Rangers announce Tennent’s Sixes replacement duo as Boyd & McCulloch drop out

Barry Ferguson’s Rangers legends team has lost its captain and its most famous goalscorer less than a week before the revived Tennent’s Sixes begins. Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd have both pulled out of the squad. In their place, the club has confirmed the return of two former Ibrox forwards: Martyn Waghorn and Daniel Candeias.

For an event built on nostalgia and a healthy dose of mischief, the timing is awkward but not disastrous. The tournament has its own traditions of chaos, and a squad reshuffle days before kick-off fits neatly into them.

Rangers confirmed that Waghorn and Candeias will join the squad for the weekend’s indoor event, arriving after Boyd and McCulloch withdrew. The club’s statement described the pair as the latest players confirmed for the squad at the SPFL Tennent’s Sixes. It said Waghorn scored 28 goals in 36 appearances during his first season at the club, when Rangers won the Scottish Championship and secured promotion back to the top flight. Candeias, the Portuguese winger, spent two seasons at Ibrox between 2017 and 2019, scoring 14 competitive goals and providing a number of assists.

The statement also made the practical consequences clear. McCulloch and Boyd are no longer available, and Andy Halliday has been named captain of the team.

That is a significant shift in the dressing-room hierarchy. McCulloch had been listed as captain when the squad was first unveiled, so the club has had to find a new leader at short notice. Halliday, a popular figure among supporters and a natural talker, is an obvious choice.

The reason for Boyd’s absence is a disappointing one for anyone hoping to see him back in a light blue shirt. The National, citing The Scottish Sun, reported that he picked up a knee injury while playing five-a-side football and will not be able to take part.

There is a certain irony there. A tournament designed to bring retired players back for a fun, low-stakes weekend has already claimed a casualty before a ball has been kicked in anger. It is also a reminder of how quickly a casual kickabout can turn sour when knees have been through a few thousand competitive matches. Six-a-side football on an indoor surface is fast, physical and unforgiving on joints, so withdrawing with a knee problem is the sensible call.

The reason McCulloch has dropped out has not been made public in the reports I found. The club’s wording was simply that both men are now unavailable. It would be wrong to guess, and there is no reason to read anything into it beyond the obvious possibilities that come with a busy autumn schedule and the usual pressures of a late-career return to competitive football.

Waghorn’s credentials for this format are strong. Six-a-side football rewards strikers who can finish quickly, and the statistic the club chose to highlight says plenty. A return of 28 goals in 36 appearances is the kind of number that stands out in any era, and it came in a season that ended with a title and promotion.

Strikers who score at that rate tend to have a particular set of instincts: the movement to find space in tight areas, the composure to finish first time, and the confidence to shoot from anywhere. Indoor football, with its small goals, walled boundaries and constant rebounds, places a premium on all three. Waghorn should feel at home.

He also replaces a natural goalscorer. Boyd had been named alongside McCulloch, Charlie Adam and Andy Halliday in the original squad. Losing the club’s best-known finisher from a squad with a limited number of outfield players is a blow, and bringing in another striker makes sense.

Candeias offers something different. A winger with dribbling ability and pace, he was a regular source of excitement during his two seasons at Ibrox, and the club’s statement credited him with 14 goals along with a number of assists.

In a small-sided tournament, the ability to beat a defender one-on-one is enormously valuable. There is little room to pass around an opponent, so the player who can take the ball past someone in a tight space creates openings that would not exist in a full-size game. Candeias’s style could give Ferguson’s side a dimension that the original squad arguably lacked.

There is also a balance to consider. The original group included a mix of midfield creators and finishers. Adding a wide player who can stretch a defence and deliver the ball gives the team more variety

The squad list published by the SPFL named Barry Ferguson as manager and Ian Durrant as assistant manager, with Lee Robinson in goal. The outfield players listed were McCulloch, Boyd, Charlie Adam, Andy Halliday, Lewis Macleod, Dean Shiels, Alan Gow and Kirk Broadfoot.

Removing McCulloch and Boyd and adding Waghorn and Candeias leaves the outfield group looking something like this: Adam, Halliday, Macleod, Shiels, Gow, Broadfoot, Waghorn and Candeias, with Robinson in goal. That is a healthy collection of former players with a strong blend of experience, technical quality and, in the case of Durrant’s influence on the bench, a deep connection to the club’s history.

Shiels and Gow were among the latest names announced earlier this month, which suggests the squad has been coming together gradually and that the management team has had to remain flexible throughout.

Halliday’s promotion to captain deserves a moment. He is one of the most recognisable players in the group and, by reputation, one of the most vocal. In a format where communication matters enormously, with six players constantly shifting positions and rotating in and out, a captain who talks through the game has real value.

There is also the question of how a legends team manages its own dynamics. These are players from different eras, with varying levels of fitness and different expectations. A respected captain can keep the group focused and make sure the team treats the tournament with the right mix of seriousness and humour

The draw has handed Rangers a demanding group. They have been placed in Group C alongside Celtic, Kilmarnock and St Mirren. That means an Old Firm meeting is guaranteed early in the tournament, even if it will look rather different from the usual fixture.

Celtic’s legends squad is managed by Tom Boyd and includes Charlie Mulgrew, Simon Donnelly, Jonny Hayes, Joe Ledley, Derek Riordan, Aiden McGeady and Gary Hooper, with Barry John Corr in goal. It is a strong group with plenty of attacking quality, and McGeady in particular is the kind of player who can dominate a small pitch.

The context makes the fixture more interesting. The Celtic report described the game as one with a little extra bite compared with the others. Even in a friendly, fun-first environment, it is hard to imagine either set of supporters wanting to lose.

Kilmarnock and St Mirren round out the section, and neither should be underestimated. In a format this quick, a single mistake or one moment of brilliance can decide a match.

To understand why this event matters, it helps to look back at where it came from.

The first Tennent’s Sixes was held at Coasters Arena in Falkirk on 16 and 17 January 1984, with nine clubs taking part and the tournament shown on BBC Scotland. Rangers won it. They came from 4-2 behind to beat Dundee 6-4 in the final. Davie Cooper scored the first goal in the competition’s history, in Rangers’ opening match against St Johnstone.

That first triumph gives the current squad a proud legacy to live up to. Whatever else happens at Braehead, the club can at least say it was there at the start and won the thing

The tournament captured the public’s imagination in its early years. Crowds swelled through the 1980s, but over time squads became weaker and clubs began to prioritise other things. Rangers themselves were part of that shift. Rangers and Aberdeen forfeited their appearance money after sending depleted line-ups in 1990, and both were absent, along with Dunfermline, in 1992

The 1992 edition was held at the SECC in Glasgow, and Celtic’s victory there remains their only Tennent’s Sixes title. The writing was on the wall by then, and the end came soon after. The 1993 edition was the tenth and final of the original run, with Rangers and Dundee absent, and the competition was discontinued when Tennent Caledonian withdrew its sponsorship. The brewer’s spending on the event had by then passed £3 million. Partick Thistle, who won in 1993, are the last club to have their name on the trophy.

So Rangers’ history with the tournament runs from the first winners to a club that stopped showing up. The revival offers a chance to write a better ending, or at least a more entertaining one.

The comeback comes after 33 years, and it takes a new form: all 12 current Premiership clubs are involved, with players from the recent past forming a legends-style edition, and each team wearing its club’s current kit. The SPFL is partnering with Tennent’s, and the tournament takes place on October 3 and 4 at Braehead Arena.

The format is a smart reinvention. Modern clubs have little appetite for risking their current players in a mid-season indoor tournament, which was one reason the original competition faded. Using retired players solves that problem, turns the event into a celebration of club history and gives supporters the chance to see favourites from past eras. One columnist had argued in 2022 that the format could work well as a way to warm up for a new season, noting that the concept was never the problem, only the timing.

A legends tournament has its own rhythm. The football will be quick, the goals will come in bunches, and the crowd will be there to enjoy themselves. There will be spectacular finishes, a few comic tumbles and at least one moment of surprising skill from a player who has not lost his touch.

Several things are worth watching.The goalkeeper. Lee Robinson has a demanding job in a format where shots come from everywhere and rebounds are constant. Six-a-side football rewards shot-stoppers with sharp reflexes and quick feet.

The fitness llevels. The original tournament was about speed and stamina, and these players are a few years removed from regular competitive football. Substitutions will matter, and squad depth is an advantage. Losing two players at this stage, even with replacements arriving, is not ideal.

The Old Firm game Whatever the stage of the tournament, the match against Celtic will draw the most attention. There is pride at stake, and a win would offer bragging rights for a long time.

The chemistry. Ferguson and Durrant will have limited time to get the group working as a unit. In a format this small, understanding between players matters more than individual talent.

Late withdrawals are almost part of the fabric of events like this. Players get injured, prior commitments arise and schedules shift. The measure of a management team is how it responds.

Ferguson has done what a sensible manager would do: replaced a finisher with a finisher and added a winger to provide variety. Bringing in players who know the club, know its supporters and have scored goals in the shirt is also a smart way to keep the squad’s identity intact.

Waghorn and Candeias will arrive with a point to prove. Neither will want to be remembered as the understudy, and both will be motivated by the chance to perform in front of a crowd in a light blue shirt again. For fans, that is a positive. Players who are hungry to impress often make the difference in tournaments like this.

The news that Boyd and McCulloch have dropped out is disappointing for supporters who were looking forward to seeing two of the club’s best-known figures back in action. A knee injury from a five-a-side game is an unlucky way to lose the striker, and the absence of the captain leaves a gap in leadership and experience.

Yet there is a good deal of reason for optimism. The replacements come with relevant credentials, the squad retains quality throughout, and the team will be led by an enthusiastic captain in Halliday. The draw has handed Rangers a demanding group with the Old Firm fixture as its centrepiece.

More than anything, the weekend is a celebration. The tournament’s return after 33 years is a reminder of a time when this format lit up the Scottish winter and produced moments that supporters still talk about. Rangers won the first one, and they will be determined to write another good chapter in the second life of the competition.

Whatever happens at Braehead, the changes to the squad will be forgotten quickly if the team finds its rhythm. A late-night goal, a dramatic comeback or a win over Celtic would be enough to do that, and for a club with a proud record in this tournament, the chance to add to it is worth the scramble