Written by Alistair Aird In the summer of 1995, Rangers were within touching distance of the Holy Grail. Two more league titles would equal the record of nine successive titles set by Celtic between 1966 and 1974. And to ensure that happened, Rangers elected to build from the position of strength they held. Signed from Lazio for circa £4,000,000, Gascoigne was arguably the finest English player of that generation. Just like Laudrup a year earlier, he had been wooed by the silver tongue of Walter Smith, and he would blaze a trail over the course of a season that saw him score 24 goals, win two Player of the Year awards and also rack up a ridiculous amount of yellow cards. Gascoigne made a scoring debut for Rangers on their pre-season tour of Denmark. He added to his goal against Brondby with another in a 2-1 win over Hvidovre before he wooed the home fans with a goal and an infamous celebration as Rangers hammered Steaua Bucharest 4-0 in the opening match of the Ibrox International Challenge Trophy. Another strike against Clyde four days later meant that the Geordie genius had claimed four goals in his first five appearances in a Rangers jersey. Gascoigne made it five goals in six games when he found the net in a 3-0 win over Morton in the League Cup, although he missed the opening league match of the season when Stuart McCall scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock. But that would be one of only eight league matches that Gascoigne didn’t play an active part in. Rangers got off to a flying start too. They won 10 of their opening 12 league games, and in that run was a 2-0 win over Celtic at Parkhead that featured Gascoigne’s first league goal. And the defeat they suffered against Hibernian at Ibrox on 23 September would be one of only three all season in the league. The next one wouldn’t arrive until 20 January. November witnessed an epic Old Firm match at Ibrox. David Robertson had a goal ruled out for offside – a remarkable decision considering television replays showed him to be onside by some distance when Laudrup played him in on goal – and Rangers trailed 1-0 and 2-1 before a Tosh McKinlay own goal edged them 3-2 ahead. Celtic would score again to earn a share of the spoils, but the match will be forever etched in folklore due to a quite breathtaking save made by Andy Goram. Teed up less than six yards from goal, Pierre van Hooijdonk powered in a volley that should have left Goram helpless, but ‘The Goalie’ raised his right hand and somehow managed to divert the ball away for a corner. By the time the Old Firm squared up again in January – a game that would end 0-0 – Rangers had continued their fine form. A 3-0 win against Kilmarnock on Boxing Day was their 14th league victory. Only 19 matches had been played. And Rangers would then avenge that early season defeat at the hands of Hibernian when they thrashed their Easter Road rivals 7-0 at Ibrox five days after Christmas. Gordon Durie scored four of the goals, but Gascoigne stole the show once again. He scored a marvellous solo goal and was also booked for ‘booking’ the referee, Dougie Hope. The man in black had dropped his yellow card but failed to see the funny side when Gascoigne picked it up off the pitch and pretended to caution him. It would be one of 16 yellow cards that Gascoigne would receive over the course of the season. An Allan Johnston hat trick brought the 19-match unbeaten run to an abrupt halt when Hearts won 3-0 at Ibrox in January. But it would only be a wobble. Hearts defeated Rangers again in April, but in between those two reverses, Rangers won five and drew one of their six league matches. On 30 March, Rangers were in Kirkaldy to face Raith Rovers. And as the clock ticked down, the sides were level at 2-2, McCoist having restored parity with only seven minutes remaining. Two precious points looked set to be dropped. Bobby Geddes, the veteran goalkeeper, had an inspired game and his save from McCoist, who had been played in on goal by a sublime pass from Gascoigne, looked to have sealed the fate of the visitors. And Geddes performed heroics again from the subsequent corner, pawing away a volley from Petric. But he was powerless when the next corner fell to McCoist. Back in the old routine, the old stager proved he still had that golden touch when Durie’s header fell to him inside the six-yard box. That completed his hat trick and Durie sealed a 4-2 win with a penalty kick. McCoist, hungry for goals, allowed Durie to take the spot kick as he had a bet on with Gascoigne over who would score more goals, Gascoigne or Durie. The midweek defeat at Tynecastle was followed by a thumping 5-0 win over Partick Thistle and a 3-1 win at Fir Park. New signing Erik Bo Andersen scored four of the eight goals, including a hat trick against Thistle. The stage was therefore set. Victory over Aberdeen at Ibrox in the penultimate league game would seal the title. Celtic, who had only lost once in the league all season, had beaten Thistle the previous day to move on to 80 points, one adrift of their Old Firm foes. Dropped points at Ibrox would therefore take the title race to the final day. It was an occasion therefore for the big hitters to step up to the plate, and like he had done throughout the season, Gascoigne did so, smashing it out the park with another scintillating showing. Brian Irvine put the visitors ahead, but Gascoigne equalised shortly afterwards. Receiving a short corner from Laudrup on the edge of the box, he evaded a couple of challenges before lifting a shot over Michael Watt. And just when inspiration was required to edge Rangers ahead, Gascoigne provided it. Deep into the second half and from deep inside his own half, Gascoigne embarked on a run that took him through the heart of the Aberdeen defence. He finished with aplomb and completed his hat trick from the penalty spot after Durie had been felled in the box. It was pure theatre from Gascoigne, and he ended the season with the accolade of Player of the Year as nominated by his fellow professionals and the Scottish Football journalists. Gascoigne therefore followed in the footsteps of Laudrup, but the Great Dane would also have his moment in the sun before the season was over. Hearts, who had beaten Rangers twice in the league, provided the opposition in the Final, but they were blown away by the wonderful wizardry of Laudrup. He scored the first two goals himself then laid on the other three for Gordon Durie. Durie therefore took home the match ball, but there was no doubting who the man of the moment was. The masterful Laudrup had mesmerised once again. The League Cup didn’t join the league trophy and the Scottish Cup in the cabinet, though. After seeing off Morton, Rangers almost let slip a 3-0 lead before edging past Stirling Albion 3-2 at Ibrox. A sumptuous Gascoigne cross created the only goal of the Old Firm quarter final at Parkhead, McCoist rising imperiously at the back post to head past Marshall. But in the semi final at Hampden, Aberdeen ran out the winners by two goals to one. The European arena would once more provide disappointment. A solitary goal from Durie was sufficient to squeeze out the Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta over two legs, but when the draw for the group stage was made, Rangers were pitched into the proverbial ‘Group of Death.’ Smith’s side were drawn alongside Borussia Dortmund, Juventus and Steaua Bucharest and all they could muster was three points from their six Group C fixtures. A long range drive from Daniel Prodan consigned Rangers to defeat in Bucharest before Gough and Ferguson netted in a 2-2 draw against Dortmund at Ibrox. A trip to Turin followed and Rangers were ripped asunder, going down 4-1 and having Alex Cleland ordered off. But for Goram, the hammering could have verged on humiliation. Lo Bianconero scored four times in Glasgow too – admittedly two of them came in the final two minutes – before the group was rounded off with a 1-1 draw at home to Steaua and 2-2 draw in ice cold Dortmund. Gascoigne was prominent in both matches, scoring a wonderful solo goal against the Romanians before being ordered off in Germany. The Champions League thus remained a bridge too far for Rangers, but that mattered little to their followers when the season ended. Eight was great, but nine was the magic number and season 1996/97 would provide the opportunity for this group of players to make history.
From Dundee United came the Serbian centre back Gordan Petric. Steven Wright, a right full back, came from Aberdeen. And then there was Oleg Salenko who had scored five goals for Russia when they defeated Cameroon by six goals to one at the 1994 World Cup. But those acquisitions were blown out the water when it was announced that the maverick Paul John Gascoigne was going to be a Rangers player.
One of those victories was arguably the most important of all the ones recorded during nine-in-a-row.
In the Scottish Cup, a 10-1 win over Keith that featured hat tricks from Ian Ferguson and Alex Cleland was followed by a 4-1 victory over Clyde and a 3-0 triumph at Tannadice against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. A resurgent Celtic were then put to the sword in the last four at Hampden, McCoist hoovering up a rebound before Laudrup sprang the offside trap and lobbed Gordon Marshall.
