SANDY JARDINE was back in familiar surroundings yesterday afternoon.

He was the star man at Murray Park as Rangers promoted a tribute dinner that will be held in Glasgow in October to celebrate a remarkable career and life, and one that was almost cruelly cut short.

Jardine was an instrumental figure as Rangers battled for their survival, but he soon had to fight for his own life after being diagnosed with throat and liver cancer.

Thankfully, the Ibrox legend is making progress on the long road to recovery but the outlook was once bleak.

"I had 12 days in Intensive Care where I was completely out of it," he said. "I could have died on any one of those 12 days and I wasn't getting any better."

There were times when it looked unlikely that Jardine would ever enter Auchenhowie via the iconic crested gates, or walk up the famous marble staircase at Ibrox again.

His return to the club was an emotional occasion for those who worked with him on a daily basis and it was a rare high in a difficult year.

"It is brilliant to be back. It is roughly a year since I was last here," Jardine said.

"I have offices at Ibrox and Murray Park, so whatever type of work I was doing I'd be up there or down here.

"And it's been about a year, so that's quite a long time."

Jardine's condition may have been critical as he battled against both the cancer and an infection, but he refused to give in to the illness as he endured several rounds of treatment and life saving operations.

As he mingled with Gers boss Ally McCoist and a host of Light Blue legends at Murray Park, he was in good spirits and looking forward to the future, with a positive outlook key to his recovery.

He said: "When you get cancer, straight away you think it is a death sentence. If you are honest, that is your first thoughts.

"When you read the papers, it is so-and-so died of this and so-and-so died of that.

"There are so many different types of cancer. It is a huge, huge shock.

"It is like anything, you have just got to get on with it and deal with it.

"The amount of people that have said to me, 'you have to be positive', so it is about trying to have a positive attitude.

"Sometimes it is difficult. I wouldn't say it is easy but I've tried to be positive all the time."

The support of wife Shona, his friends and his family helped Jardine through his darkest days.

There were words of encouragement and letters of hope from across football, however, with people writing to the Barcelona Bear and former Scotland international in their hundreds to give Jardine welcome boosts along the way.

"To be honest, I couldn't answer them all as I was still very tired and weak," he said.

"Even though I read every one of them, I could hardly write.

"I was so grateful for every single one. It was just fantastic to get that kind of response.

"It gives you a lift. People are still sending me cards wishing me well. It does help you. It gives you a huge lift.

"In many ways I've been very fortunate.

"As well as getting great treatment I've had tremendous support from all over."

Well wishes may have come from far and wide but it was at Ibrox where the greatest shows of affection and support for Jardine came to the fore.

The Light Blue legions gave him a round of applause on the second minute at matches last season and a rousing reception as he unfurled the Third Division flag against Brechin earlier this month.

"First of all, I helped to organise these things before so I know how important it is for the club," Jardine said.

"I took it as a big honour. The honour wasn't going out and unfurling the flag, it was just so nice to be back with a lot of friends and colleagues.

"The supporters have been fantastic and I thought it was appropriate that I thanked them over the tannoy.

"When they were chanting and clapping on the two- minute mark, it did give me a lift. You are not Superman, you need lifts from other people and it definitely helped me."