RANGERS LEGENDS COUNTDOWN: 45-41

We kicked the debate off yesterday when we published the first of our fab 50 icons from each side of the city's famous footballing divide.

And today, we're pitching in with the second batch of players who are revered by fans of both sides.

Our top team of writers have been sifting through the archives and compiling the players they think qualify as legends.

And, at the end, we'll give you the chance to have your say in an exclusive fans' poll.

You can get in touch online at www.eveningtimes.co.uk and let us know what you think.

45 DAVID WEIR

The Rangers Years: 2007-2012.

Appearances: 231.

Show us your medals: Three League titles; two Scottish Cups; three League Cups.

Career highlight: Skippering boyhood heroes to hat-trick of Scottish titles in 2011.

So what makes you a legend? Davie Weir was brought to Rangers, the club he had supported as a boy growing up in Falkirk, by Walter Smith as a temporary measure to shore up a porous defence in 2007.

Stayed for five years, became captain, won eight major trophies, the SFWA Player of the Year award and played for them in their fourth European final.

The centre-half was 36 when he arrived from Everton and in the twilight of a distinguished career. He was often criticised for a lack of pace by his detractors.

But his reading of the game was extraordinary and his organisational abilities were masterful. He played a huge role in the resurgence of Rangers during Smith's second spell in charge.

Retired to become youth coach at Everton last year and has just been named as the new boss of Sheffield United.

44 TAM FORSYTH

The Rangers Years: 1972-1982.

Appearances: 326.

Show us your medals: Three League titles; four Scottish Cups; two League Cups.

Career highlight: Scoring the winner against Celtic in the 1973 Scottish Cup final.

So what makes you a legend? Tam Forsyth was far more adept at stopping opposition teams scoring goals than he was at scoring goals himself.

In his 10 years at his boyhood heroes, he netted only six times.

But he will always be remembered for his close-range strike against Celtic in the Scottish Cup final in 1973.

He sclaffed the ball into the net with the studs of his boot from inches out to send the Rangers fans in the 122,714 crowd into dreamland.

Forsyth formed a formidable centre-half partnership with Colin Jackson and helped Rangers win domestic trebles in 1976 and 1978.

He played 22 times for Scotland and a last-gasp tackle on Mick Channon in a win over England at Hampden in 1976 made him a hero to the Tartan Army.

He was Motherwell assistant manager under his Rangers team-mate Tommy McLean when they won the Scottish Cup in 1991.

43 JERRY DAWSON

The Rangers Years: 1929-1946.

Appearances: 271.

Show us your medals: Five League titles; two Scottish Cups.

Career highlight: Helping Rangers win a second successive League and Cup double in 1935.

So what makes you a legend? Jerry Dawson's nickname – The Prince of Goalkeepers – summed up the man who stood between the sticks for over a decade before the Second World War.

His name was actually James, but he was referred to as Jerry by his team-mates after the Burnley and England keeper, Jeremiah Dawson, and it stuck.

Like Andy Goram many years later, the Falkirk-born player was not the tallest or most physically imposing.

But, like his successor many years later, he read the game superbly, had lightning-quick reflexes and was utterly fearless.

He left Ibrox after the World War II and played on for three more seasons with his hometown team Falkirk before retiring aged 40.

42 ALEX SMITH

The Rangers Years: 1894-1915.

Appearances: 481.

Show us your medals: Seven League titles; three Scottish Cups.

Career highlight: Helping Rangers win four Scottish titles in a row between 1899 and 1902.

So what makes you a legend? Rangers have had many fine wingers in their 141-year history. Davie Cooper, Willie Henderson, Willie Johnston and Alan Morton, to name just a handful, are all rightly revered. But Alec Smith was the original Rangers wing king. To some, he was the best.

Small and slight, like many great wide players, he possessed searing pace and impressive stamina. His delivery into the box was also outstanding.

He set up numerous goals for star striker of the day RC Hamilton.

After playing for an astonishing 21 years, he retired to his native Darvel in Ayrshire.

41 BARRY FERGUSON

The Rangers Years: 1996-2003 and 2005-2009.

Appearances: 431.

Show us your medals: Five league titles; five Scottish Cups; five League Cups.

Career highlight: Captaining Rangers in Uefa Cup final in 2008.

So what makes you a legend? Barry Ferguson often courted controversy in his two spells at Rangers.

Never more so than than when he was fined and suspended by manager Walter Smith after making rude gestures while sitting on the bench for Scotland in 2009.

But his misdemeanours away from the pitch should not be allowed to detract from the high quality of his play on it.

Elegant on the ball, he did not look out of place alongside the multi-million pound superstars manager Dick Advocaat brought to Scotland.

His dedication to the Ibrox club's cause was also obvious. A boyhood Gers supporter, whose elder brother Derek played for the first team in the 1980s, it clearly pained him greatly when results failed to go his side's way.

Your shout

Now it's your turn to let us know what you think about our Rangers legends. Get in touch with us online by emailing us at sport@eveningtimes.co.uk and we'll give you the chance to have your say on the famous 50.

Tomorrow: the Rangers players ranked 40-36

Rangers Legends Countdown: 50 - 46

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