Ian Durrant

Ian Durrant (born 29 October 1966) is a retired Scottish professional footballer, who played for Rangers, Everton, Kilmarnock and the Scotland national team. Durrant is currently assistant manager to Stephen Aitken at Scottish Championship side Dumbarton.

Rangers

Durrant started his career at Rangers and made his debut against Greenock Morton in April 1985. The following season, he was a regular fixture in the Rangers team and scored in his Old Firm debut that season. Durrant was fined £1500 by Rangers in 1987 after his involvement in an incident in a kebab shop after Rangers had won the league championship.

In October 1988 Durrant (then aged 21) was seriously injured in a challenge by Aberdeen player Neil Simpson which tore the cruciate ligaments in his right knee. Durrant did not play competitive football for almost three years. After one aborted return in early 1990, he made his comeback appearance in a reserve fixture in January 1991 against Hibernian and was welcomed back by around 30,000 fans. His league return was also against Hibs towards the end of that season, and he started the crucial winner-takes-all match against Aberdeen in May 1991 which secured the title for Rangers. In 1993 Durrant sued for damages against Simpson, and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Durrant went on to play a part in the 1992–93 UEFA Champions League run and helped Rangers equal Celtic's record nine successive league championships, the last of which was clinched in 1997. Despite his injury problems he played a total of 346 competitive games for the club, scoring 45 goals, and won six League titles, three Scottish Cups and four League Cups.

Kilmarnock

In 1998, along with fellow Rangers teammate Ally McCoist, Durrant transferred to Kilmarnock. He spent four years at Rugby Park before retiring and becoming coach of the youth team. He made 101 appearances for Killie including seven matches in the UEFA Cup, and the 2001 Scottish League Cup Final.

Scotland

Durrant made his international debut on 9 September 1987 against Hungary, eventually winning 20 caps for Scotland. His final match was against Republic of Ireland on 30 May 2000.

In 2005, he returned to Rangers as coach of the under-19s and, later, the reserve team. Following the resignation of Paul Le Guen as Rangers manager on 4 January 2007, Durrant was caretaker manager until Walter Smith was appointed manager. Durrant lost his only game in charge of the first team, a Scottish Cup tie at Dunfermline Athletic. Durrant worked as a coach of the Rangers first team under Walter Smith and Ally McCoist. He was demoted in December 2014 to a position with the Rangers under-20 team, after McCoist left the club. Durrant left Rangers in June 2016.

On 27 January 2017, Durrant was appointed assistant manager to Stephen Aitken at Scottish Championship side Dumbarton, after previous assistant Stephen Farrell took over as manager at Scottish League One club Stranraer.

Player

• Scottish Premier Division: 1986–87, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96
• Scottish Cup: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1995–96
• Scottish League Cup: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1992–93, 1993–94