Rangers chairman moved to tears by Hampden triumph over Celtic

Rangers chairman Dave King admits he was moved to tears by the Light Blues' Hampden triumph over Celtic.

The Ibrox boardroom boss confessed the emotion of Gers' victory in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final following a nail-baiting penalty shoot-out was too much for himself and the rest of the club's directors.

Gers won the spot-kick decider 5-4 after dominating Celtic during a 2-2 draw at the National Stadium.

It was a thrilling moment for South African-based businessman King a year on from leading the boardroom coup which transformed the club's fortunes.

He told Rangers TV: "It was absolutely astonishing. When we were up there after the final whistle and I saw grown men cry, there were tears rolling down the faces of every single board member.

"I think every single director, including me, was in tears and as we looked at each other and hugged each other everyone was crying.

"All the people who have gone through the last year, the regime change and everything we have done, this is what it is about.

"We have been doing it for this and to see the reaction of the fans it was absolutely phenomenal for everybody.

"The reaction of the fans just showed how happy they were and it was a really joyous occasion."

Cautious manager Mark Warburton has tried not to get carried away with his team's win - insisting Rangers still have to overcome a gap if they are to mount a meaningful challenge to the Hoops on their return to the Ladbrokes Premiership next season.

But King insisted that the semi-final triumph has finally brought an end to the suffering his side's supporters have gone through since their 2012 financial implosion.

"I regard today as us being back and the feeling of every single board member was that we are back but we won't relax about it," said the chairman.

"This is a measure for the club of how far they've come since last season.

"When I came into the stadium I was hoping for a good performance against Celtic but I didn't dare to hope we would actually win the game - it was absolutely amazing.

"The benchmark is always Celtic and not only the fact we won the game, which was on penalties, but the fact Rangers actually played better than Celtic.

"You could see on the park that Celtic were giving Rangers the level of respect and they were sitting back and sitting deep.

"So the fact we actually outplayed them as well was fantastic, given we essentially built a Championship team to win the Championship. We are now going to build further on it for next season.

"It was nice to see that this team were able to hold up against Celtic and beat them in fact."

Gers now face Hibernian in the May 21 final, with not only the trophy but a place in next season's Europa League up for grabs.

If they can clinch that, King has told Warburton he will get the backing he needs to built a squad capable of competing at home and abroad.

He said: "If we are fortunate enough to win the cup final, it would get us into Europe.

"That's a year ahead of schedule. Our original plan was to win the Championship, improve the squad and then challenge for the Premier League next year, then hopefully be in Europe the following year.

"So it would be a real bonus if we could accelerate the European part of that by a season. I said to Mark, 'Let's see how the final goes and we might have to plan differently the player acquisitions in the close season'."