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SPORTING INTEGRITY. Two words that were hurled at Rangers in 2008 as the club I was captaining tried to win a European trophy for Scotland.

We were due to face Dundee United in the league four days before facing Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester and asked for the match to be rescheduled to give us more time to prepare for the clash with Dick Advocaat’s team.

It was one of eight games we played in 20 days at the end of a season in which we had a chance of winning the league, the UEFA Cup and Scottish Cup.

But the powers-that-be refused to postpone that United match because to put it back until after the “official” end of the season would have compromised the “sporting integrity” of the game.

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Now I’m reading that the SPFL may extend this season if Hibs get to the Scottish Cup Final and reach the play-off final. Even worse, they might announce on Monday that the play-off final is being extended, even though there is no guarantee Hibs will even be in it. It’s nuts.

Then again, it was crazy back in May 2008 when Rangers were in a trophy chase that left us so knackered we didn’t even

celebrate winning the Scottish Cup.

We beat Queen of the South 3-2, two days after losing the league on a Thursday night at Pittodrie. I still don’t know how we managed to win that final at Hampden as we were mentally and physically shattered.

That trophy was won through sheer grit and determination. A bloody-mindedness that drove us on to ensure that a month that had started with so much hope did not turn totally to dust.

I’ve had a check just to get my facts right and the mind boggles.

We played games on May 4, 7, 10, 14, 17, 19, 22 and 24. Yet the SPL wouldn’t extend the season by a few days. Where’s the sporting integrity in that?

We were representing Scotland on the European stage. What a boost to the image of the Scottish game it would have been if Rangers had

delivered a trophy of that magnitude.

I know Zenit were given a week off to prepare for the match but we had to play United and, although we won that game, it was impossible to win them all.

We drew with Motherwell after the downer of losing in Manchester and, despite beating St Mirren away two days after going to Fir Park, we lost 2-0 at Pittodrie three nights later while Celtic’s win at Tannadice the same night gave them the title.

I genuinely think if we hadn’t been forced to play that number of games in such a short space of time, we would have won the league that season.

People say we are fit and should be able to play any number of matches. And we did. We got them played, so in that respect they are right.

But the legs started to go after 65-70 minutes. We couldn’t keep going at the intensity you need to win matches at that level – and that’s without delving into the mental side of things.

It’s hard to explain just how difficult it is to maintain that mental drive and focus when your body is shattered and the games just keep piling up. In the end, it cost us.

The bus journey home from Aberdeen that night was horrible. We’d lost the UEFA Cup Final and the league and all that was left was the Scottish Cup.

Normally before a Cup Final you are buzzing but we didn’t give Queen of the South a single thought until the Friday when we reported for what wasn’t even a proper training session. We were too

shattered for that.

We just had to win that game. We owed it to the fans who had followed us everywhere that month. It must have cost them a fortune but they’d stuck by us so we had to give them something back.

We did that by winning 3-2 but I have never celebrated a trophy with as little enthusiasm.

It was great to win it but after what had happened and with the title defeat fresh in the mind it was hard to feel on top of the world. That was a long time ago but the situation still angers me.

I’m glad the farcical situation over the Hearts-Rangers game being moved to the Sunday while Hibs were playing on the Saturday has been resolved because it was just wrong.

On the final day of the league, every team should kick off at the same time. It was ridiculous the SPFL got themselves in knots over the issue but hearing people crying about the sporting integrity being compromised got my back up.

If they’d been so concerned with sporting integrity back in 2008, Rangers might have given Scotland another European trophy to celebrate.

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