It's a family affair at Ibrox as club cook Tiny Gallacher looks back on 50 years with Rangers FC

BlueMeanie

Well-Known Member
THERE was the time Andy Goram gave her his famous goalie gloves, and that day David Murray introduced her to Sean Connery...
Tiny Gallacher is full of stories about Rangers Football Club, where she worked as club cook for 51 years.
The 73-year-old’s room at Cardonald Care Home is full of signed programmes, trophies and framed photos from all the club greats over the years.
Just don’t ask her to explain the one where she’s cuddling Lorenzo Amoruso in a dressing gown...
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly tell you that story,” she laughs, adding in a theatrical whisper: “But he didn’t have anything on under that robe....”
Tiny is an Ibrox legend - many former players still pop in to visit, and when she retired, they formed a guard of honour on the pitch for her.
“My mum made people feel special, looking after them throughout her time at Rangers - that day, it was her turn to feel special for a change,” smiles her daughter, Karen.
Tiny - “my Sunday name is Mary, but no-one ever calls me that,” she laughs - joined the club in 1967, following in the footsteps of her mother, Lizzie Love, and grandmother, Maggie Lindsay.

“My granny Maggie washed the strips back in the 30s, and my mum was a cleaner,” says Tiny.
“Maggie used to talk about the time King George VI arrived at Ibrox to formally open the Empire Exhibition in 1938 and sometimes she would help the groundsman with a bit of weeding.”
The family connections did not stop there - Tiny’s sister Irene worked alongside her in catering, her uncle Davy was head groundsman for a while, husband Willie cleaned the stands, Karen did the Rangers pools when she left school and her brother John runs Sunday sightseeing tours.
In 2001, Tiny was invited to Monte Carlo to receive a special award from UEFA for her loyal service to Rangers and in 2014 she was presented with the John Greig Achievement Award for her contribution to the club.
On the Monte Carol trip, she met Michael Caine - “he was a real grump and wouldn’t give me his autograph” - and on another occasion, was over the moon to have her picture taken with Sean Connery.
“David Murray, who was chairman at the time, introduced me to him and in those days you had to wait until your photo was developed to show it to anyone,” laughs Tiny.
“When I took it in to show him, he took it off me, sent it to Sean in Spain and got him to sign it - it was wonderful.”

Tiny’s favourite player, she says, is Ian Durrant, who presented her with a signed Evening Times bill poster emblazoned with an old photo of his face and the headline: “Durrant - Kid Dynamite”.
She laughs: “He was always very cheeky and a good laugh.”
Tiny was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s three years ago, and when she moved in to the care home, Karen and John compiled albums of photos and memorabilia from her family’s time at Ibrox.
One of the newspaper cuttings, from 1998, quotes former Rangers vice-chairman Donald Findlay in an article bemoaning the lack of women in key roles in Scottish football.
It sums up what Tiny Gallacher meant to the Ibrox club.

“I certainly wouldn’t like to go to Tiny in the kitchen and say we don’t have any women in positions of power,” Findlay said. “She is probably the most influential person in the whole stadium....”
 
The Love family have been great servants to The Rangers. Yes! they picked up a wage packet every week but it was literally a labour of Love for them all.
 
Me and my pal Davie had a tour of Ibrox with her back in bad old days of uncertainty in the club, the two of us were the only two on it so it was very personal. Some of her stories were extremely fascinating to listen to, a lovely women who just adored the club She and her family were loyal servants of the club for a great number of years and the state of the club at the time was breaking her heart. She had tears in her eyes when she talked about the situation which showed how much Rangers meant to her.
 
Just read the Times and what a pleasant piece to read about true old fashioned dedication, with the whole family involved throughout decades of service to Rangers, also look at the photos.
 
A lovely lady.

Remember meeting her during an Ibrox tour while the spivs were destroying the place. She was absolutely heartbroken. She mentioned even back then that she was praying DK would step up. Well he did Tiny!
 
Her mum, Lizzie Love gave me a copy of The New Era when we were doing the stadium tour with the BB's in the mid 70's.
 
A wonderful woman. Doen the tour a couple of times she was taking it and her passion for it was brilliant to see.

Would love to sit with her for tea and scones and just listen to all things she has to say Rangers.
 
This is the kind of thing that makes our club so special,a family link right through the club from the 1930’s till the present day
 
Her son John did the tout I was on on Saturday. He was excellent and had loads of stories about his family and their association with Rangers.
 
https://www.followfollow.com/forum/...-50-years-with-rangers-fc.98600/#post-4792233
 
Did the tour with her years ago. Was fascinating to listen to her talking about her and her family time with our Club.
 
My wife worked with tiny years ago. Best day of her life was when tiny got her to serve tea to Sean connery. The wife (who has no interest in football ) once asked jorg albertz if he came to the football regularly...
 
Was it not Tiny who had cans of beer thrown at her outside the main entrance at Ibrox by the cowardly scum of the Govan Emerald??
 
I took my Dad on the Founders Trail in February (a must for all Rangers fans, recommended it to anyone who has not yet done it BTW) and it finished off with Ibrox Tour.

Unbeknown to the tour group, Tiny had quietly joined on the tour halfway through and was introduced to everyone at the end in the trophy room, which was a lovely surprise and everyone got pics with her and she told a few stories.

Just kind of sums up the club and what it means to so many.....
 
Done the tour with her in 2008 I think.

Nice lady.
Done the tour with her. She was great, me and my Mrs had a private chat with her during the tour in the blue room, as she talked about Bob McPhail she became a bit emotional. She called him Mr. McPhail. Great lady, left a lasting impression on us.
 
I had the privilege of having John as my tour guide when we did the Ibrox Tour earlier this year. A fantastic guy with brilliant stories, he's carrying on where Tiny left off. A family who bleed blue.
 
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