Rangers FC: Hall of Fame

[DavidMc]

Ally McCoist

Alistair "Ally" Murdoch McCoist MBE (born September 24, 1962 in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional football player who played as a striker. He is currently assistant manager at Scottish Premier League club Rangers.

McCoist was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. He is also a member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame, having gained 61 international caps.


Early career
McCoist's first professional club was St. Johnstone. After just two years in Perth, several clubs became interested in the 19-year-old striker; however, it was Sunderland who beat off the efforts of Rangers to sign the rising star. His time at Sunderland, however, was unsuccessful: he managed only 8 goals in 56appearances. It was in 1983 that Rangers manager John Greig signed him.

During his fifteen years with Rangers, McCoist achieved an array of honours, including nine league championship medals, a Scottish Cup medal, and nine League Cup medals. He was Europe's top goal scorer twice (in 1992 and 1993), as well as being named Scotland's "Player of the Year" in 1992. McCoist is Rangers' all-time leading goalscorer (with 251 league goals; 355 in all competitions) and Scotland's fifth-highest scorer, with 19 goals. His nicknames among Rangers fans include "The Judge" (as during the Souness era he was always on the bench), and the most famous of all: "Super Ally".

McCoist finished his career at Kilmarnock, where he spent three seasons. In 2004 he joined the Scotland national team coaching staff under his former manager at Rangers, Walter Smith.

McCoist is also known for his television work. He was part of the A Question of Sport team from 1996 to 2007. On his farewell episode he failed to recognise "Mystery Guest" Walter Smith. He also is a pundit for ITV's football coverage. McCoist, along with John Motson, are ex-long-term commentators for the FIFA video games series from EA Sports. They were replaced by Clive Tyldesley and Andy Gray for FIFA 2006.

In May 2006, he was part of the historic first European Selection, led by Terry Venables, which saw its début game in Eindhoven in the first EFPA match-up against a Dutch selection of all-time greats.

He starred in the film A Shot at Glory alongside Robert Duvall.


Career stats

Club
Table contains league appearances and goals only

Season Club Apps Goals
1978-1979 St. Johnstone 4 0
1979-1980 St. Johnstone 15 0
1980-1981 St. Johnstone 38 22
1981-1982 Sunderland 28 2
1982-1983 Sunderland 28 6
1983-1984 Rangers 30 9
1984-1985 Rangers 25 12
1985-1986 Rangers 33 24
1986-1987 Rangers 44 33
1987-1988 Rangers 40 31
1988-1989 Rangers 19 9
1989-1990 Rangers 34 14
1990-1991 Rangers 26 11
1991-1992 Rangers 38 34
1992-1993 Rangers 34 34
1993-1994 Rangers 21 7
1994-1995 Rangers 9 1
1995-1996 Rangers 25 16
1996-1997 Rangers 25 10
1997-1998 Rangers 15 5
1998-1999 Kilmarnock 29 8
1999-2000 Kilmarnock 12 3
2000-2001 Kilmarnock 18 1
Total 590 293


International goals
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 September 9, 1987 Hampden Park, Glasgow Hungary 1-0 2-0 Friendly
2 September 9, 1987 Hampden Park, Glasgow Hungary 2-0 2-0 Friendly
3 October 14, 1987 Hampden Park, Glasgow Belgium 1-0 2-0 ECQG7
4 April 26, 1989 Hampden Park, Glasgow Cyprus 2-1 2-1 WCQG5
5 November 15, 1989 Hampden Park, Glasgow Norway 1-0 1-1 WCQG5
6 May 16, 1990 Pittodrie, Aberdeen Egypt 1-2 1-3 Friendly
7 September 12, 1990 Hampden Park, Glasgow Romania 2-1 2-1 ECQG2
8 November 14, 1990 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia Bulgaria 1-0 1-1 ECQG2
9 September 11, 1991 Wankdorf Stadion, Berne Switzerland 2-2 2-2 ECQG2
10 November 13, 1991 Hampden Park, Glasgow San Marino 4-0 4-0 ECQG2
11 February 19, 1992 Hampden Park, Glasgow Northern Ireland 1-0 1-0 Friendly
12 May 20, 1992 Varsity Stadium, Toronto Canada 2-1 3-1 Friendly
13 September 9, 1992 Wankdorf Stadion, Berne Switzerland 1-1 1-3 WCQG1
14 February 17, 1993 Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Malta 1-0 3-0 WCQG1
15 February 17, 1993 Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Malta 2-0 3-0 WCQG1
16 August 16, 1995 Hampden Park, Glasgow Greece 1-0 1-0 ECQG8
17 November 15, 1995 Hampden Park, Glasgow San Marino 3-0 5-0 ECQG8
18 March 27, 1996 Hampden Park, Glasgow Australia 1-0 1-0 Friendly
19 June 18, 1996 Villa Park, Birmingham Switzerland 1-0 1-0 ECGA


Managerial career
McCoist has aspirations to be a manager. In 2006, he turned down the managerial position at Inverness Caledonian Thistle as he wanted a job nearer his Glasgow home.

On January 5, 2007, the BBC reported that McCoist would become an assistant manager under Walter Smith at Rangers after Paul Le Guen left the club by mutual consent.

On January 10, 2007, McCoist was confirmed as assistant to Smith at Rangers with Kenny McDowall appointed as first-team coach.

[DavidMc]

Brian Laudrup

Brian Laudrup (born February 22, 1969 in Vienna, Austria) is a former Danish professional football player, who won the 1992 European Football Championship (Euro 1992) with the Denmark national team, and he was a vital part of the Rangers F.C. team which dominated the Scottish Premier League in the 1990s. Brian Laudrup was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers at the FIFA 100 ceremony in March 2004, alongside his equally famous older brother Michael Laudrup.



Biography
Brian Laudrup was born into a football family with father Finn Laudrup, a former Danish national player, and brother Michael also very keen on the sport. He started his career in his native Denmark with Brøndby IF where he debuted aged 18 for the Danish national team on November 18, 1987 in a 0-1 defeat to West Germany. Brian Laudrup missed out on the Euro 1988, but from February 1989 Brian Laudrup became a mainstay, and impressed so much for both club and country, that he won a transfer to Germany with KFC Uerdingen 05, and was named Danish Player of the Year in 1989. After only one season with Uerdingen he was bought by FC Bayern Munich for £2m in 1990.


1992 European Champion
In 1992, Brian Laudrup travelled with the Danish national team to the Euro 1992 in Sweden, and in a strictly defensive strategy, Brian Laudrup was one of the few attacking players. Though he did not score a single goal in the competition, his skill and speed was an important part of the Danish team that went on to win the tournament, and Laudrup was voted a shared 5th in the 1992 FIFA World Player of the Year poll, with fellow Dane Peter Schmeichel, though he had the edge over Schmeichel in the domestic polls, where Laudrup won his second Danish Player of the Year award in 1992.

His reputation began to grow and Brian Laudrup fulfilled his lifelong ambition when he moved to Serie A team ACF Fiorentina. However, his time in Italy was both unhappy and unsuccessful and after the Italian team were relegated he felt the fury of the tifosi as he was smuggled out from the stadium in the trunk of a car. He was loaned to A.C. Milan for the 1993 to 1994 season, which only saw him play a handful of matches throughout the season, and with the Danish national team things did not look brighter as they failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.


Scottish success
In July 1994, Laudrup was offered an escape route from Italy when he was approached by Walter Smith of Rangers FC, and he signed in a £2.3m deal. His time in Scotland was filled with success as he helped Rangers complete their nine-in-a-row sweep of the Scottish Premier League and was awarded Danish Player of the Year twice, giving him a record four wins of the award. Laudrup's time with Rangers was a massive success where the fans still consider him to be the greatest ever foreign player to have played for the club. Laudrup took part in a disappointing Euro 1996 for Denmark, with the only positive note for the team being his three goals in as many games before the team was eliminated in the preliminary group stage.


1998 World Cup
He took part in his only World Cup campaign when he played the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with a Denmark team he ranks even higher than the Euro 1992 winning side.[1] Alongside Peter Schmeichel and brother Michael Laudrup, Brian shone and saw Denmark through to the quarter finals with a goal in the 4-1 surprise thrashing of Nigeria in the first knock-out round. The quarter-finals would be his last game for the Denmark team, when they were defeated 2-3 by the later runners-up Brazil, despite Brian Laudrup scoring on a volley to the top near corner of the goal to level the game at 2-2. Brian Laudrup was named alongside brother Michael as one of the 16 players selected by FIFA as the "All Star Team" of the world cup. After the tournament, the 29-year old Brian Laudrup decided to end his national team career at the top, having played in 82 matches, scoring 21 goals over the course of eleven years.

He joined Chelsea F.C. in 1998 though he did not play many games and had a brief spell at FC København in the spring 1999. Here he was unceremoniously booed by fans from his former team Brøndby, as well as fans from other Danish clubs.[2] Family problems resulted in Laudrup joining Ajax Amsterdam for one season from 1999 to 2000, taking over from Michael who had retired at Ajax one year earlier. Injury forced Brian Laudrup to retire from top-level football at 31 years of age, after one of the most successful careers in Danish football.

Brian Laudrup is now a Champions League commentator and pundit at Danish TV3+ with Peter Schmeichel and former Danish national player Preben Elkjær Larsen. He is also involved with the socalled "Laudrup & Høgh ProCamp", a youth football camp, co-coached with former national team goalkeeper Lars Høgh. In his spare time he plays for Lyngby Boldklub's Old Boys side alongside Michael Laudrup.


Honours

Winner
Danish football championship: 1987 and 1988, with Brøndby IF
Danish Player of the Year: 1989, 1992, 1995, and 1997
Euro 1992, with Denmark
Serie A: 1993-94, with AC Milan
Scottish Premier League: 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, with Rangers F.C.
Scottish Cup: 1995-96, with Rangers
Scottish League Cup: 1996-97, with Rangers

Runner-up
5th, 1992 FIFA World Player of the Year
Preceded by
Richard Gough Rangers FC captain
1997-1998 Succeeded by
Lorenzo Amoruso
Preceded by
Mark Hateley Scottish Football Writers' Association
Footballer of the Year
1995 Succeeded by
Paul Gascoigne
Preceded by
Paul Gascoigne Scottish Football Writers' Association
Footballer of the Year
1997 Succeeded by
Craig Burley
Preceded by
Mark Hateley Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year
1995 Succeeded by
Paul Gascoigne.

[DavidMc]

Richard Gough

Charles Richard Gough (born April 5, 1962, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former Scottish football central defender who enjoyed great success as captain of Rangers before entering management. He also played for the Scottish national team.

Born to a Scottish father and Swedish mother, Gough grew up in South Africa and began his career playing with the Wits University club. Looking to build a career in British football, Gough went on trial to Rangers, but was turned down. After that he was provisionally signed by Charlton Athletic, for whom his father Charlie had played. After returning to South Africa, he was signed by Scottish Premier Division team Dundee United in 1980. He played for Dundee United for 6 seasons, finishing with 23 goals in 165 appearances and helping them to the League title in 1982-83. In 1986, Gough was sold to English First Division club Tottenham Hotspur for £750,000, where he played for slightly over a year. Midway through the 1987-88 season, Gough returned to Scotland, joining Rangers and becoming the first Scottish player to be signed for over £1,000,000, where he remained until 1997, captaining the side that achieved nine consecutive League titles. He was quoted as being "very proud to be the only Rangers player to receive 9 medals"

In 1997, Gough left the United Kingdom to play in the United States' nascent professional league, Major League Soccer. Gough remained in the league for two seasons, the first with the Kansas City Wizards, the second with the San Jose Clash; although Gough only played intermittently in those two seasons, totalling 2 goals and 2 assists in only 36 games, he was named to the MLS Best XI for his 1997 season with the Wizards.

Gough returned to Rangers after the 1997 MLS season, and played with the club for one more season. In all, he played 318 league games with Rangers, scoring 26 goals. He then linked up with his former boss at Rangers, Walter Smith, when he played a season for Everton. He also had a brief stint with Nottingham Forest.

Gough was also a mainstay on the Scotland national team in the 1980s. He made his debut against Switzerland in 1983, and went on to gain 61 caps. His international career was ended prematurely, however, after he was critical of coaches Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown and withdrew himself from further selection.

On November 30, 2004 Gough landed his first managerial job with Scottish Premier League team Livingston. However, he resigned in May 2005, after saving the club from relegation. The club was fined £15,000 by the SFA for a breach of transfer regulations over the signing of Hassan Kachloul during Gough's time as manager.

In July 2007 Gough took part in a "9 in a row" match for Rangers versus a Scottish League Select side. The match finished 2-2.

[DavidMc]

Paul Gascoigne

Paul John Gascoigne (born 27 May 1967 in Dunston, England), often referred to as Gazza, is a retired English football player who is widely regarded as one of the most gifted footballers of his generation.[1] He has also had spells as a manager and coach, most recently at Kettering Town in 2005. Playing in the position of midfield, his career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio and Rangers; and he was also capped 57 times for England.


Early life
Gascoigne was born in the Dunston area of Gateshead, the second of four children of John Gascoigne (a hod carrier) and his wife Carol Harold. Initially the family lived in a single upstairs room in a council house with a shared bathroom, and moved several times during Gascoigne's early life.[2] At the age of ten his father moved away to Germany to find work, and Paul suffered a personal tragedy when he witnessed the death of Steven Spraggon, the younger brother of a friend, who was knocked down by a car outside a sweet shop. He suffered further trauma soon after when his father suffered a brain hæmorrhage and was in hospital for eight months. Gascoigne started playing football at the age of four, playing almost non-stop in the street and nearby park. He played for his school team from the age of eight, and later played for the local Redheugh Boys' Club despite being under the minimum age.

He caught the attention of the football scouts while playing for Gateshead Boys, and was given a trial at Ipswich Town although he failed to impress. Further trials at Middlesbrough and Southampton also proved unsuccessful, before Newcastle United signed him as a schoolboy in 1980. At school he was once caught practising his autograph during a geography lesson, his reason being that he was "going to be a famous footballer". His teacher was not impressed, telling the young Gascoigne that "only one in a million becomes a professional footballer". Nevertheless he was signed on as an apprentice at Newcastle in 1983, initially playing for the youth team under Colin Suggett. It was at this time that his nickname of Gazza was first coined.


Club career

Newcastle United
Paul captained Newcastle's youth team in the 1984-85 season, winning the FA Youth Cup where he scored twice in the second leg of the final against Watford. Manager Jack Charlton picked him as a substitute for the Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland, although he did not make it onto the pitch. He made his first team debut at home to Queens Park Rangers on 13 April 1985, coming on as a substitute. Soon after he signed his first professional contract, and made a further appearance for the first team. Willie McFaul took over as manager soon after and awarded Paul his first start in the black and white shirt, on the opening day of the 1985-86 season at Southampton. He scored his first goal at home to Oxford United in a 3-0 victory at St James' Park, with a further eight following in the 1985-86 campaign. Newcastle finished 11th in the First Division that season and, at the end of it, Paul was featured on the front cover of the Rothmans Football Yearbook.

In all competitions he made a total of 107 appearances for Newcastle, scoring 25 goals. He scored one goal against Swindon Town in the 1987-88 FA Cup Fourth Round that lives long in the memory of the Newcastle supporters. Gazza received the ball about 40 yards out and, after running towards goal, capped a 5-0 victory with an unstoppable shot that ended up getting stuck in the stanchion. At the end of the 1987-88 season, he was named as the Barclays Young Player of the Year and had courted the attention of both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Gascoigne's first choice was Liverpool but with no offer forthcoming, Gascoigne promised Alex Ferguson that he would sign for Manchester United. Ferguson duly went on holiday only to find out that Gascoigne had signed for Spurs, who paid Newcastle a fee of £2.3 million which was then a British transfer record.


Tottenham Hotspur
Under Terry Venables, Gascoigne emerged as an exceptional young midfielder with the rare ability to beat opponents and score superb individual goals. He had a stocky, powerful build that allowed him to hold off defenders and weather challenges. He combined his attacking flair with hustle and tenacious, but sometimes reckless, tackling. In his first season at White Hart Lane he helped Spurs to sixth in the First Division, and to third position the following season. Over these two seasons he made a total of 75 appearances in all competitions, scoring 14 goals. In the 1990-91 season Tottenham reached the FA Cup Final after failing to get past the Third Round for the previous two seasons. Gascoigne scored six goals on the road to Wembley, most notably he scored a spectacular free kick in the semi-final against Arsenal, the opening goal in a 3-1 win.

However the final, against Nottingham Forest, turned out to be a disastrous for Gascoigne as he injured himself badly. Going into the final he had already agreed terms to join Italian club Lazio in an £8.5 million deal and wanted to leave Spurs on a high, to show the world how good he was. Just minutes into the game he took out Garry Parker with a horror tackle that he was not even booked for. Ten minutes later he scythed down Gary Charles, rupturing the cruciate ligaments in his right knee in the process. He subsequently collapsed after taking his place in the defensive wall for a free kick, from which England team mate Stuart Pearce scored. Tottenham went on to win the Cup in extra time, which Gascoigne witnessed from his hospital bed. As a consequence he missed the entire 1991-92 season while he recovered, suffering a further knee injury in the process which further delayed his comeback.


Lazio
He finally joined Lazio for a fee of £5.5 million, making his debut on 27 September 1992 in a match against Genoa which was televised in Britain as well as Italy. In his first season at the Stadio Olimpico Gazza's form was inconsistent but he memorably scored his first goal in the 89th minute to equalise during the Rome derby against AS Roma. However he failed to fully settle in Italy and was beset by intrusive media interest and injury, notably breaking his cheekbone in April 1993 and his leg a year later; the latter injury keeping him out for the majority of the 1994-95 season. In all competitions he made 47 appearances for Lazio, scoring 6 goals.


Rangers
In July 1995 he signed for Rangers of the Scottish Premier League, for a fee of £4.3 million. He soon made an impact at Rangers, running almost the length of the pitch to score in the Old Firm match at Celtic Park, the fifth league game of the season. On 30 December 1995, in a match against Hibs, Gascoigne 'booked' referee Dougie Smith. Smith had dropped his yellow card and Gascoigne picked it up and showed it to the official, before returning it. Smith was not amused and booked Gascoigne for real, much to the consternation of the crowd and players. Rangers went on to win the league, clinching the title in the penultimate game of the season against Aberdeen. After Rangers went 1-0 down in the early stages Gascoigne went on to score a hat-trick despite, in his own words, being tired and running on pure adrenaline. Along with the equaliser he scored in the Rome derby for Lazio, Gascoigne identifies this hat-trick as one of his best footballing moments. Rangers subsequently won the Scottish Cup, and Gascoigne picked up both the Players' Player of the Year and Football Writers' Player of the Year awards. Rangers won the league title again in 1996-97, their ninth in succession, and also the League Cup where Gascoigne scored twice in the Final.

In January 1998 Paul Gascoigne found his life being threatened by the IRA after he mimicked playing a flute during an Old Firm match at Celtic Park, which was televised live on Sky Sports. He had previously done the same after scoring against Steaua Bucharest in a 1995 pre-season friendly which had gone largely unnoticed. The provocative gesture infuriated Celtic fans and Gascoigne was fined £20,000 by Rangers and was subjected to IRA death threats for around six months after the incident.[3]


Later career
In March 1998 he left Scotland and joined Middlesbrough for £3.4 million. His first match was the League Cup final against Chelsea in which he came on as a substitute. He played seven games in Division One, helping Boro into the Premiership as runners-up to Nottingham Forest. Personal problems limited his appearances for Boro and he later spent two seasons at Everton, and finished the 2001-02 season at Burnley.

In 2002, with his career coming to an end, Gascoigne went on trial with US club D.C. United, but failed to win a contract. In January 2003, he signed a nine-month contact with Chinese club Gansu Tianma in both a playing and coaching role, but after going to America for treatment against drink and depression in April, he failed to return. The eruption of the SARS virus in China only further halted any thoughts of returning. Instead, he returned to England and later trained for six weeks with then-Premiership Wolves but was not offered a contract.


International career
Gascoigne was first called up to the full England squad by Bobby Robson for a friendly against Denmark, in September 1988. He scored his first goal for England in a World Cup Qualifier against Albania. The following match saw him make his first start and he played in most of matches in the run in to the 1990 World Cup with England finishing second in their group. He secured his place in the World Cup squad in a 4-2 win against Czechoslovakia when he scored one goal and had a hand in the other three.

He played in all three of the group games at World Cup held in Italy in 1990 as England topped their group, providing the assist for Mark Wright's winner against Egypt. In the first knockout game against Belgium he notched another assist. With the score at 0-0 towards the end of extra time. Gascoigne got the ball in the middle of the pitch and attacked, winning a free kick. He chipped the ball into the penalty area and David Platt volleyed the ball into net to send England into the quarter-finals where they played Cameroon. Gascoigne was at the centre of the action again when he gave away a penalty which Cameroon scored from. England were 2-1 down in the last ten minutes of the match, but Gascoigne's tenacity and range of passing and reading of the game was evident. In extra time he found Gary Lineker with a perfectly-weighted through-ball from which Lineker won and subsequently scored a penalty, which proved to be the winning goal.

On 4 July 1990 England played West Germany in the World Cup semi-final in Turin. After going 1-0 down early in the second half, Gascoigne's Spurs team-mate Gary Lineker equalised for England with ten minutes remaining to force extra time. Gascoigne, having already received a yellow card during England's 1-0 victory over Belgium in the second round, showed his tenacity again as he went on a surging run but lost the ball. As he was trying to regain it he caught Thomas Berthold and was booked, which meant that he would be suspended for the World Cup Final if England won the match. Gascoigne was shattered by this and his subsequent tears became one of football's most enduring images. The match culminated in a penalty shoot-out with Gascoigne originally intended to take the third kick, which was scored by Platt. He was named in the tournament All-Star team for his performances and returned to England to a frenzy that became known as Gazzamania.

By the time of his serious injury in the 1991 FA Cup Final, he had earned twenty England caps. After his recovery he was usually picked by Graham Taylor for England matches until the broken leg sustained at Lazio ruled him out for a fifteen month spell. His successful 1995-96 campaign culminated in arguably his best form since Italia '90, and he became a key part of Terry Venables' team in the run-in to Euro '96. In the first game against Switzerland he was substituted but, in the second game against Scotland, he scored the goal of the tournament. A minute after David Seaman had saved a penalty, Gascoigne received the ball from Darren Anderton on the left outside the Scotland penalty area. He moved as if to play the ball down the outside, but flicked the ball over Colin Hendry with his left foot and changed direction. Hendry was completed wrongfooted and, as the ball dropped, Gascoigne volleyed it first time with his right foot past Andy Goram.

In the third group game against the Netherlands Gascoigne inspired the team to a memorable 4-1 victory, providing the corner which led to the second goal and crafting the third goal with a mazy run into the Dutch penalty area. After beating Spain on penalties, England met Germany in an ill-fated and emotionally charged semi-final. Early on Gascoigne's corner again led to an England goal, and extra time was again required. With the golden goal rule in operation, Gascoigne almost scored the winner when he came within an inch of converting Alan Shearer's cross. Fans have argued ever since whether Gascoigne would have scored had he been fitter and lighter. In the event, England lost to Germany on a penalty shoot-out, and once again, Gascoigne shed tears. He was named to the tournament All-Star squad along with Shearer and Steve McManaman.[citation needed]

Under Glenn Hoddle, Gascoigne was picked regularly over the next year and a half helping England qualify for the 1998 World Cup, most notably in the 0-0 draw in Italy. But with injury and disciplinary problems affecting his game, he was famously left out of the final squad by Hoddle, an event that was dubbed Gazzagate by the media. British tabloid newspapers showed pictures of a drunken Gascoigne eating kebabs in the early hours of the morning only a week before the final squad was due to be chosen, sparking fears about Gascoigne's ability to participate due to poor health and dietary issues. Despite these problems many players expected Gascoigne to be picked, in particular David Beckham who felt that England would have been better off with Gascoigne in the squad. On being told he was out of the squad, Gascoigne wrecked Hoddle's room in a rage before being restrained. Five other players were also left out the squad, including Phil Neville who was later consoled by Gascoigne. Hoddle later hit back at Gascoigne, declaring publicly that it was the latter's own fault that he was not included in the squad. But while Neville went on to win many more caps, Gascoigne was never to play for his country again, having won 57 caps and scored 10 goals.


Managerial and coaching career
Having already gained some coaching experience in China, he signed for Boston United on 30 July 2004. After being at the club for 11 games he left on 5October 2004, to begin a football coaching course. He made a total of five appearances for the club but scored no goals. In the summer of 2005 he spent two months as player-coach at the recently founded Portuguese team Algarve United, but a proposed contract never materialised and he returned to England. He then became manager of Kettering Town on 27 October 2005. His tenure at Kettering lasted just thirty-nine days, and he was dismissed by the club's board on 5 December 2005, along with assistant manager Paul Davis, by the club owner who claimed Gascoigne's alcohol problems were to blame [4].He is now rumoured to be involved with new football club Tewkesbury Rovers from the Cheltenham Football league. It is not clear what role he will be taking on but thought he may be player-manager.

[DavidMc]

Ian Durrant

Ian Durrant (born October 29, 1966 in Glasgow) is a former Scottish professional footballer who played for Rangers, Kilmarnock and the Scotland national team. He is currently Reserve coach at Rangers.

Durrant started his career at Rangers and made his debut against Greenock Morton in April 1985. The following season, he was a regular fixture in the Rangers team and scored in his Old Firm debut that season. In October 1988 Durrant suffered a career-threatening knee injury in a clash with Neil Simpson of Aberdeen in a match at Pittodrie, which left him out of competitive football for almost three years. He made his return in April 1991 in a reserve fixture against Hibernian and was welcomed back by 35,000 Rangers fans. Durrant went on to play a significant part in both Rangers 1992/93 Champions League and Rangers' run of nine successive league championships, which was clinched in 1997.

In 1998, along with fellow Rangers teammate Ally McCoist, Durrant transferred to Kilmarnock. He spent two years at Rugby Park before becoming coach of the youth team. In 2005 he returned to Rangers as coach of the under-19s and, later, the reserve team. Following the resignation of Paul Le Guen as Rangers manager on January 4, 2007, Durrant was temporarily elevated to the manager position at Rangers until Walter Smith was re-appointed. He lost his only game in charge of the first team, which was a Scottish FA Cup tie, 3-2 at the hands of Dunfermline Athletic.

Durrant made his international debut in 1987 against Hungary, eventually winning 20 caps for Scotland. His final match was against Ireland in 2000.

[DavidMc]

Mark Hateley

Mark Wayne Hateley (born 7 November 1961 in Wallasey, Merseyside) is a retired English football (soccer) player who played as a centre-forward. He was capped 32 times for the English national team.

Arguably Hateley's best days were at Rangers, where he scored both goals in a title-clinching 2-0 victory against Aberdeen on the final day of the 1990-91 season. He was also the first non Scottish player to win the Footballer of the Year award in Scotland. He left Rangers in 1995, with family problems suspected to be the catalyst for the move. However, in 1997, with Rangers trying to win their ninth title in a row, and with a huge injury list, manager Walter Smith desperately needed a striker, and re-signed Hateley for the vital game against Rangers' biggest rivals, Celtic. Rangers won the game 1-0, but Hateley was sent off. However, most commentators thought that the mere presence of Hateley had given Rangers a psychological advantage and that it was a signing that had paid off. Rangers eventually won the league, with the game versus Celtic seen as the unofficial clincher.

Hateley also played for Coventry City, Portsmouth, A.C. Milan, AS Monaco, QPR and Hull City, before ending his playing career with a couple of appearances for Ross County.

Hateley now does commentary work on Scottish Premier League matches for Setanta Sports.

His father, Tony, was also an English striker who played for a great many clubs including Notts County and Liverpool.

Hateley managed Hull between 1997 and 1999, but left after two unproductive seasons which saw them struggling near the foot of the Football League and overshadowed by the constant fear of extinction.