Helicopter Sunday and Willie McKay

[Bluedell 5,329]

Who can forget the events of Helicopter Sunday? One of the sweetest days ever to be a Rangers fan. Seeing Willie McKay's name mentioned in connection with the Sala plane tragedy reminded me of an article that I wrote for the FF fanzine in 2005, which was written before the second last game of the season and therefore before Helicopter Sunday, but it highlights why I believe Willie McKay, disliked by many Rangers fans, was integral to us winning the league that season and causing Celtic fans so much pain:

 

I am writing this before the Motherwell game, when we still in with a shout of winning the league. One person who deserves a lot of credit for us being in this position in my opinion is Boumsong’s agent, the much-maligned Willie McKay.

 

I have read many fans slagging him off following Boumsong’s departure in January but the version of events that I understand happened sheds a different light on things.

 

I believe that it was Willie McKay who approached Rangers to offer Boumsong as a Bosman signing. It was not the other way around, however much the management team at Rangers would like to claim that it was. He gave Rangers a player on a plate who Rangers then sold for £8.5m, the proceeds of which were used to buy:

 

• Soti Kyrgiakos, a player who many believe is as much of an asset to the team as Boumsong was
• Barry Ferguson, who will the mainstay of our midfield for the next few years
• Thomas Buffel, who is starting to show his true form, and will hopefully improve even more next season.

 

Boumsong in the first half of the season, and the 3 new players during the second half of the season have heavily contributed to the fact that we are 2 games away from the end of the season and still in with a shout of landing the championship.

 

It was therefore entirely due to Willie McKay that we got Boumsong in the first place, and again due to him that we sold him to give us the cash to allow us to strengthen the squad further.

 

Of course, the above may not be true, but I have no reason not to believe it, so Willie, I would like to offer my thanks to you, and the next time you have a bargain Bosman, please ignore all the bears who slag you off and give Mr Murray another call.

 

[JohnMc 2,463]

I did the Football Aid Rangers charity match towards the end of that season. We got a 'training session' at Auchenhowie as an extra surprise, Bobby Russell and a couple of the youth coaches putting a diverse mixture of supporters through a really enjoyable couple of hours on the pitches followed by a tour of the facility. 

In the 1st team dressing room there was a noticeboard. On it there was a memo from McLeish to all the players warning them that it was compulsory to eat lunch together after training. It had come to his attention that some players were sloping off straight after training and that they were a team and there was a league to win and he expected everyone to be focussed on that.  We all read it and all had the same opinion; nae chance. Couldn't see Celtic slipping up. A further reminder that I know very little about football.