THE great variety show that is football was never better illustrated than yesterday when a 32-year-old Scotland internationalist joined Rangers round about the same moment as a 35-year-old Scottish internationalist and former Rangers hero signed on for Kilmarnock.
Colin Hendry and Ally McCoist, long-time fixtures in the national side, settled their immediate and, in Hendry's case, long-term, future in different parts of the country but the net result was happy faces all round.
Hendry's prolonged transfer from Blackburn Rovers was finally resolved after talks in Jersey between the two chairmen, each of whom has a home on the island, and means that Rangers will pay close to #4m if the defender continues to claim his place in both the Ibrox side and the national team.
That compromise will be seen as satisfactory by both David Murray and Jack Walker, as Rangers offered #2.5m and Blackburn wanted #5.1m. Hendry's only concern over the past few weeks was that the deal was settled.
''It has been my desire for a long time to come to Rangers but I had begun to think it might not happen,'' said Hendry as he appeared in a tartan suit.
''It seemed like every summer my name was linked with them but nothing took place and I can only say I am delighted as, for most of my career I have wanted to play for them. I am ecstatic.''
Part of that ecstacy, he explained, came as a result of the reaction from his family that he would be able to come home after nine years in the south.
His mum, especially, still living in his home town, Keith, showed so much emotion that he will not forget it for some time. Anne Hendry had said to her son as he pondered his future when Rangers made their interest known: ''If you don't come home now you never will.''
When he was able to tell her the deal was done he recalled the moment: ''To see her face react when I told her I was coming home was what this is really all about. It is such a big thing for me.''
He insisted that he left Blackburn with no animosity, even though there had been rumblings of discontent coming out of Ewood Park as the player made his feelings clear about moving, after signing a new extended contract with Rovers.
''That was a mistake. I signed the contact then realised I had made a mistake. I made the wrong decision. I had made it clear to Blackburn on countless occasions that the only club I would leave for would be Rangers. I have had nine good years there but I believe I gave them nine good years' service.''
''To come to club of this stature, one of the biggest, arguably the biggest, in Britain, is a dream come true.''
Hendry's new manager, Dick Advocaat, described the special quality that his new signing will bring to the club as ''leadership, and that is one of the most important things in football.''
Even so, Advocaat is standing by his decision to make Lorenzo Amoruso his captain and Arthur Numan as vice-captain. ''That is fair enough by me,'' said Hendry. ''I wasn't captain at Blackburn, either.''
Murray admitted that the signing of a 32-year-old for this money was against his normal thinking but considered it as an ''excep- tional case.'' He went on: ''I believe that we had to take a view that at 32 he still has good years to give and, also, we had to pay a price for keeping our Scottish identity.
''Colin knows what I mean when I say that. There is no-one more proud of being Scottish than him.
''There are not a lot of young Scots coming on at the moment and we have to rely on experienced pros. Taking all the facts into consideration I think this is an exceptional situation. Our cupboard is bare at the moment and we have to make sure that doesn't happen again.''
Advocaat said that he had admired Hendry when he was manager of PSV Eindhoven . . . ''but he was too expensive.''
Inevitably, the blond-haired defender will be seen as the new Richard Gough but he is his own man and has established his own reputation at the highest level to be thought of as the new Colin Hendry of Rangers.
''If I can do half as well as Richard, I will be happy but I have achieved things myself and now I want to collect major prizes in Scotland.''
Meanwhile, the Ibrox club quietly accepted the #10,000 fine imposed upon them by UEFA for trouble inside the ground at Tranmere in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.
Chief executive Bob Brannan said: ''Rangers FC have condemned the actions of the small minority of supporters involved in the incidents at Prenton Park and would stress that any further incidents would have serious consequences for the club from UEFA.''
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