(Glasgow) Rangers?
Played them in the semi final of the FA Cup in 1887. Its the last time a Scottish side was aloud the play in the English FA Cup.
I know, I was suggesting it was an outlier as it was the only time we played a professional Scottish team in either cup.
*The Birmingham Daily Post*
Monday, 7 March 1887Scotland’s last hope of winning the English Cup has have now fled. The combination team which met the Aston Villa on Saturday under the cognomen of the Glasgow Rangers, fighting hard, were yet forced to submit to the prowess of the Midland team.
The Crewe Alexandra ground was the arena in which the great combat was waged, and in the early stages of the English Cup competition the Rangers were lightly though of, and little was it imagined that they would reach the semi-final tie.
Their deeds were eclipsed by the achievements of two clubs greater than they - namely, Queen’s Park and Renton - and the canny Scots looked to one of these two clubs to bring the cup over the border. But when both succumbed to the Preston North End, every effort was made to strengthen the Rangers, and the report quickly went forth that the finest players in Scotland had been enrolled in the ranks of that club to make a last despairing bid for victory.
The strikingly miscellaneous team that played Aston Villa on Saturday comprised players from the Hibernians, Vale of Leven, Queen’s Park, and Dumbarton. One quality only did this team lack to make it one of the finest in the United Kingdom, and that was the combination which comes from a longer experience by the players of each other’s powers and style.
As eleven individual players the Rangers surpassed the Villa, but as a while the latter team were far and away the better. Exclusive of Saturday’s match, the Rangers throughout the competition have scored thirteen goals against four, whilst the Villa have obtained thirty four goals as compared with eight goals scored by their opponents.
Both teams has been in active preparation for the game, and when the Rangers arrived in Crewe on Friday night they were all looking fit and well. The Villa team have for one past week been trained at Holt Fleet, near Droitwich, to which place they have several times journeyed, and tested the efficacy of brine baths.
They arrived in Birmingham from Worcester shortly after eleven o’clock on Saturday morning, and were received by a number of their admirers. A saloon carriage was attached to the 12 o’clock express to Crewe and as the train steamed out of the New Street Station three hearty cheers were given.
The weather in Birmingham was most uninviting, but when the train arrived at Crewe the sun was shining brightly.
At about two o’clock the gates of the football ground were thrown open, and there was soon a good sprinkling of spectators present. The numbers were gradually augmented until three o’clock, by which time there were about five thousand persons assembled, and then the game commenced this number had doubled itself, the Birmingham contingent being about four thousand strong.
The field is a magnificent one, being very level, and the turf was in fine condition. The arrangements reflect great credit upon the local club, for they were perfect. Every spectator present was enabled to see the game by reason of there being a sloping bank of ashes all round the field - an arrangement well worthy of imitation by local clubs.
The Rangers were the first to put in an appearance, and their splendid physique excited much comment. They were shortly followed by the Villa, who were received with tremendous cheering, and it at once became evident that they were the more popular team. Indeed the Crewe people were, if we might use the term, Villa mad, and they actually went so far as to beg cards with “Play up Villa” on them, which they stuck in their hats, and of which they seemed very proud.