On this day in 2008, Rangers took over Manchester as over 200,000 fans travelled for the UEFA Cup final against Zenit.

Drury saying "Manchester Brace Yourself" still gives me goosebumps

How fkn right he was

Left with my wee brother at the back of 6 to go down, stopping off at Gretna services and it was like Ibrox match day, the realisation there what was about to happen.

Biggest movement of population since the War
 
We were in Blackpool. The bus to take us into Manchester must have been coming to get us around this time. I vividly remember a few lads literally running along the street to catch the bus just on the way back from the Bobby Moore's B-DB-D
 
Incredible to be part of spent most of the day at Deansgate lock next to where my apartment was shrewd move going by the huge crowds in the fanzones there was plenty of pubs open there and got served no bother all day bit of a walk to the Stadium but didn’t mind never thought I’d see my team in a European final emotional.Bit like 55 tomorrow quite a few lads I was with that day are gone now and sorely missed absent friends but great memories.
 
I missed Barçelona as I got engaged and couldn't afford to go so being superstitious decided not to go to Manchester. I remember the news reports and footage coming through and as was said above I kept hearing the comments "Manchester brace yourself". Absolutely incredible day but with an unhappy ending.
 
The old man gave me a couple of days of school to accompany him and, despite the result, its probably my fondest footballing memory.

Still haven't ever watched 1 minute of that game back.
 
erskine bear said:
I can imagine mate, such a high to such a low.
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Yip, you appreciate how amazing it is just to get there however the feeling of losing a European final is a feeling which compares to no other loss in football. It was absolutely devastating. All the other stuff that happened that night never helped either. Going from the singing in the sun to watching the news the next day... Must have been the biggest and quickest change of mood possible in football. Still goes down as my best ever day as a rangers fan though, just that feeling of standing in another city, with the sun belting down, uniting and feeling like the Kings of the world and your team in a EUROPEAN FINAL. What dreams are made of! 13 years on and most of us still haven't conjured up the baws to watch the match highlights :))
 
Uncle55 said:
Yip, you appreciate how amazing it is just to get there however the feeling of losing a European final is a feeling which compares to no other loss in football. It was absolutely devastating. All the other stuff that happened that night never helped either. Going from the singing in the sun to watching the news the next day... Must have been the biggest and quickest change of mood possible in football. Still goes down as my best ever day as a rangers fan though, just that feeling of standing in another city, with the sun belting down, uniting and feeling like the Kings of the world and your team in a EUROPEAN FINAL. What dreams are made of! 13 years on and most of us still haven't conjured up the baws to watch the match highlights :))
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Very true Uncle. I’ve never watched it again.
 
Never seen the likes of it and never will again. From the minute our bus left on the Tuesday night all we seen was other supporters buses on the motorway. Stayed in Blackpool on the Tuesday night and it was rammed with bears and then Manchester was totally overrun - red, white and blue everywhere.
 
Uncle55 said:
In footballing terms the best and worst day of my life rolled in to one
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I still have the rage at the delay over making the subs that day.

I still don't get what Smith was doing as the minute they scored we didn't have a Plan B. The use of our subs was absolutely deplorable.

Everything pre-match was great, a brilliant day in Manchester.
 
DoubleWhopper said:
Would have probably been roughly around this minute 13 years ago that I’d be waking up in the stairwell of my hotel and trying to remember wtf happened last night then
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We had just found my youngest son who had vanished during the night. He’d crawled in steaming and was found asleep under the bed in the rented appt we’d booked :))

The day’s sesh was then immediately off and running as a celebration. :)

I’ll never forget the journey down the day before and build up to the match. Incredible memories.
 
tumsheeheed said:
Incredible to be part of spent most of the day at Deansgate lock next to where my apartment was shrewd move going by the huge crowds in the fanzones there was plenty of pubs open there and got served no bother all day bit of a walk to the Stadium but didn’t mind never thought I’d see my team in a European final emotional.Bit like 55 tomorrow quite a few lads I was with that day are gone now and sorely missed absent friends but great memories.
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Same for us. We spent all day at Deansgate, got a table outside at a pub next to the canal and the sun shone all day. It was a long walk to the stadium but the further you went the more the crowd of bears grew heading to the game. As many others have said before I've never seen any footage of that game at all.
 
I got to the ground to find out my ticket was for the away end!!

I had to pretend to be Russian to get into the stadium and then once in the ground you darent say a word surrounded by 1000's of Russians!!

It was definitely a unique experience, I always wondered how many others like me were in the away end
 
Ubik said:
I still have the rage at the delay over making the subs that day.

I still don't get what Smith was doing as the minute they scored we didn't have a Plan B. The use of our subs was absolutely deplorable.

Everything pre-match was great, a brilliant day in Manchester.
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There were mistakes made that's for sure. We had it in us to win that final, it was ours for the taking. The gaffer had been spot on all the way up to the final then seemed to have doubted his own decision making under the pressure in the final hurdle. That's what's so devastating about it, it was our trophy and we didn't go and take it. There's the myth that zenit were a step too far for us and too good for us. That is well and truely a myth, the only thing that stopped us winning that was a few wrong decisions. No disrespect to Walter though, happens in football.
 
9 of us crammed into 3 bedrooms in a hotel in Leyland the night before & got the train through Preston into Manchester on the day. I was the only one with a ticket LOL.

So many memories despite the result :

The motorways on the way down. Almost every overhead road had Rangers flags or banners.

Arrival at the station & walking out to just total bears everywhere.

Cracking wee pub we found just off the Main Street where we had a great few hours singing a lot of Manchester band songs. The Roses, Joy Division, New Order, Oasis, etc.

My wee favourite was when we went for grub in the food hall above the Main Street, whatever it was called.

A bit like St Enoch Centre, there was communal seating but about 6/7 different ‘restaurants’ to choose from. A couple of the guys kept our table & the rest went to the queue for their chosen food.

As I’m in the queue, a song starts -

Though the straits be broad or narrow, follow we will .............

Turns round to my big mate D, right in the middle singing away.

Before you knew it the whole fucking food hall stands up & joins in.

Priceless.
 
A day that will live long in the memory and one that my daughter probably fed up hearing about on the same day every year.
Amazing memories and I hope I get to experience something like that again with my daughter.
 
Would have been arriving at the hotel round about now. Booked one in Manchester the day we beat Bremen at Ibrox. By the time came couldnt get a Tuesday night one so stayed in Wigan and travelled over to Manchester early.

Was queuing outside the Ritz from about half 10 for the FF do. Great day
 
DoubleWhopper said:
Would have probably been roughly around this minute 13 years ago that I’d be waking up in the stairwell of my hotel and trying to remember wtf happened last night then
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I arrived in Albert Square just after 9am, having driven across from Anglesey that morning. Greggs sausage roll and a can of lager and settled myself down to marvel at what was before me and await the arrival of family from Scotland.

Result (and post-match events) aside it was one of the best days of my life. Match tickets etc cost me a fortune but it was worth every penny.

The photo in the avatar is my own by the way, not off the internet. I was sat right at the back of the stand behind the dugouts.
 
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Uncle55 said:
There were mistakes made that's for sure. We had it in us to win that final, it was ours for the taking. The gaffer had been spot on all the way up to the final then seemed to have doubted his own decision making under the pressure in the final hurdle. That's what's so devastating about it, it was our trophy and we didn't go and take it. There's the myth that zenit were a step too far for us and too good for us. That is well and truely a myth, the only thing that stopped us winning that was a few wrong decisions. No disrespect to Walter though, happens in football.
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Hemdani arguably had his worst game for us, id have subbed at HT however he was given a full 80minutes before being subbed for McCulloch. Our subs that day:

papac off for novo - 77mins
hemdani off for mculloch - 80mins
whittaker off for boyd - 86mins

Looking at our subs you'd be fooled into thinking we were winning and trying to waste time. It was clear we had no plan b or even had an idea how to use our subs. :(
 
erskine bear said:
Away to listen to H&H Manchester pod now.

Gutted I was too young to go, envy everyone who got a great day out - result aside.

Have a ticket, a frame of inside the ground and a programme (signed by KT).
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Our supporters bus waited outside my school for me to finish a pishy exam on the afternoon, the day before the game.
I'd my Gers strip on underneath my school gear, so it was a quick change in the toilets and then on to the bus.

My old man was already on the bus and it was bouncing in the school car park as I came out.
I think I was the envy of whole school.

The trip down, the night before the game and Manchester on the day of the game will live with me forever.

The actual game was the worst part
 
MearnsUnionist said:
Our supporters bus waited outside my school for me to finish a pishy exam on the afternoon, the day before the game.
I'd my Gers strip on underneath my school gear, so it was a quick change in the toilets and then on to the bus.

My old man was already on the bus and it was bouncing in the school car park as I came out.
I think I was the envy of whole school.

The trip down, the night before the game and Manchester on the day of the game will live with me forever.

The actual game was the worst part
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With the exception of Copenhagen and Lyon that probably applies to every European trip I've been on haha
 
I got the train up from London, having by complete fluke managed to book a room at The Walkabout Manchester thanks to a FF post advertising them.

The match was shown in the pub so after spending the day mingling with fellow fans in Manchester I watched it in the pub and managed to avoid any trouble fortunately.

Although drunk I remember feeling very upset and frustrated that we played as if we had a second leg to go and recover it - it was very clear to all except Sir Walter it would appear, that we would need to approach the final differently to the two legged previous fixtures.
 
Novo should’ve started, scored 2 great goals against Dundee Utd the Saturday before. Wee man would’ve gave us more energy and movement than Darcheville.
 
Have been fortunate enough to attend many cup finals and league winning matches but to see Rangers in a European final was( hopefully not) a one off and something truly special

I got a Ticket in the UEFA ballot in March and decided to go irrespective of who was in the final. So had booked a city centre hotel for a reasonable price. Went on the Tuesday afternoon and the city was bouncing when we arrived. The Wednesday was incredible just watching the crowds pour off the trains and the squares full of bears

We have an office next to Albert Square and every time I am up it brings back so many memories
 
TPB90 said:
Never seen the likes of it and never will again. From the minute our bus left on the Tuesday night all we seen was other supporters buses on the motorway. Stayed in Blackpool on the Tuesday night and it was rammed with bears and then Manchester was totally overrun - red, white and blue everywhere.
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Traffic report on radio 2 that morning ..
A Blue tsunami is heading to Manchester
 
What a fantastic day it was. Amazing memories of the whole run and especially this day.

Still never watched the game back. Don't think I ever will
 
One of the best days following Rangers.

The journey down the day before, motorway nose to tail full of bears.

The crowds during match day, the pub crawl following the blue arrows to the stadium was amazing.
In the stadium the atmosphere was incredible. Gutted about the result and I did cry when the players did their lap of honour.

Have my ticket and programme framed. A day I’ll never forget.
 
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Day off from school and went full kit wanker combo of 3rd strip with away shorts and home socks. Pub easily had over 200 people including members of the press from all over Britain. Photos were taken off us all outside the pub that were going to run in the papers the next day had we won.

My dad was even on Tim Livejoy’s show after the match. Prick didn’t like my dad’s response to his first question so he wasn’t on long. He opened up bu asking what the feeling was like in the pub and my dad said “We’re all sober unfortunately”, Lovejoy couldn’t understand why we thought that was a bad thing.
 
Great day out until the screen fùck up in Piccadilly (?) Square. Managed to get to the other screen down the road about 20 minutes in. Remember a big ferris wheel there and was halfway up a fence trying to get a view - place was absolutely packed. If we'd scored that night there would definitely have been injuries.

Never watched any of the game since that night.

FF party was great. Truth be told, if we could have watched the game from there then I would have been happy.

Peter Drury was right, Manchester was not big enough.
 
We run a family business and it’s fair to say that almost all our clients know our allegiance to the bears.

So, financial office or not, I closed the business from Tuesday lunchtime to Thursday lunchtime to make sure that every member of staff could go to Manchester, which they all did plus partners and family :))

Wonderful memories and I’m sure it won’t be the last time I see us in a European Final. This season has reminded me again of the feeling I had as we nudged closer and closer to Manchester. It will happen again. I’m sure of it :)
 
Arminius said:
We run a family business and it’s fair to say that almost all our clients know our allegiance to the bears.

So, financial office or not, I closed the business from Tuesday lunchtime to Thursday lunchtime to make sure that every member of staff could go to Manchester, which they all did plus partners and family :))

Wonderful memories and I’m sure it won’t be the last time I see us in a European Final. This season has reminded me again of the feeling I had as we nudged closer and closer to Manchester. It will happen again. I’m sure of it :)
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I think it will happen again under Gerrard. Just a gut feeling. I'm completely convinced that we will get to another european final under this management team.
 
Never got a ticket, and I shouldn’t have made the trip, wished I was back home after the carnage at Piccadilly Gardens
 
Just back yesterday visited the area where we stayed all day the “crown and anchor bar” just behind the big wheel next to the Tudor style pubs.
Took a couple of then and now shots, slightly smaller than I remembered it, and pity the weather was not the same.
 
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