Rangers' 10 greatest League Cup finals ranked

Six wins out of the next eight - and one of those misses still saw a final place - cemented the competition in the minds of a generation as a precursor of more success to come. Not the main event but an overture with a special place in the heart, especially as it was then played on the final Sunday of October with the conclusion taking place under the lights and the new, early darkening skies. It felt different from any other final and, for those millions at home, was the only live football they’d see for months. No wonder the nostalgic glow lasted long into the modern era.

When Heart and Hand opened up our poll in 2019 to find the 50 Greatest Rangers games, it was a little surprising to discover how faintly those successes had resonated. Only four of the 50 games were League Cup Finals, with all four coming in that gloriously dominant spell between 1986 and 1996 and none reaching the top 20. The Treble was non-existent, with no final or league-winning match in any of those seasons featuring highly enough to make the cut.

If Rangers were to do the business on Sunday however, and we opened the poll up again next summer, it would be an afternoon that would likely feature highly indeed. As some supporters were at pains to point out in West Lothian at the weekend, regular and routine trophy collecting should be the number one priority at Ibrox, starting at Hampden. Or rather, continuing there. Critics of the banners would point to two trophies in two years being more relevant than the eleven which was of course characterised by deep trauma and the resulting PTSD. Somewhere in the middle lies the reality that Rangers are not quite yet themselves. That Celtic have the spending power and structural confidence to absorb setbacks whilst Rangers have to go all out just to pick up one piece of metal. That not only the experience of the last decade, but the last two, have meant that Celtic would view a season without a title as an annoying aberration whilst for Rangers a title win would mean shutting down for the summer to make room for the celebrations. Routines have to start somewhere though and, without oceans of cash, will almost always take time to take root.

Despite having a free run at all competitions during the years of unpleasantness, Celtic are still seven behind Rangers in a cup that has had nearly as many sponsors as winners outside of the Old Firm. But which of the 27 victories would make the greatest inspiration for Sunday? Which finals did Rangers fans love the most?

None from the first 23 of the competition, anyway. Rangers won it six times before 1970 and, although the Pathé news reel may be faded in the imagination, the legend of the two treble-winning sides of the Iron Curtain and Scot Symon may have been expected to have retained some magic into the 21st century. The hammerings of Aberdeen in 1947 and Morton in 1963 - 4-0 and 5-0 respectively - didn’t pick up a single vote nor did either of Jock Wallace’s wins in the seventies that made up the same achievement. This is perhaps more of a surprise not only given the technicolour but because both finals in 1976 and 1978 were against Celtic. The former was a dire game of football but the latter, with the youthful brilliance of Davie Cooper and Gordon Smith amongst the goals, was more deserving of at least a handful of votes

As ws the Old Firm final of 1964 where Jim Forrest scored both Rangers goals in a 2-1 win but the noise was all about Baxter. Captain for the day, he made in-game tactical changes such as swapping the full-backs around to negate the burgeoning Celtic threat out wide, but it was his trademark swagger that would be remembered most and for the final time. Seven weeks later, the great man would be caught in the Vienna mud, his leg broken and the course of history changed as a result.

Two finals of a more recent vintage did pick up some votes but not enough to make it into the top ten, the 2005 demolition of Motherwell and the apotheosis of Scotland’s Roy Race, when he entered the fray of a tense encounter with Hibs - the scoreline poised at 1-1 and him only having featured briefly since his leg break five months before - to promptly score an overhead kick and win the cup for Rangers. Ally McCoist’s love affair with the competition endured over a decade but it was his first final that just made it into our top ten…

10. Rangers 3 Celtic 2 (AET), Sunday 25 March 1984

On that day, Rangers’ own Roy of the Rovers was more of an attacking midfielder wearing number eight but it didn’t make any difference. The second coming of Jock Wallace had initially infused Ibrox with a much-needed sense of optimism following the departure of John Greig earlier in the season. Rangers were deservedly in control when McCoist’s penalty in the first half and his late run into the penalty box in the second, had established a 2-0 lead. The sloppiness that had characterised the decade thus far returned however, and Celtic managed to take the game into extra-time. Enter McCoist once more, or rather Roy Aitken at great force into his back. The look of disbelief on his face - as if such an illegal challenge in the penalty area was an obscure piece of small print - briefly turned to relief as Bonner saved the second Rangers penalty, but McCoist’s reactions were better than anyone’s and he prodded the ball home to make it a hat-trick in his first ever cup final for Rangers. It didn’t lead where many giddy believers imagined it might for that Rangers team but it wouldn’t be the last time that smile lit up Hampden Park.

9. Celtic 1 Rangers 2, Sunday 16 March 2003

For an hour this final was both the aesthetic high point of Alex McLeish’s time as Rangers manager and the perfect distillation of the contrast between the two sides at the time. Swift skill and movement against brutal physicality, Rangers ran Martin O’Neill’s side ragged in the opening exchanges. Watching back, one could be forgiven for thinking that FIFA’s decision to outlaw the tackle from behind over a decade before was a figment of the imagination but it was hard to imagine Rangers playing better stuff than this under ‘Big Eck’. In contrast to the direct assault of their opponents, the interchange of De Boer, Caniggia, Mols, Arteta and Løvenkrands looked like a different sport and when the Dane was sent clean through after a ten-pass move, his shot could only be parried into Caniggia’s path. He got his goal 12 minutes later and Rangers could and should have been at least three goals to the good at the break. When Henrik Larsson reduced the damage with a set-piece header, the pattern settled into wasteful Rangers counter-attacks and blunt aerial bombardment. John Hartson was very unlucky to have an equaliser unfairly ruled out for offside but was presented with a free shot on goal from 12 yards when Balde tumbled rather theatrically in the box. It is unclear what dark forces were to blame for him dragging his penalty wide but Rangers breathed a sigh of relief and took the first trophy of an incredible season. That week all of the talk was about a Celtic quadruple that came to nothing. Exactly five years later, there was similar excitement brewing about Rangers.

8. Dundee Utd 2 Rangers 2 (AET) (Rangers won 3-2 on penalties), Sunday 16 March 2008

Walter Smith’s side arrived at Hampden only days after surviving constant pressure in Bremen, including Allan McGregor seemingly defying the laws of physics to put Rangers into the hat for the UEFA Cup quarter finals. Three points clear of Celtic - and with a game in hand - the question started to be asked: how many of the four would Rangers end up winning? There were more than a few times that afternoon when all four immediately looked out of the question. United were one up in 34 minutes and needed a Carlos Cuellar goal line clearance to save Saša Papac’s blushes shortly after. Smith - who opted to start with an incredibly defensive side and only Lee McCulloch as the vaguely recognised striker - changed things up at the break with the introduction of Darcheville and on the hour mark, with Kris Boyd. Eventually it was he who dragged Rangers into extra time, by pouncing on a Mark Kerr error and his back-post header saved Rangers once more as they fell behind to Marc de Vries’ goal early on in the additional period. In all honesty, it was a bit of a rarity for Boyd to affect change from the bench - his record was poor if he wasn’t a starter - but he was the hero on this day when, after five penalties had already been squandered in the shoot-out, he blasted his home to win the cup and propel Rangers further forward to a potentially historic season.

7. Rangers 1 Celtic 0, Saturday 24 October 1970

Derek Johnstone celebrates

From one goalscoring legend to the beginning of another. During his time as a pundit for Radio Clyde, Derek Johnstone once said that a 19 year-old Barry Ferguson would be too young for Rangers to throw into a match at East End Park, Dunfermline, a season before he was running the Rangers midfield. Easy to forget the freedom of youth as Johnstone, only sixteen years of age, made his Old Firm debut, replacing the captain John Greig no less. Just before halftime he showed a degree of awareness and execution way beyond his years to ghost in between Jim Craig and Billy McNeil and head home the only goal of an enjoyable final in the pouring rain. Like Willie Thornton before him and Mark Hateley after, Johnstone would very quickly establish himself in the highest echelons of that archetypal Rangers striker. It was Rangers’ first trophy in four years and provided something for fans to cling onto under Willie Waddell before Barcelona two years later and then Wallace’s eventual grip back on the peak of the Scottish game.

6. St Mirren 0 Rangers 1, Sunday 21 March 2010

This game finished in 60th place in the 2019 poll and there are countless reasons for regarding that as something of a surprise. It was a fairly awful game and a Rangers performance so scrappy against a side that would finish the season in tenth place, that with 20 minutes to go, they were down to nine men. Kevin Thomson has always protested his innocence against his namesake Craig’s decision to show him the red card, but even Perry Mason would have struggled with that one. Danny Wilson’s offence was more cynical and straightforward and St Mirren had the chances all the way through the game to pull off a shock. Why it resonated so strongly wasn’t just Kenny Miller’s brilliant late header nor the pigeon in the television shot that became such a cult joke, but that it was the epitome of the kind of resilience and togetherness that characterised that second Smith spell and which Rangers fans cannot fail to love.

5. Celtic 1 Rangers 2 (AET), Sunday 20 March 2011

The last Rangers League Cup win took place under dark, rumbling clouds as the Old Firm tension was cranked up on a weekly basis. Earlier in the month, First Minister Alex Salmond had convened a ‘summit’ of politicians, senior police officers and the game’s governing bodies to deal with violence surrounding the matches, which had reached a peak in a 3-0 Celtic win at Parkhead in February where both Ally McCoist and Neil Lennon engaged in some close contact on the touchline with a verbal exchange presumably in the key of F and C. Not for the first time, apocalyptic warnings in advance of the next encounter came to nothing as the Final was played in a relatively good spirit and at a good lick, considering the state of the Hampden pitch. Craig Thomson was in the thick of it again as he appeared to give Rangers a penalty after 15 minutes when Papac was fouled in the box before changing his mind after some vociferous Celtic appeals. Regardless, Steven Davis put Rangers ahead ten minutes later with an excellent bursting run and rare left-foot effort before Joe Ledley’s glancing header levelled it up before the break. The second half tension couldn’t be broken but Smith’s injury time sub, Vladimir Weiss would make an impact soon enough. In the eight minute of extra time, his quick thinking and perfect execution of a free kick sent Nikica Jelavić through on goal. He appeared to have done everything right until the ball came back off the post towards safety before spinning back over the line into the other corner. The wait was interminable, the joy unforgettable. For Rangers it has felt like the ball has been spinning on a line for the subsequent 12 years.

4. Aberdeen 2 Rangers 3, Sunday 23 October 1988

This was another final that took place under a threat of violence and scenes that commentators are always convinced that ‘we do not want to see’. A fortnight before, Ian Durrant’s career was left hanging in the balance by Neil Simpson’s assault, in a league match at Pittodrie that was brutal throughout, even for the standards of the day, as Aberdeen struggled to accept that their brief time in the sun was coming to an end thanks to the Souness revolution. Instead, what over 70,000 at Hampden and the millions watching on the BBC were treated to, was another classic final. Whilst it was almost impossible to top the previous season’s final, it was still fine effort that came alive in the last third. Rangers had taken the lead through an Ally McCoist penalty, the result of a scrappy bit of play in the Aberdeen defence between David Robertson and Theo Snelders - both future Rangers players - before the latter had to haul down the alert Drinkell just inside the box but the leaders returned the favour soon after when they failed to clear their lines and presented Davie Dodds with the chance to nudge Aberdeen level. The explosion that defined this particular fixture was a moment of beauty rather than violence. With just over 30 minutes remaining, a Stevens throw was nudged away from Drinkell but only as far as Ian Ferguson, whose bicycle kick smashed the ball into the top corner and the game ignited into a classic end-to-end drama. Walters and McCoist went close from great Rangers moves before Dodds equalised in a sequence that left both Butcher and Woods looking anything but pretty. Woods atoned by preventing the ultimate nightmare scenario when he tipped Simpson’s chip over the bar and Bett and McCoist both missed great chances as the game headed for extra time. In the end it wasn’t required. The final two minutes produced two moments of pinball wizardry in the respective penalty areas but McCoist capitalised where Dodds couldn’t and Rangers won the cup once again. It was a win that signified so much about the changes that had occurred at Ibrox since that last final. Only two players - Richard Gough and Ally McCoist - played in both matches for Rangers and, just when a valuable piece of midfield dynamite was removed, Rangers were able to call on another star to stand up. Souness, who felt that Ferguson was maligned during his start because of the need to play him up front at the end of 1987/88, took him over to the Rangers support where he raised his player’s hand to a more appropriate acclaim. A new hero was born.

3. Rangers 4 Hearts 3, Sunday 24 November 1996

Of the eleven cup finals that Walter Smith won as Rangers manager all but one were won by a single goal. That 5-1 masterclass against Hearts in the Scottish Cup Final of 1996 was an outlier for a man who rightly regarded these as events to be won, not to look good. Hearts were the opposition for the exception amongst the other ten. The final that was tight in the history books but so beautifully open on the field of play.

With the National Stadium in a new stage of renovation - a process that started in 1991 - Parkhead hosted a Rangers performance that both exemplified why this team were so great but also served something of a notice period for that greatness. After their Hampden humiliation, Hearts were always fancied to give a better account of themselves but it didn’t look that way in the early stages of a freezing cold afternoon. Gascoigne and Laudrup dragged defenders away from the arch-poacher McCoist to fire Rangers front and they managed to leave him free at a corner soon after to double the lead and equaled the goalscoring record of 50 in a competition he had won more than anyone else. But then Rangers turned to ragged complacency, allowing Hearts back into the game with a Stevie Fulton strike and a bizarre on-field row between Gascoigne and McCoist before the halftime whistle. The former’s frustration at the latter’s failure to be on his wavelength boiled over as the Rangers position of comfort seemed more than half an hour ago. As the fighting continued in the Rangers dressing room, Gascoigne’s answer to the tension was to head to the Player’s Lounge and get himself a brandy. It was the Rangers defence, especially Cleland who was replaced by Robertson and Moore, who looked as if they had been enjoying a few as they creaked at the Hearts pace and pressure, in particular the skilful industry of Neil McCann down the left side. When that finally resulted in an equaliser, the hope of the neutrals was fired up. The game looked to be heading in only one direction.

What happened next was Paul Gascoigne’s career in microcosm. A constant state of hypertension which, when frustrated, led to lashing out and acrimony but when in control of a football, resulted in complete serenity and poise. Four minutes after Hearts drew level, he took the ball 40 yards from goal, shifted his body weight suddenly to wrong foot Gary Mackay and then the old power returned as defenders were left with lead in their feet as he drove forward and curled the ball beyond Rousset. Two minutes later, he had won the cup before Hearts knew what to do. The instant control and bravery to run into where space was limited, only for the vision and skill to open it up to his will, using Charlie Miller as an accomplice, and poking it home. The two goals were just like the ones against Aberdeen in April both in form and importance.

‘The spark of genius, just when it’s required’, said Jock Brown on the microphone but he could have been talking about a lot of Rangers games since 1994. So often tired, missing key players, in trouble or bereft of creativity this group battled hard to stay in touch and relied upon magic to do the rest. For this particular magician however, it was the final act. The common consensus that night was that a line had been drawn under a troubled period in the most emphatic way but everyone, including the man himself, was in denial. ‘I haven't been myself for a few weeks for reasons you all know about’, he said afterwards. ‘I am starting to come to terms with what happened. I am getting help and my personal life is not too bad. I feel I can concentrate on my football now and, hopefully, this is the start of good things to come.’ He would, of course, feature in more wins and pick up another medal but Paul Gascoigne would never grab a big game for Rangers in that signature style ever again. He would remain a Rangers player for sixteen more months but his days as a Rangers star were all but over.

2. Celtic 1 Rangers 2, Sunday 26 October 1986

We can all argue to toss about the quality of various finals but there is surely little argument in what League Cup Final was the most significant to date. Would Souness have been able to generate enough momentum and belief to win that first title without that triumph at Hampden or, heaven forfend, if East Fife had been better at penalty kicks earlier in the competition? Thankfully, we’ll never know but the importance of this win - this first blood - is greater than any of the other 27.

Souness himself had to make do with his seat in Hampden’s Main Stand as the final kicked off. He was injured this time, not suspended, as he had to ask his young midfield to do the same job against Celtic as they had done at Ibrox two months previously. Fast and frenetic, it was an Old Firm game fit for all the clichés, as both sides roared at each other from the outset, tempers never too far from boiling over. The yellow cards - all ten of them - mounted up at a pace in keeping with the football but led, in the end, to a final that could not be controlled by the referee David Syme. Its farcical zenith was reached with only two minutes remaining when he showed Celtic’s Tony Shepherd a red card after mistakenly thinking that he was responsible for hitting him with a coin. Quite why he thought that a professional footballer would be carrying loose change on the off-chance that an opposing defender might need to break a fiver before a corner, is unclear. The matter was rectified quickly and the card rescinded, but by then it was too late to salvage the mess. Celtic had lost the cup but were handed an opportunity, never knowingly missed, to wallow in paranoia. As Alan Davidson put it in his match report ‘To the victors the spoils. To the losers a sense of injustice that has hovered over them, like some maiden aunt, for the best part of a century’.

Earlier that season, after his Celtic side had surrendered a 2-0 lead at Tannadice, Davie Hay had requested that Bob Valentine not referee another game involving Celtic. A minute before the Shepherd chaos Hay stormed onto the field to pick up the match ball, suggesting that they should pack up and leave. The reason for this particular moment of moral outrage was the ordering off of Maurice Johnston after an off-the-ball skirmish with Stuart Munro. Celtic had argued that Syme didn’t make it clear whether it he was showing both players a yellow or just Munro and then Johnston the red but this was a redundant argument as, due to Johnston’s earlier booking, he would have had to walk in either case. It was an entirely manufactured drama late in a game that had produced plenty of the proper stuff.

Celtic shaded the overall play but both sides had periods of domination and troubled the woodwork on more than one occasion. It was Rangers who carved out the best chances, the best of all falling to Ian Durrant just after an hour of play. A Cammy Fraser free-kick was glanced on by Butcher but it was Durrant’s first touch with his thigh that made all the difference. Once again the manic chaos was permeated by a moment of simple calm, control. After that the finish was easy and Rangers were ahead, but not for long. An exquisite give-and-go between Johnston and McClair left Woods helpless as the latter rifled the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box.

The moment that settled the final - and lit the fire of Celtic rage - yet again came from another foul on Davie Cooper on the Rangers right hand side. Derek Ferguson - the teenage man of the match - floated one to the back of the box where Butcher was waiting. The ball was overhit - Butcher would have had no chance of getting an attacking header on it - but it didn’t stop Aitken trying to make sure with a little too much force. While not a ‘stonewaller’, it was a penalty - there was no doubt with Jim McLean in the commentary box - and with only a few minutes remaining the opportunity was presented to Davie Cooper to win the cup for his team. ‘There was never any doubt in my mind that, despite all the tension, Coop would score’, wrote Ian Durrant. ‘I never saw him miss one and I always felt it was unfair on keepers that Davie was allowed to go one on one against them. That spell was the best two seasons of Coop’s life because Souness understood him.’

The noise was different to 1984. There was an overwhelming feeling throughout the Rangers support that this was just the start of something, which gives - in hindsight - more power to the two images that lived long in the memory: Cooper being lifted aloft by McCoist, two Rangers fans living the dream in sharp focus whilst in the background the rest lived it vicariously through them on the wild terracing and Souness, at the full-time whistle, looking up at David Holmes from the dugout with his clenched fist held up in assured celebration. For Walter Smith, it was a trophy that provided the momentum required to power a title campaign and he was delighted that the two goal scorers were players who had been at Ibrox for some time. Their flourishing was the real evidence of the revolution. In Cooper specifically he saw the burden - worn by a man whom, for many years had been the only hope the fans had - suddenly lift from his shoulders. ‘Too much was expected from one man’, but now that the responsibility was shared it gave Cooper ‘the freedom to play, it gave him the setting he needed.’ More generally however, players were lifting their levels. ‘It was as if the other players saw things happening at the club that they never believed would happen. They got the message that this was the start of something big and there was a response from all of them.’ It was one that would last for a generation.

1.     Rangers 3 Aberdeen 3 (AET) (Rangers won 5-3 on penalties), Sunday 25 October 1987

And so to the number one. Not just the greatest League Cup Final involving Rangers. Not even just the greatest League Cup Final but arguably the finest final of any kind Scottish football has produced. Once more it was a classic created in a ferment of controversy with the Old Firm draw at Ibrox the previous weekend produced four goals, three red cards and two players charged and fined for behaviour likely to cause breach of the peace.

This was an afternoon where two fine sides went at each other from the first whistle and didn’t stop until the final penalty was scored in the shoot-out. The Rangers defensive frailties - caused by the suspended absence of Chris Woods and Terry Butcher - were predictably exposed in the first fifteen minutes as Aberdeen could have scored twice before Jim Bett’s eighth minute penalty broke the deadlock and once more again after it. As with Celtic in the first half the previous weekend, the roof could have easily fallen in.

‘I had the wind behind me and just blasted it.’ Davie Cooper had barely touched the ball in that first 20 minutes. When he did - an Exocet missile launched from his left foot that Jim Leighton was lucky to touch on the way back out - it was the first of many big momentum swings as he ran to embrace the wild celebrations on the north terracing, on which he would have been standing if he hadn’t been a genius. The Rangers second, a move of opportunism and intelligence involving Nicholl, Fleck, McCoist and finally Durrant, should be more affectionately remembered and surely would be, if it hadn’t been for Cooper’s brilliance. After that, the interval was just a welcome breather in an end-to-end slugfest and the next punch landed square with 18 minutes remaining. Souness had spent the previous day at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground watching the English international left back, Stuart Pearce and it was down that side that Rangers were exposed when Joe Miller’s cross wasn’t adequately dealt with and John Hewitt punished them for it. Ten minutes later - after a very strong penalty claim against Willie Miller who was seemingly playing with full impunity from the law - it was down that left side that Aberdeen tried again and, with the lack of central defensive cohesion, Willie Falconer rose to head Aberdeen into the lead late in the cup final. Fans who think media bias is a 21 century confection should listen back to the off-mic celebrations of the late Ian St John who was on co-commentary duty that day.

Rangers continued to probe away in the final minutes but it was a more agricultural ball by Nicholl, met fiercely by the head of Roberts that was pounced on by Durrant and swept away by Fleck. Extra time produced sitters for Falconer and McCoist, cramp for Joe Miller which would rule him out of penalties and Trevor Francis strolling around the Hampden turf as if he was helping out with the kids game at a Sunday school trip. The sheer insouciance of his penalty in the shoot-out - taking only one step after having to re-spot the ball - is but one in a huge collection of memorable moments from that day. The other penalties were nearly as impressive except the Aberdeen second, blasted off the bar by Peter Nicholas, who had missed two penalties for Luton Town the previous season and was only on the list because of Joe Miller’s difficulty in standing up. The scene was eventually set for Durrant, a decisive presence in this final for the second year in a row, to slot his penalty away and settle an incredible Sunday afternoon’s football.

There is another reason for this match’s resonance as it is arguably the last time its two heroes - Durrant and Cooper - starred in such a way in the same game. We’d never know exactly what insight and instruction Cooper could have brought to future generations as his life was cruelly cut short in 1995. We’d never know if Durrant could have done what Cooper decided not to do and take the continent by storm, as those crucial years of his career were robbed from him. Both with a mischievous sense of humour and a burning love for the club, they had a dark lull in the middle of their Rangers careers that was contrasted by the startling brightness at either end. Both players would surely win a great many votes in any fans poll to select an all-time Rangers XI.

When Ruud Gullit was asked to select an all-time greatest XI of those he had played with or against, he chose Davie Cooper, who had mesmerised him whilst playing against his Feyenoord side in 1984. Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho were left on the bench.