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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark McDougall

Inside Jimmy Bell's real-life Rangers emotional roller coaster as legendary kit man tipped for best-selling memoir

Andy Firth has revealed kitman Jimmy Bell is the one person you want to avoid at training after a defeat.

The Ibrox keeper admits he loves spending time with Bell and hearing stories of the club's past legends and urged anyone who can spend a time with him to soak it all in.

Bell has been involved with Rangers for almost 40 years and is a a cult hero among the Light Blues' support.

He's been there during successful times such as the nine in a row era and the UEFA Cup Final run but also witnessed the dark times of administration, division three and the struggles to compete with Celtic in recent years.

But former Liverpool youngster Firth insists he's the biggest legend at the club, although his first meeting with him didn't go quite to plan.

That didn't last though and when the keeper signed a new deal with Rangers, a picture was shared with the big stopper smiling alongside Bell - a moment the 23-year-old has declared as one of his highlights.

In a wide-ranging interview with Rangers fan site FourLadsHadaDream, Firth discusses Bell as well as his heroes at Liverpool growing up, Steven Gerrard's influence, his time in the English non-leagues and what it is like to learn from Allan McGregor on a daily basis.

Speaking about Bell, he said: "Jimmy is amazing. He’s an absolute legend, I’ve got all the time in the world for him.

"When I first went there I had heard a few stories about him and I remember the first day I went in and needed an under armour tight top for training, he just looked at me and snarled at me and said ‘you don’t need one of them you’re alright’.

"I just thought god here we go, and then it took a few weeks to break him down and get in his good books and since then he’s just been top drawer.

"If we’ve been beat the night before then avoid. He’ll be sad, he’ll be annoyed, he’ll be angry. He’s just a fan.

(Rangers FC/PA Images)

"When we’re on top of the world then he’s the one who is bouncing off the walls around the place, smiling, cracking jokes but he’s a top fella. I can’t speak highly enough of him.

"That’s one of my favourite pictures from Rangers where I signed my new deal and I had to go and get my shirt off Jimmy after one of the games, got a picture with him all made up and yeah, he’s a top, top fella.

"He is the biggest legend at Rangers. The best thing you could do is go have a brew with Jimmy after training. You don’t have to speak, just sit there and let him speak and he’ll have his stories about Gazza, McCoist - whoever it is he’s got stories for you and they’re absolutely brilliant.

"I’ve told him he needs to become an after dinner speaker or write an autobiography because it would be a best seller."

 
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