From Rangers legends to future Ibrox stars, lucky Light Blue Colin Stewart is proud to serve his club

His position at Rangers, where he is the Director of Operations for the Rangers Youth Development Company, is a labour of love, a hobby as much as a job. He works for the club he loves.

For five decades, he has followed in the footsteps of his team. Now, he is walking in the shoes of legends after assuming control of the Rangers Former Players Benevolent Fund since the deaths of Sandy Jardine and Colin Jackson.

It is another duty, the latest in 14 years of service, that Stewart relishes, but one he almost never got a chance to undertake. It is only looking back he realises how close he came to never seeing the blue gates and the hallowed turf again.

In October 2011, Stewart was told he had cancer of the oesophagus and a gruelling recovery period began. “It was similar to Sandy, but I got lucky because they got it a bit earlier,” he says of a diagnosis that would kick-start a chain of events that would almost cost him his life.

“I had a five hour operation, I caught pneumonia, I had a collapsed lung and was in intensive care. I had five months of chemotherapy and I still go to the Beatson.”

The road to recovery has been a long and arduous one. It is not one that is complete, either. “I have got a year to go before they sign me off, touch wood,” he says as he taps the table inside an office in Broomloan House at Ibrox.

The walls and cabinets are decorated with shirts and memorabilia, his desk piled high with paper. He is busy and the hours are long, but the rewards for Rangers make it all worthwhile for the 53-year-old.

Having fought a personal battle, he is now helping with the rebuilding job at Ibrox.

His time in hospital and recovering at home coincided with a tumultuous spell for Rangers. That particular story is well told and known, and still has many more chapters to be written.

They are the ones, Stewart hopes, which will make far more pleasant reading for supporters. In his role at the RYDC, he will have his own part to play.

He has written cheques worth several million pounds to help fund Rangers’ Academy at Auchenhowie and as prizes to supporters. After the storm, the calm has come at Ibrox.

“When I came back after ten months, the staff told me what had been going on and I couldn’t believe it,” Stewart says of what he discovered on his return to work three years ago. The situation, of course, would get worse before it would get better.

“It was a challenge personally getting back into it. There were a couple of occasions, I am told, where I shouldn’t have made it.

“I only found out months later. They don’t tell you at the time because you are at an all-time low after the operation. I am lucky to be here.

“I was going through a rough time when it was a bad time here. Thankfully, fingers crossed, it is all good now.

“I come here and park my car and look at those blue gates every morning.

“It is a passion for me. It is a job and you bear that in mind, but at the end of the day I am still a Rangers fan. I am a fan that got lucky, I got a job here. There are few who do.”

For Stewart and Rangers, the future looks brighter. The regime change in March has heralded a new dawn for the club and a fresh opportunity for Stewart and his team at Ibrox.

“It is like one big family again,” he says. “We were a bit fractured for a while and it was almost encouraged.

“Now, you can feel it coming back together and we are going in the one direction again.”

On and off the field, that direction has to be forward for Rangers in the next few years. With a new board, a new manager in Mark Warburton and a host of new players in place, optimism is high amongst supporters.

As fans have re-engaged with their club, Stewart’s efforts have paid dividends. Revenue from the likes of bricks and Lotto tickets continues to rise, while the RYDC logo now adorns the strips of all budding Light Blues.

“The last few years, there were politics and issues being played out behind the scenes,” Stewart said.

“You had to concentrate on what you were being paid to do but it was difficult sometimes to see the benefit, if you like, of what you were doing. But we never wavered.

“We had a couple of campaigns that were successful, considering they were during a period of turmoil, strife, and one or two people in charge who, shall we say, were a challenge.

“To raise funds in that climate was difficult but we did. The management team and directors we have now have been fantastic and incredibly supportive. I have already pushed through a few ideas and they are all getting the blue tick.

“It has been a refreshing change to sit down and be able to put ideas across and hopefully they will be successful.

“Previously, you felt there was no point putting anything across because it didn’t suit the agenda of the board at the time. It was difficult for many of us.”

It is not just the RYDC that takes up Stewart’s time these days, a conversation with the Greatest Ever Ranger, and one of his fellow board members, opening up another opportunity for the lifelong Light Blue.

Amongst it all, there is the matter of supporting Warburton’s team from the stands with his family, including his father who took him up the Ibrox steps for the first time when he was just three. Thankfully, he ignored the advice about never meeting your heroes.

“John Greig came in one day and we were having a chat,” Stewart said.

“He said ‘you probably wonder why I am sitting here’ and he said that with Colin and Sandy passing away, we needed someone to run the Benevolent Fund.

“I was delighted to be asked to do it. It is something that has, quite happily, taken up more of my time.

“There are a lot of players out there who played in front of crowds of 60,000, but didn’t earn great money.

“I was standing the other day with Alex MacDonald, Colin Stein, Willie Johnston and Willie Henderson and thought ‘I idolised you as players, and here I am in this position’. It is an honour for me.”

He knows he is lucky to be here.

*Rangers fans can support the Rangers Youth Development Company in a variety of ways – full details on Rangers Lotto, Rising Stars, Scratchcards, Stadium Bricks and other initiatives can be found at www.rydc.co.uk.

And it’s not too late to purchase stadium bricks in time for Christmas. Supporters can still place orders in person at Ibrox up to 23 December to receive certificates as Christmas presents with brick placement to follow in the New Year.

Bricks on the new Willie Johnston panel are available and can be purchased now from www.rydc.co.uk, by calling 0141 427 4914, texting RANGERS to 67766 or visiting the Rangers Lotto office in Broomloan House at the stadium.