The night Rangers refused to play in Russian war zone as defiant David Murray risked a mega UEFA ban

Daily Record

9 hours ago

Rangers refused to go for safety reason as Dagestan
Rangers will learn who they face in their first Champions League qualifying hurdle after Wednesday's draw in Berne.
But regardless of who comes out of the hat alongside the Ibrox side, it won't be as daunting as their UEFA Cup first round pairing almost a quarter of a century ago.
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Certainly off the park at least.
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Russell Martin's side will discover their Euro fate this week before facing three qualifying rounds to reach the Champions League group stage.
At 11am UK time, their opponents will be pulled out of the hat - with either Swiss outfit Servette, Greek giants Panathanaikos or Norwegian club Brann Bergen lying in wait.
But 24 years ago, when Dick Advocaat's Gers were preparing for a foray into Europe, they got the worst possible draw.
Rangers were paired with Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, who were based in war-torn DAGESTAN.
And when ex-Ibrox chairman David Murray refused to allow the team to travel - Gers were threatened by a five-year UEFA ban.
Dagestan is sandwiched between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea with a reputation as a dangerous place to visit.
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Back then, 34 different ethnic groups were engaged in constant rivalry and the 1999 war in Chechnya had spilled into Dagestan.
When Rangers refused to go for safety reasons, initially they were told by UEFA they HAD to or they'd face strict sanctions.
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Football's governing body were adamant the game had to go ahead but Murray defied them.
He said at the time: 'The club is ready to play Anzhi anywhere other than the Dagestan capital but will not travel to Makhachkala under the current circumstances.
'We have advised UEFA that although our travel plans have been cancelled, we could still be in a position to travel to participate in the match assuming a safe venue can be confirmed.
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'UEFA have advised us that no further appeal is available but we have requested them to reconsider their decision.'
At that point, Rangers' immediate future in Europe was under genuine threat and the club was prepared to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
But eventually, the UEFA big-wigs came to their senses and agreed to rearrange the tie.
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Chief Executive Gerhard Aigner took the decision to make the UEFA Cup clash a one-off, winner-takes-all game to be held in Warsaw, Poland.
With Dagestan suffering from terrorism as Russian troops and rebels fought in nearby Chechnya, common sense had prevailed.
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And Gers' worries about being expelled from the competition had gone.
Advocaat took his team to Poland but with only a small band of Rangers fans in the stadium, there was a strange, eerie atmosphere.
It was a poor game but the Scottish side just had to get the job done.
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And with four minutes left of the 90, Dutch defender Bert Konterman was Rangers' unlikely hero.
His deflected strike from long-range beat the Anzhi keeper to secure a scrappy 1-0 victory and see Advocaat's men into the next round.
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Rangers went on to beat Dinamo Moscow and then PSG - Ronaldinho et al - on penalties later in the competition.
But their UEFA Cup dream died with defeat to Feyenoord in February 2002 after a 4-3 aggregate loss.
Here's the team from that unusual night in Warsaw against Anzhi Makhachkala:
Rangers: Klos, Ricksen, Moore, Amoruso, Numan, Konterman, Ferguson, Latapy, McCann, de Boer, Flo. Subs: Caniggia, Dodds, Kanchelskis, Christiansen, Vidmar, Lovenkrands, Hughes.