Rangers FC - Legends and Fifty-Five Crowns

Rangers FC were crowned Joint Champions of the inaugural Scottish Football League in 1891, and have since won another fifty-four [54] for a record total.

The first ten league titles were won under the stewardship of William Wilton, two when he was match secretary and another eight in the eleven years he served as manager. Rangers also won four Scottish Cups during this period but perhaps their most impressive achievement—one which certainly has never been repeated—was winning every single league match in 1898-99.

Wilton was succeeded after his death in a boating accident [May, 1920] by Bill Struth who would go on to not only eclipse his predecessor but remains to date the most successful manager in club, and Scottish football, history. He led Rangers to 18 league titles [14 before the Second World War, 4 afterwards], 10 Scottish Cups, and two League Cups. The Bill Struth Main Stand at Ibrox has been named in his honor, where a bronze bust depicting him was unveiled in 2005. He holds the records for ‘Manager to Win Most First-Division Titles [18]’ and ‘Manager to Win Most Finals [64]’.

Full List of Rangers FC Honors

Scottish League Championships: 55

Scottish Cup: 34

Scottish League Cup: 28

Scottish Challenge Cup: 01

European Cup Winners’ Cup: 01

Former player Scot Symon returned to the club to take over from Struth, when the legendary, long-serving manager retired in 1954, and helped continue the club’s tradition of success by winning another six league titles, five Scottish Cups, and four League Cups. He led Rangers to their first two European finals in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1961 and 1967 but unfortunately failed to win each time.

Symon was sacked in November, 1967—a decision which would extend the longest league title drought in Rangers history. The club had last been crowned champions in 1964, and would not win the league again until 11 years later in 1975 under Jock Wallace. Three titles followed in four years under Wallace but the club would have to wait another nine years for their next win.

Graeme Souness replaced Wallace, whose second stint as manager had proven far less successful, in 1986 and led the club to three titles in 1987, 1989, and 1990 before leaving, with just four games of the season left to play, to replace Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool.

However, the latter two titles he won would mark the beginning of the greatest period of sustained success in Rangers history. His successor, Walter Smith, won the next seven championships, including the one Souness had abandoned in 1991, to make it nine successive Scottish League titles for the club. In doing so, they equaled Celtic’s record of nine-in-a-row [1965 to 1974].

Rangers spent big in 1997 to try and surpass Celtic’s record with a record 10th consecutive title but the season ultimately ended in disappointment, and Smith was replaced by the first non-Scottish manager in club history: Dick Advocaat. He added two more league trophies to the cabinet in 1999 and 2000 but resigned in 2001, with Celtic 12 points clear in the Scottish Premier League.

Alex McLeish was appointed manager at Advocaat’s recommendation, and proved instantly successful. He won the Scottish Cup and League Cup double in 2002, followed it with the domestic treble next season, and won another league title in 2005. His reign was followed by a disastrous spell under Paul Le Guen, who was the club’s shortest-serving manager at the time and remains the only Rangers FC manager to not complete a full season in charge.

A reset was required, and the club turned to one of its living legends. Walter Smith obliged, returned, and delivered a hat-trick of league titles from 2009 to 2011.

One of the darkest periods in Rangers FC history was to follow the highs of his reign when the club entered administration in 2012, with Ally McCoist—the last Scottish manager at Ibrox to date—at the helm. It is a tale, however, to be told another day, in another article.

The club would wait another decade, during which they worked their way back up the tiers of Scottish football to the Premiership, for their next, and to-date last, league title: won in 2021 under Steven Gerrard. They remained undefeated throughout the campaign, and ended the season with a club record 102 points.

If Rangers do not return to the top next season and stop Celtic, then their greatest rivals will have equaled their record of 55 league titles. Can Philippe Clement deliver our fans from the nightmare and join the formidable ranks of past Gers legends? We shall have to wait and watch!