Alex McLeish’s spell as manager of Glasgow Rangers must go down in the history books as one of the finest in the previous 50 years, especially considering the vast financial constraints he had to work with.

He won seven major honours during his four and a half seasons at the helm, including a marvellous treble in 2002/03 and claiming an unlikely title in 2004/05, stunning Celtic who were defeated by Motherwell on the final day.

The former Aberdeen defender had to resort to signing players either on loan or snapping them up for free with the odd signing such as Thomas Buffel or Barry Ferguson.

The summer of 2004 was arguably his most difficult in charge of the club, having lost the league title by a 17-point margin and the onus was on the Ibrox side to improve massively to prevent Celtic from dominating Scottish football.

McLeish signed Dado Prso on a free transfer while he also added French centre-back Jean-Alain Boumsong to his ranks after he signed a pre-contract agreement with the Glasgow giants back in December 2003, and it proved to be one of his finest signings as manager.

How much did Rangers sell Jean-Alain Boumsong for?

Having made 174 appearances for Auxerre and winning seven caps for France before arriving at the club in 2004, his move was certainly deemed a major coup, and he was looked upon as a player who could become the mainstay at the heart of the defence for a few years.

He shone during the first half of his debut season, playing 26 times for the Gers, and keeping them within touching distance of Celtic, even defeating them twice before Christmas and the move appeared to be a wise one.

In January 2005, however, Premier League outfit Newcastle United came calling with an £8m bid and the offer was clearly too good to turn down, especially considering he arrived for nothing just six months prior.

Over the next few months, it was evident that McLeish had struck gold on the 6 foot 3 colossus by allowing him to move to the English top-flight, as he couldn’t quite live up to his price tag South of the border.

He eventually made just 59 appearances for the Magpies and was even listed as the 17th worst player to ever play in the Premier League, quite a feat.

Rangers made a massive profit on the Frenchman, and it allowed McLeish to sign Buffel and Ferguson that same transfer window which spearheaded their title challenge, though it was quickly clear Boumsong wasn’t cut out for Premier League football.