AN AWFUL lot of things have happened at Ibrox over the past five years and equally an awful lot has not.
Something missing, almost forgotten about it, is the club have not won a cup final, not even the play-off against Motherwell which was even bigger than a final, and while two trophies have been collected by winning League Two and One, it’s not really the same.
Anyone with half a brain could see that while Rangers were in theory far stronger than the opposition in league games, a cup final win was probably always going to be beyond them despite have a more than decent record against teams from the higher divisions.
Except the Petrofac Training Cup. Obviously.
Okay, so winning a tournament which began life as the B&Q Centenary Cup in 1990 was never going to go down as one of the more iconic victories in the minds of the supporters, but at least would give them a day out and offer up a small reminder of how things used to be.
Except Rangers have never won the blasted thing. They did get to the final last year and lost to Raith Rovers, which was as bad a day as there has been for a group of football fans who have had more than their fair share of disappointment.
Should Rangers beat Livingston at home tonight, St Mirren are the opposition, again at Ibrox, in the semi-final with Queen’s Park or Peterhead the other possible finalists. It’s theirs to lose and losing in such circumstances would feel more serious than if the team actually won something.
So it will come as a relief to the supporters that Mark Warburton will field a strong team against Livingston, currently bottom of the Championship.
“It’s hard to say you want a winning mentality and then say it’s not high on our list of priorities,” said the Rangers manager when asked about his thoughts of this competition. "We want to win every game. There’s a trophy at the end of it and a day out for the fans.
“It’s another honour for the club and we want to win it. We will go in strong to win the game, and hopefully go all the way to the final and give the fans some silverware. It doesn’t detract from our league intentions. After tomorrow night everything will be about the weekend.
“People mention about players being dropped or a side being weak, but I think that’s just us using the squad. There will be one or two changes, but no more than that.”
This will come as good news for that Rangers fan who gets a game every week, Andy Halliday. Nobody in the dressing room knows more than him that it is imperative his team don’t mess up and win a trophy, any trophy.
He was at Easter Road in 2014 as a fan when Raith Rovers scored with a few minutes to go to win that final. It was not a great afternoon. He would rather avoid any more unpleasantness.
“It’s the fourth season the club has been in the Petrofac and obviously we’ve not won it yet,” said Halliday “Such is the winning mentality within the boys, we say that every cup we are in this season we want to win.
“It’s a big game on Tuesday. We played Livingston three weeks ago and I was really impressed with them. They were very well organised and had a lot of athleticism in the team.
“We managed to get the result that day but never really played well ourselves. Hopefully, we’ll get a better showing this time. It is the first of two hurdles we have to get over if we are going to reach the final.
“I was at Easter Road when Rangers lost to Raith in extra time. It was a sore one for the boys, because every game you play for Rangers you are expected to win, and none more so than a cup final. It was a massive disappointment for the players and the fans that day. This is another chance to put it right.
“It was at the final with friends. It’s always disappointing when Rangers lose. The most disappointed people would have been the players, because they were looking for a winner’s medal that none of them had before.
“As I say, it’s another chance to put that right and we are more determined than ever. At the same time we have the winning mentality that we want to win every game we play. It’s a case of getting back to business on Tuesday night and hopefully getting the result.”
Halliday is a good talker and straight with it. If he thought things were going badly he would say, but the midfielder is happy with how this season is progressing.
"Ten wins out ten in the league means you get nothing but happy thoughts," he said. "The St Johnstone game was a massive let-down and everyone knows that. They came here with a game-plan and stuck to it really well. Nothing but credit to them on the day.
"But I don’t think that game was too dissimilar to some of the league games we have had this season. The only difference was that they took their chances when they came.
"We have come up against a lot of well organised teams who want to stop us playing and hit us on the counter attack. But it is still up to us to break that down. If we want to win games then we have to deal with it. The fans are quite happy with the results and I suppose the style of play has been enjoyable."
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