They were, in some respects, the gallant pioneers of their day. Seven decades on, their names and their deeds remain engrained in Ibrox folklore. As the class of 2024 look to write their own tales of triumph, their latest challenge provides an opportunity to remember those who made history in more ways than one.

There will be some supporters who make the trip to the French Riviera this week unaware of the significance of Nice in the Rangers story. The Europa League fixture on Thursday evening is only the second competitive meeting between the clubs. In 1956, the first saw Rangers take a step into the unknown and into continental competition.

Rangers were not the first Scottish club to participate under the UEFA banner. That honour was, somewhat controversially, bestowed on Hibernian the previous campaign as they flew the flag in the tournament that was won by Real Madrid. In season 1956/57, Rangers took their maiden steps in the European Cup.

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The side that was managed by Scot Symon would become the first from this nation to reach a European final just four years later. Rangers were also the first to play in the European Super Cup and the first to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. Their crowning moment, of course, came in Barcelona in 1972 as Colin Stein scored one and Willie Johnston got two against Dynamo Moscow.

More recently, European occasions have given supporters some of their most cherished memories of watching their side. The runs to Manchester and Seville – and those scenes against Fiorentina and RB Leipzig in particular – will never be forgotten and will only be surpassed if another captain holds aloft the silverware like John Greig did in the Nou Camp.

The story of Rangers in Europe is rich with drama and history. It is a tale of the unexpected and the legendary, of jubilation and heartache. None of the chapters that have been written would have been possible without those who penned the opening lines and saw their first crack at the continent end in disappointment and drama.

“If the fledgling European Cup was supposed to be a Corinthian festival of sport, bringing the continent together in a post-war spirit of friendship and understanding, Rangers and OGC Nice didn’t get the memo,” Iain Duff, author of ‘Follow On: Fifty Years of Rangers in Europe’ told the Rangers Review. “The Scottish champions’ first foray into European football turned out to be a culture clash – “a disgraceful exhibition of fouling and other misbehaviour”, according to the Glasgow Herald. Crowd trouble, wild tackles, brawling players, sendings off, a questionable penalty, bizarre refereeing decisions, travel chaos and even dreadful weather combined to make the tie memorable for all the wrong reasons.

“In the end, a 3-1 play-off defeat to the French side on their European debut, was all too typical of what was to follow for Rangers in later years. There was a feeling among many – including players like Eric Caldow and Harold Davis – that the Scots didn’t have the technical skills or tactical nous to overcome their opponents, and that was a criticism that Rangers supporters would become accustomed to on their annual jaunts across Europe. It’s arguably taken the best part of six decades for that to start to change. However, despite the defeat, the players and fans loved the European experience and it certainly whetted the appetite for future continental contests.”

By the time the final whistle had blown to end the first leg at Ibrox, Nice had endured an adventure of their own as the difficulties of continental competition and European travel were laid bare in true trains, planes and automobiles fashion. Severe fog in Paris delayed the flight into London and an 18-strong Nice contingent missed their connection to Glasgow.

Goalkeeper Dominique Collona was fortunate to have made it as far as London, however. Collona had set off for an earlier flight from France only to discover that his passport was in a briefcase being carried by captain Pancho Gonzalez. A provisional document was granted to allow him to continue onwards.

Scot Symon was in charge of Rangers' first European fixture - (Image: Newsquest)

Once the French corps regrouped, they were faced with the reality of their situation and informed that there were no seats on flights north of the border. In the minutes that followed, it became clear that there were no hotel rooms available, either. Instead, they departed King’s Cross after ten o’clock at night and arrived into Edinburgh at the crack of dawn before changing trains and finally making it to Glasgow. On the eve of the match, team manager Lucien Lapayre made a prediction that turned out to be more reliable than Nice’s transport.

“I think there will only be one goal between us when we meet on Wednesday night,” Lapayre said. “Naturally I hope that we will have the one extra goal.”

When Jacques Faivre put the visitors ahead after just 23 minutes, Lapayre would have been confident in his proclamation. The trip ended in defeat for Nice, but the tie did not by the time the final ball was kicked more than a month later.

On a night that was cold and wet - as hailstones battered Ibrox - and hardly befitting the occasion, a crowd of 65,000 watched Rangers come from behind to earn victory. Max Murray became their first European scorer before half-time and Billy Simpson won it ten minutes from the end. This was no ordinary 90 minutes, though, and the style and substance of the French champions was a shock to the system for Symon’s side.

“The continentals were up to all sorts of underhand tricks,” Murray is quoted as saying in ‘Great Scot’, the autobiography of Symon that was written by David Leggat. “They did things we didn't do in Scotland. Things like tugging you back by the jersey when you got past them. But the worst of them all was spitting. That was just so foreign to us. Nobody in Scottish football ever did that sort of thing.”

The conduct of their visitors did not go down well with Symon’s side and the response was what Murray described as ‘good old-fashioned Scottish shoulder charges’. Renowned English referee Arthur Ellis, who had overseen the final months earlier as Madrid beat Stade Reims in Paris, halted proceedings and lectured both sets of players in the centre circle. The language barrier did not help Ellis in his attempts to keep the peace. 

“I feel that one of the reasons for the French team indulging in the tackling they did was the high bonus they were on to make sure of victory,” Ellis later said. “If the figures I hear are paid as bonuses in Continental club football games are correct, it is not to be wondered at, that so many of their matches are played out on a basis of victory at any price.”

One newspaper report from Ibrox described the scenes as a ‘grotesque caricature of a football match’ and a fixture that was a ‘disgraceful exhibition of fouling and other misbehaviour’. Ellis was castigated for a ‘dreadful’ performance, which was perhaps summed up by his decision to blow the full-time whistle several minutes before the clock had struck 90.

By the time the mistake had been realised, Eric Caldow had already returned to the dressing room and taken off his boots, eager to make a quick exit from Ibrox. His departure for his brother’s wedding reception, and for his duties as best man, was delayed while the closing minutes of the match were finally played. Rangers marked their bow with a result that was merited but one which gave them no guarantees of progression against such accomplished opposition.

Eric Caldow left the match early (Image: SNS group)

The return leg was just as eventful after the deluge in Glasgow followed Rangers to the south of France. Torrential rain, flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder engulfed Nice and left the pitch waterlogged. Symon and his side had spent the afternoon further up the coast in Monaco but arrived at the stadium to find a park that was covered in water and unfit for play, even taking into account the accepted standards of surfaces in those times.

Symon attended a meeting with officials from Nice and UEFA to determine a replay date, which was set at November 14. Symon had outlined the difficulties that Rangers faced due to upcoming Scotland internationals and the club were left out of pocket to the tune of £1500 after a wasted journey to France. Fears over another postponement upon their return south proved to be misplaced, although reports talk of the players joking about the conditions being like home and bringing golf waterproofs should they ever find themselves back in town and embarking on a walk along the promenade.

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Events at Ibrox were still fresh in the mind when the battle lines were eventually drawn second time around.  It was described as ‘90 minutes of insane animation’ by the French daily newspaper Le Patriote.

Once again, the goals – a penalty from Johnny Hubbard after 40 minutes and quickfire efforts through Ruben Bravo and Jacques Foix – do not paint the full story of the evening as a Murray effort that would have secured progression for Symon’s side was controversially ruled out by the referee. This was a match Rangers should have seen through and there was confidence that the job would be completed at the third attempt as the tie was sent to a decider.

Bravo and Willie Logie were dismissed five minutes from time after elbows and punches were thrown in a brawl that had been brewing. Logie had lunged into challenges inside the opening exchanges and Nice retaliated with tactics – described in reports as ‘jersey pulling, bodychecking, and even of kicking an opponent' – that offer an insight into the game of the day.

One journalist believed Rangers displayed ‘an admirable degree of good temper’. After Foix scored, the same writer stated that the Frenchmen ‘showed all the temper associated with their country’. Logie’s altercation with Alberto Muro was the precursor for emotions to spill over on and off the park.

"When the referee ordered off Bravo and Willie Logie my colleagues and I accepted the decision,” John Lawrence, the Rangers director, told ‘Waverley’ on the flight back to Glasgow. “But when I saw the French players trying to intimidate the referee in an effort to make him alter his decision on Bravo I was really annoyed.

"If the referee had given way to the vehement protests of the Nice players I would have suggested to my chairman, John Wilson, that our team be immediately withdrawn from the field. A reversal by the referee of his decision would have reduced the match to the farcical. And, as you know, things were bad enough."

Bravo repeatedly refused to leave the field of play. When he finally did so, he had his face cleared of mud on the touchline and then posed for photographers. The antics from Nice were enough to earn them another shot at Rangers and the French club argued that the match should be played a fortnight later in Paris.

In response, Symon pointed out that the Rangers annual dance had already been organised for two days prior to that date and that it would therefore be difficult for his side to be in the French capital. The fixture was set for November 28, 1956. Perhaps fittingly, the meeting on Thursday will be 68 years to the day since this remarkable tie was settled.

It was done so courtesy of a 3-1 win for Nice. It was not, however, concluded with handshakes and well-wishes all round as the French outfit progressed to the quarter-finals and a defeat to Real Madrid. Indeed, the third instalment was just as chaotic as the previous two outings.

The description in newspaper reports of Bobby Shearer’s challenge on Muro paint quite the picture. Shearer is said to have crashed into Muro with a ‘thud’ that could be ‘heard at the back of the stand’. The Argentinian was ‘thrown two yards back over the touchline by the impact of the tackle and he appeared to be unconscious even before his body hit the ground.’ Bravo landed a punch on Shearer’s chin before the Ibrox stalwart retaliated with a blow of his own.

In the melee that followed, dozens of press photographers rushed to snap the unconscious Muro and the home crowd erupted. Lucien Van Nuffel, the Belgian official, was surrounded and belatedly restored calm before mistakenly booking Ian McColl for the challenge on Muro, insisting that further protestations of innocence would see him dismissed.

In the end, Rangers were well beaten. The first foray into Europe had ended prematurely and not without incident but it had been a valuable learning experience for Symon and his side. It was the first outing in a European journey that has seen Rangers compete with and beat some of the finest names in the game.

Symon’s tenure is perhaps remembered most famously for the defeats to Fiorentina and Bayern Munich in two European finals and the one to Berwick Rangers in the Scottish Cup. Yet he should be revered as the manager who succeeded Bill Struth and built his own conquering side as Rangers geared up for successes to come. He was at the helm at a time when the game was evolving and expanding and Rangers were beaten European Cup semi-finalists the term before they lost in the Cup Winners' Cup final over two legs.

“Look back at some of the results under Bill Struth, they had serious defeats under Struth but nobody suggests that should take the gloss off his magnificence,” Leggat told the Rangers Review. “Symon was basically asked to take the stage and follow Frank Sinatra and he managed it as well as Tony Bennett would have.

"Symon was an extraordinarily good manager. He had so many qualities as a manager, and I felt he was overlooked and that his story had not been properly told, that people had forgotten who Scot Symon was. That was the motivating factor in me writing about him.”

Symon made his own history at Ibrox. Whatever Rangers go on to achieve on the continent, his successors are following in his footsteps. Philippe Clement will hope that his meeting with Nice is not as colourful or as controversial.