FOUR young men shared a dream - to start a football club. They had no money, no kit - not even a ball.

Yet from such humble beginnings emerged the most famous of all Scottish football clubs - Rangers FC.

None of those four men could have foreseen what was to happen when they met in 1872.

They cared only for having their own team, never daring to think that more than a century later their club would have won so many glittering prizes and would be followed by millions throughout the world.

All those championships and cups would never have found their way into the Ibrox Trophy Room but for that encounter between Peter McNeil, his brother Moses, Peter Campbell and William McBeath.

Their first match was an unlikely affair against Callander FC at Flesher's Haugh on Glasgow Green.

The pitch was open to all-comers, so to claim it for your game you had to make sure you were there first. The home team played in street clothes, with the exception of four "guests" who, as they were members of other clubs, already had their own strips. The ball was second-hand.

The result was 0-0, but that didn't matter. Rangers had been born.

The match was heading for a 0-0 draw when Jimmy Johnstone broke the deadlock to give Celtic the lead in the 89th minute. 

Then, with just seconds left on the clock, Colin Stein snatched a dramatic equaliser for Rangers. 

The blue section of the 80,000 all-ticket crowd went wild with delight. The green was thrown into despair. 

Two goals in a minute. What a finish! Yet, unseen amid this sea of emotions, a disaster was beginning to unfold at the Rangers end of the ground over on the East terrace at Staircase 13. 

As the fans swayed away from the heaving mass, some stumbled halfway down the steep steps. Those around didn't see them fall and continued their descent. 

Suddenly a tidal wave of fans was engulfed in a terrifying crush. Steel barriers crumpled under the impact. 

When the carnage cleared, 66 people had lost their lives and more than 140 lay injured. 

Among the dead were 31 teenagers. The youngest victim was a boy of nine, Nigel Pickup, who had travelled to the game from Liverpool. 

One woman was among the fatalities. Margaret Ferguson, an 18-year-old from Maddiston near Falkirk, had made a doll for the baby daughter of Rangers centre-forward Stein - the man who scored the late equaliser - and had delivered it to his home just before Christmas. 

Five schoolboy pals, four of whom lived in the same street, had gone to the game together from the small town of Markinch in Fife. The five, all members of Glenrothes Rangers Supporters Club, never returned. 

There were so many harrowing tales. Eye-witness John Dawson was among the injured. He said: "When the barrier gave way I was carried along a passageway for 20 yards with three people on top of me and at least three underneath." 

Another survivor of Staircase 13 was Robert Black. He said: "There was so much pressure from behind me that I was tossed down on top of others. People were on the ground and I was tossed over them. I was just carried forward by the surge." 

Both sides of the Old Firm put aside their rivalries and came together to play a game to raise funds for the victims' families. A combined Rangers and Celtic team took on a Scotland XI at Hampden watched by 81,405 fans. 

The club and their fans were in mourning. It was the blackest day in the history of Scottish football. 

On the 30th anniversary of the tragedy a special service was held at Ibrox and a bronze statue of John Greig was unveiled on top of a memorial to those who had been killed.

Every year at the home game closest to the anniversary, the club pays its respects to those lost by laying a special wreath at the Memorial which was built in honour of those who died and other victims at the stadium in previous years.

THE 66 WHO DIED: 

George Adams, Hugh Addie, David Anderson, John Buchanan, Richard Barke, Robert Cairns, Robert Carrigan, John Crawford, Thomas Dickson.

Charles Dougan, Francis Dover, David Duff, Peter Easton, Peter Farries, George Findlay, Margaret Ferguson, Ian Frew, John Gardiner

Robert Grant, Thomas Grant, James Gray, Adam Henderson, Ian Hunter, Brian Hutchison, George Irwin, John Jeffrey, Andrew Lindsay, Charles Livingston.

James Mair, Russel Malcolm, Robert Maxwell, Robert McAdam, Duncan McBrearty, David McGhee, James McGovern, Alex McIntyre,John McLeay

Richard McLeay, Donald McPherson, Thomas McRobbie, Thomas Melville, Thomas Morgan, Douglas Morrison, Robert Mulholland , John Neill

Alexander Orr, Martin Paton, Mason Phillips, Nigel Pickup, James Rae, Robert Rae, Walter Raeburn, Matthew Reid, John Semple

William Shaw, Walter Shields, James Sibbald, George Smith, William Somerhill, Charles Stirling, Thomas Stirling, Donald Sutherland, Brian Todd, James Trainer, George Wilson, Peter Wright