AS an esteemed player and proud captain, Richard Gough was part of a unique Old Firm group. He shared a special distinction with Billy McNeill, too.

It was Gough that led the great Rangers side of the 90s as they equalled the feat first achieved by McNeill and Celtic and won nine consecutive top flight titles.

The crowning moment saw Gough become a hero and a legend at Ibrox and supporters still revere his talents and his achievement to this day. But the words from McNeill meant as much as any for the Gers skipper.

“At the moment, only Billy and I have captained Old Firm teams to nine-in-a-row,” Gough said as he reflected on the tragic passing of McNeill this week, aged 79, following a battle with dementia.

“We both knew the pressures of that and I will never forget his reaction when Rangers did it in 1997.

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“One of the first calls I got the next day was from Billy.

“He just said to me, ‘Richard, congratulations to you and Rangers. I didn’t think it would ever be achieved again’.

“That always stayed with me. It summed up Billy’s class. He showed true respect to Rangers.

“As an Old Firm captain, I always looked John Greig and Billy as an example of how to conduct myself.

“Billy was a top player, and a fair player. He was a true man. I took a lot from him.

“I was aware Billy wasn’t in good health but I was really sad to learn of his passing. Billy was a great player but more importantly, he was a good person.

“I always had huge respect for him and a good relationship, even when he was the Celtic manager and I was at Rangers. Billy was the kind of football figure that everyone on both sides had massive respect for. I met Billy and his wife Liz many times and my condolences go to the McNeill family.”

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The achievement in following Celtic to nine-in-a-row was the proudest of Gough’s career at Rangers but Cesar had long been a source of inspiration to the defender.

When he joined up with Scotland, he would pick the brains of the likes of Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish. The tales from Roy Aitken and Tommy Burns were just as insightful and useful.

Gough said: “Roy told me a great story about when Billy was manager of Celtic for the first time in early 1980s. They were going through a spell of losing goals from corners.

“Big Packie Bonner and the defenders were all having a debate about how to solve it.

“Some were saying they should go zonal and others were saying they should go man for man.

“But Roy said Billy came out on the training pitch, gave Davie Provan a bunch of balls and told him to put corners in.

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“Billy said to them, ‘Put the crosses in and I’ll defend it myself’.

“Billy planted himself between the six yard box and penalty spot - and cleared every single cross.

“He just went and attacked the ball in the air and nobody could get near him. As a young defender, that was a great story for me because that’s what I wanted to do.

“To hell with marking anyone, I was just going to win the ball and clear it. Billy was right, the best thing to do as a defender is just go and head it. He was remarkable in the air and that little anecdote always stayed with me.”