Here’s Nathan with the latest from Rangers in what started as Upside Down Leagues but now things are levelling out. Can they keep hold of that winning mentality?
Hello and welcome back to the upside down Glasgow where once again, after 4 seasons, Rangers are back at the top of Scottish football. That was always the aim and now we are playing just for fun. Instead of going game by game I’m going to do half season round ups and just post photos of the important games.
August
We open the season with a 4-0 win over Albion Rovers then get the draw for the Champions League 1st round. It’s AC Milan. Nightmare!
Great result in Milan. We take the lead twice thanks firstly to new signing Ortega and then Robbiati but Maldini is there to rescue a point.
Our second string see off Hamilton to go through to the League Cup 3rd round. We follow up with a 2-0 win over Queen’s Park.
Despite our best efforts we can’t cope with a stacked AC Milan side. Bakayoko levels after an early Savicevic goal but Davids scores again and we can’t get past Barthez again. Such a disappointing draw getting AC Milan in the 1st round.
September
We open up September with an away win at East Stirling. Negri grabbing another 2 goals. We then get stunned in the League Cup by Forfar who knock us out 3-2 AET.
First Old Firm in the Premier League and we assert our dominance over Celtic. Negri and Bakayoko link up to assist one another and Robbiati has an easy tap in after a blocked shot falls straight to him.
Our loss in the Champions League 1st round sees us drop into the UEFA Cup 2nd round and in the 1st leg we produce this crazy result. It’s 5-1 at half time then 6-1 just after but the 10 men rally before we add a late 7th. Unbelievable game!
We follow up that game with a 4-1 away win at early leaders Ayr United. 2 goals a piece for Negri and Bakayoko. We beat Dundee 3-0 which is our game in hand but we lose Ortega for a month and Negri for 2 weeks in the process. We finish the month with a home game finally and we win it 3-0 with all the goals coming in the first half.
October
October starts with a win against a stubborn Basel team who just wouldn’t stay beaten until Johansson’s 2nd late on settles it. We move on to the 3rd round.
We beat Dumbarton 1-0 but it should have been more. We are missing Negri and Bakayoko. We follow up with a 2-0 home win to Livingston with Bakayoko and Negri returning to the team.
Nightmare at Ibrox as we crash to defeat against Salernitana in the UEFA Cup 3rd round. It’s all downhill when Wright is sent off and Cristante converts the resulting penalty. Sub Veronese seals the win on the hour mark. Huge second leg needed.
We finish the month with a solid 5-2 win away at Albion Rovers with a rotated team.
November
Never had a big club offer before. As tempting as it is we have a mission to finish with Rangers. Incidentally Fergie took the Italy job.
We start November with a win at Ibrox against Dundee. Both strikers getting on the scoresheet again.
I cannot believe that our keeper gets sent off again in the second leg!! I try to play keeperless but it doesn’t work out. Annoyingly I think we’d have gone through with 11 men. So that’s Europe over before Christmas.
Back to the league and we beat Queen’s Park 3-1 and beat East Stirling 3-0. Bakayoko and Negri with the goals and Ortega pulling the strings from midfield.
December
Our 2nd Old Firm Derby this season and we get another win at Celtic Park. Ortega again is the man pulling the strings with a goal and an assist.
We follow up that win by beating second placed Ayr. Bjorklund popping up with a rare goal. We look tired in our next game as we sneak past Clydebank with a 1-0 win thanks to a thunderbolt from Negri. Boxing Day sees us pick up 3 more points thanks to a 2-0 win over Dumbarton. We finish the year off with a resounding 3-0 win at Livingston meaning we’ve gone half the season unbeaten.
Join me next time to see if we can go unbeaten in the league again and try and rescue the season by winning the FA Cup as well for a double. Until then… Bottom’s Up!!