At the turn of the century, Glasgow Rangers were the dominant force in Scottish football, having won 11 of the previous 12 titles heading into the 2000/01 campaign.
Dick Advocaat was brought to the club in 1998 and had rebuilt a stagnating Ibrox side who were clearly on their last legs during the 1997/1998 campaign, losing the much-coveted title to Celtic, and this would have been their tenth in a row.
The Dutchman oversaw some ridiculous spending during his first few years, with Tore Andre Flo (£12m), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (£4.5m) and Michael Ball (£6.5m) all arriving for big fees and not all of them lived up to the hype it’s fair to say.
There were a few gems however and when Advocaat announced that the Gers had managed to lure Dutch international and Barcelona star Ronald de Boer from Catalan to Glasgow, it proved to be one of the finer moves accomplished during his tenure, with the player costing £4m.
Over the next four seasons, it would transpire to be money extremely well spent.
Is Ronald de Boer a Rangers legend?
The word legend gets thrown about like confetti at a wedding, especially in football and although De Boer was already 30 years old when he arrived in 2000, his reputation and accomplishments in the game meant Advocaat had signed a player who could take the club to the next level.
His first two seasons produced 17 goals and was an integral member of the team that helped defeat a resurgent Celtic side 3-2 in the 2002 Scottish Cup final, setting the Ibrox side up for one of their most memorable campaigns.
Alex McLeish got the best out of De Boer during 2002/2003, as he scored 20 goals in all competitions, with 16 coming in the league as the title was won on goal difference, with his header against Dunfermline on the final day of the season proving to be crucial.
An injury hit final term meant he didn’t bow out as planned, however his influence on the team during that era was critical to how they performed and former captain Barry Ferguson certainly loved playing alongside the Dutchman.
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show (via Football Scotland), he said:
"I absolutely loved playing with Ronnie.
"He loved himself. He was never wrong. We had a few ding dongs, more than a few ding dongs with him, but just brilliant to play with.
"I felt we had a real good connection when we played with each other as well.”
Having finished his Rangers career with 40 goals in 128 games, which worked out as £100k per goal, its evident that Advocaat struck gold with the former Ajax maestro at the Light Blues.
