Glasgow Rangers have the chance of their biggest sporting coup in 14 years. But the prospect of reaching the Europa League final is painfully clouded: Jimmy Bell is dead.
The question is by no means meant to sound disrespectful, but it stands out at first glance: Jimmy – who? Jimmy Bell, the mechanic, Jimmy Bell, the bus driver. And Jimmy Bell, head kitman of the Rangers, if you want to take his title “head of kitman” literally. But of course Jimmy Bell was much more than all of the above.
Jimmy Bell was “the beating heart and soul of our club”, as Rangers captain James Tavernier tweeted. The 30-year-old posted the tweet on Tuesday afternoon, just hours before Bell’s heart had stopped beating. His club had announced in the morning that Bell had died unexpectedly – at the age of 69. Europa League semi-final against Leipzig, Liverpool FC’s CL semi-final – all of that was secondary to the main Scottish sports portals as news of Bell’s death spread.
No goals scored, no titles won – yet a legend
“Few people in modern football are as synonymous with a club as Jimmy Bell was with Rangers,” Tavernier said in 140 characters, expressing his appreciation for a man who was nothing less than a club legend without ever having scored a goal or coached in any of the 55 championships to date. In 1986, Jimmy Bell joined Rangers as an employee of a bus company and sailed “The Gers” around Scotland before “rising” to become the club’s kit manager.
And became a confidant to many generations of players – as well as that of Giovanni van Bronckhorst. The current Rangers coach played three years for Glasgow (1998-2001) and experienced Bell then and now as coach “as a friend and selfless person who embodied everything this club stands for in its 150-year history”.
From a German perspective, one is reminded of Hermann Rieger, who kneaded the muscles of Hamburg’s professionals for 26 years and became the “cult masseur of the Bundesliga”. When he died in February 2014, a part of the glorious HSV was lost. Rangers supporters are likely to feel similarly now, after all, Bell not only experienced 18 championships, ten cup victories and a place in the 2008 UEFA Cup final (2:3 against Zenit) in his 36 years with the “Blue Noses”.
Bell walked away as reigning champions
He also remained a loyal soul when the proud traditional club had to file for insolvency in 2012 and was forcibly relegated to the fourth division. In 2021, that sporting gloom ended for Bell as coach Steven Gerrard led Rangers to their first championship after nine years of Celtic dominance. Bell’s sudden death left him reigning champions, he witnessed the 1-1 draw at Celtic first-hand on Sunday – the title race could be decided in favour of their city rivals again this weekend.
Leipzig experience maximum contrast
But for now, the chance of a fourth major European final lives for the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup winners (3-2 against Dynamo Moscow). In 2008, Rangers already had their hands close to the UEFA Cup against Zenit (0:2), against Leipzig “The Gers” want to turn the tables again after the 0:1 from the first leg.
So the Saxons don’t just have to be prepared for the already vocal Ibrox – they’ve known since Tuesday that Rangers will throw everything they’ve got into the scales to crown the memory of Jimmy Bell with a sporting chime.
For RB Leipzig, founded in 2009, a contrast of the maximum kind.
