History of Rangers F.C. - The False Dawn

The False Dawn

After signs that supporter unrest was turning on Murray, on 9 February 2006, two days before the crucial Old Firm match, it was announced that McLeish would leave his position as manager at the end of the 2005–06 season, and on 11 March, it was confirmed that former Lyon manager Paul Le Guen would succeed him at the end of the season. Murray predicted a fruitful reign under Le Guen, describing his capture as "a massive moonbeam of success" for the club and promising, "we’ve got big plans." He announced that the Frenchman would be given significant funds with which to strengthen the squad, with Rangers having announced an arrangement with sports retailer JJB Sports.

Le Guen was well known for unearthing and nurturing young talent and made an immediate splash in the transfer market. The wave of expectation that was created by Le Guen's appointment was immense and he quickly went about building his own team. In the summer of 2006 he made eleven signings (of them only Saša Papac would be playing for the club the following season). Le Guen spent big money on Filip Šebo, which proved to be wasted as the Slovakian only netted twice during the whole campaign. Other signings including Karl Svensson, Libor Sionko and Lionel Letizi simply did not perform, while Jérémy Clément was to be in Glasgow for only six months.

He signed a young South African player Dean Furman from Chelsea, and French youngsters William Stanger and Antoine Ponroy from Rennes. He allowed more experienced players to leave, Alex Rae, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Peter Løvenkrands and Ronald Waterreus.

Rangers' first match under Le Guen was a friendly against Irish Premier League champions Linfield on 6 July 2006 at Windsor Park, Belfast. The side won 2–0 with first-half goals from Kris Boyd and Thomas Buffel. The squad then flew out to South Africa on 9 July for a training camp where they were to play three matches, but defender Fernando Ricksen did not take any part in the tour of South Africa due to what was described by the club as "unacceptable behaviour" on the flight to Johannesburg. He returned to Scotland and was subsequently loaned to Zenit St Petersburg on 9 August. Ricksen never played for the club again as his loan spell in Russia was made permanent.

The Scottish Premier League season opened on 30 July with Le Guen taking his Rangers side to Fir Park where they defeated Motherwell 2–1. In Le Guen's first competitive game at Ibrox, Rangers were held to a 2–2 draw by Dundee United, and were forced to come back from two goals down. On 11 August Rangers signed Manchester United's then 19-year-old winger Lee Martin on loan for a season. Rangers also recruited the services of Austrian Vienna defender Saša Papac while Marvin Andrews, Olivier Bernard, Robert Malcolm and Hamed Namouchi all departed.

With the transfer window closed and five league matches played, Rangers had collected nine points from fifteen. The following two months showed little improvement as the side had sporadic wins and lost the first Old Firm match of the season 2–0. From the seven matches played in September and October 2006, the team won just three and gathered ten points from the twenty-one available.

By mid November, Rangers found themselves in third place, a full fifteen points behind leaders Celtic. The odd win was mixed with regular dropped points as the team struggled to find consistency in the early part of the season. The culmination of this poor form could be seen when the side was embarrassingly knocked out of the League Cup by then First Division side St. Johnstone. A dismal 2–0 defeat at Ibrox Stadium on 8 November led to widespread calls for Le Guen to leave.

Following the League Cup defeat, there was a slightly gain in form as the side claimed sixteen points from twenty-one, including a 1–1 Old Firm draw thanks to a late-minute Brahim Hemdani equaliser. Rangers also became the first Scottish club to qualify from the UEFA Cup group stage in December 2006, after wins over Livorno, Maccabi Haifa and Partizan Belgrade. Domestic results and performances, however, continued to be inconsistent and in January 2007, Le Guen controversially stripped midfielder Barry Ferguson of the captaincy

On 4 January 2007, Le Guen left Rangers by mutual consent. This made him the club's shortest-serving manager, and the only one to leave the club without completing a full season in charge. Later that year, sports journalist Graham Spiers published a book which speculated Le Guen left the club because he was being "undermined" by other Rangers personnel. Those named were Ferguson and the then club doctor, Ian McGuinness.