ian1964 10,409 Posted October 2, 2016 Share Posted October 2, 2016 THE snapper covered 12,000 miles and shot half a million images in a labour of love covering Rangers' 220 games in the lower leagues. A PHOTOGRAPHER who chronicled Rangers’ journey to Scottish football’s top flight has revealed his new book almost cost him his marriage. Willie Vass’s labour of love involved covering every one of the 220 games the Ibrox club played in the lower leagues. He clocked up 12,000 miles and shot 500,000 images following Rangers from Brechin to Berwick and everywhere in between as the Glasgow giants made their way to the Premiership. But the rescheduled game where Rangers won promotion into the SPFL was almost the end of Willie’s 25-year marriage to wife Susan. The light blues defeated Dumbarton at Ibrox to secure their place with the big boys. But lifelong Rangers fan Willie, 50, said: “My wife hasn’t divorced me yet but it’s only a matter of time. “Susan’s used to being a football widow but things were a bit frosty when I had to cut a family holiday short to cover the league-winning game against Dumbarton. “We’d arranged a holiday to a wee cottage at Stratford-upon-Avon. “Then Rangers’ game was rescheduled for the Tuesday night of that week. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news. “I’d covered every other game so there was no way I could miss that one. “Two days into my holiday, I had to leave the family and get myself to Ibrox. “My wife and kids had to get the train up later that week and I wasn’t flavour of the month. “It was an important part of the journey so she was understanding – eventually.” Willie’s book Glasgow Rangers: The Journey (Mission Accomplished) uses 300 pictures to tell the story of the club’s rollercoaster ride. The dad-of-two added: “People will forget what a journey it’s been for the club, so I think the book will serve as a reminder to future generations what the club went through. “I took the best part of 500,000 images covering all 220 matches, photocalls, fan protests and training sessions. “To go through all that and condense it into 300 photos for a book was a lot of work. “There’s no one image that you can say, ‘That captures the whole four years.’ “It all started with Rangers being kicked out of the top league and I thought, ‘This is a great opportunity to chronicle a pivotal point in the club’s history.’ I cover every game so I thought, ‘If I can put these three or four years together into some form of record it will be important.’ “When I arrived at the first game in Brechin and the town was just a sea of red, white and blue, I thought, ‘This is tremendous.’ All these fans had descended upon a wee town for a game against a team that’s got a hedge at one side of their stadium.” Photographer Willie has covered Scottish football for 30 years, starting his career at the Rangers News in 1986. He loved following the team to all of Scottish football’s least glamorous outposts. Inverness-born Willie said: “The first couple of seasons were very enjoyable. “It was so different going to all these small places and getting welcomed. “There was one club where I was taking so long getting my pictures sent that the janitor just gave me the keys and said, ‘Lock up and post the keys through the letterbox when you’re done.’ “I remember at one game hundreds of fans were sitting in back gardens enjoying the match in the sunshine. “You had fans up a floodlight at Brechin that very first game. You had a couple of guys sitting on top of a garage roof at Forfar with a carry-out. “Historic Scotland missed a trick when they shut down Dumbarton Castle early to stop Rangers fans going up to get a free view of the game. “It was the kind of thing you never saw in the Premier League. “The fans had bought into the romance of following their team to every nookand cranny of the country.” Willie likes to enjoy a pie at every match – and hailed Peterhead’s the best half-time snack. He said: “The further north you went, the quality of the pie increased. The best was up at Peterhead. “The only place I never got a pie was Berwick. They just had a burger van.” Willie’s snaps show crucial moments of match action as well as former owner Craig Whyte and chief executive Charles Green. He says: “One snap shows Craig when he arrived, marching down Edmiston Drive flanked by police horses. It was a bizarre performance by him. “I remember the fans at the first game at Brechin chanting, ‘If you hate the SFA clap your hands’, and Charles Green standing up in the director’s box to applaud. “The pictures really tell the story of the stress on Ally McCoist. “I felt sorry for Ally. There’s a picture of him by the tunnel on his own in his very last game at Ibrox. He just looks devastated because he knows that’s the last time he’ll be there as manager. “Hopefully supporters will look back and appreciate it was Ally who held the club together in those first few weeks. He famously said, ‘We don’t do walking away.’ This book shows how the fans took him at his word.” http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/every-picture-tells-story-photographer-8955759 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueMazza 0 Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 This sounds really good, but there is zero information on how/when to buy? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,409 Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 This sounds really good, but there is zero information on how/when to buy? http://www.gersjourney.co.uk/store 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
der Berliner 3,234 Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 ... and one might check out Amazon ;-) (The only thing I would have to bemoan here: why talk to the DR? But I'm in no moaning mood today ... ) 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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