There’s no finer structure in British football than Rangers’ Bill Struth main stand at Ibrox, its welsh red brick facade dominating Edmiston Drive in the working-class southwest of Glasgow. Archibald Leitch’s construction seats 21,000 over three tiers and for the man who designed grandstands at Everton, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Manchester United and Fulham, Ibrox’s main stand represented the pinnacle of his career, the biggest and the most expensive stand ever built.
When it was opened in 1929 (it was expanded with a balcony and Art Deco stairwells in 1991), Glasgow boasted three of the world’s three largest football grounds: Ibrox, Celtic Park and Hampden. The biggest ever crowd for a British league match remains the 118,567 who watched Rangers against Celtic in 1939.
Leitch was involved in Ibrox’s construction in 1899; Struth was the manager from 1920-54, a disciplinarian who insisted on his players wearing bowler hats when they travelled to games. Struth’s methods worked wonders as Rangers won 15 out of their then 21 league titles under him.
The stand has stood the test of time and under a leaden Glasgow sky, Rangers are preparing for a big match against Legia Warsaw of Poland. It’s their eighth European game in seven weeks and a sell out crowd is expected.
The area opposite the stand has changed. Celtic legend Kenny Dalglish grew up in the adjacent tower blocks, a Protestant Rangers fan who waited and waited for his childhood heroes to sign him. They never did. But Jock Stein, who was happy to sign players of either religion at a time when Rangers restricted themselves to Protestants, took him to Celtic.
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