NEILLY GIBSON joined Rangers when he was still a teenager from junior side Royal Albert and went on to enjoy more than a decade of service with the club.
A man who would become a 14-times capped Scotland international, he would go on to win six major honours with the Light Blues including four league championships.
Defender Gibson was an ever-present in the 1898/99 league campaign when Gers won every one of their 18 matches to win the title by 10 points.
Indeed, he scored three times in the two biggest wins that campaign, notching a double in an 8-0 rout of Clyde and scoring from the penalty spot in a 10-0 thrashing of Hibernian.
That championship win was the first of four consecutively and in the first three campaigns, Gibson missed only three games overall.
Playing 377 times overall for Rangers – including in 184 competitive fixtures with 14 goals – he later spent five years in Partick Thistle’s squad.
Gibson had three sons – Neil, Willie and James – with all three going on to follow in their father’s footsteps as they played the beautiful game.
In James’ case, he emulated his dad by playing for Scotland and also scored once against Wales in 1929, some 32 years after his parent had struck against Northern Ireland.
Neilly Gibson's achievements are pretty well known by Gers supporters, though the detail is rather limited.
Looking to change that, however, was Dr Joel Leslie, a historian who in 2019 researched players in order to write a book on arguably the club’s greatest-ever side.
Dr Leslie explained: “Neilly Gibson is one of the greatest players, undoubtedly, ever to play for Rangers. He is a member of the 1898/99 ‘invincibles’ team, which is famous in itself, but he played for Rangers for a decade.
“He had a very, very illustrious career and is a Scotland great too. He has 14 caps for Scotland, and is very much someone who has been forgotten and his achievements have been forgotten.
“Larkhall at the start of the century was known for the number of footballers it produced. Even from the 1870s and 80s, there were many players who went on to have illustrious careers down in England.”
As part of his research, Dr Leslie spent time searching for Gibson’s final resting place and with help from the local council, he found his unmarked grave in Larkhall Cemetery.
He passed at the age of 73 in January 1947, and is buried alongside his son Robert, who tragically died of pneumonia aged one in 1911, and his wife Elizabeth.
Dr Leslie believed, given Gibson’s history, it would be fitting to have his final resting place properly marked given his significance in Rangers’ history.
“The first thing I had to do was find Neilly’s family,” he continued. “That took me six or seven months to find some relatives as you can’t do anything with the grave until you get permission from the family.
“After that, I contacted the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project, and they generously put up half the money, which was a substantial amount to find that.
“I always thought it would be good to have a contribution from Rangers fans in Larkhall too. I am the treasurer of Larkhall and District Rangers Supporters Club, so I approached the committee and they put it to the members.
“They unanimously agreed it would be a great thing to fund and I think it is really, really appropriate it has been partially funded by Rangers fans in Larkhall.
“I think it is important as Rangers fans we nurture and cherish the memory of players who have gone before us and who have given previous generations of Rangers fans so much pleasure and satisfaction.
“These players have contributed to making Rangers the club it is today, so it is very fitting they are remembered.”
And so, 125 years on from Gibson's first signing for the club, Rangers supporters turned out in superb numbers on Saturday, 16 November 2019 at a special dedication service in his honour.
Dr Leslie, Iain McColl from the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project and Bill Hastings from the Church of Scotland all spoke at the ceremony in Larkhall Cemetery and finally, Neilly Gibson has a place where he can be remembered by the Rangers family.
From the archives: A look into the work of the Restoration of Rangers Graves Project, and the official unveiling of the gravestone of club legend Neilly Gibson back in 2019.