YOU won’t find anyone prouder to pull on a Rangers jersey than Dean Shiels.
The Northern Irishman, who is now managing Dungannon Swifts in his homeland, was a key component in the club’s rise through the divisions following their demotion in 2012.
His Ibrox journey during a four-year stay was a rollercoaster of emotions, very much in keeping with what was the most troubling period in the club’s 150-year history.
Prior to arriving in Govan, Shiels had often been a thorn in Rangers side having been part of a Hibernian team that won 3-0 at Ibrox in 2005 as well as netting the winner for Kilmarnock four days after the fateful Valentine’s Day announcement the club had gone into administration.
He had enjoyed a successful season playing under his father Kenny at Rugby Park in which the Ayrshire club won the League Cup, beating Celtic in the final as well as being shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year Award. But as soon as Rangers came calling it was an opportunity he wouldn’t let pass him by.
He said: “I just came off the back of a season with Kilmarnock, I was aware there was interest.
“At the time, as I joined, we still didn’t know what league we were going to be in. I remember speaking to Ally McCoist and he thought that we might just get demoted down one division.
“Obviously, it ended up being three. It was a blow but I had no regrets, I was always going to sign no matter what league they were in so it was an easy choice for me.
“I was actually in Germany speaking to a club when Rangers offered me a contract so it was a bit of a surreal situation because I was close to signing for a team out there and it was a case of jumping on the next flight back.
“Growing up in a Rangers environment in Northern Ireland I was well aware of the size, history and culture of the club and I didn’t think twice when I got the opportunity. I was never going to turn it down.”
It wouldn’t take Shiels long to make a positive impression when he turned out for his debut as an incredible 40,000 fans packed inside Ibrox for the League Cup tie with East Fife.
The 36-year-old set up the first before scoring the second in a 4-0 rout.
He smiles: “It’s a memory I’ll remember for a long time. My debut was a special moment for me.”
Disaster would strike in March 2013, however, when Shiels suffered a horror knee injury during the shock defeat to Annan Athletic.
He recalled: “I did two parts of my cruciate and it was tough for me after that to be honest. It took me a long time to get back and you never really get that zip or that speed and sharpness that I had before the injury.
“That was the first time I had suffered a bad one like that. It was a long road back, it took me probably a year and a half to get back to where I was physically. It was tough going but the club was good, there was a brilliant physio there, Stevie Walker, and he helped me a lot.
“I was injured with David Templeton so we became quite close and some of the other players that were injured stuck together. It was tough mentally and physically but I was fortunate that Rangers, as a club, had good facilities and I could get the best treatment to help me recover.”
They may have had brilliant facilities but off the pitch, the club was a shambles. Boardroom squabbles and financial mismanagement had alienated the fans.
Shiels says McCoist did his best to shield the players from the noise but ultimately couldn't prevent it from seeping through to the playing squad.
He said: “I think Ally tried to protect the players but there’s no getting away from the press in Glasgow, it’s pretty magnified.
“The players weren’t involved in much of the off the field stuff, Ally was the one who was going to the board meetings and getting the information back. To be fair he did protect the players well from it but we were obviously aware there was uncertainty.
“There seemed to be a new Chief Executive every time there was an end of season awards or charity dinner giving the same speech about how he loves the club and he’s delighted to be there, how he’s going to take Rangers back to where they belong and then he’d be gone and a new one would come in. It was uncertain times for the club.”
That uncertainty would dissipate in early 2015 when Dave King and the Three Bears group completed their takeover of the club.
On the pitch, the 2014/15 season was disastrous. The Light Blues failed to win promotion back to the Premiership with Ally McCoist relieved of his duties midway through the campaign when he was placed on gardening leave with Kenny McDowall thrust in charge against his will before Stuart McCall was brought in in a desperate attempt to reach the top flight.
Shiels recalled: “That season was surreal.
“I think we were away to Queen of the South and there were rumours about Ally leaving in the press and we weren‘t sure if he was going to be on the team bus or not, whether he was still manager or what the situation was.
“Eventually he left and Kenny came in. He was thrown into a hard situation as well with the five players coming up from Newcastle without his say so. I think Stuart McCall did give us good stability, at that time it was difficult but he did steady the ship a bit. Obviously it wasn’t to be in the end with Motherwell beating us in the Playoff but it was definitely a season of turmoil, I don’t know if I’ve experienced any more turmoil as I did that season.
“I remember the first game against Hearts at home and we just arrived back from America on a pre-season tour two days before the game and maybe looking back we would’ve prepared differently. It wasn’t a great season at all for the whole club on and off the pitch.
“The turmoil did affect the group and then to have three different managers and different players coming and going, there was no stability there and you need stability to be successful. It just wasn’t good enough from everyone that year.”
Better times were just around the corner for both Shiels and the club as former Brentford boss Mark Warburton was appointed as the new Rangers manager.
Shiels admits the brand of football implemented by the Londoner was a welcome change from what had gone before.
He said: “There are always doubts when any manager gets the job, am I going to fit into his style? Or is he going to bring in different players? But I think I played quite a lot that year, mainly from the bench. I think I played 30-40 games.
“Mark Warburton liked to make two subs on the hour mark so I’d normally prepare myself for the last half hour. In that season it was just like clockwork, If I started it was Nicky Law who came off the bench or if Nicky started I was off the bench or even Jason Holt. He brought in a bit of fresh air at the start.
“There was no doubt the football was better. Ally liked Jon Daly, Kevin Kyle or big Jig up there as a target man and one running off him and then Warburton liked the 4-3-3 with attacking flair and we played out from the back. It suited me, I enjoyed it, it suited the way I wanted to play more than what Ally did.”
An influx of players would arrive including current skipper James Tavernier.
Shiels says both he and Martyn Waghorn were key to the success that year.
He said: “Tav and Waggy were really good players, good lads and had good attitudes. Some players came up from England with the wrong attitude but they bought into the club and the culture early and they wanted to win.
"That year in the Championship probably gave Tav a good bedding in period and he kicked on. He and Lee Wallace got loads of goals from full-back areas that year and there was an attacking emphasis from the team to get forward, to get Tav and Lee down the sides.
“Tav has been a brilliant servant to the club and I’m delighted for him.”
Another player who would catch the eye that season was Nathan Oduwa. The Spurs loanee is famously remembered for disrespecting Scottish football when he attempted a rainbow flick on his debut against Alloa.
Shiels says he was one of a kind: “He was a bit of a joker from London. When he arrived I don’t think he was aware of the size of the club.
"At the start it went brilliant for him, tricks were coming off, he would look like a world-beater and then when the tricks stopped working then it didn’t work out for him.
“It’s a name that brings back a few memories, I must ring him and get him in at Dungannon although those rainbow flicks wouldn’t go down too well in the Irish League either, to be honest!”
The highlight of the campaign was the famous Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final win at Hampden when Warburton’s men defeated their arch-rivals on penalties.
Shiels says it was a cup tie like no other: “The belief was very strong.
“We were flying in the league and we were looking at Celtic and looking at ourselves, there was a good belief there that we could turn them over.
“We’d been playing really good football in the Championship probably against weaker opposition but I think we took Celtic by surprise that day.
“I don’t think they were expecting us to dominate the game as much as we did especially with possession early on in that game we were very strong and even though we only won on penalties I think it was a dominant win from us and that was maybe a marker laid down that the gaps closing.
“It was a great experience. It’s one of those moments that’ll live with you forever. You only remember them in a good way if you win, playing well and losing doesn’t sit well, you have to win at all costs in those games so we were delighted and it’s one of the highlights of my time there.
“The lads enjoyed ourselves after, it was a long time coming. Especially for lads like myself and Lee Wallace who had been there from the start, it was a rough ride and beating Celtic was a moment that we cherished.”
Despite the high of beating their Old Firm rivals there was to be no fairytale ending as the Light Blues lost to Shiels’ former club Hibs in a dramatic Scottish Cup final.
He says it’s a day that still hurts five-and-a-half years on: “I thought I was starting to be honest. I was convinced I was starting.
“We went down to play Spurs in a friendly at their training ground in London before the cup final and I started in that game and played well. I thought I was definitely going to be playing but he went with Gedion Zelalem who came up from Arsenal on loan.
“I came on for the last half hour, it was a really, really disappointing day, one of the most disappointing days of my career, to be honest, it was a big blow losing that final, it hurt big time.
“I think we were quite comfortable in the game. I really thought we were going to go on and win it but I think it was set pieces, we were sloppy and not picking up and we got punished. Those things haunt you still, losing cup final still hurt, even now.”
As the final whistle sounded, thousands of Hibs supporters invaded the Hampden pitch in unsavoury scenes not witnessed since the 1980 Scottish Cup final.
Shiels was caught up in the aftermath, he recalled: “I was involved. There were a bit of handbags with a few of the Hibs fans.
“Obviously I had been there as a player and I was getting stick but it wasn’t nice scenes for the Scottish game.
“I’d been at Hibs and I knew what it meant to them to win the cup but I think it just went out of hand.”
Shiels would depart his boyhood heroes that summer despite a verbal agreement with Warburton that he would be part of his plans going forward.
Despite this, the Northern Irishman admits he has no regrets.
He said: “I think it was probably the right time to leave the club, to be honest.
“Warburton did shake hands with me on a deal but it just didn’t materialise. They wanted to go down a different route, they signed Niko Kranjcar and Joey Barton, they wanted to spend some money. I was on very low wages and they were wanting to go in a different direction. I had no problem with that. I wanted the club to be successful too.”
He may not have had the chance to say goodbye to the supporters as a Rangers player but he did get the opportunity to do so when he returned to Ibrox as a Dunfermline player in a League Cup tie in August 2017.
Despite being on the receiving end of a 6-0 thrashing, it was an emotional occasion for the former Gers star.
He recalled: “I’ll never forget it. I got a standing ovation from the fans that night. It was a really good moment for me because I never got to say goodbye - but that’s football.
“I look back on my time there and I was really privileged to play even one game for the club. I think I got well over 100 games and 31 goals so it was something that I look back fondly and it’s a dream come true. It was a big part of my career so I have nothing but good things to say about the club, good memories.”
Nowadays, Shiels has followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a manager himself.
He says he was always destined to move into the coaching environment: “I’ve always been obsessed by the game and when you stop playing it’s the natural reaction if you want to stay in football you have to climb the coaching ladder and do your badges.
“With moving back home it was something that came up when I was here and it’s a good learning curve, I’m coaching and managing.
“I’ve been coaching kids, I’ve been coaching women and men as well so I’m trying to develop myself and learn and implement things I inherit into the game and give something back to others.
“Football brought me so much happiness and memories and I’d just like to pass on anything I’ve learned to other players.”
Shiels’ love for Rangers remains as strong as ever and he still keeps a close eye on the goings-on down Edmiston Drive. For fans, last year’s title was incredible, but for Shiels, the win tasted all the sweeter given the journey he was part of.
He said: “I was delighted last year and that put the cherry on top of the return.
“It was a special moment to clarify and confirm that the club was back to the top of Scottish football where they belong.
“I’m still in touch with Steve Davis quite regularly. I met him two or three weeks ago when he was home for the last international break for some lunch and I keep in touch with the masseurs and some of the staff that are still there.
"I always want the best for the club, I always want to see the club win and hopefully, Giovanni van Bronckhorst can deliver that this season again.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here