RYDC hosted a Twitter Q&A with former Rangers manager Alex McLeish last week and we’ll feature some of the content from his session in the coming days.
Recently, the ex-Light Blues boss – who won seven domestic trophies and guided Rangers to the last 16 of the Champions League during his tenure – discussed winning the cup double in his debut season.
Today, he reflects on the magnificent Treble cliched in 2002/03 and the stunning Helicopter Sunday triumph at Easter Road in 2005.
Alex recalled: “When we first came to Rangers, Lorenzo Amoruso was out of favour and I looked at the way the team was playing and it was slow during games, we played side to side and we were trying to walk the ball into the net.
“I emphasised we had to play faster as we had the quality, technique and speed in the team to be able to get at teams more quickly.
“We had wonderful players who could do that while smoking a cigar – guys like Ronald de Boer, Mikel Arteta and Barry Ferguson.
“We had a really flamboyant, attacking team and that was one of the things I felt was in our favour against Dunfermline on the last day in 2002/03.
“And sure enough, every player was hyped up for the game with no sign of nerves. I could only see a winning mentality in their eyes.
“We gathered the players in the dressing room that week and told them we had to be sharp in every single training session. It could be going to goal difference and they had to keep going in the game. If they scored they had to run and get the ball out the back of the net and we had to play as fast and as attacking as possible obviously without leaving the door open at the back.
“To be honest there was tension but it was fever pitch and we played fast tempo training every day.
“We brought on Neil McCann and Steven Thompson in the second half and they made such an impact. Neil has such quality on the wing and Steven could have had a hat-trick that day. Neil won the penalty for Mikel Arteta to score the decisive goal and it was an incredible day.
“We won the Scottish Cup against Dundee the following week and to think I could win a Treble as Rangers manager was beyond my wildest dreams.
“Helicopter Sunday was the biggest spine tingler I have ever experienced in football though. When I heard the roar from the Rangers fans when Motherwell equalised against Celtic it was incredible. I can feel the tingle again now as I talk about it.
“The biggest adrenaline rush was Helicopter Sunday, no doubt about it. The final day against Dunfermline was absolutely thrilling but that single moment at Easter Road was the biggest adrenaline rush.
“For years I didn’t even watch footage of the European trophies I was involved in as a player and when I did look back I didn’t realise how good we were!
“But Helicopter Sunday was really special - when you see the reactions on people’s faces and the footage coming in from Motherwell when they scored.
“It’s all really exciting to think I was actually there in the middle of it on the day. It was an absolute thrill and a big part of my life. It has been watched back many, many times in this household down the years and it is nice to relive them.
“It is hard to achieve these things more than once or even at all so I was delighted to be part of it all.
“In our preparation for the Helicopter Sunday year, we signed Dado Prso in the January to come in in the summer and did the same with Jean-Alain Boumsong. So we were ahead of things at that time.
“I think sometimes you don’t get the credit you deserve, there is no doubt about that. I would like to think young Rangers fans watch the old games and have been told by their fathers, cousins or uncles about what we achieved during my tenure there.
“It’s not easy to be successful and sometimes at clubs you have to downsize then rebuild and be successful again. It’s not easy to do that so you might feel you don’t get the credit you deserve but nobody can ever take away the success I have had in my career.
“And it has been a privilege to have won all those trophies at Rangers with the help of great staff. We always liked to share the plaudits. It was a great period in Rangers recent history.
“I have emphasised this one a few times but I said ‘just win’. Walter Smith and I used to have some dinner together with the wives and Walter always used to say ‘at Rangers you just have to win’.
“Rangers are one of the elite clubs in the world and the expectations are you need to win every single week.
“If you draw it’s a crisis and that’s the feeling I had growing up at school in Glasgow, my dad was a fan and it was a disaster if he came back from a game and they hadn’t won.
“Walter’s two words ‘just win’ really resonated and we told the players the week of the Hibs game that whatever happens you have to get the victory because if Celtic do drop points and you didn’t win then you would regret it for the rest of your lives.
“The players really took that mentality on board. They came in at half-time and were down as it was still 0-0. Shoulders were slumped. Marvin Andrews was shouting ‘believe’ to them all and Barry Ferguson went round them all and said ‘we have to keep going and get a goal’.
“They went running out the tunnel, got the chests puffed out and the shoulder were high and I wanted them to show we meant business and Nacho got the vital goal.
“Of course what happened next was folklore.
“I was so proud of the haul of trophies we were involved in, Jan Wouters, Andy Watson, Ian McGuinness, Davie Lavery, Jimmy Bell.
“We had such a family and to win those trophies is something you can only dream about as a kid.
“But the greatest moment for me was signing the Rangers contract to become the manager.
“We had loads of characters at Rangers but I would finish by paying tribute to Fernando Ricksen.
“We always had a laugh with Fernando. He was a wonderful guy and he was a great captain for me.
“I couldn’t believe I would ever see him keeping the peace as captain rather than being involved in things on the pitch. A great guy and it is so very sad he is no longer with us.”
Alex is pictured promoting the Rangers Youth Development Company.
Since 2002, profit from RYDC products has gone to the Rangers Academy with well over £8.5 million donated in that time.
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