January 13, 2007. In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago and yet I remember the day as if it were yesterday.
Walter Smith had returned to Rangers at a time when our club was going through a difficult time and the fans were in danger of becoming completely disconnected from the team. There’s no need for a history lesson here in terms of what had brought us to this point. Everyone knows the story by now.
Suffice to say, we badly needed a change of direction and Walter’s return as manager was the moment everything at the club began to click back into place. On that Saturday we went out to play Dundee United at Ibrox and I was reinstated to the team after being banished by the last guy.
I remember sitting in that dressing room knowing I had to go out there and show the supporters how much it meant to me to be back, wearing that jersey. I also recall Walter’s team talk almost word for word. It couldn’t have been any more basic or straight to the point. “Just get out there and show them how committed you are. If you can do that - and run through brick walls for them - then these four stands will get right behind you!’.
I’m not sure if everyone in that dressing room believed him. We had come through such a difficult period as a new team and we knew the support had lost patience with us because of our results. And rightly so. I was one of them. So we went out there that afternoon into the p****** rain knowing we had to give these guys a reason to believe in us again.
There was a huge roar when the first goal went in. It got even louder when Chris Burke bundled in the second. And, without a word of a lie, you could feel the energy returning to the stadium which had gone missing over the previous weeks. As a player I always fed
Football
Rangers
show
UPS
rights
FIVE
Walter Smith