Mettle

Sir David Murray's life story is a truly remarkable tale of never-say-die triumph over unimaginable adversity. For 50 years he has been a towering figure in Scottish business, sport and philanthropy. His family name is synonymous with steel but his rise to power owes as much to mettle as it does to metal. At the age of 24 he was involved in a horrific car crash in which he lost both of his legs. As his life hung in the balance, his days in hospital, drifting in and out of consciousness, were nightmare moments but ones that would define him. And in the aftermath, when he finally pulled through, he had stark choices to make. 'I could fight or I could give up,' he said. 'Turn left or turn right.' David Murray almost always chose wisely and has never once shied away from big decisions. This is a man who thrived on the big stage, as the owner of Rangers Football Club during an unprecedented era of success. He won nine league titles in a row, oversaw some memorable European campaigns, all while rubbing shoulders with the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Graeme Souness and Sir Sean Connery. He led the talks on the Old Firm clubs joining the English football pyramid, while his sale of the club to Craig Whyte set off a chain of events that eventually saw the club liquidated. Now, for the first time, and in his own words, he is offering a deeply personal insight into his extraordinary life and how he courageously recovered from his accident and then went on to become such a successful entrepreneur. He also gives us his thoughts on the Old Firm rivalry, explains why Celtic Park wasn't the most hostile ground in Scotland for Rangers to visit... and describes how he beat world champion Stephen Hendry at snooker!