A new Journey completed by Rangers

After securing 55 many considered, ourselves included, the Journey complete. After last night, we have to revise this and say that getting to the quarter finals of the Europa League for the first time in Scottish football history (it did begin life in 2009) is, now, for us, the true ending.

55 was our domestic journey, but getting back to the serious advanced stages of a major European competition is surely the truest demonstration of how far we have come since 2012.

Winning the league obviously was the big one, 55 was where it was.

But yet it’s Manchester we remember, not the specific league titles around it.

Getting to the quarters is a gigantic achievement – in 4 small months GVB has somehow matched Steven Gerrard’s 55 by getting us past Borussia and Red Star to hit the last 8.

And give us a serious shot at getting to another final.

And we have to say even being at the quarters in this day and age where the divide between the elite clubs and the rest of us is greater than ever, that we’ve taken one of them out and are in the last 8 of the cup is something we would never have expected after being horsed out by Malmo last year.

This really is it – we may get further than these quarters, we may overcome Braga for the semis, but in the here and now, we’ve really completed the loop.

We are Rangers, domestic and European heavyweights.

Long time since we could properly say that.