With the much-loved return of Gazza to Rangers, albeit just a fun Christmas video, it did get Ibrox Noise thinking about the most talented players ever to play for the club.

If we stuck with the more ‘modern’ era, so post-80s, there’s plenty to choose from, even if it would mean omitting some of the classics that Bears of a certain vintage would prefer. Which is why we’ll include a name or two from the past even if not all Ibrox Noise staff are familiar with their brilliance.

So just who was the most talented?

We’d offer the contenders as:

Jim Baxter, Davie Cooper, Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne and perhaps a surprise inclusion of Ian Durrant.

Slim Jim, of course, was a genius. He will be remembered for taunting England, but the reality was he was a staggering winger, albeit in a different age to present. Known for his elegance, he didn’t play a physical game, but let the ball do the work for him. That said, it wasn’t called ‘winger’ in his day.

He was in some respects the predecessor to Cooper, wildely-regarded by modern fans as possibly the most naturally gifted player Rangers have ever had. A leftie, Cooper was just a magician with the ball, and we were completely his team. The crying shame is he didn’t play more for Scotland, just 22 caps, but his pure genius, like Baxter, was unrivalled at the time.

And in many senses, his successor was the Great Dane. This guy was a modern-day miracle – the perfect player at the perfect time for the club, tragically signed one season too late for the Champions League of 92/92 – it’s widely accepted that Laudrup would have seen Rangers win the whole thing. He was incredible, the icon of many Rangers fans, and at the time performed miracles with the ball. Few have ever been the perfect player for the club that Laudrup was, but sadly, he couldn’t produce his domestic form on the European stage to the same level.

And then there’s Gazza – the foil to Laudrup, the biggest anti-Laudrup there was, but what a signing Gazza was. It was, at the time, the biggest signing in British football history, it was that big. English media couldn’t believe their best player was joining Rangers. He was only here 3 seasons, but his genius was clear. He was pure, raw, talent, untethered brilliance. He was the last Rangers player to play for England as well.

And lastly? Durranty. A fantastic midfielder whose career was stolen from him by Simpson, the monster from the north, there’s no telling how far he could have gone in the game if not for that assault. Even after it he was still brilliant, but had lost the magic of before. A crying shame again.

So the most talented ever? We’re not going to pick. We’d be fools to.