The name of Archibald Leitch might not be well known to many fans but if ever a man who was not a footballer deserves his name on the Ibrox Hall of Fame it's he. Born in Glasgow, Leitch became football clubs' stadium architect of choice. His stands and terraces could be found at every major ground in the country. Millions of fans stood on and loved the terraces that he created - Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Fulham and many more all had Archie to thank; for it was him that designed and constructed their footballing homes.
There are a few mitigating circumstances as to how yours truly landed with the unenviable task of detailing the contribution John Greig MBE has made to Rangers over his distinguished and well documented career. Firstly, I stupidly announced that I have some spare time on my hands at the moment, and actually volunteered this idea in the Gersnet writers forum. Secondly, John Greig was Rangers manager when I started going to watch Rangers on a regular basis. I was lucky enough to witness John as a player (and what a player he was) and given the fact of his illustrious playing career, I felt it unfair to solely focus on his managerial career (as was the thought at the time).
Rangers have a very proud history in Europe being the first Scottish club to play a competitive European tie whilst participating in the European Cup in season 1956-57 season and became the fist Scottish or British Club to reach a European final when in 1961 we lost 4-1 on aggregate to Fiorentina in the inaugural European Cup Winners Cup final. During this campaign we defeated Wolves in the semi-final the game that gave us the wonderful Wolverhampton Town song which has thankfully, found it’s way back onto our hymn sheet in recent years.
The question I ask myself most often when thinking off, or discussing John Greig is, is he deserving of the title ‘Greatest Ever Ranger’? This title was bestowed on Greig, by us, the fans. We voted for him as the Greatest Ever Ranger and all the attributes are there. His dedication and love of Rangers is undeniable. We were the only club that we ever played for. He won a remarkable three trebles with Rangers (the club has won seven in our illustrious history), his appearances speak for themselves and listening to fans from the generation before mine, Greig was Rangers during his dark days of Celtic domination.
Since the club's formation in 1872, over thirty players have permanently held the position of club captain for Rangers. The first was Tom Vallance, from 1876 to 1882. The longest-serving captain is John Greig, who held the role from 1965 until his retirement in 1978. The current club captain is James Tavernier, who took over from Lee Wallace in 2018.
The famous 'RFC' Scroll crest is instantly recognisable to football fans across the world and is steeped in history.
Tours of the stadium are available - see the official Rangers website for details.
The Rangers Training Centre opened in 2001; cost £14million and is situated in Milngavie - to the North West of Glasgow. It was named after previous Rangers owner and Chairman Sir David Murray and was originally commonly known as Murray Park. In 2012, after the 1899 company's liquidation due to financial mismanagement of the club, the fans decided to remove the disgraced former owner's name from the centre.
