You Can’t Spell Rangers Without Ange

Everyone loves a Battle of Britain.

Well… in the football sense anyway. Could do without all that war stuff, from which these events take their name.

Rangers are hosting Tottenham Hotspur at Ibrox in an 8pm kick off in a game live on TNT Sports Ultimate and TNT Sports 1. With the teams currently eighth and ninth in the table, and Rangers ahead of Tottenham only on goal difference, it couldn’t be closer.

Indeed, that’s the difference between last sixteen automatically and a seeded knockout round spot. Tottenham would need an extra round of football if the table finished the way it is now, whilst Rangers wouldn’t.

Of course, there’s three games left including tonight, but since both sides are five points clear of elimination, a good result today will certainly see them progress – although ten points is expected to do that anyway.

Tottenham started off their Europa League campaign with a 3-0 win at home against Qarabag. Brennan Johnson opened the scoring early despite Radu Dragusin being sent off for the hosts even earlier. Pape Sarr doubled the lead early in the second half, Tural Bayramov missed a penalty for the visitors before Dominic Solanke made it three with quarter of the game still to go.

On match day two, Tottenham made it two wins from two with a 2-1 win away to Ferencvaros. Pape Sarr opening the scoring midway through the first half and Brennan Johnson doubling the lead with a few minutes left. Barnabas Varga pulled a goal back for the hosts, but it was too little too late.

On match day three, Tottenham kept up their 100% record by beating AZ Alkmaar 1-0 at home. A Richarlison penalty early in the second half was enough to win the game, although a red card for David Moller Wolfe towards the end also helped.

But since then it’s gone off the rails a bit. On match day four, Tottenham lost 3-2 away to Galatasaray. Yunus Akgun opened the scoring for the hosts early on, but Will Lankshear levelled the game after quarter of an hour. Victor Osimhen put the host back in front after half an hour and then doubled the lead just before half time. Lankshear was sent off on the hour mark, but Dominic Solanke pulled a goal back a few minutes later. But Galatasaray saw the match out to pick up the win.

Last time out, Tottenham drew 2-2 at home with Roma. An early Heung-Min Son penalty was cancelled out by Evan N’Dicka twenty minutes into the game. Brennan Johnson put the host back in front just after the half hour mark, but a second half injury time equaliser from Mats Hummels shared the spoils.

Meanwhile, Rangers started their Europa League campaign with a 2-0 win away to Malmo. Nedim Bajrami in the opening minute and Ross McCausland with quarter of an hour to play.

But on match day two, Rangers lost 4-1 at home against Lyon. Malick Fofana’s opener was cancelled out quickly by Tom Lawrence, but Alexandre Lacazette soon had Lyon back in front in a frantic opening twenty minutes. Lacazette got his second and Lyon’s third in first half injury time, while Fofana got his second and Lyon’s fourth ten minutes into the second half.

Rangers got back to winning ways on match day three by beating FCSB 4-0 at Ibrox. Tom Lawrence and Vaclav Cerny with goals in the first half, and another from Cerny and one from Hamza Igamane in the second half.

On match day four, Rangers drew 1-1 away to Olympiakos. Ayoub El Kaabi’s opener early in the second half, cancelled out just after an hour by Cyriel Dessers.

Last time out, Rangers beat Nice 4-1 in France. Vaclav Cerny, Mohamed Diomande and Hamza Igamane all scoring in the last ten minutes of the first half (well, fifteen as Igamane’s goal was three minutes into first half injury time), with Igamane adding his second and Rangers’ fourth ten minutes after the break. Badredine Bouanani’s consolation goal came in the final ten minutes of the game.

Tottenham Hotspur are unbeaten against Scottish opposition in six games so far. They beat Rangers 5-2 at home and 3-2 at Ibrox in the 1962/63 Cup Winners Cup first round, a tournament that Spurs went on to win by beating Atlético Madrid 5-1 in the final. Here’s Pathe with the game at Ibrox.

In the 1973/74 UEFA Cup second round, Aberdeen were next to lose out to Tottenham. They lost 4-1 in London, but did get a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie. Tottenham went all the way to final that season, but lost 4-2 on aggregate to Feyenoord. Can’t find any footage of this tie.

Their most recent meeting with a Scottish side was in the UEFA Cup 2011/12 playoff round where they faced Hearts. The game in London was goalless, but then the game in Scotland was a 5-0 win for Tottenham. Unlike the previous times they faced Scottish opposition, Tottenham didn’t make the final, indeed they didn’t even make it out of the group stage. Here’s the game from Tynecastle, sorry Hearts fans.

I’ll save the Rangers away games in England for a future blog as there is another English side for Rangers to play after all!

Rangers first meeting with an English side saw them beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at Ibrox in the very first Cup Winners’ Cup in 1960/61. That came in the semi final and saw Rangers progress to the final where they lost over two legs to Fiorentina, the only time that final was played over two legs. Can’t find footage of the Wolves tie, but Rangers do have a song about it if you want to go look!

Leeds United came to Ibrox in the 1967/68 UEFA Cup quarter final and drew 0-0. The following season in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi final, Newcastle United came to Ibrox and also drew 0-0. Can’t find footage of any of these.

It was a while before Rangers faced English opposition again, but in the 1992/93 Champions League second round, just before the group stage, Rangers beat Leeds United 2-1.

All three of the remaining games at Ibrox against English opposition have come in the Champions League group stages themselves. First up, in 2003/04, Rangers lost 1-0 to Manchester United.

It was the same opposition and same scoreline in 2010/11.

The most recent English team to visit Ibrox was Liverpool in 2022/23. The 7-1 win for Liverpool was Rangers biggest home defeat in European football, and their joint biggest defeat in European football, sharing that with the 6-0 defeat away to Real Madrid in 1963/64 European Cup.

Of course, the giant elephant in the room here is that Tottenham Hotspur manager, Ange Postecoglou, is Brendan Rodgers’ predecessor at Celtic. And I guess, successor once removed too. In Ange Postecoglou’s two seasons in Scotland, Celtic scooped up five of the six domestic trophies, but the one he missed out on came courtesy of Rangers beating Celtic 2-1 after extra time in the Scottish Cup semi final.

Celtic’s record at Ibrox in those two seasons also saw them lose Postecoglou’s first and last derbies to Rangers. The 1-0 defeat in September 2021…

And the 3-0 defeat in May 2023 were the only two defeats in ninety minutes that he saw in these derbies. Admittedly the latter of those was after the title was clinched.

However, of the four visits to Ibrox under Ange Postecoglou, Celtic only won one, a 2-1 win in April 2022. The other visit, in January 2023, was a 2-2 draw. I’ll not post those, as we’re looking at Rangers wins here. Yes, I’m playing nice.

Tottenham Hotspur are currently eleventh in the Premier League after fifteen games, fifteen points behind leaders Liverpool, seven behind fourth placed Manchester City, and three points behind tenth place Fulham. On Sunday they lost 4-3 at home to second place Chelsea, having lead 2-0, and now haven’t won any of their last four games since beating Manchester City 4-0 away. They travel to Southampton this coming Sunday.

Rangers are currently third in the Premiership after fifteen games, eleven points behind leaders Celtic but two points behind Aberdeen with a game in hand. On Sunday, they won 3-0 away to Ross County. This coming Sunday they face Celtic in the League Cup final at Hampden, looking to retain the trophy they won last season.

Good luck to Rangers tonight!