BRIAN Laudrup was by no means the first great Dane to wow Rangers fans with his sublime skills.

Three decades before the winger lit up Ibrox with his mesmerising trickery, right-back Kai Johansen wrote his name into the club's history books with a stunning 25-yard strike that was the only goal of the 1966 Scottish Cup final replay against Celtic.

Many years later, long after he had hung up his boots, Johansen performed another act for the Ibrox club that was every bit as significant. In the summer of 1994 he acted as a go-between for the Scottish champions after manager Walter Smith targeted Kai's fellow-Dane Laudrup, then 25.

At that time the classy wide player was officially a Fiorentina player but was on loan at AC Milan and far from happy.

Johansen, who had returned to Glasgow and become a businessman after retiring from football, got in touch with Brian's father Finn, a former Danish internationalist, over in his homeland.

His long-distance phone call set in motion a chain of events that would culminate in Laudrup agreeing to a £2.5million transfer to the Scottish giants.

Laudrup said: "The first I heard of Rangers' interest in me was after Kai Johansen got in touch with my father.

"He told him Rangers were very keen on signing me and wanted to speak to me.

"I came back from training with AC Milan one day and my father called.

"He said to me: 'I have just spoken to this guy over in Scotland. Rangers are interested in signing you.'

"The whole thing just grew from there."