It has long been my view that when some of the greatest names from the story and the glory of Rangers have passed into history they have done so without a proper fanfare.

In many cases the reason has been a dearth of journalists of sufficient maturity and experience to have seen these players when they were in their pomp.

The obituaries have been fulsome enough, but without the benefit of the writers having been eyewitness to the deeds of glory performed by many of those truly legendary Rangers heroes from bygone days of yore, those obituaries have, by their very nature, failed to capture the drama and colour of those stars’ careers.

But no longer. For thanks to an invitation from the Rangers Review, I will be on hand to ensure that when the names who helped build the story and the glory of Rangers pass into the already treasure-laden Ibrox history books, new and exciting chapters will be written.

And here is what makes me the uniquely qualified individual to be tasked with this honour.

There isn’t a surviving Rangers star from the past who I haven’t seen in action, all the way back to the man generally accepted as the oldest living Ranger, the Wee Prime Minister himself, Ian McMillan, who was signed by Scot Symon way back in October 1958.

Add to that, a career in newspapers which stretches back to the early 1960s when I joined the Evening Times as a copyboy. One of my early press box memories was when it was perched on top of the Main Stand and I was there for the 1967 European Cup Winners Cup semi-final against Slavia Sofia.

READ MORE: Rabbi Matondo - Rangers future dilemma as Beale targets transfers

Of course, my Ibrox memories go back to even before that, to the days in the mid-1950s when Billy Simpson and Johnny Hubbard were regulars

It has also been my privilege to have interviewed a whole host of those greats from even before my time – and that is truly a long time ago. When I worked for the then million-selling Sunday Mail in the late 1980s Rangers kindly invited me to interview former players for a matchday programme series called Ibrox Idols.

My goodness, what a wonderful job that was, sitting down with such as Jimmy Smith, who signed in 1924 and Bob McPhail who became a Ranger in 1927, those cherished interviews also included the three Willies, Waddell, Thornton and Woodburn.

More recently, at David Edgar’s kind invitation, I have been reliving those interviews through the modern medium of podcasts for the Heart and Hand platform, as well as recalling incidents from a journalistic career which spanned just over half a century and which included a stint in Fleet Street with the Daily Express when it sold 3 million copies every weekday.

Nearer to home, I was standing talking to the then chief football writer of the Evening Times, Gair Henderson when our conversation was interrupted by a ringing telephone. It was Scot Symon calling to break the news of his sacking. 

Even though I am now in my 70s and despite being retired, I remain a regular at Ibrox. Thanks to the club’s kindness there is still a seat in the press box with my name on it and last autumn Rangers invited me to be filmed for a couple of hours, meaning my memories have now found their place in the club’s new Museum. That was without doubt the greatest honour and privilege of a life, which has already been long and not without incident.

Those then are my credentials. And this is my pledge, no former Rangers player shall ever again cross the Jordan on his way to the Happy Hunting Grounds without their deeds of derring-do being properly acknowledged.

Here is a final thought. There is a wonderful symmetry in this closing chapter of my career finding me back where I started. The Evening Times which I joined was based in Mitchell Street, had at least five different editions every weekday, selling 350,000 copies.

Things have changed since then, but the song has not ended and the melody lingers on.