Rangers 1 Motherwell 2
Scottish Premiership Saturday 2 March 2024
Gers gazette
The context
Kieran and I had been planning this trip for ages. Various stars needed to align, but here we were at last. A new ground – especially one with plenty of stories – always feels special.
The history
clearances
Few major cities have changed so much in such a short time than Glasgow. 1960s urban clearances obliged whole communities – already decimated by unemployment and post-War industrial decline – to exchange traditional working-class areas for concrete new towns dotted around North Lanarkshire. More than one in every ten people left during just that one decade, and today’s windswept spaciousness gives little sense of its crowded, febrile past.
gone (Glasgow University Archive)
Look no further than the few miles of uninspiring sprawl between Bellahouston Park and Govan Old Church. Here, disused railway lines run from Ibrox Junction to Broomloan subway depot. At their peak these served shipyards, engineering firms and various other heavy industries employing thousands of people – Cessnock Dock, Moore Park Boiler Works, British Polar Diesel Engines, Govan Shed, Glasgow Railway Engineering, Govan Tube Works, Clyde Foundry, Harland & Wolff. All gone.
matchgoers
Two passenger stations served the Govan Branch. Ibrox and Govan stood at each end of Broomloan Road, where it connects with Govan Road and Paisley Road West respectively. Ibrox – whose sorry remains can still be seen behind an Esso garage – was used by matchgoers until Beeching decided otherwise, while Govan closed in 1921 when the Glasgow District Subway opened their station next door.
convenient
Glasgow’s underground railway dates from 1896. The station at Copland Road was convenient for Rangers’ new ground at Ibrox Park; they had already been playing nearby since 1887. Its local architect Archibald Leitch – until then known only for designing factories – made a less than auspicious first impression when his innovative steel-framed wooden terraces collapsed during the 1902 Scotland v England match, killing 25 people and injuring 500 more.
magnificent
Leitch considered himself lucky not to be sacked. He took no further risks, built some conventional banked terraces and before long Ibrox could accommodate 63,000 spectators. The 1899 Main Stand was replaced in 1928; Rangers had just won their first Double, and this achievement funded a magnificent replacement. Its red-brick facade is widely regarded as the crowning glory of Leitch’s many fine designs.
jostled
Two more sports venues soon jostled for space around Edmiston Drive. Albion Stadium’s greyhound track was just north of Ibrox station; White City Stadium – also opened during 1928 for dog races, showjumping and speedway – lay between the station and Bellahouston Park. All three prospered pre-War as Bill Struth led Rangers to fourteen titles. This era would see Ibrox set a British crowd record of 118,000.
planned route
Albion Stadium’s 1960 demolition saw it replaced by new high-rise flats. Rangers used what remained as a training pitch. White City, meanwhile, lay directly across the M8 motorway’s planned route; dogs last raced there in 1972. Helen Street police station now occupies part of the site, while everything else is buried beneath six lanes of traffic.
the whole Struth
Struth – tough and inspirational – won thirty trophies at Ibrox across more than three decades. Willie Waddell played in many of his teams. The Lanarkshire-born winger made around six hundred appearances between 1937 and 1955, scoring more than 150 goals (estimates vary because official records discount wartime football). Waddell would become vice chairman during the 1970s. He is justifiably regarded as a highly-motivated leader who efficiently modernised both club and ground.
bowl
Flawed design at one particular pinch-point had by then lent “Ibrox” an altogether darker meaning. Two deaths occurred from crushing in 1961, near the steep north-eastern corner of Leitch’s vast bowl; here, Stairway 13 funnelled exiting fans towards parked coaches and Copland Road subway station. Despite half-hearted modifications others were soon injured during two further incidents.
determined
Much worse followed and 66 fans died when Stairway 13’s barriers collapsed after an Old Firm game on 2 January 1971. Waddell’s response proved characteristically compassionate. The manager ensured that current or former players attended every funeral, while resolving privately that nothing so terrible could ever happen again. Rangers captain John Greig later recalled “He determined the stadium was going to be made into a safe place where not one more supporter would be fatally injured.”
ambitious
Waddell visited modern West German grounds during the 1974 World Cup and commissioned ambitious plans – based on Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion – to rebuild Ibrox with a higher ratio of seats to terracing. Only Leitch’s handsome Main Stand survived; everything else – including Stairway 13 – was razed flat, and its rubble deposited in the disused Cessnock Dock Branch cutting.
brightly-coloured
Three towering new stands replaced traditional terraces with garish blocks of brightly-coloured seats. But if features such as computerised turnstiles and CCTV put Rangers decades ahead of their time, so too did a dramatically diminished atmosphere. The redeveloped ground was soon being blamed for declining gates and poor results.
revolution (Daily Record)
Enter Graeme Souness. New chairman David Holmes appointed Sampdoria’s abrasive midfield general as player-manager in 1986; his so-called “Souness revolution” – during which various high-profile English players joined Rangers – secured the first of nine consecutive titles. Holmes’ equally ambitious successor, David Murray, funded a handsome (and structurally challenging) extra tier for Ibrox’s venerable Main Stand. This remains the stadium’s most recent significant modification.
The journey
close
Preston to Glasgow is both a long and short drive. Scotland feels very close to us, but the exposed lowland countryside between Carlisle and Motherwell connects two very different cultures. We made good time and parked among Bellahouston’s quiet avenues, just south of the White City site.
The ground
overhead
We sat in the Upper Broomloan. Several hundred scattered Motherwell fans made fitful attempts at noise nearby; their wedge-shaped corner (along with another between the Govan and Copland stands) was created when ugly, angular cladding finally sorted out two of those vexatious open corners. Leitch’s elegant East Enclosure retained its terracing for some years after Murray’s invasive Club Deck was built overhead, finally being seated during 1994.
fearsome
Ibrox is little changed since then. The old place can apparently still kick up a fearsome atmosphere when occasion demands (sadly today it didn’t). Rangers have been constantly nudging capacity upwards – lowering their pitch gained them extra seats, as did reconfigured gangways and concourses – but comforting continuity mostly prevails. History lurks behind every corner here and they seem to understand its value.
You can see more pictures of Ibrox here .
Flesh and wine
laid-back
Rangers are popular with some English fans. We didn’t meet any; this may have been due to deliberately avoiding tourist-orientated pubs and instead plotting up at the agreeably laid-back Kensington Bar on Paisley Road West. It proved an excellent choice. Dappled spring sunlight shone through high Victorian windows, door staff weren’t considered necessary and everyone inside made us feel very welcome indeed.
fringes
Food presented greater challenges. I had been dreaming about deep-fried black pudding or some other Glaswegian delicacy, but nowhere seemed open. We therefore ended up with chips and curry from a van on Edmiston Drive. This was, of course, more than acceptable. Chip vans are the real fourth emergency service; you have to admire how they operate – brazen, yet untouchable – on club property’s very fringes.
The game
buoyant
There was perverse inevitability about today’s result. A buoyant Rangers occupied top position, having won their previous eleven games; Motherwell, meanwhile, last took three points here in 1997. The home side looked suitably hesitant early on and soon fell behind when Blackburn loanee Jack Vale wrongfooted John Souttar. His cross ball set up Theo Bair to sweep home an easy finish.
began
Rangers began mercilessly bombarding the visitors’ box. Their perseverance eventually paid off when Fabio Silva went down under pressure from Stephen O’Donnell; penalty appeals seemed optimistic, but VAR deliberated at length and one was awarded. James Tavernier promptly scored via Liam Kelly’s crossbar and everyone expected more to follow.
nothing
Nothing else happened except another Motherwell goal. Blair Spittal’s long cross eluded everyone except Dan Casey, whose stooping header left Jack Butland flailing around his side netting like a stranded salmon. And so things finished; Kelly and his defenders stood firm against sustained late pressure, with the ‘keeper making brilliant saves late on to deny John Lundstram and Ridvan Yilvaz.
Teams and goals
Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Goldson, Souttar, Yilmaz, Lundstram, Raskin (Lawrence 45), Sterling (Wright 90), Diomande, McCausland (Soares Silva 35), Dessers (Roofe 77). Unused subs: Jack, Davies, Balogun, McCrorie, Balisic.
Motherwell: Kelly, Casey, Mugabi, Blaney, O’Donnell, Miller, Zdravkoski (Nicholson 63), McGinn, Vale (Halliday 77), Spittal, Bair. Unused subs: Gent, Obika, Oxborough, Shaw, Elliott, Ferrie, Wells.
Goals: Rangers: Tavernier 60 (pen). Motherwell: Bair 9, Casey 75.
Attendance: 50,281.
