Photocopying error led to Derek McInnes becoming Rangers manager on Livingston team-sheet

Is it any wonder the midweek cup game between Livingston and Rangers was so fiercely contested given events prior to kick-off?

Livingston's team-sheet listed Derek McInnes as Rangers manager.

All seemed as normal when the team sheets arrived in the press box. However, a quick glance down had reporters wondering whether they’d slipped into an alternative universe en route to West Lothian.

While the Rangers players were all listed correctly, the identity of their manager and assistant manager prompted lots of raised eyebrows: Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty.

Chairman Robert Wilson yesterday explained that the mix-up was taken in good spirits by the Rangers directors in the board room before the match.

“They had a laugh about it,” he said. “Of course it almost did happen...”

Apparently, an overworked member of staff used a team sheet from the previous Saturday’s game against Aberdeen as the prototype when producing and then photocopying the new team sheets, but failed to insert Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister’s names.

It just had to be McInnes erroneously placed in the Ibrox hot seat. He rebuffed Rangers when they tried to appoint him before Gerrard.