The month of November saw the anniversary of a man who has spent 20 years at

In charge of Glasgow Rangers football club and in his time at Ibrox he has seen so many changes not only at Ibrox but in Scottish football in general but things could have been oh so different if his bid to buy Ayr United had been successful!

As a businessman, David Murray was very successful in his own right by he could not have imagined or foreseen the focus and pressure that would be thrust upon him by the fervent Rangers support who need and thrive on success..

The 6 million pounds that he paid Lawrence Marlborough is now looking good business as the club continues to grow under the stewardship of Sir David but he knows that things have not always been Simply the Best for the Ibrox club!

But in his twenty years the club, they have only failed to lift any silverware in five of those years, which is quite amazing but what is not so amazing is the fact it was their oldest rivals who have gone toe to toe with them, others like Aberdeen and Motherwell have tried also but Celtic have been and always will be, Rangers main rivals for the SPL title.

The Murray era has seen Rangers make many significant changes on and off the pitch with the redevelopment of the stadium raising the capacity of the ground and also giving the players a state of the art training facility Murray Park which Dick Advocaat wanted and any player coming to Glasgow to speak to Walter Smith or David Murray, could not fail to be impressed by this facility.

Players like Paul Gascoigne, Brian Laudrup, Ronald de Boer, Arthur Numan, amongst

Others have been brought through the doors at Ibrox and he had also broken the Scottish transfer record by bringing in Norwegian striker Tore Andre Flo for £12 million pounds.

Money did not often buy success but having good Managers at the club often did.

The Ibrox revolution started with Graeme Souness and at a time when the English clubs were banned from Europe , he was able to bring players like Chris Woods, Terry Butcher and Graham Roberts to Ibrox as he was to take Scottish football by storm.

Souness was the man that not only helped bring success to Rangers but he seduced David Murray successfully bidding for the Ibrox club, the pair would not only be friends but also manager and chairman.

This partnership could have gone on to greater things at Rangers but Graeme felt that he needed a new challenge and only one club could pull him away from Ibrox and that was his former club Liverpool.

The shock of Graeme leaving was almost too much for David and the Rangers fans to take, or it would have been if a ready made replacement was not sitting in the assistant manager’s seat!

Walter Smith was a natural successor to Souness but he was not a man with a proven track record, this would be a gamble that would pay off, twice over in fact!

Smith knew that he had to come in at a time when things could have gone wrong, could he be the man to continue the trophy trail?

On a day that David Murray describes as his favourite game, Rangers won the title back in 1991 beating Aberdeen 2-0 at Ibrox with two goals from Mark Hateley in a winner takes all situation with Aberdeen only needing a draw to take the title!

Souness may have left the building but Smith was now the new king around these parts! And especially as he was the man who was in charge as Rangers equalled Celtic’s record of nine titles in a row!

Walter Smith would ensure that the Rangers winning ways would continue during his time as manager and the Double was won in his first full season in charge and the treble the following season as well as a fantastic run that almost ended in a European Cup appearance for the club.

Walter Smith and trophies seemed to go hand in hand in his first spell at Ibrox and no matter what happens in the future, he will still go down in the club’s history as being a great manager.

But sometimes things must change, after losing out on their bid for ten in a row Smith moved on to a new challenge at Goodison Park were he became manager of Everton Football Club while Rangers moved on and to a new direction with David Murray appointing the club’s first ever foreign manager as Dutchman Dick Advocaat took over the Ibrox hot seat and in his first season in charge brought the treble back to Rangers to become an instant hero.

He had the forward thinking to ask David Murray not only for money to improve his team but for a training facility that would make him proud and would impress any player who wanted to come to check out Glasgow Rangers and what this club were all about, this may have been the best £14 million pounds that he had ever spent in his time at Rangers.

But with this club things are never straight forward and soon another managerial change was on the cards, this time Alex McLeish was the man who was trusted with bringing success to the club and this was duly done.

The treble was again brought to Ibrox,the SPL was taken on the final day with a 6-1 win over Dunfermline at Ibrox was enough to take the title from Celtic on goal difference and send McLeish into the cult figure status at Ibrox.

The following season Alex McLeish and his men surrendered their title to Celtic and the pressure started to tell but no one could have foreseen what was going to happen on the final day of season 2005.

Alex McLeish and his men headed to Easter Road hoping that Celtic would slip up as they made their play to play Motherwell at Fir Park .

Rangers knew that Celtic were a goal up and although they were ahead at Easter Road through a Nacho Novo goal, they knew that this was still not enough as the minutes slipped away and Celtic seemingly heading towards another title up stepped Scott McDonald (a boyhood Celtic fan and now player with the Parkhead club) to score two goals and not only win the match 2-1 for Motherwell but this meant that the title was heading towards Ibrox as Celtic suffered last day heartache again!

Terry Butcher had done his old club a favour and boy did he celebrate!

The Rangers players and fans were now on cloud nine and the words on Marvin Andrews t-shirt were never more appropriate” Believe”.

McLeish gave Murray even more reasons to celebrate as the following season he would lead his club to the last sixteen of the Champions League, the first Scottish club to do so but he would soon be replaced by Frenchman Paul Le Guen as the club decided to adopt a foreign policy once again, which for whatever reason did not work.

The club would now need a man who knew what it meant to manage a club like Rangers, Walter Smith was the only man for the job, although he did bring with him, possibly his successor to the hot seat at Ibrox,his number two and legend at Ibrox,

Ally McCoist.

The damage had been done in the early part of the season but two Old Firm matches and two wins against Celtic did a lot to ease the pain and remind their rivals that they would not be too far behind them.

Their first full season in charge was to be one of the most memorable in the history of Glasgow Rangers Football Club, involved in all three domestic trophies and a tremendous European run in the UEFA Cup, would put Rangers back on the map.

The CIS Cup was won after a thrilling match that went to penalties against Dundee United and it was the Ibrox enigma Kris Boyd who came off the bench to get both goals in a 2-2 draw and net the winning penalty.

The Scottish Cup was won after a thrilling 3-2 win over First Division Queen of the South as the legs just had enough in them to see off the brave Doonhamers.

But the real heartbreak for Rangers was falling at the last hurdle in both the SPL and in the UEFA Cup, a brave European adventure that saw Dick Advocaat’s Zenit St.Petersburg come out on top and their old Ibrox boss had come back to haunt them

One more time.

In the SPL, it really was nip and tuck between the Old Firm right up until the end, on the final Thursday of the season, Rangers travelled to Aberdeen and Celtic to Dundee to play Dundee United.

After two previous last day end of season heartbreaks, Celtic had more than one reason to push themselves over the finishing line, it former boss and Celtic player Tommy Burns, had lost his battle against Cancer, this heartbreak seemed to push Celtic towards the title and a 1-0 win coupled with a 2-0 defeat at Pittodrie for Rangers sent the title to Celtic Park.

Rangers and Sir David Murray know that their time will come again.

Dignity was shown on the day of the funeral of Tommy Burns when the Ibrox club cancelled a home coming parade to welcome their European heroes back and both Walter Smith and Ally McCoist helped carry the coffin of their old friend along with his Celtic team mates, Glasgow can put rivalries aside in time of need and of sorrow.

Glasgow Rangers know that they have come in for some criticism regarding its signing of players of a certain religion but not anymore!

David Murray  backed Graeme Souness in his bid to bring former Celtic player and high profile Catholic,Mo Johnston to Ibrox in a highly controversial signing which did not please some fans but to from then right up to the present day he proves that the sectarian issue will be dealt with!

Under David Murray, Glasgow Rangers Football Club has tried its very best to move into the 21^st century as they attempt to deal with the songs and chants that have no place inside a football stadium and they should be applauded for these actions.

The club know that the eyes of the world have been on them since a few incidents on the European front but the vast numbers of the Rangers support are making sure that they are responsible for their behaviour at their home matches by making sure they sing songs of only a football nature, there has not been many lows in Sir David’s time at Ibrox and he and the board at Rangers should be applauded for their efforts to stop

These chants from every being heard inside Ibrox ever again.

Barriers have been broken down at Ibrox, traditions will always remain but Rangers are too big a football institution to have their name dragged through the mud by those who continue their “Famine Song or FTP songbook routine”, David Murray, Martin Bain and others have seen this and they know what the consequences could be!

 Could it be that Sir David Murray’s biggest achievement, could be his involvement

 In ending the sectarianism and bigotry that shames our game?

 The rivalries that both Celtic and Rangers share will go on for ever more but lets hope that the Chairman and owners of both club’s continue to talk instead of slinging mud at each other, to work together to end this problem that not only football has but the problem that exists within society today.

Under David Murray, Rangers fans have seen the good and bad times but one thing is for sure, David Murray has been one of the best things to happen not only to Rangers Football Club but to the game in Scotland and the game in this country needs many more like him, no matter if you either love or hate the Ibrox club, you must admit when he finally goes, we will all miss Sir David!

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