THE QUEEN, RANGERS AND GRAEME

It has become something of a legend among football fans and a symbol of one Glasgow club’s enduring unionist credentials. The story of how a framed portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, in all her regal pomp, came to stare down over the Rangers' dressing room has been told.  

Former captain and manager Graeme Souness revealed that the painting was put up at his instigation, to spruce up the ‘old fashioned’ changing room where players would prepare for games. Souness said: “When I was at Glasgow Rangers, we had an old-fashioned dressing room with great high ceilings, and it was crying out for a portrait of our Queen. “So I instructed Doddie Wier, who was the boss of the dressing room – not the tallest of chaps – and he went out and got this picture which was slightly bigger than him, and he put it up in the dressing room. It’s still there to this day.  “I’m proud I was responsible for that.” 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/21470692.rangers-graeme-souness-dressing-room-queen-portrait-idea/

The portrait of the Queen has continued to inspire the team’s players, although not without some confusion from some of their more continental stars.  The Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso, who was brought to Glasgow as a teenager and would go on to lift the European Cup with AC Milan, has previously said he did not know who the Queen was on his arrival – and asked his teamates which ‘saint’ was depicted in the portrait.

The home changing room has been newly designed and updated. Designers successfully encompassed the traditions of the World’s most successful football club whilst updating the layout to improve the overall spatial area. Rangers Manager, Steven Gerrard highlighted his satisfaction at the new design after our home victory over Kilmarnock, commenting, “The players used the new dressing room facilities for the first time today . We wanted to improve this area for the players but it was important we kept it’s tradition and heritage. We are very happy with the job and the outcome, it looks stunning . The time was right to update this area and it will be great for many more years.” The new design was approved after input from the Club's Football Department and wider board members. As the club approaches its 150th year, Rangers continues to set the standard in every facet of Scottish football.

"It was important to me that the club should have it there. It has remained there to this day."I was one of the few very fortunate people to meet the Queen when she came to Anfield in 1993 to visit the Hillsborough Disaster Memorial. I was Liverpool’s manager and I’ve never forgotten her empathy for the families and the club at that difficult time."