Rangers and Celtic will do battle at Hampden Park this weekend for the first domestic silverware of the season.
The Premier Sports Cup is up for grabs and, after a season sitting in the trophy cabinet at Ibrox, Celtic will be determined to reclaim the trophy they have won seven times in the past decade. Rangers meanwhile are the tournament’s most successful club, but to lift the cup once again they will need to do something they haven’t achieved since 2011 – defeat their Old Firm rivals in the competition’s final.
Sunday’s game will be just the third League Cup final between the two clubs since 2011, with Celtic winning both previous matches, 1-0 in 2019 thanks to a Christopher Jullien goal and 2-1 four years later courtesy of a Kyogo Furuhashi brace that gave Ange Postecoglou his first taste of silverware in the Scottish game. With Brendan Rodgers’ Bhoys unbeaten domestically this season, Rangers will go into the game as second favourites – aiming to replicate the achievements of the class of 2011.
Here Record Sport delves into the archive to see what happened to the 11 starting players who helped Walter Smith’s men to glory 13 years ago.
Neil Alexander
A player who experienced all the highs and lows of a tumultuous period in Rangers’ history, three time Scotland cap Alexander was chosen between the sticks ahead of Allan McGregor. The League Cup final would be one of just seven appearances he would make for the club in 2010-11. He remained McGregor’s trusty deputy the following season – before taking the club’s number one shirt for 2012-13, playing 47 times as Ally McCoist guided Rangers to the Third Division title. From there Alexander made the unusual career move from the Scottish fourth tier to English Premier League, joining Crystal Palace – before returning north of the border with Hearts, winning the Scottish Championship at Tynecastle. Promotion from the Championship with Livingston came after a brief spell at Aberdeen, after which Alexander hung up his gloves. He has since worked as a goalkeeping coach at Dundee United and Dunfermline Athletic.
Steven Whittaker
A mainstay in at right-back, Whittaker spent one further season at Ibrox following the League Cup success – before leaving Rangers for Premier League Norwich City as financial issues struck. His time at Carrow Road would be a successful one, clocking up over 100 appearances across five seasons as the Canaries bounced between the Premier League and Championship – earning 17 Scotland caps along the way.
Whittaker returned to Scottish football with former club Hibs in 2017, spending three injury hit seasons at Easter Road, before seeing out his career at Dunfermline. He’s currently number two to former Celtic rival Scott Brown at Ayr United, having also worked with Brown at Fleetwood and coached at Dunfermline. His son, Rory, is following in his footsteps – and is currently on loan at League Two Spartans after making a handful of starts for parent club Hibs.
David Weir
The man who lifted the trophy itself, veteran defender Weir was a key player during his time at Ibrox – and was even inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2011. He went on to captain Rangers to the Premiership title that year, celebrating the victory in the same week he celebrated his 41st birthday. After dropping out of Ally McCoist’s plans, Weir left the club in January 2012 and moved into coaching with former side Everton before an unsuccessful stint as Sheffield United manager that brought just one win from 13 games. He went on to become Mark Warburton’s assistant at Brentford, and returned to Ibrox with the Englishman in 2015 – helping Rangers to win the Championship title. After assisting Warburton at Nottingham Forest, Weir now works as a loan manager for Brighton.
Madjid Bougherra
A £2.5m signing from Charlton in 2010, Bougherra was a popular figure during his time at Rangers, despite regularly returning late from international duty with Algeria – and feeling the wrath of Walter Smith as a result on a number of occasions. He was sent-off on his final appearance for the club in a Champions League qualifier against Malmo in August 2011, and moved to Qatari club Lekhwiya for £1.7m. A spell in the UAE with Fujairah was next, before he finished his playing career at Greek side Aris in 2016. Since then he has managed Fujairah, Algeria’s A team (open only to domestic league players) and he’s currently in charge of Qatari side Al-Markhiya.
Sasa Papac
The Bosnian’s steady performances at left-back made him a firm favourite amongst the Rangers support during his six years in Glasgow, and 2010-11 would be the penultimate of his playing career. After an injury hit 2011-12 campaign, Papac announced that he would leave Rangers that summer – and hung up his boots just a few months later after failing to overcome a groin injury. Since then he has spent time as a scout for the Bosnian national team and as director of football for Željezničar in his homeland.
Steven Naismith
Like teammate Whittaker, Naismith refused to have his contract continued following the financial issues that hit Rangers in 2012 – and moved to the English Premier League, joining Everton on a free transfer in July 2012. He became a regular for the Toffees, making over 120 appearances for the club – and scoring a memorable hat-trick against Chelsea in 2015. A move to Norwich followed in 2016, before he returned to finish his career in Scottish football with Hearts. Naismith moved into coaching with the Jambos in 2021, becoming the club’s B team manager a year later and then first team manager in 2023. After guiding the club to a third place finish in last season’s Premiership, a winless start to this season saw him sacked by the club in September.
Maurice Edu
A big money signing from the MLS, the American’s Rangers career felt like it failed to ever hit the heights expected. Nevertheless he clocked up more than 120 games for the club before a move to Stoke, where he played just once in two seasons. Loan spells with Bursaspor and Philadelphia Union followed, before he saw out his career at second tier US side Bethlehem Steel.
Steven Davis
A legendary player for both Rangers and Northern Ireland, the midfielder opened the scoring at Hampden and made more than 350 appearances across his two spells at Ibrox. Davis took over as Rangers captain when Ally McCoist was appointed the club’s manager, before moving to Southampton in the summer of 2012 – where he would go on to spend seven seasons.
Davis returned to Rangers on loan in 2019, making the deal permanent that summer and playing for four more seasons before an ACL injury at the age of 39 ended his career in December 2022.
Gregg Wylde
Youngster Wylde was handed a start at Hampden after bursting onto the scene from the club’s academy and looked set for a big future. He turned down the offer of an extended deal the following season, with the club rejecting a £400k bid from Bolton Wanderers for his services. After finding his chances limited, the wide-man terminated his contract when Rangers went into administration – and moved south to join the Premier League side. He didn’t make an appearance in Lancashire however, and has since gone on to enjoy a nomadic career that’s taken him from Plymouth Argyle and Millwalll to Dumbarton and Camelon. He currently plays for West of Scotland League Drumchapel United.
Kyle Lafferty
And Wylde isn’t the only member of the starting 11 from that day plying his trade in the West of Scotland League, with former Northern Ireland international Kyle Lafferty also in Scottish football’s sixth tier. Lafferty was a marmite figure with the Rangers support, capable of both the sublime and the ridiculous. Now 37 he has played for 15 clubs since leaving Ibrox, including Swiss side Sion, Italian outfit Palermo and Sarpsborg in Norway.
The best football of his career was usually played internationally, with Lafferty netting 20 times in 89 caps for Northern Ireland. After an unsuccessful stint with Linfield in his homeland, he returned to Scottish football with Johnstone Burgh last summer where he continues to play.
Nikica Jelavić
The man who scored the winning goal at Hampden, Jelavic was a star during his time as a Rangers player – scoring 36 times in 56 appearances during two seasons at the club, both of which were hampered by injury. He took his red-hot form to the English Premier League with Everton after a £5m move in January 2012, scoring nine times in his first 13 league matches for the club. Two further seasons on Merseyside didn’t bring the same scoring rate however, and he moved to Hull City and then West Ham United. Jelavic spent the latter years of his career with Beijing Renhe and Guizhou Zhicheng before hanging up his boots after a short spell with Lokomotiva Zagreb in 2021.