Rangers defender Connor Goldson says the final whistle at Tannadice kicked off the best day of his football life.
The big stopper joined his Gers team-mates at the club’s Auchenhowie training base to watch as Old Firm rivals Celtic took on Dundee United looking for a win that would have forced the title race onto next week’s derby clash at Parkhead.
But when the Hoops could only claim a draw against Micky Mellon’s team, that was the signal for wild celebrations as Steven Gerrard’s Light Blues were crowned kings of Scotland for the 55th time.
“It was amazing,” said the former Brighton centre-back as he reflected on the moment he knew his team had finally ended the club’s 10-year wait for silverware. “I still don’t think it has sunk in properly what we have actually achieved.
“It is a weird one. When I have won things in the past, you are going on holiday and going away straight away with your family.
“We are only in March and there is a lot of the season still to play. It is a weird one but the focus has got straight back on football and straight back on this huge Europa League tie that we have got ahead of us tomorrow against Slavia Prague.
“At the same time, I have still got goosebumps thinking about it. It was amazing and probably the best day of my career.
“Was this part of the vision the gaffer sold to me when I signed back in 2018? Yeah, it was. Did I think it would be three years later? Probably not.
“I didn’t realise how far behind Rangers were until I came up here and actually played that first season. You do have doubts.
“But, at the same time, we have worked our socks off and the recruitment has been brilliant. You look at the club I am in today, and it is 100 times better than the club that I joined.
“That is not just playing squad, it is around the place and what has been done in the canteen, what has been done at the training ground, what has been done at Ibrox.
“The whole place has improved and that is credit to every single staff member that works here to the board and the chairman to put in what it takes to make this club successful. It has paid off.”
Goldson believes the wild scenes as the jubilant Gers faithful lapped up their team’s triumph round Glasgow has now proved to the club’s new recruits just how big Rangers really are as an institution.
“The boys that have been here for a few years probably predicted the reaction and knew it was going to happen,” he said. “I said to a few of the new boys ‘welcome to Rangers’ because they haven’t really seen that over the last 12 months and they haven’t been able to witness the fans and how much they do follow this club.
“I have been able to witness that for the last three years and that is why the boys that have been here a bit longer, it hit home so much more and the emotions of it all and what we have been through over the last few years.
“The failures that we have had, we have turned that into a positive and to be champions is so much more worthy.
“We are definitely hungry for more. We had a meeting about it (on Tuesday) and the pressure that now comes with being champions is completely different to chasing and being the underdog and finishing second for the last how many years.
“Now we need to go on and prove that we are worthy of being champions and that starts this season.”
