Season 2001/02 by Alistair Aird After the spectacular fall from grace the previous season, season 2001/02 saw Dick Advocaat in the spotlight and under pressure for the first time in his tenure as Rangers manager. And he entered his fourth campaign in the Ibrox hotseat with a squad shorn of the talents of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who moved to Arsenal for £8,000,000, and Jorg Albertz, who returned to Germany to sign for Hamburg. Meanwhile, Christian Nerlinger, Claudio Caniggia, Russell Latapy and Michael Ball were among the new faces in the group. Pre-season kicked off with a Kenny Miller hat trick in a 7-0 win over VV Dovo, and he repeated the feat four days later in an 8-0 win over WHC/SCO. In between, Caniggia scored his first Rangers goal in a 5-1 victory over VV Capelle. A 1-1 draw against FC Kobenhavn and a 3-1 win over Malmo FF completed the tour before Anderlecht won 2-1 at Ibrox in John Brown’s testimonial. Alex McLeish succeeded Advocaat, and he would galvanise Rangers for the remainder of the season. The draw against Hibernian was McLeish’s first match in charge, and in the 20 league fixtures that followed, Rangers only lost once, a 2-1 defeat away at Livingston in April. Fourteen of the other 19 matches were won. It was too little, too late to influence the title race – Celtic lost only one of their 38 league matches, finishing 18 points ahead of Rangers with 103 points – but it gave McLeish’s men momentum and confidence to take into the domestic Cup competitions. Wins over Airdrie and Ross County earned Rangers a date with Celtic at Hampden in the semi-finals. It would be a night when the much-maligned Bert Konterman earned cult hero status. Peter Lovenkrands had netted for Rangers in normal time, but Bobo Balde equalised for a Celtic side looking for a sixth Old Firm win in a row. Shota Arveladze squandered a chance for Rangers to win the match when he struck the crossbar with a penalty kick, but that would have denied Konterman his moment in the spotlight. Towards the end of the first period of extra time, the Dutchman lumbered forward and latched on to the ball some 25 yards from goal. From there, he unleashed a right foot shot that roared beyond Rab Douglas. Rangers had a first Old Firm win since November 2000, and Ayr United were subsequently beaten in the Final thanks to a double from Caniggia, a Ferguson penalty and a strike from Flo. In the Scottish Cup, a replay was required to eliminate Berwick Rangers before Hibernian, Forfar Athletic, and Partick Thistle were beaten to set up a clash with Celtic in the Final. Incidentally, the Forfar match featured a Billy Dodds hat trick and a first team debut for a young goalkeeper called Allan McGregor. The Final against Celtic was one for the ages. John Hartson put Celtic ahead after 19 minutes, but Lovenkrands restored parity within two minutes. It was the Dane’s fourth goal of the season against Celtic. Balde headed Celtic ahead five minutes into the second half before Ferguson rattled the post with a shot from distance. But the Rangers captain, imperious on the day, would not be denied and he made it 2-2 after 69 minutes, curling a superb free-kick beyond Douglas. Extra time looked to be on the cards. But as the clock ticked down, Rangers mustered up one last attack. McCann received the ball on the left and curled an inviting cross into the penalty area. It picked out Lovenkrands who dived headlong to meet the ball and divert it into the net. Bedlam followed in the sections of the stadium populated by Rangers supporters. Under Advocaat, qualification for the Champions League group stages had proved elusive. A comfortable win over NK Maribor had been followed by a narrow 2-1 defeat on aggregate against Fenerbache. That took Rangers into the UEFA Cup where wins over Anzhi and Dinamo Moscow set up a third round tie against a Paris Saint Germain side that featured Mikel Arteta and Ronaldinho. The mid-season managerial change had worked wonders for Rangers and given an instant return. After being in Celtic’s shadow for a couple of years, this was now an opportunity for McLeish’s men to emerge and go toe-to-toe with their rivals, not just in the Cup competitions but in the title race too. And that was exactly how things transpired in one of the most remarkable seasons in Rangers’ history.
The domestic season started with a 3-0 win at Pittodrie – Nerlinger, Latapy and Caniggia all scored on their league debut – and Rangers won six and drew two of their opening eight league matches. Indeed, they lost only two of their first 15. Unfortunately, both the losses came against Celtic, 2-0 at Ibrox in September and 2-1 at Parkhead in November.
The latter of those wins took Celtic 10 points clear at the top of the table. A 0-0 draw against Dundee at Dens Park saw more points dropped, and 11 days after that Hibernian came to Ibrox and earned a 1-1 draw. But there would be a new incumbent in the Manager’s Office by then.
Remarkably, inside six months, McLeish had guided Rangers to two trophies and four games unbeaten against Celtic. In addition to the wins in the League Cup and Scottish Cup, the league games at Ibrox and Parkhead that McLeish oversaw both ended 1-1. He almost took Rangers into the latter stages of the UEFA Cup too.
Both ties ended 0-0, with Ronald de Boer missing a penalty kick towards the end of extra time in the second leg in Paris. And in the penalty shoot out, Caniggia and Konterman missed from 12 yards too. But Jay-Jay Okocha and Gabriel Heinze did likewise for PSG, and when Barry Ferguson netted Rangers’ sixth penalty, Mauricio Pochettino had to score. He didn’t and Rangers were through to the next round. Their quest for glory would end at that stage, though. Drawn against Feyenoord, a 1-1 draw at Ibrox was followed by a 3-2 defeat in Rotterdam.
