CLUB
1987-88
WITH GRAEME SOUNESS
CHAIRMAN/CHIEF EXECUTIVE
David Holmes
VICE CHAIRMAN
Jack Gillespie
DIRECTORS
Hugh Adam, Freddie Fletcher
HONORARY DIRECTORS
W. T. O. Waddell, G. C. P Brown
PLAYER/MANAGER
Graeme Souness
ASSISTANT MANAGER
Walter Smith
COACH
Peter McCloy
TRAINER-COACH
Phil Boersma
YOUTH COACH
Gordon Neely
SECRETARY
R. Campbell-Ogilvie
MARKETING EXECUTIVE
Lynne Holmes
OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE
Alistair Hood
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE
Ian Elgey
TICKET OFFICE MANAGER
Matthew Cook
CLUB DOCTOR
Dr Donald Cruickshank
GROUNDSMAN
David Marshall
CLUB HONOURS
European Cup Winners Cup Champions
1972
Runners up 1961 and 1967
League Champions: (38) 1891*, 1899, 1900,
1901, 1902, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1918, 1920,
1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929,
1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939,
1947, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1961,
1963, 1964, 1975. 1976, 1978, 1987.
In 1891 the Championship was shared
with Dumbarton.
Scottish Cup Winners: (24) 1894, 1897,
1898, 1903, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1935
1936, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1960, 1962,
1963, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979,
1981.
League Cup Winners: (14) 1946/47.
1948/49, 1960/61, 1961/62, 1963/64,
1964/65, 1970/71, 1975/76, 1977/78.
1978/79, 1981/82, 1983/84, 1984/85,
1986/87,
We welcome supporters to the
Glasgow International Football Tourna
ment which, we believe, will provide an
ideal appetizer for the new season pro
per which is about to commence.
With warm memories of the way the
public provided positive help in our
securing the Premier Division Cham
pionship we are well aware that en
thusiasm will be at a higher level than
ever before.
In preparing to successfully defend
that title and to hopefully add more
honours to it, we feel that our build-up
is at just the right competitive level.
Firstly there was the series of mat
ches in Switzerland and Germany and
now this competition which features, in
addition to ourselves, Ajax of Amster
dam, Real Sociedad of Spain and the
Brazilian side Internacional.
Today Ibrox will stage two semi-finals
and tomorrow the third placed final
and Final, a host of attractive football,
we trust, against first class opposition
from four countries and two continents.
Happily we emerged from our tour in
good shape especially taking into ac
count that when we set off we had only
a limited amount of full-time pre
season training under our belts.
One of the features of that tour was
the introduction to the squad of Mark
Falco, signed in the close season from
Watford and a most useful acquisition
bearing in mind that in addition to the
normal domestic schedule we have the
European Cup ahead.
There was a successful kick-off to the
trip in the shape of a 4-1 win over the
local club Solothurn, a Second Division
side who provided just the right
opener for us.
We then beat Delemont Select 6-0
before being brought down to earth by
a 5-0 defeat at the hands of FC Zurich. It
probably sounds something of a set
back but in reality they were more ad
vanced with their pre-season fitness
level than ourselves. That extra mental
and physical sharpness made all the
difference.
In the long term the defeat did us no
harm at all since it arrived as a timely
reminder of the application and sharp
ness required and we concluded the
tour with a 3-2 win over Wettingen a 1-1
draw with Lausanne and, when we
moved into Germany for the farewell
match, we rounded off a most wor
thwhile exercise with a 2-0 win.
More detailed information on the
tour is elsewhere in the programme.
But, from our point of view, it served the
purpose of enabling players to store up
a basis of match practice extremely
well.
This current tournament is a natural
progression since the opposition is, on
paper, considerably stronger. The
three visiting teams will want, like
ourselves, to emerge as victors since
we are the kind of top professional
clubs whose pride is on the line in
every game we play at whatever level.
However, there is another considera
tion, namely to give as many members
of our squad more crucial match prac
tice provided substitutions fit in with
our general team planning.
Competition for places must be at the
highest level possible, particularly
with the heavy schedule which lies
ahead once the action starts in earnest.
The arrival of Falco is valuable in this
regard though it need hardly be
pointed out that no-one gets into the
Rangers team on reputation alone.
The fact that results built up so im
pressively last season is satisfying to
recall but it counts for little now that a
new campaign is getting underway.
The players are well aware that they
will only succeed by repeating and im
proving upon the dedication and ap
plication which deservedly brought
them the title. Our fans are entitled to
expect all that and more.
RANGERS MATCHDAY MAGAZINE