If this was the final act, Rangers ensured that the start of the next sequel follows a happy ending. The 2-0 win over Hearts to claim the Scottish Cup was no more than they deserved over the 120 minutes, no more than they deserved after the heartache of Sevilla in midweek and, given the glorious failures of the last four years and the persistent questions over their nerve on the big occasion, no more than they deserved in concluding a cycle that has teetered between good and nearly great.
Adding a natural full stop to this chapter felt just, but there have been times when happy endings and this Rangers team have seemed opposed. There were the first two league seasons under Steven Gerrard when they came up short in the league after being neck-and-neck at Christmas, the smash-and-grab defeat to Celtic in the League Cup final in 2019, the two comical cup exits last season to St Mirren and St Johnstone and, on Wednesday, the biggest one of all, the pain of being one kick away from a European title.
The one time before Saturday that they did get over the line, they did so without the fans. They won the Premiership by 25 points last season but the supporters had to be kept on the fringes.
The celebrations were limited to the passing of scarves through security lines, and flashes of faces and hands peering out the windows of the changing room in an attempt to share the moment with the congregation outside.
So, as Ryan Kent grabbed the trophy by the handle and dragged it around Hampden’s running track like it was a limp shopping basket, it was not spontaneity driving it. This was what the players craved 12 months ago but were denied by COVID-19.
This was pent-up emotion being released, feelings they wish they had been able to release four days earlier but instead had to endure, head bowed, Frankfurt winning the shootout and stealing the underdog glory.
Kent and his team-mates submerged themselves in the Union Bears before families came on to the pitch to join them, including vice-captain Connor Goldson, who is set to leave on a free transfer after 223 games across his four years of service. As he walked around the pitch with his wife and children, he looked to be soaking up every moment.
He is unlikely to be the only one leaving, though. Allan McGregor came on for Jon McLaughlin, who started every game in the competition, in the final minute to receive one final ovation.
McGregor came on for the final minute (Photo: Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
The fans chanted his name as he paraded alone, with the squad showing their appreciation behind. Giovanni van Bronckhorst said afterwards that they will sit down with him in the next few weeks, but it appeared to be the final curtain on a glittering career that will surely see him inducted into the club’s hall of fame.
At the trophy lift, as he held up one side and James Tavernier the other, it represented the end of the road for one and a fork in the road for the other. This was McGregor’s 11th winner’s medal at Ibrox and Tavernier’s second. The challenge now for the latter is, as one of the players who will be staying, can he now make the jump from the progress of a trophy in two consecutive seasons to the sort of haul that qualifies as a serial winner?
The sight of Tavernier with silverware above his head seemed destined to never manifest itself at one point. He has recovered from his head being in the guillotine so many times, losing all three major finals he had appeared in, that he could carry Hampden on his neck.
He bounced back again and, after the emptiness that followed the loss to Frankfurt, his team have helped fill it with a much-needed trophy — and the sense that we were witnessing the changing of the guard.
Calvin Bassey starred once again for Rangers after a man-of-the-match performance in the Europa League final while John Souttar, his centre-back team-mate from next season after signing a pre-contract deal to join in January, was a colossus for Hearts as he headed danger clear time after time.
As good a pairing as Goldson and Bassey look, Souttar looks similarly well suited to the Nigeria international. His inclination to drop off and sweep up, allied with his ability to play through the lines and step into midfield as he did in the first half, compliments Bassey’s aggressiveness and his recovery pace. At 22 and 25, there is perhaps some comfort to be had from that as they seek to fill the Goldson void.
Goldson is out of contract and set to leave on a free transfer (Photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Had Rangers blitzed Hearts 3-0 and the game had finished with a whimper, the mechanical nature of it would have done little to lift the mood. It would have seemed like a procession and a reminder that the big one that comes once a generation, if you’re lucky, had escaped their grasp and wouldn’t be returning.
The Scottish Cup? Well, that comes around every year. Rangers had won 33 of them before Saturday. But this was significant, not just because it would decide what tone the season ended on, but because domestic success has been limited in recent history.
That desperation for a cup victory was felt minutes before the game even started. With each flicker of the big screens at either end of the stadium, one of three sounds came from the Hearts end at the East Stand at Hampden. The winners of each edition of the Scottish Cup, football’s oldest trophy, appeared in chronological order and served to remind the blue half of their 13-year wait as Hearts’ thrashing of Hibernian in 2o12 was cheered only to be followed by a deathly silence as Celtic’s name appeared again and again.
So, the sense of risk, the jeopardy of a trophyless season and the struggle in the first half of what was their 65th game of the season, all added to create a sense of occasion. Hearts’ ambition faded after Ellis Simms squandered their best chance of the game early on but it still required them to grind and overcome, not just a physical opponent but also the despair of Wednesday.
Leon Balogun said that he had felt “numb” rather than the usual “tension” pre-game due to the hangover from the Frankfurt defeat and the funeral of kit man Jimmy Bell on Friday. To come through this in extra time, going the distance for the second time in a week, showed great strength of character and proof that they can come through these high-pressure games to be winners.
How strongly they finished both games, with Ryan Jack and Scott Wright’s goals killing the game inside the first seven minutes of extra time, highlighted their fitness levels. If anything summed up the endurance of this side, however, it was Bassey sprinting to stop the ball going out for a throw-in in the 117th minute and clearing it off Aaron McEneff to turn a maroon ball blue.
Ryan Jack BLASTS Rangers in front in extra time! 🔵
A rocket that could win the Scottish Cup for Rangers if Hearts don’t come up with a response now 🚀 pic.twitter.com/D8IUOCxIXX
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) May 21, 2022
“My first six months here have been hectic with our schedule,” said Van Bronckhorst as he sealed his first trophy as Rangers manager.
“We’ve had two games a week since I came here, it’s been very demanding for players, myself and staff. We need a rest now but it’s nice to win silverware, that’s what it’s all about.”
Rangers are learning how to win again and it would have been a travesty if they had only one trophy from 12 to show for their efforts given how good a side they have been. In truth, they have won as many prizes as they have contrived to lose, but what is deserved in football isn’t always the same as what is delivered.
The longer this season went on, the more it felt destined to be one of two extremes for Rangers.
There was the early setback against Malmo and the seven games in a row they conceded first. Amid the middling form, Steven Gerrard then exited and they imploded in the League Cup semi-final, but Van Bronckhorst steadied the ship as they opened up a gap at the top. The bumpers came off with a 3-0 hammering at Celtic Park before new hope was born in the Europa League after a momentous dumping of Borussia Dortmund, only to then be deprived of their one rock star in Alfredo Morelos for the run-in.
With three trophies in play but all on the brink, it was always going to be a fine line between success and failure. In the end, an up-and-down season landed the one place that is very rare in Old Firm post-mortems, somewhere in the middle ground.
They brushed cheeks with immortality but they also avoided another kiss of death in the cup. Banishing the Hampden hoodoo in the last month with two victories over the two other strongest clubs in the country was psychologically important as they had lost four of their last five games at the venue in the Scottish Cup and six of the last seven in the League Cup.
It provides a base to build on next season and reaffirms the belief that something has clicked in recent months under Van Bronckhorst. He will hope a team shaped fully in his image can add more than one trophy at a time from now on.
