Rangers defeat to Queen's Park is the biggest EVER Scottish football shock - and here's why
Domestically it's been a season to forget for Rangers. But nobody expected Philippe Clement's men to slip up at home to Queen's Park.
Callum Davidson might've proved himself as a cup specialist when he led St Johnstone to a shock double in 2021, but the Spiders' mid-table position in the Championship meant even the most optimistic of fans in Mount Florida wouldn't have fancied their chances. Especially after selling talismanic captain Dom Thomas just a few weeks previous, and having been taken to extra time by Lowland League East Kilbride just 10 days earlier.
As unlikely as the result was the goalscorer, with Sebastian Drozd scoring just his second goal in senior football in only his 15th game having joined Queen's from Millwall's youth system over the summer. Every good fairytale needs a dramatic twist, and it looked like hearts would be broken in the away end when referee Calum Scott pointed to the spot in the final minute of stoppage time. However Spiders' keeper Calum Ferrie had other ideas, with his stunning save leaving those remaining in the home end until the bitter end stunned.
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Unlike in other shocks there had been little sign this was coming either. Rangers had been imperious at home this season, losing just once - against Lyon in the Europa League - and even playing Celtic off the park in the January 2 derby. It was a first domestic defeat in Govan for 11 months, a first ever loss to a lower league side at home in the Scottish Cup - and a first win for Queen's over their city rivals in the country's oldest tournament since back in 1882.
But was it the biggest upset ever in Scottish football? Record Sport looks at a few of the other results that shocked the nation.
Berwick Rangers 1-0 Rangers (January 1967)
Rangers fans of a certain vintage will have experienced this sort of feeling before, with the Ibrox club stunned by the Wee Gers back in 1967. A mid-table second tier side at the time, the only goal of the game was scored by Sammy Reid - and the result prompted Rangers' boss Scot Symon to splash out £65,000 (around £1.4m in today's money) on a Dunfermline Athletic striker called Alex Ferguson that summer. Whatever happened to him?
Light Blues strikers Jim Forrest and George McLean were made scapegoats for the defeat and never played for Rangers again, but the Ibrox club didn't replace them during the season - and were forced to start the Cup Winners Cup final against Bayern Munich without a recognised striker. They lost 1-0 as the German giants celebrated their first European success.
The result was made even worse by the season that Celtic would go on to enjoy, as they lifted the European Cup in Lisbon and won a quadruple. But there was a silver lining for Rangers fans. Well, sort of anyway. The result catapulted Berwick's player/manager Jock Wallace into the public eye - and he would go on to lead Gers to three league titles, three League Cup victories and four Scottish Cup successes.
Celtic 1-3 Inverness Caledonian Thistle (February 2000)
These last few paragraphs will have been a tough read for Rangers fans, so we'll switch to the other side of the city for one of the most iconic Scottish Cup upsets ever. As second tier Inverness Caledonian Thistle put the final nail in the coffin for John Barnes as manager of Celtic - in one of the greatest nights in the Highland football history.
Steve Paterson's men were promotion contenders in the second tier, and Celtic were still reeling from losing Henrik Larsson to a horrific leg break earlier in the campaign. Winless in three and with rumours of dressing room unrest, this had all the hallmarks of a potential banana skin - especially against a Caley Jags side featuring some major talent for the second tier in the likes of Paul Sheerin and Barry Wilson.
But this was a Celtic side assembled at a huge cost. Barnes had been backed big time and they had splashed out almost £20m on players including Eyal Berkovic for £5.75million from West Ham and the £4.8million for Brazilian internationalist, Rafael Scheidt. In the 16th minute the Highlanders took the lead as Wilson headed in a Sheerin cross, but Celtic quickly replied with Mark Burchill levelling things.
The Caley Jags wouldn't be denied their slice of Scottish Cup history however, and a frantic first 24 minutes then saw defender Bobby Mann have his header deflected past Celitic keeper Jonathan Gould keeper by Lubo Moravcik. Sheerin's penalty 10 minutes into the second-half completed the scoring on a famous night for a club only formed six years previously - with Barnes sacked and Kenny Dalglish taking over as interim manager two days later. As with Rangers' shock against Berwick however, there was a silver lining for Hoops fans - as the club knew they had to nail their next appointment, and plumped for Nottingham Forest's European Cup winner Martin O'Neill. The rest, as they say, is history.
Darvel 1-0 Aberdeen
Perhaps the most iconic Scottish Cup upset of the current era, West of Scotland League Darvel sent shockwaves through the game when they dumped out seven time winners Aberdeen at their tiny Recreation Park home in the Ayrshire village with a population of less than 4000 people.
Jordan Kirkpatrick was the man who got the only goal, as the tier six side left the Dons' faithful shocked in a game broadcast live to the nation on the BBC. Despite their lowly league however Darvel, under charismatic boss Mick Kennedy, had made a name for themselves already as a team with big ambitions to make it to the SPFL - with matchwinner Kirkpatrick one of a host of big name players brought to the club.
In midfielder Ian McShane they had a League Cup winner with Ross County, whilst McShane and Kirkpatrick were joined in the starting XI by two other players with top flight experience in the shape of ex-Dundee defender Daryll Meggatt and former Hibs man Ross Caldwell. The Dons meanwhile were on a horrendous run, with just one win in seven in the lead up to the game - which came following a break for the Qatar World Cup.
That's not to downplay the shock in any way however, it remains the biggest upset by league placings ever in the Scottish Cup - and Darvel's fairytale was ended 5-1 by League One Falkirk at the next hurdle. Aberdeen boss Goodwin meanwhile soldiered on for one more match, a 6-0 pasting against Hibs at Easter Road, before he was finally shown the door. Kennedy left Darvel for East Kilbride the following summer, and they now prop up the West of Scotland Premiership.
Progrès Niederkorn 2–0 Rangers (July 2017)
We'll take a break from the magic of the Scottish Cup and switch to the glamour of European football. Or as glamorous as a as a Europa League first qualifying round second leg tie in Luxembourg against a part-time side can be anyway. Having left Ibrox on the end of just a 1-0 defeat a week previous, most people in Scotland expected Pedro Caixinha's men to have too much for the minnows in the second leg.
But they were wrong. Progrès had only ever scored one goal and had never before won a game in European competition in their 100-year history, but they doubled that and secured a first ever success in European competition to set serious alarm bells ringing in Govan about Caixinha's competency. Emmanuel Francoise headed in the opener for Progres, ending a near 30 years wait for a European goal, and hometown hero Sébastien Thill's free-kick then proved the winner.
It's scenes after the match that the game is best remembered for however, as Caixinha ended up standing in a bush outside the team hotel arguing with fuming supporters who had made the journey to Luxembourg. It would set the scene perfectly for a disastrous spell at Ibrox, which eventually ended in September of 2017 after 14 wins in 26 games and just seven months at the helm. Incredibly Caixinha is now in charge of Brazilian giants Santos, where Neymar has been one of his most recent recruits.
Clyde 2-1 Celtic (January 2006)
Roy Keane's Celtic debut couldn't have gone less to the script than by losing to second tier Clyde at a packed Broadwood. Although most Hoops fans will admit that things could've been even worse - with the Bully Wee having two goals chalked off and seeing a penalty saved by Artur Boruc in a game that left everyone in the ground rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
Clyde twice had the ball in the net only for the officials to rule against them before Craig Bryson headed the First Division side in front. Visiting keeper Boruc then saved a penalty from Stephen O'Donnell only for Eddie Malone to stun the visitors with a volley into the top corner. Maciej Zurawski struck late for Celtic but Clyde held on for a famous win - and one of their best results in what has been a troubled recent history.
The result, and performance, was made even more incredible by Celtic's domestic form - as they steamrollered their way to the SPL title, finishing 17 points clear of second placed Hearts and losing just three times in their 38 league matches. The Hoops also lifted the League Cup and boasted a squad packed with big name stars - including Stiliyan Petrov, John Hartson, Neil Lennon and Shunsuke Nakamura.
So which is top of the shocks?
You could argue the toss for any of the games being Scottish football's biggest upset, and fans could also throw in other options - Highland League Brora Rangers beating Hearts? First Division Ross County's Scottish Cup semi-final win against Celtic? Everyone will have their say. But the bookies gave Queen's Park even less of a chance of causing an upset at Ibrox than they gave Brora or Darvel when they shocked Premiership opponents.
The fact the game was at Ibrox perhaps just gives it the edge over Clyde's win against Celtic, whilst the Berwick Rangers result was from a very different era of football - when they gap between the sides wasn't as high as now. Progres might've been part-time and minnows on the European stage - but they were also a side used to success domestically. And Celtic were in complete disarray when Inverness put them to the word. So Queen's Park, a mid-table second tier side without their captain and who had standout loanee Dane Murray recalled by Celtic in January, might just top the lot.
