Overview
After the domestically-successful but European-appalling tenure of Walter Smith, Rangers turned to a European coach with a name that sounded like a rather lewd Christmas party game and a head of hair suspiciously fuller than when he had been on our screens as Holland coach at the 1994 World Cup finals. Advocaat was arriving into a squad which had been allowed to grow old and dysfunctional and was almost entirely broken up in the summer of 1998 after failing to secure 10 in a row. Very few players would remain – among them Italians Amoruso, Porrini and (briefly) Gattuso, fans favourite Jorg Albertz and lonely Scots Ian Ferguson and Gordon Durie. He was given a lot of money to spend and spend it he did. Players arriving included Numan, van Bronckhorst, Amato, Charbonnier, Kancheslkis and Rod Wallace. He also promoted a kid called Barry Ferguson, who’d been available for transfer for £100k when Walter was there.
Iconic Moments
There were several. A 7-0 win at St Johnstone was one of the finest performances from any Rangers team. The European performances improved, with the Champions League qualifier defeat of Parma a never-to-be-forgotten game. Domestically, winning the league at Celtic Park in 1999 was the highlight.
Manager
Advocaat was a bristly purist who, by his stubbornness, became the architect of his own downfall. His side in the first two seasons played some brilliant stuff. He signed well – Neil McCann, Stefan Klos and Claudio Reyna arrived as well as the brilliant Michael Mols – and won five out of six domestic trophies. As mentioned, European results improved but he still failed to take the club out of the Champions’ League group stage. In desperation to do so, he went transfer mental in summer 2000, signing an estimated 142 players, some of who may well still be lost in the bowels of Ibrox. The key signings were Fernando Ricksen and Bert Kontermann. Their poor starts should have seen them dropped, but DA stuck to his guns and changed the shape to an uncomfortable 3-5-2 and cracks started to appear. After his mistake in the CL against Monaco cost us qualification, Lorenzo Amoruso was publicly humiliated by being stripped of the captaincy and replaced by the 22-year-old Barry Ferguson. £12m was spunked on Tore Andre Flo in the midst of a defensive injury crisis. We all know how that went.
For all he did some brilliant things early on, he absolutely failed when faced with his first serious challenge from Martin O’Neill’s Celtic. Indeed, after a season and a half of being second best, he moved upstairs to be replaced by Hibs boss Alex McLeish – who won the next five available trophies. This would indicate the problem was less with the squad and more with the boss.
Player
It was only a few months, but pre-injury Michael Mols was astonishing. He was quick, skilful and lethal in front of goal. He played with a smile on his face that seemed to suggest he enjoyed playing the game, which is refreshing in an age of uber, po-faced professionalism. Up there would be Neil McCann. He could be inconsistent, but when he was on song, the wee man was a joy to watch. He could cross as well, which seems to have become a dying art.
Defining match
The 3-0 win at Parkhead to clinch the League title has to be it. What a great day.
Best line-up
Podcast
The Dick Advocaat-era Rangers team is discussed in greater length by Craig Fowler, Craig Cairns and Derek Connor on the podcast Hit & Miss. Listen to it by clicking here and fast forwarding to 21 mins 55 seconds.
Written by David Edgar. Check out his excellent Rangers podcast Hearts & Hand (@ibroxrocks)