The anthem has been a fixture at Ibrox for more than 30 years – so why have Celtic fans taken such a shine to it in recent weeks?
If you’ve been to a Rangers home game in the last three decades, chances are you’ve heard it blaring over the tannoy.
Tina Turner’s 1989 hit ‘The Best’, a cover of a Bonnie Tyler song which better known by its chantable Simply the Best chorus, has been an anthem at Ibrox for the last 30 years.
It was first adopted in the early days of their Nine in a Row dominance but over the years it’s become synonymous with the club, and doesn’t even need to be playing for Rangers fans to belt it out from their chest.
It speaks to the pride the Ibrox faithful hold in their historic record that at one stage did have them standing out in front as the proven most successful team in the world,
But this season has seen Celtic match them both for league titles (55) and overtake them on the overall trophy front.
And that was what was on the mind of taunting Hoops fans when they gleefully sung the Ibrox terrace anthem from the away end during last month’s 1-1 draw.
A Priest in a Paisley parish even referenced the hilarious moment in a confirmation speech in the days after the game.
But where did start in the first place, and how did Rangers come to be blaring an unlikely pop tune over the tannoy at every home game?
Why do Rangers play Simply the Best?
The prevailing theory for why Rangers played the tune to the point they became synonymous with it is simple.
The story goes that, during the early 90s, when they were beginning to gather some steam on their way to Nine in a Row, the hit was played over a BBC TV montage of Walter Smith’s team running riot.
It struck a chord with fans and the club then adopted it into their repertoire – and it’s stuck there ever since.
That’s only one theory, however. Others more ambitiously suggest that it’s down to the fact Turner herself had a fondness for the club who adopted the hit as an homage to her in her pomp.
We’ll never know for sure, unless any Rangers historians pipe up!
