The nightmare Rangers preparation before Celtic Scottish Cup thriller named

Alarm bells gave Arthur Numan a rude awakening on the morning of the 2002 Scottish Cup Final.

But there was no need to panic after the Dutchman and his Rangers side stirred themselves into action, with Peter Lovenkrands’ famous last-minute winner clinching a precious win over Celtic. Now the Ibrox legend is hoping modern-day boss Philippe Clement can rouse another grandstand finish from his Gers team this weekend and send the Light Blues legions to bed dreaming of better times next season.

Numan was part of the Alex McLeish side that left Celtic sickened when Lovenkrands swooped to snatch the cup after a 3-2 Hampden thriller. The Danes’ diving header came just minutes before the clock struck 5pm on Cup Final day – 13 hours after Numan and his yawning colleagues had found themselves shivering outside the team hotel in the dead of night wearing only their undies after fire alarms were set ringing.

Numan has no idea who caused the early-morning disturbance and whether it was a prank designed to wreck their chances. If it was a premeditated move, though, it back fired on Martin O’Neill’s Hoops as the fired-up Ibrox side mounted a brave comeback to snatch the trophy having twice trailed their Parkhead rivals.

“Yeah we were in the Crown Plaza,” said the Numan, now 54. “It was the middle of the night when the alarm went off. You thought, ‘what’s happening?’

“I think it turned out to be the best preparation for us because it kept us sharp! We were all standing out side the hotel in our underwear freezing.

“I don’t know what caused it. Maybe someone interfered with the smoke detector. But it was so strange. One minute you’re getting yourself ready for a cup final, the all of a sudden the alarm goes off at 4am and you’re standing outside.

“But we still won, because it kept us sharp! That cup final was so special. It went 1-1, then 2-2 and then that amazing goal by Peter.”

The impact of Lovenkrand’s last-minute heroic had far-reaching consequences, according to Numan. Having surrendered a second-successive league title to Celtic that season, their Scottish Cup win – following on from a League Cup triumph – sent Rangers into the 2003/04 campaign with confidence restored.

And that belief had legs as it took them all the way to a domestic Treble. Numan isn’t expecting a clean sweep next year but he hopes a victory on Saturday can set Clement’s team up for a run at further silverware after the summer.

“When I first signed here in 1998, we won a Treble, then a Double. But then Martin O’Neill came in and Celtic started winning a lot. So we’ve gone from being heroes to getting slaughtered.

“We were under pressure because it’s all about winning trophies. Alex McLeish took over mid season but we were 11 points behind. I thought we cannot win the league anymore so we must focus on winning the League Cup and then the Scottish Cup.

“That’s why this year’s Scottish Cup is so important. OK Rangers haven’t won the league but they can still win a Double and that makes it special. What did that give my side going into the next season? Belief, confidence.

“When we won the League Cup that season. The biggest moment came in the semi-final with that screamer from Bert Konterman.

“It think that was the most important goal of my entire five years here, because that changed everything. You could see the belief return and the next season we went on to win a Treble.

“For this team now, they need to focus on doing something similar. I’m sure Clement will get the whole squad together and say, ‘OK guys, this is the final game. We should go for it.’

“They should believe in themselves. Yes they didn’t win the league, but the cup final is still to come and we have to focus on that. Hopefully in the dressing room, they will go to each other before kick-off and get themselves fired up.”

Numan hung up his boots at the end of that Treble-winning campaign – but only after spending the week leading up to their Scottish Cup Final win over Dundee legless having over-indulged in the celebrations that followed their nerve-shredding title clincher against Dunfermline.

Gers could do Brendan Rodgers’ newly-crowned champions turning up in a similar state. Numan said: ”This week I’m sure Celtic have been celebrating winning the league. Probably two days and now they need to focus on the cup final.

“I remember in 2003, we won the league against Dunfermline on goal difference. We were partying on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. It got to a point when we needed to focus on the cup game!

“The cup final against Dundee, it was one of the worst games we played. I went off with cramp which was probably because of the amount of alcohol still in my body!”

Today’s players won’t get away with those kid of excesses. But Numan looks at the modern-day Gers and reckons they lack a key ingredient his team had. He said: “I notice nowadays that sometimes on the park they’re very quiet, it’s not like in our time when sometimes you would be shouting at one another.

“You miss that on the park. Sometimes you have to tell each other the truth. When someone shouted at me, I might have needed that. You would want to show them that they were wrong, but at least that gives you some motivation. You would want to say, ‘f*** off’, and they would give you something back as well.

“Sometimes I miss that on the park. You see someone making a mistake and they are looking around and no one is saying anything. That is the same at a lot of clubs these days, it’s different from 20 years ago. We were telling each other the truth, but only for one reason – for the result. After the game, we would shake hands and then go for a drink.”

Arthur Numan was speaking at a Scottish Gas media event. Scottish Gas is the proud partner of the Scottish Cup.