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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Gabriel McKay

Alex McLeish in epic Chick Young Rangers one-liner as he recalls 2003 title madness

If you're a Scottish football fan of a certain age you'll remember the Chick Young sketches on Only An Excuse.

The premise was always the same: the BBC pundit, a St Mirren fan in real life, showing his devotion to all things Rangers.

Memorable sketches included asking Paul Le Guen if he knew the word p**h and blaming the Manchester riots on unknown infiltrators in the Rangers support.

And it seems even among the football fraternity that Jonathan Watson's sketches made an impact, as Alex McLeish proved with an epic one-liner.

The former Rangers boss was appearing on BBC Sportsound along with former players Neil McCann and Steven Thompson.

The three were recalling the final day of the 2002-03 season when a 6-1 win over Dunfermline at Ibrox saw McLeish's side pip Celtic, who beat Kilmarnock 4-0 in Ayrshire, to the title by just one goal.

Mikel Arteta's last-minute penalty made sure the helicopter would head to Govan, though Rangers would have won on goals scored in any event.

McCann recalled: "We hadn't got a clue.

"I think it was either the fourth goal or the fifth goal, Alex is just waving his arms: 'get back, get back, don't celebrate - just get the ball'.

"So we just knew we had to be relentless, keep scoring goals.

"We were pretty sure if Mikel scores that Celtic would have to go a long way to beat that.

"But as the final whistle went we still didn't know."

Ricksen celebrates with Ferguson, Arteta and Amoruso after winning Scottish League Cup final in 2003. Rangers beat Celtic 2-1. (Jeff J Mitchell/Reuters)

The Rangers manager might have known more than his players though, with one Chick Young providing him updates in his role as a BBC radio pundit.

He said: "It was radio, actually, that was keeping people informed.

"Fans at both Rugby Park and Ibrox had radios to keep them informed and it was incredible how the buzz spread round.

"I just remember, Alex, you did know what was happening at Rugby Park because I was keeping you up to speed..."

McLeish then unleashed a perfect one-liner that saw the rest of the studio dissolve into laughter.

"Yeah, and I'll never forget, Chick, when you jumped on my back at the end..."

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